Rance I:Cut Content

This page covers changes made to Rance 1 over the series of its numerous ports, as well as dummied or otherwise excluded content found in the games.

Overview
Rance 1 was originally released on the PC-98, followed quickly by releases for the older PC-88 and the contemporary Sharp X68000. The game was later ported to Windows 95, and that version in turn was translated into English by HGTP Translations. The game's development history is covered in rough by the in-game Alice's Mansion section.

In 2013, the game was remade as Rance 01, covered on its own page.

PC-98
According to the developer interviews in Alice's Mansion, Rance 1 was conceived by TADA and ANCHOKU in April of an unspecified year, and development began in May of 1989 and continued for two and a half months. While the game was originally being developed for PC-98, 88, and Sharp X68000, the latter two systems were dropped as development went overlong. The decision was made to focus on the PC-98 game, since its CGs were looking the best at the time. The game saw release on July 15, 1989.

The PC-98 version of Rance 1 was patched several times between release and July 26th, which saw the release of version 1.04. This was the final version for the platform.

PC-88 and Sharp X68000
After completing version 1.04, Alicesoft shifted development back to the PC-98VA and Sharp X68000 versions. These versions are presumably based on 1.04, and presumably have the same changes. The development diary in Rance 1 notes that they were "close to completion" on October 31, 1989.

PC-88 Changes

 * Cut text from the Windows 95 Alice's Mansion (below) mention a feature added to the PC-88 version whereby the user can hide the text box using Caps Lock or Shift to speed up image display.

Sharp X68000 Changes

 * Cut text from the Windows 95 Alice's Mansion (below) note that the X68000 version lacks mouse and joystick support.

Windows 95
Rance 1 was ported to Windows 95 by WAO, the game's original, PC-98 sound programmer, using Alicesoft's System 3.5. WAO added additional pages to the in-game development diary, noting that the game was near completion on September 30 of "Year 9" (presumably Heisei 9, aka 1997, although this could also refer to the 9th year of the development diary, as the end result would be the same).

Windows 95 Changes

 * Remastered music by Shade.
 * Hints were added (specifics unknown).
 * The Xspec testing system was brought over from Kichikuou Rance.

Cut Content
Rance 1 contains a large amount of cut content. Cut content can be found in the Windows 95 game by decompiling it with a tools such as ALDExplorer and Sys3Decompiler.

Note that all the current cut content on this page comes from the Windows 95 version of the game, using HGTP's translation. Please remove or adjust this disclaimer if you add cut content from the PC-88, PC-98, or Sharp versions of the game, or from some other translation.

Debug Menu
Rance 1 contains a debug menu which can be accessed by setting VAR0149 to anything but 0 at startup (in ｽﾀｰﾄUP.ADV). This adds a "Debug" option to the opening menu and allows you to start the game and gives you five options:
 * Beginning: The player starts in front of the pub with 1000 GOLD.
 * Lair of the Thieves: The player starts outside the thieves' denon day 2, but Rance does not know how to lower the barrier. The game does not properly change the on-screen map, which will lead to graphical errors until you enter the city or the cave.
 * Castle: The player starts on day 3, outside the castle gates and carrying the Castle Permit.
 * Haunted Mansion: Despite the name, the player starts in the eastern half of central park with the Stone of Inner Peace, still a few actions away from being able to access to the Haunted Mansion. VAR0113 is set, despite being unused in the final game. VAR0121, a variable related to the dusting maid, is set to 2, a value it never reaches in-game but is tied to a piece of cut content.
 * Ending: Game cuts immediately to the scene where Rance reports to Maris and Lia after finishing the Haunted Mansion. Rance is Level 15, has the Holy Sword Ekk-libur, Armor of God, and Shield of Medusa (the best equipment from the shop, but not in the game), as well as the Magic Missile spell. Note that no story flags are set, but as the player can't escape the end sequence, this doesn't have any consequences.