WTB Shock Troopers MVS

[DaisyAge]

Preferably the B version of the game
Explanation by BBH:

You are incorrect.

There is no way to toggle the changes between the two versions of Shock Troopers. It is an actual change in the program roms. Here is the lowdown between the two versions, I shall call them Version A and Version B.

Version A
-The player's lifebar consists of 128 "points". (whenever you pickup a life-restoring item, the number of points that it adds is shown. The first-aid kits are worth +64 points)
-When a new credit is started, the lifebar does not start fully filled up at 128 points. In Lonly Wolf the lifebar starts at 112 points, and in Team Battle it starts around 90-96 points (I do not remember the exact amount right now, but it's somewhere in that range).
-At the start of each level, it will show you each character's "rating" for the level. They will be given anywhere from 0-3 stars for the level. The higher the star amount, the faster that character will be able to move ON THAT STAGE ONLY. In addition to this, if a character is rated 2 stars a +8 life bonus will be added, and if they are rated 3 stars they will get a +16.
-You are given only one life. If you are playing in Team Battle, all three characters share that lifebar, so once it runs out it's game over.

Version B
-The player's lifebar consists of 64 points, which means you can only take half as much damage before dying.
-Lifebar starts at 100% in both Lonly Wolf and Team Battle modes.
-There is no display of the star rating inbetween stages, and no life-ups are given for characters that are rated 2 or 3 stars on the stage. However, THE STAR RATINGS ARE STILL THERE EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE NOT DISPLAYED TO THE PLAYER, so characters will still move at different speeds depending on the level.
-By default the game is setup to give you 3 lives in Lonly Wolf, and a 3-character team in Team Battle. This setting is changeable in the soft dips under "HERO" to be a number from 1-8 (Yes, this means that if you change it to 8 and select Team Battle, you will all have 8 characters on your team). The "HERO" setting is absent entirely on Version A.
-Also worth noting that in Team Battle if the game is finished after 1 or 2 of the characters die, those characters will not be present in the ending. In Version A all 3 characters will always be there (since they all share one lifebar, naturally).

That's pretty much it. It's still unclear as to why there are two different versions in the first place, considering the game only saw an MVS release. I have a US cart and a Japanese cart, and they're both Version B. No serial number is given on the Japanese cart, the US one is 011XXX (all my carts are in a box right now). I'm pretty sure somebody here had a Version A cart with a low serial number, so it seems to imply that the Version A carts are in fact earlier. Strangely though, there are some screenshots of Shock Troopers contained in the Shock Troopers: 2nd Squad Original Soundtrack booklet, and they are clearly screenshots of Version A. Hmmmm.

 

[Mad Mage]

I don't suppose you can tell the version by the color of the cart? I have a red cart, but it would be cumbersome to hook it up right now.

 

[wyo]

I don't suppose you can tell the version by the color of the cart? I have a red cart, but it would be cumbersome to hook it up right now.

Korean carts are usually version B (separate life bars). You can peek through the vents on the cart and check the P ROM (top board, bottom right). P1 = version A, PG1 = version B.

 

[DaisyAge]

Thank you for that information wyo I didn't know about the different labels on the P ROM. Mad Mage do you have the cart handy so that you can check it?

 

[Mad Mage]

Thanks for the info, Wyo. Will check it and get back to DaisyAge.

 

[DaisyAge]

Bump

 

[Catoblepa]

I have a Shock Troopers ver. B I can sell you for 85 USD, but, as I wrote to Nexus in another thread, shipping only one game from Italy is very expensive (I only use DHL express with full tracking, it's much faster and safer than other options). Anything under 5 kilos (that's 6/7 MVS carts) is 55 bucks, so when you add some games it becomes much more reasonable. I have a list of MVS doubles I can sell, if you're interested in other games - or if you have some friends near your area that can make a group buy - I can send you the list by PM. Let me know, thanks

 

[DaisyAge]

I have family in Malta, but if that won't change the shipping price then I'm afraid it's too much for now.

 

[Catoblepa]

I have family in Malta, but if that won't change the shipping price then I'm afraid it's too much for now.

Well, Malta is very close to Italy and it's part of the European Union, but I've never tried to ship something down there I'll stop at the post office tomorrow morning, no harm in asking.

 

[DaisyAge]

Cool, thanks Catoblepa

 

[Catoblepa]

No problem. Update: fast shipping a single cart to Malta is even more expensive than to the USA (guess that's because Malta is a relatively small island, air mail isn't an easy option).
That said, I've asked the post office for a slower and cheaper method to ship directly to the USA, if you don't mind a longer wait (a single cart is under 1 kg, that should help). I'll have a reply in a few hours, talk to you soon!

 

[Catoblepa]

News flash... I couldn't find a reliable/cheap method. Sorry DasiyAge, I've tried. Good luck with your hunt!

 

[DaisyAge]

Damn too bad, thank a bunch for asking

 

[Neo Alec]

Version A seems to be much harder to come by. It's almost a prototype. I wouldn't worry too much about being able to find version B.

 

[DaisyAge]

That's good to know, I just want to get the same version I've been playing for years. I'd hate to get it and have everything be different on my Beer and NeoGeo nights