Saturn Translation Project

[o.pwuaioc]

Now I feel like translating something; but what? I think I really prefer translating literature though. It get's a lot less stale and repetitive for me.

Ancient? If so, let's collaborate sometime.

[brunoafh]

Pierrot, you, bruno, Ben, and hashiriya should team up and knock out some translations.

RB translation team could be cool. I am a deadly combination of busy and lazy though so I work very slow. Right now I'm slowly working on two projects, both of which would probably interest like 5-10 people on the entirety of the internet (some obscure 70s anime and a PS2 game).

[Violent By Design]

Pierrot, you, bruno, Ben, and hashiriya should team up and knock out some translations.

RB translation team could be cool. I am a deadly combination of busy and lazy though so I work very slow. Right now I'm slowly working on two projects, both of which would probably interest like 5-10 people on the entirety of the internet (some obscure 70s anime and a PS2 game).

I give this oxymoron an 8/10

[marurun]

See, I'm torn on that, if I go by my inclination I'd love to do that, but if no one uses the translation to make a patch I don't know that it's a really good use of my time if the goal here is to keep the Saturn alive and provide a way for people to play new games (where just a GameFAQs .txt translation at least would let someone play a game like Snatcher). I'll keep it in mind though, since both of those Lunar games are two of my all time favorites and I HATE the Working Designs translation with all of their inserted pop culture references.

I would play a patched Grandia. And Lunar, as well. I detest bad or stilted translations, and much rather play a patched version of the superior Saturn version than the official PS1 version. Since those exist, though, it might mean that it's lower on the pile, but hey, FFIV got a retranslation.

I'm playing through the Saturn version of Grandia for the Summer Challenge, and this game is insanely text heavy. I'm sure a lot of people would enjoy a translation of it, but it's not a one person job without being able to dump the text.

Not only do I have the JPN Grandia, I also have the Grandia Digital Museum release and two JPN game guide books for Grandia. I would be more than happy to share some of this material with someone reliable.

The real problem with Saturn translations isn't the translation work itself, but with first finding someone who can locate, decrypt, and dump the script from the game, and then finding someone who can hack it back into an ISO of the game by way of a patch and otherwise, which is really the only way to go. Translation guides on GameFaqs are really a non-starter for most folks for anything text-heavy like an RPG, even people like me with some Japanese language capability. I did better playing Grandia on my own limited abilities than I did with the existing partial translation FAQ out there.

The PS translation of Grandia is indeed a bit disappointing, though the voice work is what really sinks it. Grandia and Shining Force III are really the holy grails of Saturn fan translation, and Shining Force III is humming along nicely. It's playable, but there's still lots of editing and revision being done. Grandia has some technical hurdles to translation. Would be great to have the text in English but keep the fantastic JPN voice acting.

As for other translation candidates...

Another vote for Assault Suits Leynos 2. I found the game really hard until I figured out which play style and weapons worked for me. The copy of the game I have includes a foldout weapon/equipment list, which would greatly help in translating the game. The dialogue and mission briefings are good to have, but the weapon information and menu stuff is more critical to actual gameplay. GameFaqs already provide enough info to know what the goals of each mission are.

A dark-horse candidate that BEGS for translation is Tengai Makyo IV: The Apocalypse. It is set in a version of the US that's as mangled as the Jipang in some of the earlier titles. I have a JPN guide book to go with my copy of this game as well. I really think this is the game that most needs English translation at this time, especially in the hands of someone who is capable with humor and levity.

Some lesser-known JPN titles might still be good to consider, because with a translation people might want to try them out. They may not look awesome enough at first or be approachable enough to folks without language capability, but making them approachable could turn that around. Some candidates in this category would be:

Terra Phantastica
Riglord Saga 2
Blue Breaker (RPG with dating sim elements WHAT?)
Sakura Taisen
Sakura Taisen II

I'll revisit this thread again once I'm home so I can peruse my collection.

[pierrot]

The PS translation of Grandia is indeed a bit disappointing, though the voice work is what really sinks it.

I got really curious about how they translated the beginning of the Volcano, where Fina 'hits her butt.' I was deviously pleased to see it translated as "I hit my fanny!!" I hope very much that it was also written that way in the EU release.

Tengai Makyo IV: The Apocalypse

That's a good one. Actually a lot of the Hudson stuff on the console would be good stuff for lesser known games deserving of translations. Shiroki Majo (LoH III) would also be a good one.

Blue Breaker (RPG with dating sim elements WHAT?)

From what I've played of this, it feels pretty generic, and uninteresting. Maybe worth wasting some time with, but probably not worth a translation.

[marurun]

Blue Breaker (RPG with dating sim elements WHAT?)

From what I've played of this, it feels pretty generic, and uninteresting. Maybe worth wasting some time with, but probably not worth a translation.

Yeah, I only included it because it's one of the few JPN RPGs I still have for my Saturn. It sits around begging me to play it. It's certainly not bad. It's not exactly super-awesome, either.

