MOTHER 3’s Birthday
Today is 4/20. That means different things for different people. For EarthBound fans like us, it’s the anniversary of MOTHER 3’s release in Japan. I wasn’t planning on doing any special updates or anything today actually, but a sudden wave of nostalgia hit me, so here’s a little something I guess.
This project really started sometime last June or July, and as far as ROM translations go, things have been progressing at an incredible rate. Most ROM translation projects die after a few months or take 5+ years. The short video here shows how much has been done on the hacking side of things since we started last summer, and shows some of the stuff that’s left to do. There’s really not that much left to hack when you step back and look at it like this. At least, hopefully it helps explain some of the to-do list stuff a little better.
I don’t feel like boring people with boring details and all that, but if you’re interested, the basic history of the project can be seen here, and you can see how buggy things were just a few months ago here. Also, details about the major stuff left to hack can be seen here.
Until the major hacking is done, it’s not really possible to give a good guess of when this thing will finally be done. But here are some quick ballpark estimates of what’s left:
- Major hacking – There’s probably 2 months left of this, barring anything unexpected.
- Script Draft #1 – I finished this last summer.
- Script Draft #2 – This will probably take me a few weeks, but let’s be conservative and say a month.
- Script Draft #3 – This is the biggest unknown. demi and other skilled writers/editors will be doing this. I don’t know what to expect, and I know demi’s a busy guy. So let’s be super extra conservative and say 3 months. It’ll probably be much less, but let’s play it safe for now.
- Final Script Check – This is where I make sure edits stayed true to the original text, and where I also iron out any text bugs/issues. About a week, I guess.
- (Note that during the script revisions, Jeffman and I (mostly him I assume) will be fixing little bugs and finishing minor hacks)
- Testing – Too hard to say, but the game will probably have been tested pretty well by this time already. Let’s say a few weeks.
It’s pretty much just me and Jeff working on this in our spare time now, but even so, I think those are decent estimates. They’re also a bit on the conservative side, so it could take less time than that. Though they also assume nothing unexpected happens, like illness or legal stuff or whatever.
Anyway, all that aside, I was a bit busy the past day and a half, but I’m still chipping away at the sprite text hacking. I hope I can finish it soon and move on to the next thing on the list.
While I’m at it, remember that MOTHER 3 World thing Itoi updated every week before the game’s release? If you’re feeling nostalgic today, here it is again. Those were exciting times π
Yay, MOTHER 3 forever!
Nice breakdown of whats left, 2 months isn’t too long for the rest of the hacking, keep up the good work!
Here’s hoping for unimpeded progress and smooth sailing to the end.
Awesome. On paper it looks like there’s only a little bit left to complete. The dialog text and menu text looks great.
Off topic(ish) but our new IRC channel is irc://irc.dynastynet.net/tomato
Finished watching the video, if I didn’t know better I’d say the game was practically playable now π
Wow, I haven’t been following the project closely, but seeing that video made me appreciate just how hard it really is to translate a game! Major, major kudos to you guys for this!
Keep up the great work!!!
Sweet. I’m glad the project’s going as well as it is. π
may i ask, what’s the point of having 4 script drafts…? do you mean the one script being proofread 3 different times, or 4 different scripts created? because really you’d think you need just 1, right? that would considerably shave time off the wait, wouldn’t it?
It’s good to see that you’re getting so close. A few months more is well worth the wait for a game like this. Especially since it is looking so perfect.
Hopefully by then I will have gotten a DS homebrew device. I’m probably going to get an M3 Real. It’s slot-1, but you can play GBA roms/homebrew using the bundled slot-2 32mb RAM expansion.
Happy Mother Day!
MasqueDeMask: Multiple drafts are always needed. Second draft here will be me fixing things, smoothing things over, researching things in more detail, etc. The third draft is where the writer-type people do their magic. Fourth isn’t even really a draft, it’s more like a final check.
FWIW, in pretty much everything I do professionaly, three or four drafts is the norm.
So it should be finished this year. I’m glad to hear that…er…read that.
