Daniel36

@metaphysician Thanks for that. Still, few translators would probably mind if their work was used for an official release.

@Andee Guess I will have to buy the first one first, then...

Do you need to play the first one to enjoy the story of revenge in this second outing?

Never watched the movie. Also never played any of the games, though the reviews in magazines fascinated me. But that is the worst trailer I have sever neen in my lentire wife... call the bondulance.

@MontyCircus Exactly. And since Homer is a fictional character anyways, who doesn't even strike me as someone who could write something clever like an odyssey... (I am joking, of course)

But I am hereby daring you to translate Harry Potter into Pirahã. I am sure they would love to read about the exploits of a student wizard.

I am not a shmup fan, and I am pretty sure I would get motion sickness playing this barrage of movement, but I have to admit, it looks really awesome!

@metaphysician I am no copyright lawyer, but translating a copyrighted work, doesn't that make the translation basically fall into the hands of the original copyright holder? Since... you know... you made a copy of the works, albeit in a different language.

I don't think you can own a translation, so the original dev would be free to just take it. That said, it's at least friendly to let them know and put acknowledgment in the game.

Also, I didn't say "Just download the translation" - obviously get in touch with them. But honestly, I don't think it's that big a can of worms. A: They don't own the translation, and B: They would probably be thrilled with an official acknowledgment in-game.

But I am sure there is someone here with more knowledge on the subject to interject.

@mcinmosh It is definitely not a clone, but it definitely copies a lot of things, such as how the interiors look and even the main character sprite feels a littke traced over.

You can't deny that it took Zelda II as inspiration and yes, improved upon it in many ways, but still used Zelda II as its base.

And while I didn't quite make it to the end, I played this game to death and love it. Kid me couldn't quite beat the final challenges.

I agree with you that it is better than Zelda II, and I am one if the guys who happens to love Zelda II as well.

But for newcomers, one can be forgiven to assume it clones Zelda II.

This looks like my jam, but I am going to wager a guess and say this will NOT have a translation added.

Honestly, you'd think developers and publishers would be more than thrilled to add a fan translation. I am sure AG doesn't even need anything more than an official acknowledgement in the game's title screen. So why not? Wasted potential. I would've bought this.

@axelhander It is, in many ways, a copy of the formula. The creators did a bit more than just be inspired by it. Look up a gameplay vid of the original. It shares a LOT of elements. But it's an amazing game!

@Sketcz High five!

Yes, the game was (is) gorgeous!! It was so incredibly captivating. It also really felt like youbwere traveling the countryside, and each part was so distinctive. Amazing game.

I suppose I also simply have a soft spot for sidescrolling RPGs, since this news also instantly brings me back to my love for Faxanadu, Wizards and Warriors III, and Castlevania II, all games I unfortunately never got very far in.

If I ever decide to make a game, it'll be like this.

Oh wow. Usually when people remake something with updated pixel art, it loses its charm. This looks refreshed, updated, but still has the original's charm. This could have easily been a sequel for the SNES, in terms of look and feel.

This is one of my all-time favourite NES games. One of those games where I just bought it based on the cover, and have NOT regretted it. But I was also a huge fan of Zelda II, so it is no surprise that I loved this. Never did finish it, though. So this would be a perfect opportunity to replay it.

Also, never knew it was made by a couple, nor that it was a Japanese product. It had pretty much all the hallmarks of a Western product.

Anyhoo, going on a nostalgia trip and looking at some gameplay, it is extremely obvious that they were copying Zelda II, right down to the weapon, which in Zelda II looked like a club, and in Battle of Olympus actually was one. The building interiors are almost identical. Not that I am complaining, I could play ten Zelda II knock offs and love them all equally.

This warms my jaded soul.

I only know the modern iteration that came to the Netherlands, and I hated it. Glad it's gone. I also don't think this concept will make the jump to NL.

On a related note, we found an amazing retro store when we were on holiday in the Dutch province of Gelderland. For anyone ever heading to that general area, Joydo in Brummen, the most unremarkable annd quiet town hides a really cool retro store with very, VERY affordable prices and quite a few gems.

Played this way back when. Left a very big impression on me.

