– Page 1: Crisis Core Version Guide – Top
– Page 2: Japanese Original ↔ Post-Original
– Page 4: North America ↔ Europe
– Page 5: Miscellaneous

Japanese ↔ English

A full comparison between the Japanese and English game would require a book-length document. For that reason this page will only contain highlights of differences in the text.

The Missing Surnames

The Japanese game has a few cases of completely leaving out character surnames that are present in the English game. All these cases have been observed in Zack’s mail, specifically in the “Shinra News” folder. The folder is called 社内報 [Internal Newsletter] in the Japanese game, without “Shinra” in the title.

Zack Fair

See the mails “Personnel Announcement 0104” and “Personnel Announcement 0210”.

Sephiroth = セフィロス
Zack Fair = ザックス・フェア

The フェア [Fair] is completely absent in both Japanese mails. セフィロス [Sephiroth] remains, as always, without a last name.

Angeal Hewley & Genesis Rhapsodos

See “Personnel Announcement 0103”.

Angeal Hewley = アンジール・ヒューレー
Genesis Rhapsodos = ジェネシス・ラプソードス

Beyond magazines from the pre-release era of Crisis Core, no Japanese sources employ Genesis’s surname. Could it be that the writers of Crisis Core quickly decided that the last name should not be canon?

Lazard Deusericus

See “Personnel Announcement 0207”.

Lazard = ラザード
Hollander = ホランダー

In the excellent article written by Squall_of_Seed, “Surnames of Crisis Core Characters“, we see how Genesis’s last name has been entirely neglected in the Japanese media beyond May of 2007. The Japanese equivalent of Lazard’s surname, Deusericus, shines in its complete absence.

As written by Squall_of_Seed:

“Deusericus” would likely be デウセリクス in katakana … Certainly “Deusericus” is an interesting name and a clever one. Clever because “Deus” is Latin for “God” and “sericus” is Latin for “of silk,” “silky” or “silk-like” while the kanji in the name of the “Shin-Ra” Company (神羅) mean “god” and “silk” respectively. Thus, the portmanteau “Deusericus” means “of Shin-Ra” or “from Shin-Ra.”

Again, this is witty given that Lazard is secretly the son of President Shinra.

The origin of Lazard’s surname remains a matter of speculation and debate. Is it purely an invention by the localization team or does it actually come from the Japanese writers? The jury is still out on this one.

Lazard Mail: Paragraph Omission

In an obligatory mail titled “Children of the Slums” sent by Lazard, there is an essential line that is omitted in the English game.

Official Localization	Japanese	Fan Translation
Children in the slums	スラムの子供たち	The Children of the Slums
SOLDIER members, I thank you for your daily hard work. On the ground, beneath our aerial city of Midgar and in the shadow of its plates, lie the slums. They also symbolize one of Shinra’s “distortions.” There are reports of children forming gangs in the harsh environment they call home.	ソルジャーの皆さん、日々の任務ご苦労さまです。 空中に浮かぶ都市、ミッドガルのプレートの陰に スラムという地上の集落が存在します。 これもまた、神羅の 『ゆがみ』 を象徴しています。 特に、 スラムでは多数の子供がギャング化して 過酷な生活を強いられていると聞きます。	Members of SOLDIER, we thank you for your continuing duties. In this city floating in the sky, we must remember that in the shade of Midgar’s plate there exists the underground village of the Slums. This stands as a symbol of Shin-Ra’s “injustice”. As you may have heard, many children form gangs to deal with being forced to lead especially cruel lives in the Slums.
	出生に関する社長のウワサも耳にします。	You may also have heard of a rumor regarding a birth connected with the President.
To look away from this will surely cast a large shadow on Shinra’s future growth. It is my hope that we members of SOLDIER can rise up to address this “distortion.”	この 『ゆがみ』 を放置することは今後の神羅の 発展に大きく影を落とすことになるでしょう。 せめて、我々ソルジャーだけでも、このような 『ゆがみ』 に対処していきたいと考えます。	Neglecting this “injustice” will cast a large shadow over the future development of Shin-Ra. At least, though we are only SOLDIER, we still want you to consider how we may cope with this “injustice”.

Despite there being enough room to include the passage in this mail, the line “You may also have heard of a rumor regarding a birth connected with the President” is not present in the English version.

In order to piece together that Lazard is President Shinra’s son, the player must pay attention to NPC dialogue and the themes written in Lazard’s mails to SOLDIER. The exclusion of the aforementioned mail passage in the English game makes it harder to piece together this truth, especially if the player misses crucial NPC dialogue.

Tutorial Mail: Game Over Condition

The lack of a Game Over condition for missions in the post-Japanese versions is reflected in an edit to one of the tutorial mails.