While I’m here, I should mention that I was looking through the various site stats and damn. Broke the 200,000 unique visitors line today, about 10,000 menu patch dloads ( π― ), nearing 20,000 email signups and so on and so forth. pretty crazy stuff.
If we assume for every menu patch dload there’ll be like 10 final patch dloads, the game probably would have done decently well had it been released officially. Bleh π
Thanks for the awesome video, nice to see the progress.
Seeing the video made me remember one thing though,
Will Jeffman’s program for the character names be able to change the player name too? The one that’ll appear in the credits? I’m sure you’ve though of it, but it’d be nice for me to know.
That’s only a few million dollars Mato… nevermind.
And just imagine how many people will get the patch via torrents, P2P networks, or ROM sites? Your hard work will be well appreciated, Tomato and Co.!
Happy Mother Day, frisbee friends:
http://i32.tinypic.com/w1a4pv.png
*watches the video* You’ve come a loooong way Mato.
Sooo…. barring something unfortunate there’s a very good chance we’ll see Mother 3 this year?
Happy Mother’s Day, everyone!
Awesome! I was hoping there’s be something cool for Mother 3’s Birthday.
If any super-hackers saw this video and are reading this, look at how little left there is to do! Doesn’t that make you want to help out? π
Hey Mato. It’s me, Charlett from the forums. I didn’t really want to take the time to register here, but I did want to say one thing. If the other hackers and members of this translation haven’t/won’t usually read this, please relay it to them someway, if at all possible:
Thanks so much for everything you and the other members have done to translate this. I understand how troublesome it can be. Hacking a game is frustratingly hard, and I’ve always found myself screwing up horribly and giving up whenever I attempt a hack of even remotely this magnitude. Despite all the troubles, you don’t give up and continue for our sakes. I know that there are dozens of other people behind me who want to say the same thing. Once a week, at least someone comes up to me to ask if this translation is out yet. I’ve shown them this website, but it seems they’d rather just wait until I see if it’s out so I can tell it to them myself. It makes me feel happy to see them ask so many times, though. I like to see how much they want this translation.
So I want to say it again. Thank you for everything you’ve done. I know this isn’t much (and I wish I could do more), but my friends and I are rooting for you all the way. Take your time, because we’ll wait forever for this translation.
Sincerely yours:
Chrisanthy Kohn (and Friends).
Mato, when the final patch comes you should release as a torrent file on a free torrent hosting site in order to save bandwidth. Just an Idea.
Are the script revisions going on concurrently with the hacking? Or are you leaving all the script stuff until the hacking is totally done?
Haha, two months… π That’d be my exact birthday. I know not to expect the patch then, but it’s still funny how people think two months for everything in a nutshell. Anyway, Christy’s right; take your time, and godspeed! π
Oh, and Christy: I want my name back. I turn my head every time I hear yours, haha!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOTHER 3!!
It’s great to see how far this has come. I’m looking forward to the next few months. π
Happy Birthday MOTHER 3.
Wow, 2 years already… times gone by so fast for me. Nice video by the way, kinda get an inside feeling watching it.
Wowww.. All the text before the video seemed so emotional! ^^ You guys are doing such a great job! You deserve cookies! Wow, I can’t believe how far this has come along! Can’t wait! π
good work as usual guys
love the video, very informative
It’s really exciting to see how far the project has come. As a programmer, it’s good to realize just how much detail goes in behind the scenes.
“That means different things to different people”
True that. I’ll celebrate Mother 3 by lighting up a nice splif!
Here’s to the future release of the fully translated patch!
Wow, amazing stuff there. Seeing the game in English.. brings tears to my eyes.
And yes, what’s with Mother’s rise of popularity because of Smash Bros [And especially Mother 3 now, with Lucas’ inclusion in the latest installment in the series] and its loyal cult following, I, too, believe Mother 3 could’ve sold really nicely over here.
It’s a shame, really.
I’ll give you a dollar if you take a picture that shows “Flint has (3) nuts.” with the transfer screen.
