Translations: Before the EDF, there was the TDF: PSX mecha action game Remote Control Dandy translated

[RHDNBot]

Update By: Supper

An English translation of the PlayStation mecha action game Remote Control Dandy, the first by Earth Defense Force developer Sandlot (in all but name), has been released!

In 1999, twelve-year-old Mamoru Oza, heir to the largest fortune in the world, received two gifts from his father. The first: A simple handheld remote controller...which operated the fifty-meter-tall combat robot "Vordan". The second: Ownership of the newly-established Torino Defense Force Co., Ltd, a company formed to combat the "Enigmabots" – mysterious giant robots rampaging through the world's major cities. Remote in hand, Mamoru now finds himself the sole hope of survival for the people of Torino City.

Can a boy, his robot, and a single remote solve the riddle of the Enigmabots and save the world...without going bankrupt first?

Remote Control Dandy is a 1999 mecha action game by Human Entertainment for the Sony PlayStation. In a major departure from most mecha games, it hearkens back to giant robot shows of the '50s and '60s such as Tetsujin 28-gou, in which the robots, rather than containing a human pilot, are controlled from afar via remote. The game adopts this as its core mechanic: not only does the player have to contend with remotely navigating their robot in the manner of an RC car, but also personally run after it to keep it in sight, all while not getting stepped on by enemy robots.

Though the game was nominally developed and published by Human Entertainment (known for the Clock Tower and Fire Pro Wrestling series), Human went bankrupt a few months after its release, with almost all of the game's key staff members subsequently founding the game studio Sandlot and going on to develop the successful Earth Defense Force series. Thus, Remote Control Dandy is essentially the first Sandlot game; it bears all the hallmarks of their unique brand of outsize destruction, and it's received the occasional nod or oblique reference in their later games. Particularly, the 2002 game Robot Alchemic Drive is essentially a spiritual sequel to this one -- and Sandlot would even go on to make an actual Tetsujin 28-gou game!

This patch fully translates the game into English. Aside from the text, subtitles have been added to scenes which were originally voice-only, and all in-level textures such as billboards are also translated (the ones that were legible, anyway). Video of the translation in action can be viewed here.

The patch was the work of TheMajinZenki (translation), Supper (hacking), cccmar (editing and testing), and Xanathis (testing). Due to having worked on a large number of projects together, and in an attempt to resolve a frequent source of confusion, this team has decided to adopt the name "LIPEMCO! Translations" for their collaborative projects. They hope the partnership will continue to be a fruitful one.

Those interested in this game may also want to check out the fan translation of Sandlot's Nintendo DS title Chou Soujuu Mecha MG, released last year by Phantom, Supper, and cccmar; the games share many conceptual similarities.

RHDN Project Page

Relevant Link

[Grillkick]

This is awesome! I always hoped this would get translated. Great work

[Supper]

I'd just like to note that this is my favorite graphic edit out of any game I've worked on, ever.

(It took ages, too -- they redrew the sign with a slightly different perspective in every frame, all of which had to be individually cleaned!)

[kaiisen]

I just arrived Challenge of The Robot Siblings, so I only have Vordan and Gareth. I don't know how awesome Gareth can get, but fighting with Vordan after unlocking all its abilities is just epic.

My only con about the game is when it comes to fight against ranged robots, since there's no way to walk sideways, so it can get really frustrating sometimes.

The animated graphics during VN segments looks beautiful and makes it so pleasant to read as well.

This game is so much fun, great job with the translation and thank you so much!!!

EDIT: In Answer the S.O.S. I messed up while carrying the ship. My robot felt into the sea right in front of the dock but I got mission success because the ship got into the water LOL I laughed so hard

[JamRules]

Cool, didn't know that EDF had such history.
Nice work 

[kaiisen]

I don't think I ever finished a recently translated game this fast it got me addicted.

Is there any replay value other than trying out other robots? (I only used Vordan, Gareth and Perseval)

There was one point where

Spoiler

the school got destroyed(in that stage against the Gravity Cannon Enigmabot),

[close]

but I think there's no way to avoid that.

I wonder if there are any different events depending on level of destruction and approval rate(I always kept it above 70%), but this game seems to be pretty forward.

[Supper]

I don't think I ever finished a recently translated game this fast it got me addicted.

