I'd have to play thru it and write it all down...
That sounds a bit much to me...
I don't know how this mobile version works, but if it's possible to get the binary data and look through it for text, that would save a lot of time. Also would mean no errors. Let's not get ahead of ourselves.
(by the way, the guy who wrote the translation on GameFAQs still hasn't emailed me back about using his script)
Anyway, I think I want to do a little update because things are getting a bit busy for me (and I hope people are still reading - things seem a bit quiet on RHDN in the last week...).
So, as you know, I started work on Time Stranger, but my translation work has stopped. I've been busy with other things, and frankly translation, especially all-kana translation, can be a tiresome job for me. Although I got into ROM hacking through my interest in the Japanese language, since I've started assembly hacking I've realised that I enjoy the hacking process more than the translation.
I'm going to talk about it in my other thread in the Script Help forum.
I also got started on Space Hunter, despite the fact that KingMike said he made progress on it at some point. I've hit a bit of a block with the way the game does text: it does it in pieces, mixing and matching them, so getting the grammar to work in English will be a challenge, not to mention that the lines are rather terse in Japanese and there's very little space to work with.
Then there's Dragon Quest, the main step being to import the Japanese title into the US version. The actual dialogue stuff shouldn't be that much of a pain (and to be honest, this is not really in the spirit of this project).
For full disclosure, I was approached by someone about Sindibad - Chitei no Daimakyuu for the PC Engine - not to translate, but to insert a translation that he could make. I had a look and it looks quite straightforward, so I'll probably have a go at that. Since I'm only inserting a translation into a game with a convenient text routine, I don't think it will distract me too much from this project.
So, anything else? Actually, yes.
Given the state of the other things I've been looking at, I thought I'd check out some of the 'low-hanging fruit' of 1987, specifically the three games that are under 64KB.
Ikinari Musician is a weird thing. You play music, and that's about it. The only Japanese is the title, which means Spontaneous Musician in English. My question is just to ask, what should I call it when I change the title: Spontaneous Musician or Ikinari Musician? I can't decide, so I want to ask you guys.
Tokoro San no Mamoru mo Semeru mo is a platform game starring a guy who goes by the stage name George Tokoro, famous in Japan. Only Japanese here is on the title screen, the ending, and the game over screen, which amusingly parodies a famous song called Love Is Over (the Japanese Wikipedia page is surprisingly in-depth on this game). I guess this one won't be too much trouble.
Finally, Tsuppari Oozumou is a sumo game. So, lots of 16x16 text, written VERTICALLY. Just what the doctor ordered... but most of the text appears to be kanji for the names of the wrestlers, stored in a funky way in the ROM so they can have double the amount by using one colour. How I can look at it correctly in Tile Molester, I don't know.
So, that's the state of things at the moment. A bit more confusing than when I started with the simple games. I'll keep on going - though maybe not as prolific as I have been up to now.
