Hamtaro: Ham-Hams Unite!

Hamtaro: Ham-Hams Unite!
Also known as: Tottoko Hamutarou 2: Hamu-chans Daishuugou Dechu (JP) Developer: Pax Softnica Publisher: Nintendo Platform: Game Boy Color Released in JP: April 21, 2001 Released in US: October 28, 2002 Released in EU: January 10, 2003 This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused music. This game has unused text. This game has regional differences. This game has a prototype article

To do: The debug build in the 2020-07-24 Nintendo leak. Finish covering regional graphical differences and grab comparison screens for the ones that are missing.

The cutesy adventure where you, the hamster completely without a vocabulary, are tasked with gathering all of the other Hams for a clubhouse meeting. Just don't Hulahula around, or Hamtaro will get very Blash-T.

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Prototype Info

Hidden Text

Build Date

The following text is found at 0x753A (US), 0x74ED (EU), or 0x76CE (JP):

FILE1 2001/03/22

Copyright Notice

A copyright notice with the project name, studio name and date can be found at 0xA000 (EU):

HAMTARO2 Paxsoft nica. 2000/11/21

And a similar name at 0x0134 (EU):

HAMUTARO2

Hamtaro: Ham-Hams Unite! is the second Hamtaro game released in Japan, hence the 2.

Unused Text

Odd Words

Among several incomplete textual Ham-chat word and item lists in the ROM are several unused strings of text, separated by the byte E1, or 00 for the European version. Most of these seem to be internal names for locations. The byte E1 seemingly isn't in any actual used text, but acts as a string ending when put in an actual dialogue. Here are the unused and unmentioned words, not in their proper order:

Japan

US/Europe

リビング ブティック リボンちゃん のっぽくん こうしくん マフラちゃん パンダくん トンガリくん トラハムちゃ トラハムくん ちびまるちゃ かぶるくん まいどくん めがねくん タイショーく ねてるくん ダンスホール さばく1 さばく2 さばく3 さばく4 かだん1 かだん2 かだん3 はなぞの すべりだい1 Jジム でいりぐち けいだい もり3 もり5 リボン こうもん りかしつ 1かいろうか 2かいろうか 1かいだん うらにわ なみきみち きゅうしょくしつ こうさくしつ PCしつ にわ1なか にわ1みぎ にわ1ひだり ベラ1した ベランダ2 ベランダ4 ふんすい こいしへや ベランダ5

LivingRoom Boutique Bijou Maxwell Oxnard Pashmina Panda Jingle Sandy Stan Penelope Cappy Howdy Dexter Boss Snoozer Dance Hall sabaku1 sabaku2 sabaku3 sabaku4 kadan1 kadan2 kadan3 hanazono suberidai J Gym deiriguti keidai mori3 mori5 ribbon koumon rika 1F-rouka 2F-rouka 1F-kaidan uraniwa namikimiti kyuusyoku kousaku PC niwa1-naka niwa1-R niwa1-L veranda1-D veranda2 veranda4 funnsui koisi-heya veranda5 Wabldobl

Ham Names

At 0xBC00F (US) or 0x9C035 (JP) in the ROM, a list of the names of every single hamster that appears in the game can be found. Some of the names aren't very well-researched - for example, the dog's name is Taro, but this lists him only as "Dog". Most of these names aren't ever mentioned, and there is no list of names in-game, so the entire thing goes unused. Every single entry is preceded by a newline and ends with a string ending:

Japan

US/Europe

ハム太郎 タイショーくん ねてるくん リボンちゃん のっぽくん こうしくん マフラーちゃん パンダくん トンガリくん トラハムちゃん トラハムくん ちびまるちゃん かぶるくん まいどくん めがねくん デブハム はまりハム くうふくハム ヤセハム プリマハム まんぷくハム スクープハム チュートリアルハム さいせんハム さばく1ハム さばく2ハム なやみハム PCハム ガラスハム コレクターハム(うえ) コレクターハム(した) ババハム ヒップアタックハム ガイコツハム きのみハム カンバンハム ムシハム ジャングルハム もぐハム おろおろハム きょうふしょうハム ポエムハム ねごこちハム きのみハム2 ゴルフハム フラワーハム ガサガサハム ねハム おかしハム サンオイルハム サンオイルハム2 マスターハム てんいんハム バーテンハム オヤジハム テキヤハム まっちゅるハムあに まっちゅるハムA せいしゅんハム まっちゅるハム※ ピクニックハム あきんどハム でしハム でっちハム もぐら ポッポ あなハム からす きゃくハム いぬハム いぬ だ~れだ? こハムたち カエル エスキモーハム カメ ドクターハム ナースハム セクシーハム リスザル コギャルハム

