46 Okunen Monogatari: The Shinkaron / E.V.O. (PC-98) - English Translation

[hollowaytape]

The Game
46 Okunen Monogatari: The Shinkaron (PC-98, 1990) is the predecessor to E.V.O.: Search for Eden (SNES, 1993). We're titling our translation of it E.V.O.: The Theory of Evolution.

Our translation is complete! Download it here on RHDN or here on our team website.

This game is a turn-based RPG about evolution, and is rather darker, with a more fleshed-out story than its sequel Search for Eden. Unlike the SNES game's body-part-based evolution system, here you evolve by allocating points to one of four stats, and you evolve into an entirely new creature when you cross a certain threshold. Here's a Hardcore Gaming 101 article about both E.V.O. games, if you want more details.

Watch the trailer here.

Project Scope
Translate all text and images in the game, including the creature encyclopedia and game over stories.
Patch should work on real hardware.
Translate the manual as well.
Help out people who are just getting started with PC-98 emulation.

Project Status
Done: Mapping, Dumping, Translation, Reinsertion, Revision, Bugfixes, Image Reinsertion, Formatting, Finishing Touches, Manual Translation, Manual Layout, Beta Testing

Release Date: December 28, 2016

Credits
46 OkuMen (Core Team):
hollowaytape - Hacking
kuoushi - Translation, Editing, Trailer
SkyeWelse - Chapter Title Graphics, Manual Layout, Promo Art

Contributors:
Racoon Sam / SkyeWelse - Main Title Graphic
M-bot - Graphics Hacking
sonofashark / Ultimate - Manual Scans
not_log - Manual Scanlation
joseji - Special Thanks
Highwang, SkyeWelse, Arboreal, RadGalaxy, measuredincm, gonameyourself - Beta Testing

Screenshots

[Raccoon Sam]

Wow, this is great! I tried my hand with this too but couldn't figure anything out, couldn't find any data from the files, in fact.
The screenshots looks really nice.
Looking forward to this!

EDIT: Have you decided on the name of the title? I could probably whip up a title screen graphic if that's okay, just need to know the correct wording.
EDIT EDIT:
something like this? missing a subtitle obviously but you probably get the point

[hollowaytape]

Thanks! I had some trouble with the data first too, but I found it by relative searching "ENIX" from the opening credits, then "TAKE IT EASY" from some of the dialogue right before the final boss. It's Shift-JIS and stored in the executables ST1-ST6.EXE, plus OPENING.EXE and ENDING.EXE, plus the encyclopedia SINKA.DAT and the endings list SEND.DAT. A lot of these files didn't show up when I first extracted the FDI using EditDisk, since they get marked as hidden automatically in Windows for whatever reason...

That's a cool title screen mockup, but it sounded to me like SkyeWelse wanted to do the graphic edits. I am working with M-bot from the Heroes of Legend PC-98 forum to write a codec for the .GDT image format, and we're not sure about the limitations quite yet - I wanted to figure that out before any images get created for the project. Plus, no word from kuoushi about the title yet. I appreciate you whipping that up super fast, though.

[Raccoon Sam]

That's totally fine, thanks. A GDT parser sounds super great, too!
Keep us all updated and keep up the good work!

[Magma MK-II]

This is great! If there was one PC-98 game I wanted to see translated it was this one.

[ze10]

I'm really excited about this project. This game is really interesting and I'm looking forward to playing it

[Strawberrymilk9]

I can't wait to see what comes out of this project. I'd make the effort to play through the game even if all I had was a translated script to follow along with as I tried to make sense of all the moonrunes.

[Mew seeker]

By "Alternate Endings", do you mean the events that happens when you evolve the "wrong" way? 

[hollowaytape]

By "Alternate Endings", do you mean the events that happens when you evolve the "wrong" way? 

Yup, that's what I mean! There are tons of them - they represent about 15% of the game's total text, so we'll be spending a while on them. Hopefully they'll be funny enough to justify the effort!

[ObiKKa]

Hi all. Have any of you noticed this nice Retro Collect review for the SNES variant of this game, which was published on 10 JUNE 2016? It's also got 3 embedded videos, delicious!

* Sorry, I had to edit this post because I missed or didn't remember the HG101 article link in your original post above. In that article they even linked to an old 2008 thread from Kingmike suggesting that someone in here had back then been working on a translation for the PC-98 game!

[Midna]

Hi all. Have any of you noticed this nice HG101 feature on both the SNES and PC-98 variants of this game, which was published on January 17, 2016? They even linked to an old 2008 thread from Kingmike suggesting that someone in here had back then been working on a translation for the PC-98 game!

Did you read the first post? It's mentioned there.

[ObiKKa]

Yes, missed it up above. But I've edited my previous post to include a more recent review for the SNES version only of this game. Check it.

[sushinfood]

Just passing through and wanted to shout out my earnest support for this incredible project!!

[AfritxAlchemy]

Wow, wow, wow!
I lost all hope seeing the old thread for this translation die, now I'm excited to see things going so smoothly!
I played (or rather STUMBLED) through the original Japanese version within a week. But that was the most satisfying week of my life.

