The future of PC-FX fan translation

[Aggie Tsubi]

Since I'm playing Welcome to Pia Carrot in English right now, it's got me thinking about future translations of PC-FX games, and I figured it would be nice to have a centralized topic for info on upcoming PC-FX fan translations.

If I'm not mistaken, Welcome to Pia Carrot was the very first PC-FX game to receive an English fan translation, thanks to the outstanding efforts of Filler and Esperknight, and is still the only patch publicly available.

Filler and Esperknight also seem to have several other PC-FX projects in queue, with Team Innocent and Ah! My Goddess having sections on Filler's site, and I believe I saw mention of work starting on First Kiss Story, Fire Woman Matoi Gumi, and Detective Ladies (AKA Ojousama Sousamou) here on the board. There's a brief mention of Akazukin Cha Cha on the main page of the site too, but I don't know if that's a dropped project or what.

Thanks to SamIAm, we also have a Zeroigar fan translation to look forward to.

So... have I covered everything here? Are there any other projects in the works? Or, as much as I wouldn't want to hear it, any that have been canned? Anyone privy to any further details on these projects, like their current status or how soon we could possibly see them? From what I've seen, it looks like either Team Innocent or Zeroigar is likely to be the second ever released PC-FX fan translation.

[tpivette]

Team Innocent and First Kiss Story would be awesome to have an english patch! Would love to have Zeroigar as well, although mostly just because the game would also be free and I wouldn't have to pay the rediculous price tag that comes with that one!

Hope we hear back from some of the translators/programmers working on this project, or from anyone who has insight into this.

[NightWolve]

David Michel's PC-FX emulator certainly justifies more attention/projects (opens it up to those that'll never own the system), but I think issue is more so the library. Didn't Michel help with the Carrot project in some way BTW? Anyway, yeah, there are only 5 RPGs, and less than that can be classified as traditional. The best one I think seems to be "Miraculum: The Last Revelation."

>> Here's the full RPG list for the system <<

I don't see much on this system that'd ever interest me, really. There's only one shooter too, I know that, but that doesn't really need a project obviously.

[Aggie Tsubi]

Personally, I'm more interested in seeing the sims and digital comics translated since they're harder to enjoy without fully understanding the language. I can make my way through the average RPG in Japanese pretty easily by just following the old "talk to everybody" golden rule and still get enjoyment out of exploring and battling. That's why I'm really glad a game like Welcome to Pia Carrot got a fan translation, with more largely text-based games to come. That said, I welcome any and all PC-FX fan translations, whether the game all but necessitates being able to read the text or if it's just a nice perk like in Zeroigar. I think the PC-FX really rewards adventurous gamers who are willing to try out all different kinds of games rather than just the mainstream traditional stuff.

[Mishran]

Is MagicEngine even being worked on still? Been about 5 years since its last update. Even longer for MEFX.

[_joshuaTurbo]

David Michel's PC-FX emulator certainly justifies more attention/projects (opens it up to those that'll never own the system), but I think issue is more so the library. Didn't Michel help with the Carrot project in some way BTW? Anyway, yeah, there are only 5 RPGs, and less than that can be classified as traditional. The best one I think seems to be "Miraculum: The Last Revelation."

>> Here's the full RPG list for the system <<

I don't see much on this system that'd ever interest me, really. There's only one shooter too, I know that, but that doesn't really need a project obviously.

Well, Sparkling Feather was a strategy based RPG.  Turn based battle ahoy!  A fine little gem for the PCFX.

[SamIAm]

Mednafen is not only still being worked on, but it is already a better emulator than ME-FX. It may not have the slick user-interface and it may have slightly higher system requirements, but it is generally more accurate.

[NightWolve]

Is MagicEngine even being worked on still? Been about 5 years since its last update. Even longer for MEFX.

The only activity that I see from Michel is that the monthly contest is still ongoing so we know he's alive and kicking! Next game up is "Dragon Knight II." He put up "Legend of Xanadu II" last year I noticed, not bad, especially with a future fan patch! Other than that, forum activity is dead and you don't hear much from him... I can still remember from when he once said that, "MagicEngine is like a good wine, 5 years is young, give it a few more years to be perfect." - quote's from 2002! Hahaha!

He did post in the middle of 2010 that he was redeveloping the core of both emulators, I know that and his last forum message appears to be on Jan. 2012, "I still work on ME when I get a chance to but I'm often tired so I can't do much, I can work only on little things."

