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For the final, a special character is used to represent a space with one less pixel in width to make the item name fit better. Certain items (like "Multi bottle rocket" and "Pair of dirty socks") use an actual space in the prototype.Position agnostic quotes are used instead of open/closed quotes like in the final.The "cold" and "crying" status ailment icons are still the ones used in the original Japanese version.Ness' nude sprites are still used in this prototype.This was most likely done to hastly fix certain bugs. Additional gamepad checks were added to the final version's code that does not exist in this prototype.Pauses in dialog text doesn't seem to be implemented yet.Auto-genders have not been implemented yet.In the final, it says "The End.?" instead. The prototype still says "TO BE CONTINUED." in the end credits just like in the original Japanese version.For instance, "Sparky" is "Spark" in the prototype. Some of the built-in names are different in the prototype since some of the prompts are still limited to five characters rather than the final's six.The copyright information is written in the text used in the original Japanese release, while the final version uses its own font instead. The "EARTH BOUND" text above the "WAR AGAINST GIYGAS!" screen is higher in the prototype in comparison to the final.The final game's anti-piracy checks aren't implemented.Despite having debug enabled by default, the "banana" debug menu isn't included even though it can be hacked back in. A debug menu can be activated while holding down the L trigger while the game is booting up.The dump itself was created using a SuperNT and has been verified multiple times. Any graphical or sound related glitches are inherent to the prototype itself and are not caused by a bad dump. Note, the checksum specified in the ROM matches the output.As such, the final US build date cannot be determined. The final Japanese version’s build date originates from the Boot debug menu that remains unchanged in the final US version.
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The ROM's build date is specified in the ROM's header as well as written on the EPROMs themselves.
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