YAY!!!!!!!!!
only an estemated few months left!
HOORAAAAAAAAAAYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I wish I could treat you guys to some biryani (Wiki it) or something, but I live something like half the world away from you. π
ALRIGHT! You have come very far with this project!
This might sound unessesary, but when youΒ΄re done with the Mother 3 translation patch can you please make a translation patch for Mother 1+2, it seems like RPGone translations have stopped working on it so please, make one if you have time after the Mother 3 patch. Would be nice if you make one! π
Bob Dole supports Mother.
Bob Dole is rooting for Mato and his friends.
Hard to crack programming takes 15706 points of damage.
Great stuff guys! Keep it up!
What would be the possibility of running into legal trouble?
Possible legal troubles? I’d say a cease-and-desist from Nintendo would be a legal trouble if they decided that Mother 3 would be profitable after seeing the reaction to Brawl and this project. Just a guess.
I’m a little disappointed in seeing how long the rest of the project will take, but still happy to hear some progress being made. It honestly doesn’t look like two months worth of hacking though.
Good work Mato, I don’t think any other Mother 3 fan could have done this better than you.
happy 420
Luce: Try your hand at hacking. Its not easy and you can see how creepy it is in some of Tomato’s posts.
——————————–
I laughed at the Salsa part. Imma love that chapter! n_n Gotta love Salsa! Good job Mato and Jeffman! *thumbs up*
This is a great recap.
2 months is nothing. I’d be willing to wait 2 years for this project to complete.
Thanks once again for all the hard work you guys!
Noice. What a wonderful Birthday present for me ^.^ Happy Birthday Mother 3!
I can’t wait! <3
I’m really glad you guys are taking your time on this. This is the best looking fan translation I’ve seen.
It’s going to be great to experience this game without buggy text or a half-assed script. It’s also pleasing to know that you guys won’t be releasing it until it is finished instead of releasing updated patches every so often
I know that playing this will feel just like playing a “real” game.
So, looking at the estimates above and adding a few more months… December? :DDDDDD
I will be so psyched if it does come out in October, though. π Keep up the awesome work, ‘Mato and crew!
Bob Dole!
holy crap! what a magnificent job mato, you know you are my hero?
keep up the good job.
Hey Mato,
Well thanks for all your hard work.
I was just going to suggest that it may be better to do the 2nd script revision before finishing the hacking if someone else is doing the 3rd script revision and it’s going to take them as much, if not more, time as the remaining hacking.
Hacking + script revision + script revision would take approximately 6 months on your estimate.
Alternatively If you do the 2nd script revision, and then you hack while the 3rd one is being done by demi, it would be more like 4 months.
Anyway, don’t know what you had planned, but I thought I’d point out that would allow two of those very time consuming tasks to go on at once.
Whatever you decide to do thanks for all your work.
Wow…i can’t believe its been 2 years. Time really flew. It really doesn’t feel like it at all. Still, I cant wait.
YAY!!!!!!!
Gaia Beam: Some of the main hacking issues still left need to be done before moving on with the next draft, like the main display routine. I need that fixed so I’ll know what the technical limits of it are, so I can make the script fit within those limits afterward. Dunno if that explanation makes sense. But for reasons like that I want to get all the major hacking done first and out of the way.
I think what Mato is saying is that he doesn’t want his script revision crashing the game forcing him to do ANOTHER script revision.
Wow, awesome update and video!!! Thanks!
I like to say yes Happy Birthday M3 but I dont really want to cause its makes me happy/angry cause its someone elses B-day. So I just want to hurry up and say it Happy B-day M3
off topic=@Mato by any chance, did you work on the new DBZ season releases? if so, wow. just wow. I own them all so far and having watched them back when you had to rent bootleggy, fuzzy recorded off japanese cable tapes from holes in the wall-they are about as close as you can get to knowing what they REALLY say…on topic= hopefully the final script of Mother 3 will be as accur…a…a..te. No, I’m not barfing…I’m saying great job!!! hang in there!
