A Japanese-exclusive Mobile Suit Gundam game that was originally released all the way back in 1995 has just got a new fan translation after a year and a half of work, as reported by Sega Saturn, Shiro!.
Initially developed by CRI and published by Bandai, Mobile Suit Gundam for the Sega Saturn is one of many Gundam titles released for the Sega home console — all of which went unreleased in the West.
It covers the events of the first three films focusing on the adventures of the Gundam pilot Amuro Ray as he battles to defend the White Base from the Principality of Zeon, and the Red Comet Char Aznable.
At its core, the game is probably best described as a 2D action hack 'n slash/run 'n gun sidescroller, with the player being asked to jump behind the controls of RX-78-2 and pilot it through various stages designed after areas from the films. There, they'll battle against various other mobile suits, using their beam saber, beam rifle, and hyper bazooka to repel the incoming enemy forces. There's also a bunch of cutscenes featured throughout, all of which relay events from the source material.
As you may expect, the main purpose of this patch is basically to subtitle all the cutscenes to help players better understand the story, but it also goes a step further, replacing the cutscenes with higher-quality versions taken from a later PS2 game, according to Sega Saturn, Shiro!.
It is the work of a small team of translators, hackers, and testers, which includes the core team of Shadowmask, Mr. Conan, and wiredcrackpot, and other contributors such as Bo Bayles, Silos, Malenko, SoloNerfherder, TrekkiesUnite118, and Danthrax.
To accompany the news, an English launch trailer was released on YouTube (featuring the voice of Nick from Pandamonium Reviews Every U.S. Sega Saturn Game). This demonstrates some of the newly translated cutscenes and also gives an idea of what to expect from the gameplay.
You can find the release on SegaXtreme, along with instructions on how to patch your game.