Tengai Makyou Zero translation project

[Tom]

I sent him a message after he beat Zelda. I sent him a message today, after your suggestion.

Happy Console Gamer has commented on my channel before. He's interested in the patch. I think my message just gets lost in a sea of messages. And even if he reads it, my channel has a generic icon (as if it's a new channel). I don't have any special icons or splash pages for my channel or twitter account. At first glance, it may seem that my messages are some kind of scam...

Imagine if you got a message from a twitter account with four followers and no unique logo, asking if you want to try a Tengai Makyou Zero beta patch... It might seem fake, you know? Like I was just fishing for his e-mail address for some nefarious purpose.

But even if he returns the message, there won't be a beta patch until I hear back from DougRPG, and I don't know when that will be.

[xZabuzax]

This is one of those games that I always wanted to play decades ago!, we are so close to finally play this game in english and finally see the hype surrounding this game, I just hope is as good as the other snes gems like Chrono Trigger (best game ever!), Final Fantasy 3 (VI), Terranigma, Zelda: Link to the Past , Tales of Phantasia, Star Ocean, Seiken Densetsu (Secret of Mana) series and so on... seriously... want to know the hype on this game already... after decades ago!... argh...!!!

Hopefully Doug sends the email, you guys are doing God's work in translating this game. I hope everything goes out smoothly.

[Tom]

xZabuzax: I'm pleased to hear that you're so excited to play TM Zero. Hopefully, it will become one of your favorite games on the system.

[Merr Man]

I sent him a message after he beat Zelda. I sent him a message today, after your suggestion.

Happy Console Gamer has commented on my channel before. He's interested in the patch. I think my message just gets lost in a sea of messages. And even if he reads it, my channel has a generic icon (as if it's a new channel). I don't have any special icons or splash pages for my channel or twitter account. At first glance, it may seem that my messages are some kind of scam...

Imagine if you got a message from a twitter account with four followers and no unique logo, asking if you want to try a Tengai Makyou Zero beta patch... It might seem fake, you know? Like I was just fishing for his e-mail address for some nefarious purpose.

But even if he returns the message, there won't be a beta patch until I hear back from DougRPG, and I don't know when that will be.

An oddly specific spam message, but I get it. I don't know if he feels comfortable beta testing anything, especially if he can't talk about it on his show, SomeCallmeJohnny has a series that deals with works in progress called "Johnny's Spotlight" but I don't think that he'll spotlight this. Even if he doesn't beta-test, at least there is a chance that he'll playthrough the completed version to give his own perspective on the game, and maybe some comments about the quality of the translation, we can only hope.....

[dejan07]

Is everything alright with DougRPG? He didn't updated his Twitter since fifth of march.

[mikeprado30]

Don't fear!  He showed to be around recently  Surely we'll get good news sooner than later 

[Tom]

DougRPG just sent a new copy of the graphics rom that won't make the beta come any sooner, but it did allow me to take one particular English screenshot. That let me reach a small milestone.

The English box is now complete (thanks to Cargodin's image work), and I've sent the image out to the beta testers, so they can look for any errors... I doubt they'll find any, since there's not all that much to check, but I sent it to them just in case.

It's a tiny milestone, but it's long overdue, so I'm happy about it anyway.

[Panzer88]

Thanks for the update! Looking forward to the next step.

[Tom]

Update: I heard back from Happy Console Gamer. He said he's too busy to play the game, but good luck with the project anyway.

(I should have known.)

It's a shame that this translation had to happen way past its time. Better late than never, right?

Still, it was a little depressing.

[Lentfilms]

Don't get too down about it. Plenty of people are going to be excited about this translation once it is released and I won't be surprised if HCG covers Zero once it is completed, similar to what he did with Ys V. I'd hardly call this translation "past its time", quality SNES RPGs are evergreen for a lot of fans.

[dejan07]

Yeah, it is amazing that we are still getting quality snes rpgs in 2017! This is not a bad thing!

[Tom]

The fact that it's amazing that we're still getting SNES RPGs in 2017 is part of the reason why it's depressing. This should have been done a long time ago, because even people who would have otherwise loved to play it are too busy with other stuff now, for many reasons. Many fans of the series will overlook it these days because it's just been too long.

Not saying the translation is a bad thing, or a waste of time.

