So I've been practicing on NTSC-J (since a copy of that was about 200 dollars less than NTSC-U/C) and had a couple questions.

I've been able to replicate basically every strat/technique except those involving Master Mode. Namely the boss on stage...9 I want to say? Master mode always runs out prematurely since it seems that you cannot build master bar while Master mode is active in NTSC-J. Additionally, you seem locked into the animations of master mode and cannot dodge out of it, as seen in WR. Am I doing something incorrectly or is NTSC-J just gonna require a bit of rerouting the master mode uses (maybe a different weapon choice on stage 9)? And if I'm doing something wrong to get the dodge out of master mode, what's the actual input being done?

I should prob catalogue the differences between the two versions because unsure if that's been done yet. Like the defense stat wasn't added until the U/C version etc.

NTSC-J Master Mode is shiiiiiiiiiit, sadly.

So the three main differences in the Japanese version are all very suboptimal:

1 - When clearing waves of enemies the Japenese version cuts to a short visual cue of "Here are the waves that just spawned." The US version doesn't do this.

2 - There is no DEF stat on the Japanese version. So you're very squishy on the final stage.

and yes 3 - On the US version Master Mode at full gauge is sort of like activating the God Hand that gives you the ability to run fast, jump farther, instant kill everything you touch, rapidly attack targets, and you actively regain MP when you kill enemies or do damage to bosses while using it. On the Japanese version it is constantly draining, is typically on auto-pilot, and never regains MP while being used.

Sadly the Japanese version is only really good for routing because of the 1st thing, being able to map out what waves of enemies spawn when specific other waves were defeated etc. Grats on finding a Japanese copy though, I tried for a while and gave up (I wanted to know the difference because someone told me it was very different).

I dunno how I did it, all the games I got really into speedrunning were at most $30 when I started running them, now they're all hundreds of dollars for a legit copy.

Shame to hear tbh. Do still kinda want to route that version even after doing a run on NTSC-U/C, because I'm kinda curious as to how much slower it would actually be. Probably a lot, I'd imagine.

I can think of a few stages that are absolutely kneecapped on the Master Mode issue, yeah. But the positive is that without a DEF stat there's no reason to put points on anything but attack power. The cutaway for spawning waves however... I have no idea.

Honestly some in depth science still needs doing on what exactly triggers the ending of certain stages. In some places I know it's a specific enemy or group of enemies. In the mines you just gotta reach the bottom then fight a boss. Or with the bombs you just gotta destroy those then fight the boss. But some of the stages I honestly just keep killing mans until it stops and I'm not really sure what causes the stage to end.

Yeah I was getting bodied on final stage during my casual playthrough and I was like holy hell lol. I also dunno if twin swords charged attack does as much on JP? Idr, might be bugging. I think I'll science out some of those stages on JP then tbh. Which ones needed testing?

I don't recall having any major combat differences regarding that. Are you sure you're getting the dodge counter on the super? If you get a successful dodge into a special attack the damage is doubled.

I think I might not be getting the double instances of damage (as in two hits, not doubled damage of one hit) I see against some bosses, weirdly enough. I'd probably just chalk it up to me not getting the dodges but I'll check again soon. Also wouldn't be surprised if twin swords got buffed in international release.