After first discovering the SNES sequel EVO back around late 2009 I've been enamored with the series since! Soon after, I learned of the prequel and began trying to hunt it down, but to no avail. But then around October of last year I succeeded in securing a copy and an emulator that runs it properly, and the rest (pardon the pun) is history! I can't wait to go through the game again and relive that fun!

Most of all, I thank you deeply for all the time and effort you and your team have put into this project and all the time and effort you all will put into its completion. 

[cheez]

Heh, I've been waiting for this to happen for a long time. I remember introducing the game to Kuoushi along time back and talking about the various differences the game held in comparison with its SNES successor. It's a very interesting little project so I'm glad to see it's getting some attention after all this time in relative obscurity.

[sonofashark]

So amazing to see some legit translated text in these screenshots! I worked for months on extracting and translating this game, and had so many issues I had to give up!

I'm a massive fan, and have all three versions of the game (PC-98, SNES & SNES-J). Feeling nostalgic and hoping you guys keep the project going strong! Here are some pics of my EVO boxes:

For FYI, the PC-98 disks I have are 3.5" I've met one other person online who owned the game and they also had it in 3.5" format. I've seen pictures on ebay recently of a 5.25" copy of the game but I can't verify it's authenticity. It's possible the game came out in both formats. Anyway, see attached my full IMGUR album for fun:
https://imgur.com/a/r3Cwx

[hollowaytape]

Heh, I've been waiting for this to happen for a long time. I remember introducing the game to Kuoushi along time back and talking about the various differences the game held in comparison with its SNES successor. It's a very interesting little project so I'm glad to see it's getting some attention after all this time in relative obscurity.

Well, you've definitely done us all a favor by getting kuoushi interested! He's obviously been crucial to the project. So thanks!

So amazing to see some legit translated text in these screenshots! I worked for months on extracting and translating this game, and had so many issues I had to give up!
...
Anyway, see attached my full IMGUR album for fun:
https://imgur.com/a/r3Cwx

Wow, that album looks great! Is that little black booklet in the PC-98 version box an instruction manual? Is there anything noteworthy inside?

Super cool that you were trying to work on this as well. What kinds of issues were you encountering? I'd love to compare notes if you have anything from back then; even if you gave up you may have figured out some stuff I didn't. (Like, I still don't know how the game decides which creature you evolve into next.)

[sonofashark]

Honestly, I didn't get terribly far. I'm much better at graphics design. I was just basically playing with titles and text, and could never re-import the text or changes without crashing the game. For some reason it always screwed up whenever I saved my changes basically.

As for your second question, it is the instruction manual! In fact, I've never seen anyone else with one in good condition/all pages so let me upload it (with my cell phone haha). It has tables and pics that may help you figure out what's going on; it's better than a lot of other manuals I've seen for pc-98. Also, check out the reverse box art - it shows you the evolution chain with pictures. I think the charts address how the game decides on what you evolve into. Sorry for finger appearing in some pics - gotta wrap up and head out to a movie!
https://imgur.com/a/ASO2v

Happy to be credited for supplying this document if you can Also, if you provide me the translated text I can easily produce for you a fairly authentic-looking pdf file with original artwork etc, so anyone who plays this has a companion document with the original look and feel.

https://imgur.com/a/ASO2v
August 24, 2016, 04:39:42 PM - (Auto Merged - Double Posts are not allowed before 7 days.)

Well, you've definitely done us all a favor by getting kuoushi interested! He's obviously been crucial to the project. So thanks!

Wow, that album looks great! Is that little black booklet in the PC-98 version box an instruction manual? Is there anything noteworthy inside?

Super cool that you were trying to work on this as well. What kinds of issues were you encountering? I'd love to compare notes if you have anything from back then; even if you gave up you may have figured out some stuff I didn't. (Like, I still don't know how the game decides which creature you evolve into next.)

[hollowaytape]

https://imgur.com/a/ASO2v

This is a fantastic resource! This would be a totally fun resource to include with the game. Translation of it probably won't happen until after the game translation is complete, but I'm definitely interested in seeing it happen.

And yeah, the game is really picky about changing the length of any file, or any text block, so it was booting to a black screen for me for the first month of attempting reinsertion.

You mentioned titles - were you playing around with the title images or something else?

[sonofashark]

I started off with the title images as it seemed like a good launching point, but shortly gave up. Then I went on to trying to just translate the first few blocks of text that you get, along with some other random titles I could identify. However, I did notice the length of the file and text blocks changing a lot, and getting the black screen each time I tried to save what I was doing/reinsert.

I'm happy not being able to master it, and super happy I found this thread You guys are doing awesome work.

My Japanese is not good enough to make an authentic translation of the manual. I assume one of you guys is working on translation? I do have a small group of Japanese friends who I could ask. Maybe I could be doing this on the side while you guys work the game end. If not maybe someone on reddit would be cool enough to help.