Legendary Wings (Arcade)

Legendary Wings
Also known as: Ares no Tsubasa: The Legendary Soldiers (JP) Developer: Capcom Publisher: Capcom Platform: Arcade (Section Z hardware) Released internationally: November 1986 This game has unused graphics. This game has unused music. This game has regional differences. This game has revisional differences.

Michelle Heart / Generic Guy #1 and Kevin Walker / Generic Guy #2 star in this combination shoot 'em up / action platformer. Defeat the Dark!

Villain names were simpler back then.

Unused Graphics

	As in Commando, there's an additional copyright image in the text graphics ROM. And hey, they got the company name right this time!
	Unused designs for bonus items. These are stored directly after the used treasure chest graphic.
	Since no enemy, even the final boss, is worth more than 5,000 points, these graphics aren't used.
	An unused projectile with a nice green trail effect.
	19(!) unused enemy designs! This about matches the number of actual used designs in the game. One possible use: These designs could have replaced the used designs after the first game loop. Or, they could be completely different enemies that just didn't make the final cut. Either way, it seems odd that they were left in the object graphics ROM, taking up a significant part of it.
	A twentieth unused enemy, some type of biomechanical blob. It has idle and shooting animations. Its animations and size match the enemies with exposed brains that are found near the end of each stage.
	The rocket hatch object has two frames of animation, but only the open frame is used in the game.
	A turning frame for the aforementioned rockets. It'd make the transition from falling to flying smoother.

Unused Music

Arcade	NES

Track 22 is unused in the arcade version. A slightly slowed-down version is used in the NES port as the stage clear jingle.

ID	Sound
27

This track is used for the name entry screen, but only around 30 seconds are heard in-game -- The full track is approximately 1:51 in length! This was probably meant to be used as an ending track before being repurposed. The NES version has a completely different track composed for its ending.

Regional Differences

Japan	US Set 1	US Set 2

Each version of the game changes the player characters.

• In the Japanese version, Player 1 is Michelle Heart and Player 2 is Kevin Walker.
• In US Set 1, both characters were changed to identical palette-swapped men. The wings were redesigned as well, turned golden, and given more detail. These designs would end up being used in the NES version.
• In US Set 2, the character sprites are identical to the Japanese version, but Michelle's suit was changed from pink to green.

The Japanese version has an additional screen during the attract mode, introducing the player characters. These unique sprites can't be seen in any other version.

Revisional Differences

There are some differences between the US sets 1 and 2.

Japan/US Set 1	US Set 2

While Set 1 keeps the default high score list from the Japanese version, the second set changes them to actual names. Staff members, perhaps?

US Set 1	Japan/US Set 2

The ornament atop the dragon statue is much brighter in Set 1 than in the Japanese game / Set 2.

US Set 1	Japan/US Set 2

The design of the palace walls was changed in Set 1.

(Source: Original TCRF research)