_TonE_
Nah, I mostly did DB stuff back in the day. DBZ is handled by another translator at FUNi.
Hey Mato, I’m not sure if you guys noticed, but your English is better than your Spanish. =P
Love in Spanish is spelled Amor.
Awsome, it looks like its getting finished. π
neo: boo
Ah, that’s interesting I suppose :S
Wow what an awesome post! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOTHER 3!
Thank you Tomato and the rest of the team for your hard work, passion, and dedication. You all rule!
Hey, I named myself Bob Dole….
GET OUT OF MY HEAD MATO
“Nice scenery. Won’t you try some nice love? Please call me.”
This game will be even more amazing when I can play it in a language I understand π
Good luck with the rest of the patch.
Hello mato, love the update!
Did you consider starting the two script drafts (2 and 3) at the same time?
Or is that out of the question?
@neo
Amore is Italian.
@neo
Amore also means love in french (l’amore technically the love) or Amorer – to love.
Sorry, Amour.
But, in some dialects, (the one i can speak) its spelt the same way.
So this MIGHT be done in maybe August?
Awesome job, either way
best.update.ever
Because of this project, the next time nintendo execs are discussing localization, and somebody says “That’s impossible! Way too much work! It wasn’t designed for localization!” Someone else will say “remember mother 3”!
Watching the progress is so exciting, thank you so much for devoting your time to working on this!
I’m so glad to see the pieces falling into place. I’ve been following for ages despite only deciding to leave comments…yesterday. I’ve been wanting to play Mother 3 but Brawl made me REALLY want to play it. Part of me is considering throwing on the menu patch and just going through it with the translation guide, but it just kind of feels wrong to me somehow.
I love the job you guys are doing. I remember at first when it finally dawned on me that Nintendo wasn’t going to release Mother 3 and that this would be the only way to play it, I was afraid the writing would come out horrible and feel nothing like Earthbound’s did, be it just because of differences from Japanese or…lack of skill at it. I feel stupid about that one now. You guys have done a genuinely professional job here. All the writing gleamed from the video feels exactly like Earthbound’s did.
I kind of had my hopes up for it coming out this summer or something, stupidly, but I can deal with November or December or so. Even January! Either way doesn’t matter, I’m just glad to see you’re taking your time with this…and very glad you guys are showing progress here too. The difference between this and normal translation efforts is that through this blog you’re showing hefty amounts of progress on a regular basis, so while people normally lose faith in translation efforts, you’re giving enough for us to know it’ll actually all come forward in the end.
This will be my new Japan Time. The internet will likely explode the same way it did for Brawl when this comes out anyway.
Good luck and all that!
Well, it’s a better thing for poor old 4/20 than some of the other things. I mean, Hitler’s birthday? :/
Although I admit that I wouldn’t have known that in the first place if not for the Simpsons (it’s Marge’s birthday, too, and it being “the same as Hitler’s” is how Homer remembers it) …
I wonder if they chose to release it on 4/20 because of the parts of it that are so … trippy π
Hey Mato,
I just finished building my time machine. Do you want me to go into the future and bring back the finished patch or will that screw up the whole space/time continuum thing?
I mean, if we all end up with gills or tails it would be worth it to play Mother 3 in english a little sooner right?
Sweet I can’t wait. I’ll sit here till doomsday for this game.
A Fan: I guess you weren’t around starmen.net 2 years ago. Man, so many people back then suggesting the same thing. It was actually because it was right before Japan’s Golden Week.
EDIT: Check out this page I had to make in the weeks leading up to the game’s release even π―
PizzaPasta: That’d be fine, though that’d probably wind up pushing us onto another timeline, meaning other timelines that exist alongside ours would be deprived of the final patch because it never got finished in those lines. Think of all those poor imaginary number people π
Looking at the video, I was reminded of something. When I saw the Tazmily Map item, I remembered that Lucas’ trophy in Brawl translated it as Tazumili.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=EKAYsd3tiis (Around 7:30 is Lucas’ trophy)
I don’t know if this has been asked before, but will you be using Tazmily or Tazumili?