[Original_Name]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq41z01WE-Y

Although my Japanese skills are only just now approaching conversational, come August of next year I will most likely be moving there to work, which I expect to mean an exponential increase in efficiency. Along with a Bachelor's Degree in English Writing approaching its completion, I've taken multiple courses in Japanese to English translation and linguistics, as well as helped write shorts for Nickelodeon and Sesame Street (including contributing to the compositing and video effects of these in AfterEffects), as well as a pilot for the original incarnation of Kinect TV (it was very well-received -- unfortunately it got shuffled off the table during the structural transition from 360 to One. As in the people who were moving toward approving the pitch were moved elsewhere in the company, and those who took their place didn't know the pitch existed. So it goes). I'm becoming increasingly drawn to translation work, as it encompasses just about the entirety of my interests. So the only thing I'm lacking to be an effective contributor is complete fluency in the target language, but that's being remedied.

If a Racketboy translation group gets off the ground, I will gladly do everything I can to promote and contribute. For now though, I wanted to see if these considerations for a translation team are still going on in PM's, or if it's been largely dropped.

A few suggestions: if you guys are dead-set on the Sega Saturn, you might want to start out by assisting a project already in progress in order to help yourselves come to grips with the process by working with those who've already had experience. For instance, the Saturn translation of Policenauts mentioned in the OP seems to be going very well -- that could be a great reason to contribute for the same reason you thought it would be a poor reason: http://forums.junkerhq.net/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3010

As far as Saturn games, I would suggest starting out with a playable, action-oriented game to begin with, such as Assault Suit Leynos 2 as mentioned, though in my opinion, I think that Princess Crown would be the best option at the moment. Vanillaware has become a big cult name amongst even the Kotaku crowd these days, yet it has never received an English translation. Starting with a Saturn translation, it could generate a lot of attention and excitement which would only be spread as another team would likely use the groundwork laid to make a PSP port. I would suggest staying in this realm for awhile until everyone's comfortable. Nanatsu Kaze no Shima Monogatari is a great game from the fan-favorite Enix that's been featured on Hardcore Gaming 101 and even a few mainstream sites before -- minimalistic in some regards, but dependent on enough Japanese knowledge to understand the menus. Could be a great game in terms of balancing required coding/translating mastery with the perceived sophistication of the title. From there, a more ambitious title such as Sakura Wars would be a great way to generate attention from a sizeable cross-section of otaku and Sega fanatics, but only if the team really gels and gets serious.

Another great option just starting out, purely for attention's sake, would be translating the "Segata Sanshiro Serious Game". A lesser effort due to the brevity of the game, but a huge cult character which would generate attention, and easily nab a few quick and dirty articles from Destructoid or what have you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR6ThDlureo

[Original_Name]

Other great, highly visible projects outside of the Saturn include:

What's Shenmue?
Phantasy Star + FM Synth (the original translation was poor to begin with)
Surging Aura (one of the most oft-requested Mega Drive translations)

Less visible, but extremely worthy projects:

Napple Tale (this one's fascinating -- a game released in 2000, notable for being created by an entirely female team, as well as featuring a soundtrack composed by Seatbelts/Cowboy Bebop notable Yoko Kanno. The title is not currently well-known, but a good translation and lots of promotion could generate a ton of attention based on the game's merits)
Roommania #203
Dream Studio
Lack of Love (minimal effort required; one of the most charming games of all time)
Rent-A-Hero No. 1 (already has an official translation for the Xbox that was leaked a couple years back, though that's an unfortunate console given that it is still not emulated, and its primary fan base is not as concerned with the character known by cult Sega fanatics as the best fighter in Fighters Megamix. Minimal translation effort; great coding experience)
The Hybrid Front (probably has the most impressive soundtrack on the Mega Drive, next to Bare Knuckle 3)

Another thought: since Dreamcast programming is much easier than Saturn and it has a more active scene, it might be a better idea to translate Sakura Wars through the Dreamcast port if the group ever reaches that level.

[brunoafh]

Just dropping a line to say that I personally haven't been involved in any PM chat and don't know if this has actually evolved into something, but I would be interested in lending a hand to something like this.

I'm pretty good with sifting through code (I wouldn't want to be in charge of it but I can help), and I can translate text well. Only Japanese to English, but I assume that's the idea here. I don't really even care what the project is, I just enjoy messing with Japanese text. But the more interested in the game I am, the more I'll work. I would definitely put some hours into Assault Suit Leynos 2 and could probably translate all the menus rather quickly.

[marurun]

I'm pretty good with sifting through code (I wouldn't want to be in charge of it but I can help), and I can translate text well.

Well, even if you weren't comfortable with insertion, do you think you could get familiar with Shift-JIS text encoding and search through code to extract text? If it's easy to extract (no encryption or compression) it'd be easy to find someone willing to do re-insertion code.