Just saying that it's depressing that this game won't get the attention it deserves. But I guess that's to be expected. Some "long-lost" Atari title being dumped and released would just warrant nothing more than a "Huh, that's pretty cool... Not gonna play it, but that's neat." in this day and age as well.

I don't mind that people don't even know the name of the series in the west. That's no surprise. But when even a fan of the series shrugs it off, that's depressing to me.

No news to report.

Still waiting on the graphics.

[STARWIN]

Eh, future is longer than the past. If there won't be an official release, more people will eventually play this translation than the official version, given how much more used english is over japanese. With 2D graphics like this, there won't really be the problem of the game appearing unapproachable.

[barbe_folle]

You would be surprised by the number of people eagerly waiting for this translation all over the world 

[Pickle]

I don't mind that people don't even know the name of the series in the west. That's no surprise. But when even a fan of the series shrugs it off, that's depressing to me.

Dont get too down about. In my case i never heard of this series but im looking to get a cart now based on the work you and your team have shown.
So even though some may not have time for it, there are others like myself waiting to experience it.

[Recapnation]

It's a matter of time the Tengai Makyou series gets the popularity it deserves in the West. The people inevitably are getting more and more interested in Japanese milestones. An English release of Tengai Makyou today won't have the impact it should, for sure, but give it time. Things just aren't made like these anymore, and old stuff is fresh and new, especially when it's good. I'm sure a release like this this year will get more attention than it would have five-ten years ago.

[Tom]

To me, it's not about helping the Tengai series become popular in the west. The series is pretty much done, anyway. I wanted this game to be translated for the fans, and it depresses me that a fan of the series would say... "Cool, but I'm not interested in playing it." (Especially because I understand that perspective completely.) People get older, they have less time, they have kids, they have a whole bunch of new games to choose from... These old games are becoming increasingly less relevant as time passes, to the point where even old fans don't care as much.

That's what's most depressing.

[VicVergil]

There's not enough Tengai Makyou games to begin with, considering the high access barrier... and that was just one fan. Not one single game from the main series has been translated (well, released would be the more apt term), it was just Ao no Tengai which while a beast of a game, is still a spin-off without the involvement of the full crew. Zero would be the first such game.

There's no reason for you to feel bummed here just for talking to the wrong person, his disinterest is in no way representative of how the general retrogaming community feel. And rest assured that news about it will be everywhere as soon as it releases, its visibility isn't beholden to just one youtube personality (whatever that means). I for one can't wait to taste it in English finally after all those years.

And if that's not too much trouble, please consider releasing the tools for the custom compression when you're done.

[Tom]

Ghanmi: Actually, Tengai Makyou Zero is also considered a spin-off. It was a reboot for the series. Many people might think that "Zero" refers to the game being a prequel. That's not the case. It means that the developers "started from zero." They started from scratch.

So TM Zero will be the second Tengai series spin-off game to be fan-translated, not the first, and the only game with strong ties to the main series games (that is playable in English) would actually have to be the official release of "Kabuki Klash" on the Neo Geo. (Another spin-off game.)

All that aside, I don't understand why you'd say that I have no reason to be disappointed, and that it's my fault for talking to the "wrong person." I've already said why I was disappointed, and it was nothing to do with spreading the word on youtube, or people finding out about the translation.

I am disappointed because a fan of the series no longer really cares about the series enough to play it after all these years... I translated this for the fans, but as time passes, the interest fades. That's natural, and it's depressing.

Even with this project, the momentum has slowed to a crawl in the last month, which has caused my own interest to fade. I thought this game would be in beta testing by now, but March is nearly over. I pretty much finished up my work with it tonight and mailed over some final edits. I will leave the rest to the beta testers, if and when testing ever happens, because I'm going to move on to other things.

[Burnt Lasagna]

To me, it's not about helping the Tengai series become popular in the west. The series is pretty much done, anyway. I wanted this game to be translated for the fans, and it depresses me that a fan of the series would say... "Cool, but I'm not interested in playing it." (Especially because I understand that perspective completely.)

Yeah, I know that feeling.
Having the chance to play Tengai Makyou Zero, in English, might have been a High School students dream. However, when your teenage dream is realized decades later, when your an adult, it's bitter sweet. You can't possibly enjoy the game the same way, your just not that 15yr/old in 10th grade anymore.

For some, this patch is no longer for them. However, I'm sure a good number of modern 15yr/olds can enjoy the series with this patch. The game was made for them anyways.