Update #2 [Tue 28th May, 2024 10:00 BST]: The translations are now available to the general public.
Update #1 [Fri 26th Apr, 2024 09:45 BST]: Some exciting news has just been revealed about the upcoming Phantom of Network and Legend of Network fan translations.
According to Prof. 9, the two Japanese-exclusive Mega Man Battle Network games "are now 100% fully translated and currently being beta tested".
Originally, it was the plan to release the translation of Phantom of Network first, followed shortly after by Legend of Network, but as the team was working on it they realized the pair of games were "quite intricately linked". Given they had already made significant progress on Legend of Network, they have therefore opted to release the translations at the same time.
In a forum post on rockmanexezone.com, Prof. 9 published some screenshots of the translation patch, showed off the updated logos that drop the Battle Network from the name to avoid unnecessary repetition in the title, and unveiled the new custom patching tool that they've built for the release.
No release date has been given yet, but judging from the sign-off, another announcement will be made in the not-so-distant future.
Original Story [Fri 2nd Feb 2024 10:30 GMT]: Last December, RockmanCosmo, the leader of the feature phone preservationist group SciLabSecrets, announced that the team had successfully managed to preserve full copies of the incredibly rare Japan-exclusive Mega Man games Rockman.EXE Phantom of Network and Legend of Network.
These were two mobile titles released for i-mode-compatible phones that were part of the Mega Man Battle Network tactical RPG subseries and were largely thought to be trapped on aging hardware. However, they have now been successfully retrieved, thanks to the extraordinary efforts of Cosmo and his team, allowing more people to take a closer look at these obscure entries.
One of the drawbacks is that the game is currently only available in its original Japanese, but recently a team of hackers and translators has revealed its intention to finally translate these games into English, with the patch being a collaboration between Prof. 9, Midori Woodley, MidniteW, and MegaRockEXE.
The group is planning to tackle Phantom of Network first (which was the first of these two games released for i-mode phones during the 2000s), followed by Legacy of Network. The patches will be made available publicly, though sourcing a copy of the game online may require a bit of creativity on your part (for obvious reasons).
You can follow the project's progress on the Rockman.EXE Zone forums. We'll also try to keep you updated should we hear of any exciting new updates.