Mednafen is not only still being worked on, but it is already a better emulator than ME-FX. It may not have the slick user-interface and it may have slightly higher system requirements, but it is generally more accurate.

Yeah, I guess Mednafen is Queen nowadays, so many emulated systems and with good accuracy I hear, but too bad it doesn't have a decent GUI (though you can find some crappy front-ends). For me, MagicEngine works for everything I need, and Michel was nice enough to give me a key, so that's all I use for when I've wanted to play something in the past (I got about 2 hours into Beyond ShadowGate thanks to Bernie)...

You know, for patch development, testing, etc. the old YAME emulator was pretty useful!! It's quickness for loading made it easy to test a change, apply a brute force method to track down a text index, run a CD game for a limited portion, etc. The latter is how I helped track down an Ys IV text block with Neill Corlett who had previously tried to scan the whole 60 MB data track for one before that and failed (his decompression code was correct, but the project was stalled due to inability to find a block, if you can believe it!)! I set him up with a 512KB YAME state file and I'd say, look, load this, the game will work for the whole town (Minea), and somewhere in here is a compressed text block cause you could talk to characters and it'd work (with no CD in the drive, just running with a state file). As we got close, turned out "PLAYTIME" (for the game's menu) wouldn't get encoded and we noticed that with a hex editor (it'd be clearly visible), hence how we tracked down a block for the first time so then Neill was finally able to dump all text after that!

[Mishran]

Well, it's good to know he is still working on it. It's a fine emulator, but with mednafen being constantly worked on, it's getting left in the dust. It's still my emu of choice for playing turbo on my notebook pc. Not much room for leaving my consoles hooked up all the time, so I have to pulled them from storage when I want to play them. Being able to emulate them on pc is great for me. Play some Bonk's Revenge for about 15 minutes, save state, and come back to it later. I'm getting my own place sometime very soon, so space won't be so limited for me. Woo hoo!

I just derailed the thread didnt I...

[KiddoCabbusses]

Heh, incidentally enough, I popped back in here after a while of inactivity specifically to see if there's been any new fan translation announcements.

Most of the really good choices have been picked out already, I believe... except maybe Blue Breaker. Perhaps Der Langrisser FX, to give it a good compare/contrast with the Super Famicom version that's already been fan translated?

I'd probably like to see the character endings to "Battle Heat" translated as well, if only because I want to know what the hell the plot of the game is.

[filler]

I'd probably like to see the character endings to "Battle Heat" translated as well, if only because I want to know what the hell the plot of the game is.

Well, it's not the ending but I did just translate the back cover so I'll share with you.

Also, I've been meaning to say a general "thank you" for this thread. I appreciate it. I'm finishing up a rather long vacation from work which has been quite nice. I did not translate or work on PC-FX projects nearly as much as I'd have liked but I did finally get around to adding some projects and news to a page I set up for Esperknight's and my projects a while ago. http://esperknight.translationsoftwaretool.com/ I'll be sure to pop by this thread and post when there are good updates. Speaking of which, you may want to check that page for a screenshot of a bit of inserted script for Ojousama Sousamou.

Battle Heat back cover:

鋼鉄の体と精神、鋭い必殺技をもって
The day has come ultimate warriors, to pit your
相手を斃すことだけに命懸ける究極の戦士たちが
bodies and minds of steel against your opponent's
今ここに決戦の日と迎える！！
most deadly moves in a battle of life-or-death!!

Ｂａｔｔｌｅ　Ｈｅａｔ

誇りと遺恨を賭けた８人の戦士た
Utilize each fighting style's finishers
ちが、それぞれの武闘流儀による必
and secret techniques as you see fit
殺の秘技・秘術を駆使して激突！
against 8 warriors betting it all!
緊迫感あふれる攻守のタイミングで、
Feel the urgent offensive and defensive
コマンド入力のよりアニメするキャ
timing as you manipulate animated
ラと操作。驚異のリアルタイムアニ
characters with your controller.
メバトルを実現し、壮絶な闘いがア
An heroic battle unfolds in this next-
ニメーションで展開する、新世代の
generation fighting game with amazing
格闘ゲーム！
real-time animated combat!

息づまる緊張……これまで体験した
The curtains open on a battle of such suffocating
ことのない闘いが今、幕を開ける！
tension as you've never experienced before now!

きみのパッド操
The moving image
作によって、動画
responds immediately
映像がすばやく反
to your button presses.
応。迫力と興奮の
An intense and exciting
アニメバトルかく
animated battle
り広げられる！
unfolds!

