Stay far away from the u.s version since it cost a fortune now.If you can find a pal or jp version of little samson,then that's the way to go.
This is my thinking as well since the game has no text at all. Apart from the title screen looking diffrent
I have the famicom version and it cost me way less.Also you're correct,the only text the game has is the title screen and password.The game opening is the same to going from nes to famicom.
How long ago did you buy your copy?