Pretty obviously a placeholder image. Obviously should have never been allowed to be publicly accessible. But I find the fact that they allow you to preorder this nonsense to be more grating.

Awww shucks and here I was thinking they finally made something for the GBA adapter so I could more easily get Crystal Chronicles up and running for four players.

This looks amazing. I will never play it, but I want to. Alas, there is never time.

Seeing as AI chat programs are now better than search engines, I see no problem in using it to gain some assistance. There's genuine criticism for certain uses, this is not one of them. It feels like this person thinks he needs to defend himself, which is sad. Who cares?

Looks cool, and the music certainly sounds the part. ^_^

But will it have a Dam level?

"putting them in front of a large casual audience that most indie developers today could only dream of reaching."

Not sure I can agree with that sentiment. Back then, pretty much the only way to reach an audience was to be an established dev team or get lucky with getting a publisher to have faith in you. There was no YouTube where passionate people put emphasis on niche games froom small devs. And those small devs couldn't showcase anything they were working on.

So sure, maybe not a "casual" audience, but a bigger audience than they would've gotten then, because that era's casual audience was infinitely smaller than today's audience, and probably still smaller than today's niche audience.

I think small indie devs are living in more of a golden age than the PSX era.

Games like Parappa aren't made by big studios, but they are made. And they have a bigger audience than Parappa did, I am sure of it.

Maybe not what people wanted, but I think it is really cool. Not expecting miniatures, though that would kick ass!

Executives being idiots is 100% the default.

Wow, that really is an expansive career. Didn't expect that Vampire Survivor credit there after all those big names. Really cool.

Funny you mentioning Ikki. I've mentioned it before on this site, but I used to own one of those multicarts, and so did a classmate, and the games on there felt like such exotic games to me.

I even loved Ikki, mostly for its insane difficulty (for me) and me never managing to get past level 1, so it felt very mysterious.

Here in the Netherlands we were very much "with the times", though, so it wasn't like those multicarts were all we had. In fact, they were extremely rare. Mine was given to me by an uncle who used to travel abroad a lot.

Good times. Glad to hear I am not the only one who was impacted by them strange, mysterious and exotic carts!

Simply put all the mainline games into a compilation. Maybe add some fun bonuses if you complete them in order, but just do that. And then add a new entry at the end as well.

It's really not that difficult.

I also would have loved to write articles, but then again, I already have far too many hobbies, all of which I have too little time for.

That said, if you guys ever need something written for an obscure game you want to feature but don't have time to write about... I could always give it a (hook)shot.

And with that, I instantly killed any prospective journalistic career. I'll see myself out.

Suikoden 2, the EU version even (which is even rarer) was apparently sold for 10 bucks at a local store, and they had many. Wish I had known, even then I knew that would have been an investment.

@Metaphysician - Only ever gotten far in Ultima 7, but yes, that does sound like an awesome system to have reimplemented.

@Daggot Well, they could remake all the games (including 8) to look like Ultima 7. That would be neat, no? Maybe slightly bigger world, though.

But let us build roofs too. I don't want to live in a roofless house anymore.

As long as it won't be a Shroud of the Avatar.

Ultima Online though... was SO good.

But anyways, a remake of all Ultimas, with slightly fancier graphics, but still some old school charm. Yes, please.

Why not take all that hard work and put it into an original project? I am sure he can use many of the assets he made and make something new with it.

@Martin_H I am not a programmer or hacker or any of that, but I think what you are referring to used to be an issue up to the SNES, where the cartridges were already pretty much filled to the brim, so the text had to be a 1 on 1 replacement of characters. I think that issue stopped being a problem with later game systems and ROMS, but I might be wrong.

Legend of Kage is one of those games I discovered on a friend's illegal multi-cart, of which I also had one. Amazing how they made games feel way more exotic and mystical. Good times!

@Saki-Endo Thanks for involving Horii in the conversation, because I remember thinking of how snobby he sounded, but apparently he was indeed mistranslated. What you describe sounds much more logical.

@RealVise Who is telling you it is gold? Because I don't see anyone here not acknowledging the shortcomings, and even the patcher himself is very forthright in what he did and moreso did not do.

This was a really cool read! Thanks for sharing!

