Shiren the Wanderer Gaiden: Asuka the Swordswoman
Image: Neverland/Sega

Those looking for more RPGs to play on their Dreamcast console are in luck. Recently, it was revealed that a translator named SharkSnack (along with a few others including frequent collaborator Ozidual) has put together a partial English translation of the Neverland title Shiren The Wanderer Gaiden: Asuka Kenzan (as reported by Dreamcast Junkyard). A three-to-six-hour demo of the game is available now in English and is reported to cover the very first region of the game: Tenrin.

In case you're unfamiliar with the Shiren the Wanderer games, or in need of a quick refresher, it is a group of roguelike-RPG titles from the Japanese company Chunsoft that originated from the Mystery Dungeon series (itself a spin-off of Dragon Quest IV). The first Shiren the Wanderer game was released on the SNES in 1995 as Mystery Dungeon 2: Shiren the Wanderer, but it wasn't until 2008 that the series was finally localized into English with a remake of the first game on the DS.

Shiren The Wanderer Gaiden: Asuka Kenzan was the only game in the series released for the Dreamcast console and came out in 2002 — after Sega's system had been officially discontinued. It retained the same roguelike gameplay and angled camera perspective from the earlier N64 title Shiren the Wanderer 2: Oni Invasion! Shiren Castle!, but starred Shiren's friend, the swordswoman Asuka.

In the past, SharkSnack has already completed an English translation patch of Shiren the Wanderer 2: Oni Invasion! Shiren Castle!, which you can find on romhacking.net here.

As stated in an interview with Dreamcast Junkyard, their long-term goal is to make all the Japan-exclusive Shiren the Wanderer games available in English to increase interest in the series overseas. These titles include Shiren the Wanderer 4 Plus for PSP (which they are currently working on with the hacker Arc Impulse), and Shiren the Wanderer DS2 for Nintendo DS. Right now, they have translated Shiren the Wanderer Gaiden: Asuka Kenzan up until the first end credits (after the second dungeon of the first region), but they still need to translate the second region of the game called Sarai and 12 further dungeons.

If you want to download the translation patch for the demo, you should visit the description of the latest video on SharkSnack's YouTube channel. You'll need to apply the patch to an image of the game using Derek Pascarella's Universal Dreamcast Patcher. The current build (v0.16) can be played on both emulators and real hardware.

Have you given it a go yet? What do you think? Comment and let us know!

[source youtu.be, via thedreamcastjunkyard.co.uk]