Four Games With Multiple Versions

Usually, when a game is released, all or most of it is accessible in one package and maybe there’s a little bit more that can be added on through DLC and add-ons. But sometimes, developers and publishers decide to, for whatever reason, split a game into multiple versions. Sometimes, it’s a marketing thing, where different versions are meant to be sold to different crowds, like with NieR Gestalt and Replicant’s difference in protagonist for different consoles and countries or with 888bingo and 888ladies being meant for male and female audiences respectively. Other times, it can be to incentivise players to more readily interact with each other by providing exclusive content in each version as well as the ability to trade between versions, like… well, like Pokémon.

So, without further ado, here are four different examples of this multiple version phenomenon taking place! Comment below if you’ve played any of these!

Fire Emblem Fates Birthright, Conquest, and Revelation

The long running strategy series Fire Emblem once toyed with multiple releases after the mainstream success of Fire Emblem Awakening. In 2016 internationally, Fire Emblem Fates was released as two different titles: one subtitled Birthright and the other subtitled Conquest. The two games followed the same cast of characters and the same protagonist, a young noble named Corrin who had been forcibly adopted by a different royal family. In fact, the opening moments of the two games are even largely the same. However, after a few battles, Corrin is given a choice as to which family they would like to side with, with that choice being determined by which version of the game the player has purchased. The series — known for large, sprawling, epic stories exploring war and families — had previously explored branching paths in situations like Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, where players could pick between following one of two siblings halfway through the game, but in all previous cases, both versions of the story had been on the same game card. However, through the power of DLC, players of one version of Fates could purchase the other path at a slightly lower price.

Additionally, there exists a third option — where Corrin refuses to side with either family — titled Revelation, though this version of the game only exists through DLC and within a special three-in-one edition of Fates. Sadly, that means that Revelation cannot be obtained on its own and, with the 3DS’ eShop closing down next year, finding a complete version of the game will get a lot harder.

Digimon World Dawn and Digimon World Dusk

Another set of games on a Nintendo handheld console that have different, but similar storylines are Digimon World Dawn and Digimon World Dusk. In the two games, a mysterious earthquake rocks the Digital World, specifically damaging the SunShine and DarkMoon districts, and causing a lot of problems for the Digimon that live there. In each district, rumors arise that claim that a team based in the other region was behind the incident, leading to open conflict between the Night Crow Team in the DarkMoon district and the Light Fang Team in the SunShine District. In Dawn, the player is a Digimon Tamer for the Light Fang Team, whereas they are a Tamer for the Night Crow Team in Dusk. Either way, it's their goal to uncover the mystery behind the quake and tame just a lot of Digimon, including several that are exclusive to each version.

Soulcalibur II

Like many fighting games, Namco and Project Soul’s Soulcalibur series is no stranger to version differences, but most distinctions in these sorts of titles come between the copies meant for arcade machines and those meant for consoles. In many of these situations, the console ports come later, feature more content, and don’t require copious amounts of coins to operate. However, when Soulcalibur II was ported to consoles in 2003, there was one major difference between what each console got. That difference was in who the guest character was.

The Soulcalibur series loves to include guest fighters in its games, from those that became series mainstays like Tekken’s Yoshimitsu to those that only got one chance to make an impression, like Assassin’s Creed’s Ezio Auditore in Soulcalibur V. However, in Soulcalibur II, there were three new guest characters, with one appearing in each version of the game. Those who played it on Xbox got Spawn, from Todd McFarlane’s comic book of the same name; PlayStation 2 players received Tekken’s Heihachi; and GameCube fans were able to play as Link, from The Legend of Zelda. Interestingly, the game was rereleased 10 years later as SoulCalibur II HD Online, including both Spawn and Heihachi as fighters. I guess that means we’ll have to wait until Spawn and Heihachi get into the next Super Smash Bros. if we want to see the three of them ever duke it out.

Basically All of Pokémon

Okay, yeah, I tried to avoid mentioning this behemoth more than necessary, but come on. It’s Pokémon. From the beginning, every mainline title has been split into at least two separate versions, from Pokémon Red and Blue all the way up to the upcoming Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. At this point, it’s a given that, when playing Pokémon, you’ve gotta figure out which version of the game has the exclusive Pokémon, gyms, and story beats that you’d prefer. At least, with the Pokémon themselves, you can just find a friend with different tastes and ask them to trade you their shiny new Pokémon in exchange for your Rattata.