Hudson Soft's turn-based strategy title Shadows of the Tusk was exclusively released for the Sega Saturn in Japan back in 1998, but it remains one of the more import-friendly games for the system. Its menus are mostly in English, with Japanese text only being used for tooltips, dialogue, and other explanatory text.
Now, though, it appears that someone is busy translating these other elements into English for a new translation patch, with plans to produce the most playable version of the game yet for Western players. The news comes courtesy of Sega Saturn Dave and Sega Saturn Shiro!, who tweeted about the existence of the translation project on Twitter yesterday (Thursday 4th, May).
Alongside this announcement, Sega Saturn Dave also shared a WIP image of the patch, with the developer Knight0fDragon believed to be among those responsible for working on this upcoming project. Knight0fDragon was previously part of the team that was responsible for the English patch of the Sega Saturn game Bulk Slash and also developed an English translation patch for the 1998 strategy RPG Wachenrƶder.
Just in case you've never heard of Shadows of the Tusk before or are in need of a quick refresher, it is essentially a deck-building-based strategy game that features cards that act as the player's units. The goal is to eliminate the opponent's leader in battle, with the player having to be careful about how they manage their Mana points and plan their next move.
The game had a short story mode and boasted online multiplayer through its compatibility with the Sega Saturn modem and XBand. The famous Japanese illustrator Susumu Matsushita (known for his incredible Famitsu covers and his work on Capcom's Maximo games) also designed many of its characters, which are depicted in the game as pre-rendered 3D sprites.
You can watch a video of the original game below. We'll try to keep you up to date if any new information about the patch or its progress becomes available.