#teamico

A piece from 2022 of Trico and the boy from The Last Guardian.

I'm quite fond of the Team Ico games, they're honestly magical and unlike any other games I've played. The emphasis on creating a poignant piece of art that transcends yet elevates the medium is stunning and powerful.

Shadow of the Colossus shaped me as a young teen, it's still one of my favourite games of all time.

Intro: (You Can Skip This)

ICO is a game with a lot of interesting history behind it- while it never achieved the wider-spread acclaim of, say, Shadow of the Colossus, the title that came after it, it’s still beloved by a small but vocal fanbase to this day. 

Some know the story of the disaster of the North American release of the game. Its development was rushed to be out on the market in time for the Christmas season, which lead to it launching on September 24, 2001. In contrast, the game didn’t debut in Japan until December 06, 2001. This resulted in missing content, and alterations to puzzles. 

... Or so any online source will tell you, and then elaborate on NONE OF IT. 

Okay, not “none of it”. Some of the missing content is widely documented, but there are other miscellaneous changes that are only ever vaguely referenced, and rarely if ever are there comparison pictures included. If you are anything like me, or in other words are a huge nerd in general who must know every tiny detail of your niche interests and also rabid fan of all incarnations of ICO, this is infuriating on many levels. 

Now, all changes were restored in the HD remaster, released in September 2011. But comparison footage is scarce (mainly, I suspect, because only a few people besides myself are that bored), and copies of the original release are hard to come by to compare for oneself- my copy stopped working in 2015 after many years of love. Therefore, I have taken it upon myself to scour the internet and document all the details myself- I found some very interesting and not so interesting things in my investigation. Hopefully, I covered just about everything.

Without further ado, here is what’s different about the original North American release of ICO, versus all later releases:

Things Everyone Knows: Missing New Game Plus Goodies, Yorda’s AI, and Horrible Art

These things are all widely covered and anyone with even a passing interest in the game already knows about them. If you don’t, there are tons of other sources and videos that explore these things in more depth, so I’m only going to summarize them briefly (links included for your convenience):

Missing Goodies

The New Game + bonuses are missing entirely, which include:

Two secret weapons you can obtain: the Spiked Club and Shining Sword. The Shining Sword can only be obtained if you previously acquired the Spiked Club.

A new visual option called Film Effect.

An optional extra ending cutscene (“the watermelon scene”)

Yorda and the Queen’s speech is translated

A two-player mode which allows another player with a second controller to play as Yorda

Yorda’s AI

Yorda’s AI was almost entirely unfinished in the NA version, to the frustration of many a player.

In the PAL/HD release, Yorda provides hints by pointing in the direction of important puzzle elements and saying Ico’s name, or looks/runs in the direction the player needs to go. She also has an animation where she shakes her head at you and utters a voice clip if you’re attempting to get her to perform an impossible jump or action, as if to say “I can’t do that.”.

Update: @casually-crooked​ has created and linked me to an awesome doc that goes way more into detail about Yorda’s hint system here.

In the NA version, she does none of this, and in fact spends most of her time standing still. Even if shadow creatures are approaching, she’ll stay exactly where she is and allow herself to be grabbed and carted away.

That Fuck Ugly Cover

The cover art for the game wasn’t finished when the game shipped to the US, which means for a long time many fans, including myself, were stuck having to look at this HIDEOUS thing:

(Left: Front cover, Right: Back cover)

The cover features a white-washed Yorda who doesn’t have pale skin and sports brown hair and purple eyes for some reason, and an Ico who looks like a caveman trying to remember if he left the oven on. Or maybe the bastard love-child of Bruce Campbell and some unfortunate bovine.

(Fun fact: while editing the images for this post I made a strange discovery- there are TWO versions of this awful thing. The second looks like this.)

The PAL/HD version’s art looks like this:

(Left: Back cover, Right: Front cover)

Much nicer.

Altered Puzzles: Which ones, and How?

The Windmill

Okay, I barely count this as an actual difference, but you can occasionally find reference to it, so I’ll cover it briefly:

In the PAL/HD version, there’s this little block/ledge you have to jump on to get onto the Windmill.

In the NA version the platform/stairs appear to be taller or the first ledge is lower, so you can just kinda jump up there.

(Left: HD/PAL, Right: NA)

That’s literally it. The rest of the puzzle is identical across all versions.

The Watermill

This puzzle is actually different- or more accurately, doesn’t exist.

Upon entering the room immediately proceeding the “water” elements of said puzzle, your eye may be caught by this interesting contraption (commonly referred to as “the piston” or “the piston jump”):

(Left: HD/PAL, Right: NA)

Unless of course you’re playing the NA version, where there is absolutely nothing here.

From here, you’ll climb up a ladder on the other side of the room and then shimmy across some pipes in the wall, then drop down onto this platform.