Happy Birthday Mother 3 and it looks like this project has about maybe 6 to 7 months of work if progress continues on this rate.
yay happy 420
I’ve always wished EarthBound could give me a little more room for entering my favorite food and favorite thing, so I could put in things like “Taco Bell” and “Playstation.” I was hoping with Mother 3 there would be enough room, but it looks like I’ll have to substitue “Taco Bell” with “KFC” or something. π
Are you going to use a bug checking program for the final build of the patch to see if it works good enough? I know that such programs exist. They just keep messing with everything trying to break whatever it is that was coded, or at least that’s how I heard the programs work. Those programs are just starting to get major use, and I’m pretty sure they’re in common use at places like Nintendo and Microsoft. I heard about the bug checking programs from Microsoft employees. I live right next to the NOA headquarters and Microsoft.
@Zaxtur – PK Playstation?
@ArashiSai – Sure, why not? When I first played EarthBound I didn’t know why it was asking me my favorite thing, so I got stuck with PSI Movies. PK Playstation doesn’t sound any worse to me than that. But now that I know what it’s for I usually put in like “Blast” or something. Regardless, I still wish there was room for just a few more letters.
I hope you can be done by Christmas, that would be the best present ever! π
Because I don’t understand everything and the Script translation doesn’t translate everything either, so I miss some of the more complicated NPC-Conversations. And the long ones… I hate reading those in japanese, because I still suck at it ;/
So well, good luck to you guys, it’s awesome what you did in that – in romhacking standards – short time!
WHOOOO!!! NEW UPDATE!!!
But 2 months for main hacking? Dude, don’t sell yourself short! Unless you have reason to belive that some uber nasty bug/glitch/issue/whatever will pop up in that time period.
I know i’ve said this before, but now it really looks like we’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Based on the above estimates, it looks like we’ll probably be seeing the game finished this summer, which is good, cuz then there’ll be no school to get in the way of playing.
Also, a few posts above, Nova makes an interesting point. Will you be using Tazmily or SSBB’s Tazumili?
Well, anyway, keep up the good work. We’re all cheering for you.
Soooo awesome!
I want I want I want!!!!
Wow. I w as only 15 when Mother 3 came out, but i’ll be 18 by the time I play it in English. (Assuming the patch is dated for 2008, that is. <_<.)
Keep up the godly work, you gods among men.
“Testing – Too hard to say, but the game will probably have been tested pretty well by this time already. Letβs say a few weeks.”
Do you expect to see any Anti-Piracy Measures in Mother 3?
Woo-hoo for estimations on completion, BOO for the lack of a guide on starman.net and BOO for the lack of there being a starman in Mother 3
Hoorah for my annoying text
PSI Hackstorm,
the bugs were reduced from 2 months HP to 1 months 30 days and 23 hours HP
Ketchup: Heh, nope, that’s not possible in this case. All bug checking and fixing will be done manually, just as it’s been so far. I’m sure bug-checking programs exist for actual computer softwarel, but for a video game, it would have to test so many different things that it would take a hogjillion years to do.
if you were really lucky, you could get a hold of unit/regression tests. but that’s assuming unit/regression tests, which can be a sign of good coding. considering this game does not feature good coding, well…
*sighs*
I wonder if nintendo’s gba compiler is a gcc variant?
The coolest thing about that video is that during some parts, it didn’t even look like a work-in-progress. And furthermore, it didn’t look like a fan translation. The amount of work, quality, and attention to detail being put into this project is astounding; simply awe inspiring. The shere amount of dedication from one individual just blows my mind. Thank you so much Mato.
ok Mato!! enuogh is Enough! Happy Birthday My Friend & Good Coder!! Go Treat yourself to some Puff of Birthday Meth!!
:O So even if all the things you listed take the longest you estimated them to take, it would still be done by the end of the year. That’s awesome.
I took the longest estimation of time of each thing and it added up to November 16 or so.
Just a few more months! I cant beleive it. You guys are awesome!!!
