Author Topic: Wonder Momo fan translated  (Read 960 times)

Mr^Burns

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Wonder Momo fan translated
« on: October 02, 2021, 06:19:33 AM »
http://www.romhacking.net/translations/6298/

"This is a 100% English translation patch for Wonder Momo on the PC Engine.

All the level intermissions and the ending credits are translated. Additionally, the title screen has also been localized into English.

It should be noted that most PC Engine emulators had Vsync issues with the original version of Wonder Momo. dshadoff was kind enough to correct these display issues; as such, this translation of Wonder Momo has been playtested and revealed no problems on the latest versions of Mednafen, Magic Engine, Ootake, PCEjin and Bizhawk."

"--------------
Filler's Notes
==============

In late 2019, running low on Game Gear scripts to dump I turned my attention to other systems, namely the Mega Drive and PC Engine. I ended up decoding the custom script encoding and dumping a script for Wonder Momo on November 9th of 2019. Incidentally, I accidentally deleted the table file I'd made after dumping the script and used a data recover program to save myself having to remake it.

It looks like I was busy translating and editing the script for Sorcery Saga A (Madou Monogatari A) for several months. Come February of 2020 the English language translation patch for Sorcery Saga A was released and I decided to translate the small script for Wonder Momo.

I got curious what was up with the line "viva non non". Best I can tell it's a reference to a song from 1968 by "Drifters" (
). I guess it's a pop rendition of a folk song to which they added the line "viva non non". From what I recall it's considered to be nonsense, or possibly a reference to a cabaret the band visited, but as of now I can't locate any sources to corroborate.

I may or may not have reached out to anyone to hack the game, but at any rate I listed the game under "orphaned projects" on my website and moved on to other things.

Fast forward to September 24th of 2021, 4lorn reached out to me saying he'd started working on the game and noticed it listed under my orphaned projects. I sent along my script and the rest is history.

Many thanks to PC Engine expert and occasional collaborator David Shadoff who helped expand the ROM and find the text pointers to facilitate inserting the English language script. Also, thanks of course to 4lorn for reaching out to me and handling much of the technical work on this project.

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4lorn's Notes
=============

Hubris is a terrible thing, but it can get you into interesting situations.

After finishing my translation for Rabio Lepus on the PC Engine, I decided to look into other unlocalized games for NEC's platform. Riding high on my success with the previous one, which turned out to be a solo project, I decided to work on Wonder Momo and thought that maybe, just maybe, a second solo project could turn out just as good.

Oh, sweet PC Engine translation child.

It only dawned on me after I had extracted the script for Namco's game that someone might have already tried translating it - there's not a whole lot of text, and the game is fairly easy to edit. I soon discovered filler had already worked on a translation and so, rather than have the game suffer what might end up being a subpar translation on my behalf, I contacted him and he sent me his script.

To say the project didn't quite turn out like I was expecting is an overstatement. There is barely any compression, but little in the way of breathing room for extended scripts either. Attempts to hijack certain parts of video RAM weren't very successful, so I then decided to contact the ever brilliant dshadoff, who had previously worked with filler on Maison Ikkoku's translation. dshadoff was gracious enough to go well beyond the call for technical assistance, expanding the ROM, patching in several text repointing routines and even fixing a Vsync timing problem - every PCE emulator that  stumbled when rendering the original Wonder Momo will now display the translated version without problems.

Along the way, we both ended up figuring out a way to overcome the game's double-spacing for cutscenes, which also helped.

As these obstacles were overcome, I then replaced the Japanese characters with a new English font, localized the logo for the title screen and inserted the script.

And here we are, with another PC Engine game translated to English! I hope everyone enjoys the localized version of Wonder Momo.

My thanks to filler for his delicious script; dshadoff for his technical wizardry, which is beyond words; and my hubris, for giving me the chance to work with this great team. I won't be seeing it again, but who knows, maybe filler, dshadoff and me will work together again...

-------------
Viva Non Non!
============="
« Last Edit: October 02, 2021, 06:26:47 AM by Mr^Burns »

Necromancer

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Re: Wonder Momo fan translated
« Reply #1 on: October 02, 2021, 04:31:25 PM »
Ah, sweet, another translation.  Wonder Momo gets quite a bit of shit, but I kinda like it.  I've certainly played worse games, games that don't even have pervy upskirt action.  :mrgreen:
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TurboGrafx-16

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Re: Wonder Momo fan translated
« Reply #2 on: February 20, 2025, 04:20:57 AM »
Wonder Momo is an awesome game.  Most of the video reviewers online who pan it arent even playing it right & dont know how to transform manually. Face the screen and tap the attack button or hold it down while in turbo mode.  You have to master the art of low jumps and kicking the flying enemies with the tip of your foot hitbox.  Trying to beat my own high scores in Wonder Momo is one of my favorite things to do on a PC Engine.  Seriously one of my favorite games on the system. 

People are really unfairly harsh to this game when theyve hardly given it a chance or attempted to learn how to play it well.  It becomes very fun once you get some skills!  Wonder Momo is also a really charming game with authentic Japanese cigarette-stained 80s arcade full of drunk middle aged men vibes.  I encourage everyone to give Wonder Momo another chance.  I love it so much I own two copies!  I have a TG16 console with a vintage HuCARD converter and Wonder Momo is one of my most-played games on the system..
« Last Edit: February 20, 2025, 04:24:50 AM by TurboGrafx-16 »

HuDuo

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Re: Wonder Momo fan translated
« Reply #3 on: February 20, 2025, 11:55:11 PM »
Makes me think, if Wonder Momo can get some devoted fans, maybe there's still a chance for Deep Blue and Gunboat.

(though honestly, Gunboat does actually have a bit of charm once you warm up to it. Yes it's kusoge, but it's at least technically interesting. Curious to think the TG16 is capable of drawing triangles)

Paranoia Dragon

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Re: Wonder Momo fan translated
« Reply #4 on: Today at 02:45:24 AM »
Makes me think, if Wonder Momo can get some devoted fans, maybe there's still a chance for Deep Blue and Gunboat.

(though honestly, Gunboat does actually have a bit of charm once you warm up to it. Yes it's kusoge, but it's at least technically interesting. Curious to think the TG16 is capable of drawing triangles)

This Japanese dev pushes the poly's on the PCE even further. I'm not clear how far he wants to go with this engine, but it'd be great if it becomes a full game.

https://x.com/yhzmr442/status/1882457345915240907

Mathius

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Re: Wonder Momo fan translated
« Reply #5 on: Today at 06:40:57 PM »
Makes me think, if Wonder Momo can get some devoted fans, maybe there's still a chance for Deep Blue and Gunboat.

(though honestly, Gunboat does actually have a bit of charm once you warm up to it. Yes it's kusoge, but it's at least technically interesting. Curious to think the TG16 is capable of drawing triangles)

This Japanese dev pushes the poly's on the PCE even further. I'm not clear how far he wants to go with this engine, but it'd be great if it becomes a full game.

https://x.com/yhzmr442/status/1882457345915240907

It doesn't look too far off from the stock Genesis/MD poly pushers like Abrams and F-22 Interceptor. I played F-22 to death as a kid.
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HuDuo

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Re: Wonder Momo fan translated
« Reply #6 on: Today at 08:47:54 PM »
That is absolutely glorious! I'd love to see a homebrew polygon game for the humble PC Engine. I mean, if the Commodore 64 and Plus/4 can have games like Mercenary, why can't the PC Engine?