[gideovame]

Is there any way to get a version of this that simply removes the black bars at the top and bottom of the screen? I don't want any of the other features, particularly the opening of the hatches that increases the map size.

[erecyog]

In the USA version of the game, Richter's Flame whip (Item crash with no sub-weapon equipped) functionally does nothing.
This is something that the Japanese 1.2 version of the game fixed, it was changed to Fire-elemental and does double damage over the normal whip.

I think most people didn't bother to use the Flame whip, because once you pick up a sub-weapon, you lose the ability for the rest of the game.
But I'd like to incorporate the fixes from the newer revisions of the game, if it's possible.