Quicker Update
Boo. Nothing really mind-shattering in this update. Most of the progress in the past few weeks has just been in the translation department, so there’s really not much new stuff to show. Showing the same old battle pics gets old quick. Still, hopefully we’ll have some more hacking done in the near future. This project page is pretty boring without new visual media 😛
A couple people’ve asked, so I thought I’d say it in an actual post. No, there won’t be any censoring in the translation. Yes, there will probably be a very, very occasional swear word. Probably only a dozen or so in the whole game, though. I dunno. That’s how the game was written. I don’t expect any s or f words though, just things “damn”, “bastard”, etc. Stuff on that level. Again, that’s how the original text is, it’s not being “added in” by us. But I wanted to alleviate any fears about us possibly censoring stuff for whatever reason.
The first draft translation is coming along fine, I’m coming up to 80% on that. The second draft will be a combination of going through the script again with a fresh approach to fix stuff and smooth stuff a bit, but most of all, to actually see everything in context. Of course, to do that, we’ll need the main script routine working. Hopefully we can get that soon. If I have to, I’ll bury myself in GBA hacking documents and programming tools to get it done myself 😛 It’s apparently pretty tough/annoying. But it’s also very vital. I actually started to give a shot at it last week, and made like the very first step, but I haven’t programmed in assembly in like 10 years, and that was for some class, so it didn’t really result in anything except for some new knowledge about the GBA. I’m really, really impressed by ROM hackers who can hack ASM code. I don’t know how they do it. It’s insane. I think anyone who can do it must be a witch.
Speaking of hacking, there’s a huge, gigantor list of stuff that still needs to be done. It’s really big. Maybe I’ll post it later. Hacking-wise, I’d say the project’s only at like 10-15% or so. But we’ve possibly enlisted some really cool help for the hacking side of things, and it’s too early to say anything yet, but I’m personally very optimistic 🙂
Anyway, like I said, this is just a very simple, almost pointless update. But things are progressing. I’ll have some cooler info probably at the end of the week. I was gonna post a little about it here, actually, but decided to save it until then. You’ll understand why come next update. Don’t worry, it’s no lame riddle or anything. It should be neat though!
Yay! Progress! I know I’m nowhere savvy enough to even try hacking if it involves assembly language. The assembly language class I took wasn’t too difficult, but the assignments were tedious. I’m sure it’s an even more tedious, mind numbing process trying to hack the code. Hopefully it’ll “click” soon enough. If not, you might wanna track down one of those witches. 😀
By 80% “first draft translation”, do you mean the main story dialogue, or everything? I know that Ziabatsu and Doctor Fedora had translated a lot of the item names, battle text, etc.
Either way it’s muy impressive.
yeah, story and everything.
Story and everything? Awesome.
Actually, if you add in the non-story stuff it’s probably more like 85-90%. The 80% is just for the main script. The item/enemy stuff needs lots of attention too though, so I’ll do that after the first draft main script is done.
Any progress is good to read, even if it’s “almost pointless”. It shows us that you haven’t given up. So thank you for taking your time to update us!
Thanks for the update! I don’t mind the occasionally swear word but I hope it’s nothing too bad. I want kids to play it too not just teens and over. :O
I’m surprised it contains those words. What was the rating in Japan for this game if you don’t telling me?
Thanks once again.
Japanese doesn’t have absolute “swear words” the same way we do in our language, so it’s really hard to explain. Japanese uses multiple politeness levels, and usually any sort of harshness is done by using a less polite level when you should use polite ones.
Also, the harsh talking that happens in this game (again, very sparse) is common language in all anime, games, movies, etc. so it’s nothing shocking at all. It’s really hard to explain though, you’d have to study Japanese to understand. But trust me, the harsh words are being handled professionally.
Anyway, for the above reasons, the game is rated “All Ages” in Japan.
Hi Tomato I like you for translating Mother 3!
Not that I don’t already like you!
So, I love to see how things are coming along. I figure GBA hacking would be a real pain. You have my hopes, and vote.
team mother 3 for prez
Any chance we can see a neat-o remake of the old/awesome ’64 trailer when things start to smooth out? Great work so far!
It’s an idea I’ve had in the back of my head, so it’s possible eventually, but there’s stuff missing from the GBA game so I dunno how well it’d turn out 😛 But maybe down the road.