本　　　　社　〒０６２　札幌市豊平区平岸３条５丁目１番１８号　ハドソンビル　ＴＥＬ　０１１ー８４１ー４６２２
Main Office: 062 Toyohira-ku, Sapporo-shi Hiragishi Article 3 5-1-18 Hudson Building Tel: 011-841-4622
ハドソン東京　〒１６２　東京都新宿区市谷田町３丁目１番１号　ハドソンビル　ＴＥＬ　０３ー３２６０ー４６２２
Hudson Tokyo: 162 3-1-1, Ichigayatamachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo Tel: 03-3260-4622
ハドソン大阪　〒５４２　大阪市中央区東心斎橋１丁目１番１０号　大阪料理会館ビル５階　ＴＥＬ　０６ー２５１ー４６２２
Hudson Osaka: 542 1-1-10, Higashishinsaibashi, Chuo-ku, Osaka-shi The Osaka Cuisine Hall Building 5th floor Tel: 06-251-4622

（ハドソン札幌・ハドソン名古屋・ハドソン福岡）
(Hudson Sapporo / Hudson Nagoya / Hudson Fukuoka)

[Aggie Tsubi]

Awesome, I'll definitely be looking forward to more news on Ojousama. Thanks for keeping us updated.

[Aggie Tsubi]

I was wondering, how difficult would it be for someone to patch the PC-FX games that have been released in English on another platform? I know Graduation 2 came out as just "Graduation" for Windows 95 in the US, and Zork and Blue Chicago Blues are available in English as well. Any others I'm forgetting? (Well, Der Langrisser kind of counts considering it got a fan translation on another system.) Is there any advantage in there being a translation already available, or is it pretty much just as much work regardless?

I'm sure these games are low-priority (understandably so), but it would still be cool if they could get patched someday. Like in Graduation II's case, I'd definitely rather play it on my PC-FX than on my PC, and while I haven't played the Windows 95 release, I hear it's English-only for the voices and the dubbing is supposedly terrible.

[filler]

This is an excellent idea, and it would certainly make things go more quickly. However, it would feel inappropriate to use someone else's script in this way without their permission. I always feel a little hypocritical taking a moral high road about things to do with fan translation, since it by its nature is somewhat subversive. However, I think that is *why* it's important to act in ways that are right and sensible. I don't fan translate game because I hate copyright (though in some ways I do), nor to break any rules, or laws, or steal anyone's work; I do it because it should be done and no one is doing it. Those people that released these games officially did it the "right" way, by making - or working for - companies that took risks and put money on the line to legitimize these games, and ultimately had to move on to other things. If I could do it "legitimately" I would. I am not going to be one to disrespect those who tried to do so before me.

That was preachy and apologize for that. It's a good suggestion with good intentions which is why I wanted to qualify it with a detailed answer which I hope is clear and reasonable.

EDIT: Just to clarify, my preferred solution in this case would be to translate the scripts from scratch.

[Aggie Tsubi]

No worries, I fully understand. I actually do official localization of manga myself (as an editor and proofreader; I wish I was fluent in Japanese), and I'd be really pissed if someone took a script I worked on and used it in something else, which could potentially make the official product lose sales (and, in turn, make me lose royalties money). Even if what I worked on wasn't commercially available anymore, I'd still be pissed if a script was taken and the localization team wasn't at the very least given credit. I agree, the most respectful thing to do before messing with anybody's work on anything is to ask permission and let them make the call, although when it comes to publishers they're typically not going to want people messing with their products in general, whether it's borrowing a script or making a fan translation from scratch or anything.

So yeah, I can definitely see both sides of it. My previous post was made more from the perspective of a gamer. For me, when I think of playing these games that are in English on other platforms, to best enjoy them on PC-FX, I'd probably try to find FAQs that type out as much of the game's script as I can find or perhaps play through the other version first and then play in Japanese on PC-FX. So getting the games in English on PC-FX, my preferred platform, would be like cutting out the middleman, making the whole experience quicker, easier, and more enjoyable. I would never, ever even suggest such a thing if any of the official English games were still commercially available (at least, I don't think they have been for many, many years), but the more I think about it, and as you explained, there would be some stepping on toes regardless. Oh well, it was just a passing thought and something I was curious about. I'm far more interested in seeing fan translations for PC-FX games that were never available in English in any form, not officially or unofficially or on any other platform. (Well, if there could be a collaboration with the fans who did the Der Langrisser patch, that would be pretty sweet considering how good that game is.)