Dreamcast Junkyard has announced that after two years of work, a small group of developers (including Lewis Cox, Derek Pascarella, Duralumin, and Marshal Wong) have translated the Dreamcast Samurai Shodown spin-off Nakoruru: Ano Hito kara no Okurimono into English.
Nakoruru: The Gift She Gave Me (as the team is calling it) is a visual novel that was first released for Windows in 2001, before being ported over to the Sega Dreamcast one year later. It was a spin-off of the popular SNK fighting series Samurai Shodown and was primarily developed by the Japanese studio Inter-Let, with SNK handling publishing duties.
Contrary to what you might expect, players don't take control of the fan-favorite fighter Nakoruru, who is referenced in the game's title, but a young girl named Mikato who's tasked with helping the village protector watch over Kamui Kotan.
It plays similarly to a lot of other visual novels of the time, with some brief minigames also thrown in on occasion (such as the ability to play instruments, fish, and answer quiz questions). It also features some stunning 2D artwork too and contains a heartfelt plot that delves a lot deeper into Nakoruru's background for fans of the character.
Something remarkable about the patch is that the team didn't just translate the base game, but also the clock-based extras for the Dreamcast's VMU, and the pilot of the cancelled Nakoruru anime (which is available on an exclusive bonus disc). It's a true passion project and we applaud the team for all its incredible work.
If you want to download the patch, you can get it directly from GitHub. There you will also find a handy set of patching instructions to guide you through the process. If you want more information on the making of the hack, we also recommend checking out Dreamcast Junkyard's original article for details on how it came to be.