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• Bare Knuckle 3 Translation Puts the Rage Back into Streets of Rage

  While the Streets of Rage series is mostly a forgotten relic these days, Sega's answer to Final Fight is fondly remembered by many as the superior alternative to Capcom's brawler--especially since the home version of Final Fight didn't even have friggin' multiplayer. But it's recently come to my attention that the changes made in the translation from Bare Knuckle (the Japanese name for the series) to Streets of Rage are mostly unknown to the gaming public. So thank heavens we now have Twilight Translation's Bare Knuckle III translation patch in our lives to right Sega's 15 year-old wrong of inexplicably changing the game's story. Read More... Posted Feb 24 2009, 02:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: final fight, streets of rage, translation, bob mackey, brawlers, fan translations

• A Treasure Trove of Free Japanese Goodies

  It’s not often that you stumble across a find like this. Last week, while no one was looking, a fan translation group called insani held a festival titled al|together 2008. During this festival, they released no less than six fully translated, 100% free Japanese games, hand-picked from the best of the Eastern indie scene. And hoo man, some of these things are good. I hesitate to call them “visual novels” because I know that people read that and think Anna Karenina but with giant anime eyes and clicking instead of page turning. These games are not like that (okay, there are giant anime eyes. Whatever.). The first one, From the Bottom of the Heart, is five minutes of perfect localization. The second game, Crimsoness, is three minutes of pure, delicious crazy, fairly interactive and worth playing multiple times. I can’t even describe it, you really just have to give it a go. I’ve not even gotten to what insani calls “the crown jewel” of the festival, Moonshine. I’ve been way too immersed in all the other goodness that’s on offer. And if half a dozen games isn’t enough, the website also peers deep into the process, with notes on the original Japanese game creator, the translator that took on the project, the extensive peer review each game had to undergo. It’s all just so…passionate. Read More... Posted Dec 04 2008, 06:00 PM by Joe Keiser with | with 7 comment(s) Filed under: japan, indie dev moment, fan translations, labors of love, visual novels

• The End of Time and the Beginning of Fan Drama

  Recent videos of Chrono Trigger DS reveal the same game we aspired to marry thirteen years ago (has it been thirteen years? Holy crap, I could've done something useful like rear a thankless teenager) but the sharp among us have noticed...ch-ch-changes. Specifically, it looks like the in-game text has been altered a bit. This means it's possible Chrono Trigger DS will be receiving the Final Fantasy VI Advance treatment. This treatment, by definition, aspires to keep the charm of Ted Woolsey's original translation, but will still fill out text that had to be cut because of space issues or censorship. Personally, I'm not even sure what can be restored. The blossoming shitstorm has fanned my fascination for The Chrono Trigger Re-Translation Project, a project that's considered about as useless as using an umbrella to deflect a falling piano. Unlike most fan translations, the Chrono Trigger Retranslation Project website doesn't open up with an animated .gif of Woolsey burning at the stake. Regardless, its existence rubs me the wrong way because it's so unnecessary. The Internet is a toilet bowl brimming with Useless, but this little turnpike on the Information Highway really just gets to me. Even though the project managers acknowledge that Woolsey did an okay job translating Chrono Trigger under the circumstances, this little bit of smugness gets under my fingernails: [S]ome essence of the game was lost or altered, given Nintendo of America's censorship standards and the inability of the game to hold all the original text when translated to English. SNES-era RPGs were so gosh darn playable, but I think they also owe some of their longevity to great translation. Final Fantasy VI was dark and brooding and despite Woolsey's best efforts, I sometimes felt like I was out of the loop--and there were instances where the censorship dusted the in-game content as carelessly as kitty litter covers...you know. But Chrono Trigger is a shonen game. A boy versus a great evil. Great story, to be sure, but lacking in depth. And that was okay because the game wasn't trying to be deep. Read More... Posted Sep 12 2008, 07:48 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 10 comment(s) Filed under: final fantasy vi, chrono trigger, fandom, ted woolsey, nadia oxford, fan translations, chrono trigger ds, translators, drama

• Whatcha (Trying To) Play: Legend of Zelda: Parallel Worlds

  Blessed are the fan translators. Without them we would never be able to experience the wonder of games like Seiken Densetsu 3, Mother 3 (it's coming!) or Final Fantasy V years before it recieved an awful translation on the Playstation. Less blessed are the ROM hackers. I know we all went through our childhood tormented by questions like, "What if Mario had a gigantic penis to trip him up while he tried to rescue the Princess?" and, "Gee, Sonic the Hedgehog is great, but it would be really great if someone replaced Mobius' clouds with Swastikas!" but ultimately the answers to these questions turn out to be nothing but messy self-indulgence. But even my jaded heart can recognise a great piece of fan work when I see it. The Legend of Zelda: Parallel Worlds is a great piece of fanwork. It's also near unplayable for pussies who embody the type of girly gamer who should slink back to her copy of Barbie's Horse Adventures (hint: Me). Read More... Posted Sep 10 2008, 06:10 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: mother 3, fan stuff, nadia oxford, seiken densetsu 3, rom hacks, fan translations, final fantasy v, the legend of zelda link to the past, fan hacks, the legend of zelda parallel worlds