As far as I know the two versions differed by the fact that one had the lights flash when there was enough contact to shake the saber, and the other had the advantage of withdrawing the "blades" (the other one couldn't do this). I got the former for a friend who was all giddy when Episode I first came out (got it at K-Mart for $30, heh). Nice but don't hit it against anything too hard...it ain't THAT strong! You'll get dents or bends.