(Top: Switch, Bottom: No Switch. What switch? There was never a switch! Go away!)

In the PAL/HD version, you’ll pull this switch, which activates the piston. You’ll then proceed back to the floor to climb atop the piston and do a timed jump off it as it bounces upwards, which will catapult Ico high enough to reach some ledges/boards along the wall and make his way up to the ledge, and door, that leads to the next section.

In the NA version, since there is no piston and no switch, Ico simply continues to shimmy along another long pipe in order to reach this same ledge. This is not possible in the HD version, as here the pipe is shorter and doesn’t go that far.

Top: Broken pipe, Bottom: Looong pipe)

The smaller ledges/boards the ICO would grab onto after performing the piston jump are also absent. Rather than being one solid wall, the ledge simply juts out into the air.

We continue on with the rest of this puzzle still being totally gutted in the NA version. Allow me to summarize:

In the HD version: Once outside, ICO jumps onto the waterwheel, then onto the pipe looking thing on the wall, which he climbs up to reach the giant lever to drop the water gate.

In the NA version: Ico suicide jumps into the rushing water like a fool, manages to catch the ledge near the end, and then climbs up a conveniently placed ladder.

(this ladder does exist in the HD version, but it’s more than half broken, so Ico can use it to partially climb down off the platform with the giant lever, but not to climb up)

(Top: Waterwheel, Bottom: No waterwheel)

(Top: Jump on the wheel, Bottom: YOLO)

(Top: Jump on the pole-y thing, climb up and turn the switch, broken ladder around the corner, Bottom: Ladders are puzzles, right?)

Obviously this is pretty ridiculous. One can only assume that the models used in this puzzle weren’t finished when the game released in America. I know that young me was thoroughly stumped when I first encountered this area, as I didn’t assume the solution was to sprint headlong into the rushing water, and spent entirely too long wandering around the environment looking for clues that didn’t exist.

That about covers the changes made to any puzzles themselves. If you want to be SUPER nitpicky, in the PAL/HD version, you have to hit the chandelier with the stick once to make it fall, whereas in the NA version you only have to jump on it. With that, we’ve now covered all actual changes or missing pieces of all puzzles.

Gameplay and Controls:

Cutscenes are skippable in the PAL/HD version, whereas the NA version allows you to skip exactly three: Yorda leaving her cage, the first scene at the main gate, and the water tower exploding. All other cutscenes cannot be skipped.

Controls are altered slightly. In most versions you must hold down R1 to maintain grip on Yorda’s hand, but in the NA version you need only press it once, and she’ll hang on until you either press it again or break grip somehow. (I understand there is an option to change to this control scheme in the menu of the HD/PAL version)

Climbing is performed with only triangle in most versions. The NA version climbs with both triangle and UP. Also apparently dropping from chains automatically catches you in the PAL version. Falling to your death is the American Way.

Shadow Creatures

Shadow creatures are WEAKER in the PAL/HD version. In this version, large shadows have 11 HP, small shadows have 7. In the NA version, shadows have 14 HP. They’re also more aggressive, can hit through your swings rather than be parried, fly faster while carrying Yorda, and spider shadows can hit you. Practically halfway across the goddamn room, in fact.

A few sources I read said shadow pools had different or more/less frequent spawn points, but in my research I wasn’t personally able to find the differences they were talking about. The only one I did find is a slight change in timing: Pulling the switch to lower the drawbridge at the Gondola immediately spawns several Shadow gates in the NA version. In the HD version, the portals do not spawn until Ico and Yorda approach the drawbridge.

Visual Differences: Unfinished Models, Lack of Polish, Altered Camera Angles, and other tweaks

The first and most glaring difference I’d like to note is something I can’t believe I couldn’t find mentioned on any source that I personally checked: Yorda’s character model. Her hair length and style have been significantly altered: The NA model has longer hair and prominent bangs, whereas the final version is much shorter and choppier. Personally I like the NA model better, but that’s neither here nor there. 

(Left: HD/PAL, Right: NA)

It really goes to show how desperate they were to release this game in time for the Christmas rush when one out of two main character’s models hadn’t been finalized.

While we’re on the subject of Yorda, several of the visual effects involving her close to the game’s climax were also not complete.

When ICO and Yorda finally open the castle gate, Yorda is zapped of power and energy. To illustrate this, her hair completely loses its color and turns the same stark white as her skin. This change is not present in the NA version.

(Left: HD/PAL, Right: NA)

Not long after this, when the Queen appears behind Yorda on the bridge, a shadowy effect ominously begins to encroach upon and finally engulf Yorda. Here you can see this effect looks very different.

(Left: HD/PAL Right: NA)

Finally the model for stone/statue Yorda is different. It sports the same hair model as regular NA Yorda and also has unpolished lighting/shading.

(Top: HD/PAL, Bottom: NA)

Beyond that, visual differences are actually quite minor.