Hamtaro Boss Snoozer Bijou Maxwell Oxnard Pashmina Panda Jingle Sandy Stan Penelope Cappy Howdy Dexter Fat Ham Stuck Ham Hungry Ham Skinny Ham Prima Donna Ham Very Full Ham Shutterbug Ham Tutorial Ham Money-offering Ham Desert Ham 1 Desert Ham 2 Anxious Ham PC Ham Glass Ham Collector Ham Collector Ham Grandma Ham Hip Attack Ham Skeleton Ham Nut Ham Sign Ham Bug Ham Jungle Ham Mog Ham Panic Ham Scared Ham Poet Ham Sleeping Ham Sleeping Ham Golf Ham Flower Ham Noisy Ham Snoozing Ham Snack Ham Sun-tan Ham Sun-tan Ham 2 Master Ham Store Clerk Ham Bartender Ham Middle-aged Ham Macho Ham Macho Ham A Jock Ham Macho Ham Picnic Ham Ham-Swap Ham Apprentice Ham Errand Ham Mole Pigeon Hole Ham Crow Guest Ham Dog Ham Dog Who's that? Mini-Hams Frog Eskimo Ham Turtle Doctor Ham Nurse Ham Sexy Ham Squirrel Monkey Valley Girl Ham

Note that "テキヤハム" (Tekiya Ham) is the only name that wasn't translated in the US and European versions. (See 的屋 or Tekiya for meaning.)

Unused Graphics

Untranslated Dictionary Entry

Among all the other dictionary graphics, an untranslated entry from the Japanese version of Hamtaro appears. This entry reads へろへろん (heroheron, sounds like "be drained") and ぐったり (guttari, means someone is really tired). This entry appears in the Japanese version, too, and is just as unused there. In the actual game, a Ham-Chat for "tired" called Blahh appears, though this has its own different counterpart in the Japanese version. In the European version of the game, the entry appears five separate times, one for each language.

Boutique H.M Sign

There's a large "Boutique H.M" sign on the back wall of each Boutique H.M store, written in katakana (unlike the logo on the floor), but only the "H.M" part can be seen in-game because the camera never scrolls up enough for the player to see the rest. Because of this, it was left untranslated in the international versions. The top few tiles of the sunflower graphics also go unseen for the same reasons.

Unused Music

All songs are listed at the end of the soundtrack and don't have names.

Unused Track 1

A rendition of the Japanese Hamtaro song Hamutaro Ekakiuta, or Hamtaro Drawing Song.

Unused Track 2

Unknown what this would be used for; it possibly could've been for when you receive a low score in a minigame. It is an rendition of "ピカピカの一年生" (Pika Pika no Ichi-nensei), a song used in commercials for the Shogakukan Learning Magazines (which is where the Hamtaro character first debuted).

Unused Track 3

Scrapped Ham-Jam song, an arrangement of Dvorak's New World Symphony - 4th Movement.

Unused Track 4

Another scrapped Ham-Jam song, an arrangement version of Dvorak's New World Symphony - 2nd Movement.

Unused Track 5

Yet another scrapped Ham-Jam song, though this is a second, more triumphant version of Dvorak's New World Symphony - 4th Movement. Strangely, it's the only song to have multiple Ham-Jam renditions.

Unused Track 6

Overworld music that sounds like an early version of the Flower Garden/Cave theme, though given that it's the last song in the soundtrack, this might be unlikely.

Regional Differences

Title Screen

Japan	US	Europe

Each version of the game has a different title screen. The Japanese version, of course, displays the Japanese title with the same style as the Japanese logo. The US and European versions both display the westernized logo, but with a different-looking subtitle: the US version places the subtitle on a brown box and has a green background, while the European version's logo is the same as the one on the game's box art.

"For use with Game Boy Color" Screen

Japan	US	Europe

The screen that pops up when you try to play the game on an original Game Boy has its own, smaller monochrome version of the logo in all three versions! Of note is also the unique Hamtaro sprite - largely a copy of the one used in-game, but it has a shadow and is anti-aliased by hand.

Music

Title Theme

The Japanese version of the game plays a chippy version of the Japanese opening to Tottoko Hamutarō on the title screen, while the US and EU versions do the same for their own separate theme. Since the title screen is set to start the eye-catch after the song has finished playing, the US and European title screens stay active for more than twice as long as the Japanese title screen does.

This change carried over to all later Hamtaro games released outside of Japan. It also affects the unlockable Ham-Jam based on the title theme, making it the longest Ham-Jam theme by a wide margin in international versions.