Is there any replay value other than trying out other robots? (I only used Vordan, Gareth and Perseval)

There was one point where

Spoiler

the school got destroyed(in that stage against the Gravity Cannon Enigmabot),

[close]

but I think there's no way to avoid that.

I wonder if there are any different events depending on level of destruction and approval rate(I always kept it above 70%), but this game seems to be pretty forward.

Glad you enjoyed it! One of the unfortunate things about this game is that it has quite a few events and even extra missions that you get specifically for failing in various ways, which most people will never see because they'll keep retrying until they get everything right (not to mention that it's really not that difficult a game anyway, so you probably won't fail too much in the first place). You might try the following:

• Go bankrupt:

   
• During the first half of the game (repeatedly)
• After the mission "Movie Debut!"
• With a deficit of more than 100 billion yen
• Destroy Miyuki's house (repeatedly)
• Destroy Uoyama Fish (repeatedly)
• Destroy Fujitsu Co. (in "Castle of Evil", and whenever you get the chance thereafter)
• Destroy the school in any mission following "Back to School" (repeatedly)
• Deliberately tank your approval rating and keep it lowered
• During missions in Bay Area, destroy transport ships whenever possible
• Following Lionel's introduction, deliberately take heavy damage with it before completing a mission
• Destroy the Iron Crab
• Destroy the MAJIN supermarket; afterwards, either destroy it again or destroy Uoyama Fish
• Make sure Uoyama Fish never gets destroyed
• Achieve a 100% approval rating

There's also a small but important branch in the story based on, I believe, whether or not the Iron Crab gets destroyed in the mission "Beware the Nightlife" (chances are it got destroyed if you played it naively -- you have to gun for the enemy really aggressively or it'll get flattened before you get there). This leads to getting alternate versions of a couple of subsequent missions, and an extra bit of dialogue much later on.

[kaiisen]

I got Beware the Nightlife and that's the only one I could identify from the ones you mentioned XD

I reached 100% approval rating a couple times but I don't remember of anything for that percentage specifically. I remember I got a citizen to visit me and thank me for avoiding too much casualties, but around that time I remember I got my approval rating checked and it was about 80%. Maybe you only need to reach 100% at least once for that to happen?

One thing that had caught my attention is that the fisherman's daughter from the school(I can't remember her name, but she's the girl who save us and take us to her home) completely disappeared from the game after the school got destroyed once(in that stage with the Gravity Cannon Enigmabot). I found it odd because I thought she would be a more relevant character to just be gone like that, so I think I messed up with something. Probably I let the Iron Crab to be destroyed at some point and didn't realize it or she's not relevant at all.

I think her last appearance was when she asked me to destroy the competition and to carry her banner around.

[delta7890]

Oh heck yes!  Thank you so much for this!

[Page8988]

Just completed a playthrough today. It's definitely a prototype for RAD, though the story has a lot more to it in RCD. The controls were tough because my motor memory kept tripping on all those hours I've put into RAD.

There were a lot of interesting points in the story that happened because of the buildings that were and weren't destroyed in a given mission. I got a kick out of some of them.

I hit a weird point where talking to Miyuki had a "???" option that didn't seem to really do anything.

Thanks very much for translating this gem.

[Supper]

Just completed a playthrough today. It's definitely a prototype for RAD, though the story has a lot more to it in RCD. The controls were tough because my motor memory kept tripping on all those hours I've put into RAD.

There were a lot of interesting points in the story that happened because of the buildings that were and weren't destroyed in a given mission. I got a kick out of some of them.

I hit a weird point where talking to Miyuki had a "???" option that didn't seem to really do anything.

Thanks very much for translating this gem.

Thanks for playing, and I'm glad you liked it! Unfortunately, I've never had the chance to play RAD, though TheMajinZenki did. From what I've heard, they really did recycle a lot of concepts from this game for it, down to specific gags like "keep destroying a character's house over and over and they end up having to move into your base of operations". I guess with Human Entertainment defunct, Sandlot was eager to get these ideas out under a new publisher so they could earn a buck or two off them...

The "???" options are as close as the game gets to a romance subplot, i.e. not very. They're basically just one-off gags that show up after specific missions (there's a similar one for Yuko after her special mission). For better or for worse, what you saw is all there is.