The title screen says “Continue” rather than “Load” and sports the same altered font used by the rest of the game.

(Left: HD/PAL, Right: NA)

The save screen has been similarly updated.

(Left: HD/PAL, Right: NA)

We have a different font for dialogue too.

(Left: HD/PAL, Right: NA)

The model for this switch, which is used at both the Watermill and the Gondola, wasn’t finished in the NA version.

(Top: HD/PAL, Bottom: NA)

This platform has GRASS. (it is however the same platform which is missing a switch and half of a drawbridge, which I’ll get to in a minute.)

(Left: HD/PAL, Right: NA)

The cutscene where Ico picks up the queen’s sword is different- the camera angles are changed and he has a different animation. (Sorry, this was so minor and goes by so quickly I couldn’t really capture any decent pictures of it)

The cutscene where Ico discovers stone Yorda surrounded by shadow creatures is slightly different-

The NA version is at a different, more zoomed out camera angle, where you can see the shadows more clearly.

The HD version begins at a lower camera angle, and then switches to zoom in on stone Yorda. The shadow creatures also have a slightly different animation when looming over stone Yorda and when Ico approaches them at the top of the stairs.

(Left: HD/PAL, Right: NA)

The shadow creatures also have different animations for attacking Ico, like scampering and lunging, whereas in the NA version they primarily just fly around and jump backwards.

Shadow Yorda’s model also looks a little more refined to me, but it’s basically the same.

The scene in the credits where Ico and Yorda run toward the castle gate is shown from a different angle, as are the scenes of Ico and Yorda meeting.

Finally, the NA version says “Fin”, but the HD version says “end”.

Moved Props and other weird stuff

These changes are so minor or so useless I don’t really count them as puzzles differences, but technically they aren’t purely visual differences. Geometry differences?

This switch/couch has been moved around (beginning of the trolley area). Actually, I don’t think there’s a couch anywhere in this area at all. On top of the large platform is where the switch is supposed to be.

(Left: HD/PAL, Right: NA)

(Left: HD/PAL, Right: NA)

In the Stone Pillar area, the block you need to push off the ledge to pull Yorda up is right next to the edge of the ledge in the NA version, but located further away in the corner of the grassy area in the HD version. Similarly, the box ICO has to push into the water at the Watermill is located on the edge of the ledge in the NA version, but here again is located in a further corner of the area in the HD version. (Couldn’t get any decent pictures of this)

A somewhat bigger change can be found on the same platform that has GRASS.

In the PAL/HD version, there is a lowered drawbridge here, and a switch that activates it. This bridge leads back into the room near the beginning of the game where you have to push a crate to raise the staircase, for… reasons? There’s no reason you need to go back into this room, so why it exists in the first place is somewhat puzzling. (I’m given to understand there’s some kind of speedrunning trick involving it, for whatever that’s worth)

(Left: HD/PAL, Right: NA)

In the NA version, there’s no switch, and it’s just the remains of a crumbled bridge.

The chandelier boards are flat and BORING, making the chandelier easier to see.

(Left: HD/PAL, Right: NA)

This save couch only exists in the NA version.

(Left: HD/PAL, Right: NA)

In the room which you enter from the cemetery, the NA version has a random rail added here.

This rail does not exist in the PAL/HD version. You can walk onto the ledge to go…

… exactly nowhere.

In the courtyard, there’s a little door you can walk through the leads you out onto the balcony overlooking the cemetery. Neat! Shows you how the castle is put together.

In the NA version, this door is a wall.

(Left: NA, Right: HD/PAL)

This doorway that leads back to castle gate once it is ready to be opened is blocked by Idol doors in the NA version, whereas in the PAL/HD version it’s open.

(Top: HD/PAL, Bottom: NA)

When Ico enters the door to the final boss area, he steps on a platform that lifts upwards (like an elevator to the room). In the NA version, he simply walks through the door.

Misc:

“You Were There” starts playing at an earlier point in the cutscene where shadow Yorda carries Ico to the boat in the HD/PAL version.

Last but not least, my favorite difference of them all: Ico can inexplicably pull the light reflectors much faster in the NA version.

Conclusion:

At the end of the day, the NA release of Ico is, at heart, the same game- merely lacking the small remaining amount of time and polish it needed and deserved. One can only speculate whether it would have garnered more mainstream acclaim in the west if it had gotten these things, rather than the rush job it did get. Nevertheless, myself and many others who opened up that ghastly-looking box on Christmas morning still look back on it fondly. For all those wondering what exactly it was we missed out, I think I covered it- but let me know if you spotted anything I missed!

This has been silly post on a topic I enjoy. Maybe you enjoyed it as well!

Sources:

ICO Wiki

Speedrun.com

Nomad’s Blog

Ico HD Walkthrough - EightbitHD