Official Localization	Japanese	Fan Translation
Controls during missions	ミッション中の操作	Controls During Missions
Mission Controls All movement and combat controls are the same. You will be returned to the save point if you are incapacitated.	ミッション中 通常どおり移動と戦闘が可能です。 戦闘不能時も、通常時同様ゲームオーバーです。	Within Missions Movement and combat are conducted in the usual manner. When you become unable to fight, a game over will occur, like normal.
Clearing a Mission Defeat the boss in order to clear the mission. After that, you will be returned to the save point.	ミッションのクリア マップにいるボスを倒すとクリアです。 クリアすると、 元のセーブポイントに戻ります。	Clearing of Missions Cleared after you defeat the boss on that map. Upon clearing, you will be returned to the previous save point.
Aborting a Mission Abort a mission by moving out of range, or by selecting to abort the mission through the menu.	ミッションのリタイア 移動範囲の外に出たり、メ二ューのミッションから 中止を選択することで中止できます。	Aborting Missions To discontinue, go out of bounds or select Abort from the Missions menu.

Some SOLDIER guy fell out of the sky

At the end of Zack’s and Aerith’s date at the playground, Aerith says the following.

Official Localization	Japanese	Fan Translation
I was thinking it would be a normal day, but then suddenly…	今日は穏やかなー日かな そう思ってたら一一	Today is a peaceful one, or so I thought —
Some guy fell out of the sky.	空からソルジャー 降ってくる	then a SOLDIER fell from the sky.

This is also the scene that was changed so that Zack’s bang no longer obscures part of his face, as it did in the Japanese version.

Well, that’s a fine how-do-you-do!

When Tseng and Zack fly off to Modeoheim their helicopter crashes during a scene that is entirely blackness accompanied by sound effects. When we get a visual and Zack wakes up in the snow he reacts to what just happened. The English game leaves it ambiguous/unclear just what happened and why the helicopter crashed.

Official Localization	Japanese	Fan Translation
Ugh…well, that’s a fine how-do-you-do!	いきなりモンスターのお出むかえとはね	A surprise monster welcoming committee…

A more literal translation would be “And the monsters suddenly come out…”, but the retranslation above was written to sound more like Zack.

The Japanese game is way clearer about a monster having caused the crash.

Sephiroth’s laugh

Japanese subtitles tend to spell out sound effects and non-worded exclamations more frequently than their English counterpart. One such case in Crisis Core is when Sephiroth is laughing in Jenova’s chamber.

Cage Numbers

In the laboratory room of the “Cage of Binding” prison cell area of the Banora Underground, Zack can find two notes. One of these demonstrate an omission in the English game.

Official Localization	Japanese	Fan Translation
Five test samples have escaped.	……実験サンプル５体が逃亡。	…Five test samples escaped.
	逃亡したサンプルのナンバーは、	The numbers of the escaped samples are
	０１０、０２２、０２７、０２９、０３６。	010, 022, 027, 029, 036.
None have completed the transformation, so it is surmised they will naturally perish.	いずれも未完成体のため、自滅すると推定される。	As all are in an incomplete state, it is presumed they will expire.
Search and retrieval is unnecessary.	追跡確保は要しないものとする。	An effort to track and retrieve is unnecessary.

The numbers match the numbered prison cages that have been busted open and contain writings on the walls.

Mock Troopers: Alfa, Beta & Gamma

Mission 9-6-5 pits you against the ferocious “Mock Troopers”, the strongest variations of the Genesis, Shinra and Wutai enemy encounters in the game.

The troopers are named thusly in correlation with their type:

Mock Trooper A = Genesis lackey
Mock Trooper B = Shinra grunt
Mock Trooper C = Wutai soldier

Since multiple of each enemy type will appear in battle, the troopers are “numbered” via letters: A through D. This makes the targets name awkward, when you are for example battling “Mock Trooper A A”, “Mock Trooper B B” and “Mock Trooper C C”.

The target “numbering” is way less awkward in the Japanese game, because there the troopers are named alfa, beta and gamma respectively.

Mock Trooper α = Genesis lackey
Mock Trooper β = Shinra grunt
Mock Trooper γ = Wutai soldier

Official Localization	Japanese	Fan Translation
Mock Trooper A	兵隊もどきα	Mock/Pseudo Trooper α
Mock Trooper B	兵隊もどきβ	Mock/Pseudo Trooper β
Mock Trooper C	兵隊もどきγ	Mock/Pseudo Trooper γ

Main Menus

The Japanese game uses English on many occasions. Here are some examples of how the English writing changes from the Japanese game to the actual English game(s).

Japanese	English
NEW GAME	New Game
LOAD GAME	Load Game
MAIN MENU	Main Menu
Shin-Ra Electric Power Company	Shinra Electric Power Company
D.M.W	DMW
LOCATION	Zone
GIL	Gil
TIME	Time
MISSION	Mission
VERY EASY	Very Easy
EASY	Easy
NORMAL	Normal
HARD	Hard
VERY HARD	Very Hard

Battle- & Field Text

Japanese	English
RADIO WAVE	SIGNAL
MAP INFORMATION	ZONE INFORMATION
Mission Start!!	Begin Mission!
Mission Complete!!	Mission Accomplished!
Modulating Phase!!	Modulating Phase!
Power Surge!!	Power Surge!
Level Up!!	Level Up!
Master!!	Master!

When the DMW is about to possibly select the Chocobo, Cactuar, Tonberry, Cait Sith, Moogle or Magic Pot, a background titled “CHOCOBO MODE” appears.

Japanese	English
CHANGE CHARACTER	CHARACTER CHANGE
SABOTENDER	CACTUAR

“Sabotender” is the Japanese name of the “Cactuar” enemy.