Author Topic: My NES Translation Projects (Read 122629 times)

Pennywise · « **Reply #100 on:** April 21, 2011, 05:37:29 pm »

Well, it's on my radar for sure and in fact I think I made sure to download the ROM a week or so ago to always have with me. Maybe I'll pick it up in a year or two and/or after I finish 4 or so projects.

EDIT: I don't really know about Kame no Onegashi. Leave it to Hudson to make this game a pain in the ass to work with. The intro/ending are stored at the end of the CHR and text I've found in-game moves between two different blocks of text just for one string. Would anyone be interested in compiling screenshots for the game? Due to the way the script is stored, that might make the translation process easier for the translator and myself.

safaribans · « **Reply #101 on:** May 12, 2011, 01:23:11 pm »

I wish I had read the reply sooner... I am interested, I will compile some screenshots.

EDIT 2:
Done! Here are 394 screenshots in png format zipped (~1.1MB). I apologize for any redundancy with shops, faeries, and dialog. I'm fairly sure a lot was re-used, but better safe than sorry. Includes multiple outcomes of endings too.

https://rapidshare.com/files/2444505706/kame_snaps.zip

Comments welcome!

P.S. Sorry about the lack of webhosting, if you want me to upload elsewhere, let me know. Or anything else that might help. For example, using imagemagick to concatenate the screencaps into one very tall image, or into a PDF so your translator can just scroll through rather than look at one pic, then the next, etc.

Pennywise · « **Reply #102 on:** May 25, 2011, 11:39:36 am »

Thanks for the screenshots. Although the project's on the backburner right now as I now pursue other interests. I might have to change the title of this thread because I'm planning on giving the original Gameboy some translation love. I was a bit concerned that Z80 would throw me for a loop, but with my trusty unofficial GB programming doc, the code spoke to me last night. Currently have two active GB projects in the works, one is a smaller game that I'm using as a vehicle to familiarize myself with Z80 and the other is an RPG that's being actively translated. I'm hoping to show off some screenshots when significant progress has been made.

Pennywise · « **Reply #103 on:** September 07, 2011, 05:32:38 pm »

Been a while, so...

It seems I introduced a last-minute error into Maten Douji where a 0 appears under certain items that require an explanation. I have fixed it and will uploading another patch in the near future. Just can't have errors and such in my work.

Hasn't been too much progress in any of my other projects though. Although I've pretty much finished the text hacking for Chuuka Taisen and have a bunch of screenshots to show off. I need to get the other ending and format accordingly then a bunch of graphics remain.

Lastly I'm not really sure which project I'm gonna work on finishing next. I did a lot of work on Dragon Ball earlier in the year, so I might start that up again. Pocket Zaurus is practically finished as well. JESUS's text files are like 2/3 done and hacking far along. Plenty of options on the NES. Also got a few GB games to that require my attention.

enigmaopoeia · « **Reply #104 on:** September 07, 2011, 07:04:02 pm »

Did she really say, "Chink..." Was that intentional?

Pennywise · « **Reply #105 on:** September 07, 2011, 07:18:18 pm »

Going my chat logs with the translator, I was asked how you would call a chinese person in a really rude way. Naturally chink was the first thing that came to mind. If anyone wants to see for themselves, here is the original.

BRPXQZME · « **Reply #106 on:** September 08, 2011, 12:50:21 am »

That’s... appalling. No, it’s more like “ching-chong” in this case. Doesn’t make it right!

Spinner 8 · « **Reply #107 on:** September 08, 2011, 03:42:35 am »

Wait... why on earth does Chuuka Taisen need to be retranslated? Did ipkiss neglect to translate a word or two?

Pennywise · « **Reply #108 on:** September 08, 2011, 12:01:39 pm »

It doesn't need to be retranslated at all, but since hacking it took very little time and was quite easy, I just couldn't pass up hacking it on my own.

