Pandemonium 2 (EU, NA)
What am I seeing here?
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Original PlayStation memory card icons are really small — only 16 pixels square! That’s awfully tiny for today’s screens so I’ve created 2 versions of each icon: one at 32 pixels that is closer to the original size and a much larger one at 256 pixels.
ICONS FOR SOME, BUT NOT ALL
One interesting finding across the PlayStation library is the occasional region-exclusive use of the memory card like the one you’re seeing here. In most cases it seems to be a Japanese title that will use the memory card while the European or North American versions will not. The Western releases may rely on a simple password style save system or they may forego saving of any kind.
This seems to happen most often with simpler, shorter puzzle games or arcade style titles that would only record high score tables or user settings. This trend can be seen in both directions: a Japanese title that uses the memory card may lose the feature when it is brought to Europe or North America and conversely, a Western release that is later brought to Japan may have memory card support added.
The cause for this occasional change is unclear. One possibility that I could come up with is a strong suggestion (but maybe not an outright mandate) from Sony Japan that all games take advantage of the hardware’s features whenever possible. Thinking a little more cynically, it could also have been a suggestion from Sony in order to drive sales of memory cards.