@Slider2711 Well, he does mention throwing it through three different AI models and cross-referencing them. I guess he means nobody else proofread it.

Still, this is better than nothing at all.

And sure, "The best translations are handled by someone who understands both Japanese and English, as converting one to the other isn't a simple process; there are nuances in Japanese that are often hard to capture in English." - This is obviously true, but there are many, many, MANY cases where neither the developers nor the publishers seemed to care enough for the product to be accurately translated.

Also, I would note, that it's often not hard to capture in English more as it is impossible. The Japanese language, as far as I can tell, is so incredibly steeped in customs, traditions, cultural and otherwise, as well as mannerisms completely different from Western societies, that you simply cannot translate them. Hence the term "localisation" became a thing.

@Ruka - He is not ruining a game, he is giving players an option of at least rudimentally understanding what is going on. And again, soooooooooooo many examples of games with absolutely horrid translation, which are OFFICIAL products.

I am not saying this is the perfect way, but it also doesn't sound like he isn't passionate enough to at least make it the best he can, given his resources. And also: "nE0sIghT adds that everything about this project – the patch, tools and source code – is open, so people can step in and fix any errors they might find." - We can all help out and make it better, if we want.

From what little I played and remember... it can definitely use this.

This interests me. Dig the aesthetic. Maybe a tiny tad TOO old school for me, but awesome nonetheless!

@Damo Then I suppose we'd better not mince any words.

They are trying to 1-UP Alejandro Martin!!

Who, by the way, released another absolutely unhinged video, one of the most unhinged things I have ever seen.

@Guru_Larry I still doodle from time to time, but not in any serious capacity. My daughter, however, is working hard on her skills.

Personally, I went into the direction of painting miniatures and building scenery, which I still enjoy, and making music, which is more difficult but also more rewarding. Also finally picking up DJ-ing. Have a small gig this Saturday.

I have some house tracks about ready to be released, which I am quite proud of. So that is sort of all kicking into gear.

How about you, anywhere I can see your art?

@Guru_Larry Yes, the pic in the bottom. Nostalgic to see.

What a terrible artist I was, huh? Especially those flames in the back. And to think I was already 18 at the time. I should have been better. But what fun!

@Guru_Larry Yeah, looked it up for you. N64 Magazine, issue 28. Still a fond memory for me.

@slider1983 Same man, haha. Though I am finally taking a step into my "professional" DJ career this Saturday, since I landed a small gig. And who knows what that will bring.

@slider1983 The annoying truth is, many of us can do a better job, but I guess Anderson, Boll and all the other hacks just have money to throw at the franchises and thus get the jobs.

@Guru_Larry Of course I remember! I had to do away all my mags, but kept that one. It's the one with Wil's rendition of Duke Nukem on the front. I drew a picture of Fusoya destroying a PS1, frustrated there were so few N64 RPGs.

@Guru_Larry Sounds like he has been a top bloke to a lot of people. One of the few "celebs" where so many people have a personal story to tell.

A long time ago I sent artwork to N64 Magazine, was featured with the caption "Wil's favourite", which was a very obvious highlight of my life.

Years later I decided to send him an e-mail, to thank him for that. He replied and we had a few back and forth e-mails. I didn't want to hassle him too much, so it was only a few e-mails, but it just goes to show he is a genuinely cool guy!

@Pak-Man Heheh, same. I still dislike that one note though, I cannot believe nobody ever decided to change that into a nicer sounding resolution. Except, I guess Vitamin C and later Benny Blanco sort of did.

I absolutely LOVED this game so much. This was one of those purchases I made where the box art drew me in, and without knowing anything about the game, I bought it on a whim.

And boy was I glad I did.

It wasn't perfect, mind you. There wasn't really a "You won this scenario" type deal, so there wasn't really an end game, but I loved building up my empire.

Would love a sort of remake with the same graphics (and music, my goodness the music!) and gameplay, but with some added quality of life stuff and an existing end game thing. And maybe some more planets. That would make me happy.

@Damo You are one lucky son of a gun!

Also, imagine being that good, that you can draw in all these elements and have them coloured this nicely as well. I dabbled in drawing this style, but I never got this good.