KingMike · « **Reply #109 on:** September 08, 2011, 03:34:08 pm »

It seems D commented on your translation on byuu's board ("Classic FC racism").
Pretty much a repeat of what's been said here.
He says it's a banned word in most print media.
So I'm guessing the original word was indeed racist?

aishsha · « **Reply #110 on:** September 08, 2011, 10:11:37 pm »

Well, I dunno exactly whether it's racist, but the word "Pokopen" was banned from the "public" language in Japan, although it's still encountered in some old games. That's a word Japanese used to describe Chinese during Sino-Japanese wars. And yes, it's very harsh.

danke · « **Reply #111 on:** September 09, 2011, 08:22:07 am »

From some random website/Japanese Wikipedia:

It was primarily used during the 1894-1895 first Sino-Japanese war as a demeaning reference to the Chinese. The Japanese word meaning “torunitaranai” (“worthless”), “kudaranai” (“good-for-nothing”), or “dame dame” (“no good” or “stupid”) was a corrupted adoption of the Chinese word “búgòuběn” meaning “having just below the amount of money necessary.” Because of its demeaning, racially insensitive origin and meaning, the word “pokopen” has been practically expunged from modern Japanese language.

Spinner 8 · « **Reply #112 on:** September 09, 2011, 10:00:27 am »

Quote from: Pennywise on September 08, 2011, 12:01:39 pm

It doesn't need to be retranslated at all, but since hacking it took very little time and was quite easy, I just couldn't pass up hacking it on my own.

What?! Good God, is nothing at all sacred?

Pennywise · « **Reply #113 on:** September 09, 2011, 12:08:56 pm »

What I meant by unnecessary is that Chuka Taisen is light on text and you don't need a translation to play it. I never intended to really do it, but it just kinda happened.

Nope, there are a bunch of 2000 era translations, mostly NES, where the hacking just isn't very good. But I attribute that to mostly a lack of information and tools like a solid debugger. Something that I have the luxury of using now, but couldn't have 10 or so years ago. It is not my intention to re-do all the old ones, but I might do a few here and there if I feel I can improve upon them by some measurable degree.

As for the Chuka Taisen translation by ipkiss, I don't know they managed to get the stage titles wrong (Japan, Egypt etc.). There's a clear Chinese theme going on (Mt. Tai, Mt. Wu Xing, Huang He, The Great Wall etc.) Also they call our protag "Pokopeso" which looks like a misromanization of pokopen. Then there's the issue of the flashing badge/circle thingy. That actually refers to a rank the player achieves by beating a stage.

EDIT: I gotta edit this thing, I'm not that elitist.

Validus · « **Reply #114 on:** September 12, 2011, 12:54:55 pm »

thank u for all your hard workk penny!

reyvgm · « **Reply #115 on:** September 13, 2011, 12:57:39 pm »

Pennywise. He ain't a she.

Pennywise · « **Reply #116 on:** September 15, 2011, 03:48:04 pm »

While hacking the stage titles for Chuka, I noticed that there are 7 pointers for the data. Since there are only six stages I was naturally curious. Turns out that there is a secret stage somewhere in the game. I don't know how the game triggers it, but I've been able to access it by cheating. The value at $BD has to be $06 in order to access the stage.

There's also 2 endings that you can get, but I haven't gotten around to figuring that one out yet.

reyvgm · « **Reply #117 on:** September 15, 2011, 05:39:48 pm »

This video shows how to get that secret stage:
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm3091328

It's apparently accessed from Round 4.

And about the ending, how different is it? Are the graphics different or just the text?

*edit*
The ending on the video after the one I posted shows a slight variation in the ending text, is that what you meant by a 2nd ending?

Pennywise · « **Reply #118 on:** September 15, 2011, 06:23:33 pm »

Yeah, that what I meant.

reyvgm · « **Reply #119 on:** September 15, 2011, 06:25:58 pm »

Well, then all you need to do is access the secret level to change the ending.