Was away in Sacramento the past week, happened upon a Nintendo rep while in a local game store..Spread they mother love, gave her a brief history of the series, and of course assured her there are many fans in the US who would love to see it come this way.
This team exhibits much zeal. Commendable trait.
Now on with the post. $:^ ]
“But I wanted to alleviate any fears about us possibly censoring stuff for whatever reason.” – Tomato
Actually, -that- was -my- fear. I’m so very happy that the second officially translated EarthBound was almost spic-and-span clean, and although I’ve never played the NES EarthBound, I’m so glad to know it received the NOA treatment. (Minus removing the hospital crosses being just ridiculous–I mean, c’mon, TLoZ had a cross on Link’s shields, and that didn’t mean anything horrible…) But anyway. This is one of EB’s selling points I give people. I agree with “Matthew(Someguy)” that censorship is actually “true to…EarthBound” and certainly “more child friendly”–which leads me to a question concerning Tomato’s knowledge of Japanese language and culture:
(I’m concentrating only on America instead of the general West simply because I don’t very much know what other Eastern cultures are like.) America tends moreso to have vulgar words and phrases. Japan tends moreso to have vulgar etiquette and moods. If the MOTHER series got “All Ages” in Japan, doesn’t that imply that the moods didn’t really get vulgar? I remember EarthBound being devoid of practically ANYthing vulgar–and the things I complain about I realize many people barely even notice–which implies to me that NOA made EB child-friendly like M was child-friendly. Therefore, to keep this translation in line, wouldn’t the hypothetical lack of vulgarity (etiquette) in M3 translate to the same lack of vulgarity (words) in EB2?
Please correct me if I were wrong in guessing that M3 being “All Ages” in Japan meant its child-unfriendly vulgarity is -less- than the “dozen or so” American vulgarities you cite.
Don’t worry. In the end, I realize this is not official; this is just a bunch of vigilante fans realizing their own dreams and hoping everyone else likes it.
Hmm, well first off, have you played Mother 3 before? I ask because that plays a big part in the following:
MOTHER 3 is NOT EarthBound.
If you’re expecting EarthBound — or a happy game like EarthBound in MOTHER 3, then you’re going to be severely disappointed. M3 is absolutely not a happy game at all.
I’ve lived in Japan, and have translated for many many years now. Plenty of professional experience too. I’m approaching Mother 3 like any other text. I’m not giving it special censorship treatment because it’s like EarthBound. As I said earlier, it’s NOT like EarthBound. I’m translating it as I would anything else. My goal is to keep it as true to the original version as possible… as the version that Itoi intended. There’s going to be some swearing. There’s occasional harshness in the original version. Seriously, out of like two megs of text there might be like a small handful of damns and craps mostly. No f words, no s words, no a-words. If that’s still too intense, I dunno what to say.
For what it’s worth, EarthBound had several instances of the word “crap” in it. I never heard any complaints about those though 😐
I’m giving this project the same treatment I would any other professional game or project. As such, I think any other professional translator would make similar choices, meaning that an official translation probably WOULD include these damns and craps and such.
Basically, my goal is to keep the text translation true to the Japanese version of Mother 3 and Mother 3 alone.
Mr. Mato, thanks much for the reply. No, I haven’t played it, and that’s why I asked–to make sure of things. Since you say it has several instances of harsh tone (out of a multitude of non), then I certainly see -why- you want to keep several instances of harsh word (out of a multitude of non). The way you described it before sounded a bit worse than this time; thanks for easing my fears some. I mean really, I can only expect so much from the entertainment industry, so I’m sure I’ll enjoy an official *or* unofficial translation of this title, whether or not I have to wince a now and then like any other entertainment title. (Now I just have to wait enough time for one translation or another to exist and for me to build up enough money to purchase an M3 or EB3 from the big N!)
As for “MOTHER 3 is NOT EarthBound” — thanks for the heads up. I’m a dear fan of A_Series_of_Unfortunate_Events (only through “Book the Ninth” so far, The_Carniverous_Carnival), and I loved the intro to _Banjo-Tooie_ (~sigh~ with it then greatly disappointing me by dropping pretty much all the first game’s charm) — therefore, I *love* the idea of darkly charming and charmly darking. Um..right. And anyway, it appears M3 is like that, according to the little bit of previews I’ve seen from you guys (charm) and your commentary in this blog’s comment thread (dark). Rock on. Makes me want to play it even more! $:^ ]