Japanese title theme	International title theme

Notebook Theme

The theme playing in the background while viewing the notebook is different in the Japanese version compared to the US and EU versions. The Japanese version plays the bass channel of the Japanese title theme in the right speaker and the percussion in the left, without the two other channels playing at all. The US and EU versions use the same theme as the regular pause menu.

Contrary to the above change, the same was not done for Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Heartbreak, which uses the Japanese theme (on its pause menu) in all versions.

Japanese notebook theme	Pause menu and international notebook theme

Hamtaro

Hamtaro's "へけっ" noise was translated (...well, Romanized) in his "confused" animation.

The "ふっ" ("hmph") from his shrugging animation, on the other hand, was just blanked out.

Items

Cherry

US		Europe

One of the items in the game's trading sequence has different names in the US and European versions. In the US version, the item is called a "Nut". The European localization team said nuts to that and called it a "Cherry". This change is reflected both on the items screen and in dialogue. Note that there are also a few differences in the item description font - the European font has a shorter Y, for example.

Flugo+

Japan	International

Flugo+, the miracle drug that cures everything between the common cold and the common cold, is known as "Cold Medicine DX" in Japan. Because its name changed when it made its overseas debut, the branding had to go.

Flyer

The Ham-Swap advertising flyer originally had やすい！("Cheap!") on top and the Japanese name of the shop it's advertising, インチキどう (roughly translated as "Swindle Shop"), along the bottom. In international versions, these are replaced with, respectively, illegible scribbles and a drawing of the owner's face.

Sunflower Elementary

There's a partially offscreen sign on the wall out front of Sunflower Elementary, the only on-screen character of which is "校" (likely from "小学校", "elementary school"). The international versions removed this completely.

The price tags in Ham-Swap were redrawn in the international versions; the barely legible Japanese text was replaced with even more unreadable English text, the price numbers were made larger, and the tags are gray instead of white.

The bulletin board in the front hallway has papers stuck to it, as tends to happen with bulletin boards. In the Japanese version, they're notes reading "歯を大切に！" ("Take care of your teeth!") and "しんごうを守ろう！" ("Obey traffic signals!"). Stuff you'd see in an elementary school. The localizers decided being educational was for squares, though, and replaced them with new designs of flowers, musical notes, and hearts.

The milk crates in the storeroom, which originally read "ひまわり牛乳" ("Sunflower Milk"), were translated for a change as simply "MILK", though the stylized sunflower logo was kept. The boxes of bread ("パン") once again just had their text blanked out.

Sunflower Market

Unlike in Sunflower Elementary, a lot of the signs here were properly translated.

The tiny "円" was erased from the price labels. Instead of costing 300 yen (which isn't much), the products advertised now cost 300 of whatever currency you use where you live (which probably is).

The bottles of "TAE" were spellchecked into "TEA" when brought overseas.

The cookie boxes were bilingual in the Japanese version, like a lot of products in real-life Japan. In the international versions, the English text was moved to the top half of the box, replacing the Japanese "クッキー" text, with some drawings of... well, cookies taking its place at the bottom.

Credits

The international versions added a copyright screen after both credits sequences.

Ham-Chat

Hamsolo

Japan	International

In the Japanese version, the animation for "Hamsolo" has Hamtaro gloomily rubs on the ground with his paw (an action sometimes used in Japanese media when a character is bored or embarrassed/ashamed), but it looks like he is rubbing his crotch while looking forlorn. In the international version, Hamtaro sits down and wipes the tears from his eyes instead. "Hamsolo" means "lonely", so it's quite obvious why this change was made. Interestingly, his whiskers are animated in the international version.

Wait-Q

Japan	International

A similar change was made for "Wait-Q". The Japanese animation shows Hamtaro sitting down and rubbing the ground with his paw while looking bored. In the international versions, he instead stands up and taps his foot impatiently. Just like the aforementioned animation above, his whiskers are animated in the international version.

Hamtast

Japan	International

In the Japanese version, the "Hamtast" animation has Hamtaro sneezing. This is likely a reference to the Japanese word, パーへくち (pāhekuchi), sounding similar to one of various onomatopoeia for sneezing. Since the wordplay and pun doesn't work in English, the international version grabbed the sprite of Hamtaro sneezing and slapped a thumbs-up on it. Knowing that "hamtast" means "perfect", this change made more sense.

Hushie

Japan	International

The Ham-chat word "Hushie" means "secret", so it's represented by Hamtaro holding a paper with an "X" in front of his mouth in the Japanese version. The international version changed the "X" to a red crossed-circle symbol instead. Hamtaro's sprite was also changed to have him look more downward than up.

Cramcram

Japan	International

The Japanese animation for "Cramcram", meaning "study", has Hamtaro wearing a hachimaki headband, complete with hinomaru. This was removed from the international version, turning it into a plain old headband.