Two things:
1)
4:20 is about smoking too much and getting stoned on your ass.
2)
I wager my left testicle that this project sees a Christmas ’08 release.
That song at five minutes sounded like some sort of inverted Sky Runner theme. Neat.
Happy 4/20!!!! weeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Come on people, you KNOW the game is referencing the song “That’s Amore,” which uses the Italian version of the word.
> Are you going to use a bug checking program for the final build of the patch to see if it works good enough? I know that such programs exist. They just keep messing with everything trying to break whatever it is that was coded, or at least thatβs how I heard the programs work.
I don’t think you CAN run a fuzzer on a ROM π It’s more useful for things like web services. Even if you did manage to run one, all it would do is wander around randomly and die because it would have no idea what it was doing. Manual testing, alas, is the only way they’re going to manage.
That said, it would be interesting if demi & co. could do their revisions while the hacking is going on. I know Mato wanted to do a second draft before that, but, as long as it is translated, wouldn’t it be okay? Or do the hacks have to be complete so that the text can be revised when seen in context?
Anyhow, it’s nice to see this coming along so well π
you’re right, its NOT a lot left once you’ve taken a few steps back…and most of those items are mostly complete anyway!
I tip my hat to you all
so maybe 6 months or so? That’s not so bad. Life seems to fly by these days anyway. I can’t wait!
Mato, would you be frustrated if Nintendo suddenly announced M3 for stateside release? I mean, it would be great, but after all that hard work…
Hello, again…I am glad that this project is coming along nicely. I have watched too many fan translation projects get off to a good start, only to die an early death or be put on permanent hold with little or no warning. The translation project for Lennus 2 (Paladin’s Quest 2 in the US) has not seen an update for five years. The fully translated script is apparently sitting around gathering dust on somebody’s hard drive and nobody has the will to iron out the horrible bugs that have found their way into the code during the translation process and the original project members have been swallowed up by the vast desert of abandoned websites on the internet.
I am glad that this translation project is still alive and well and that real progress has been made with screenshots of the updates as they take place. It hurts to know that there are so many good games that have never been translated, but there is the reassurance that Mother 3 will soon be in a format friendly to those not fluent in Japanese. Rom hackers are the unsung heroes of the gaming industry, and should be given high praise for their often thankless task. I am a biologist, not a coder or programmer and from what I hear it is very tedious work; especially when you do not have access to the original code of the game and so you have to backwards-engineer the format of the game.
So, Mato I cannot offer much, but if you ever need any help or questions regarding biology, anatomy, or physiology I will be glad to answer them. May your dedication to the greatness that is Mother 3 be forever praised. May the NOA representatives be afflicted with hemorrhoids large enough to require their own postal codes.
So… Mato, according to your estimate, about 7 more months. That’s not… That’s not long at all, considering that it’s been 2 years, and considering all the work that you’ve gone through in the past year and a half.
Oh — almost forgot Jeffman and the rest. Kudos to all of you as well.
@Vagn: You must be crazy to wager your testicle on anything other than a Royal Flush of spades in a poker hand.
Either you don’t have that testicle or you wish to be half neutered.
Haven’t read comments thoroughly yet, but uh let’s get off the subject of the post above this π―
Anyway, been looking more closely at that weird sprite bug, and finally tracked it down to the r10 register. Somehow a different value gets in there at the moment than the Japanese ROM. I don’t know quite how/why yet, since none of this sprite welding messes with r10 directly, so I gotta follow code after my hack, which will be annoying. But at least we’re on the right track here. I think fixing this should fix a few other weird bugs that needed attention too. Let’s hope so.
Cool video, screenshots and words are one thing, but seeing it in video form makes it a lot easier to get exactly what’s going on, not to mention how cool it’s going to be running on a my DS after it comes out.
id like to say that i will miss the blog and my ranting about the to-do list not being updated (it still hasnt!!!!!!!!!) but i will be angry if banjo kazooie 3 and mother 3 reach completion and are available to the public at the same time.
I want the patch so bad.
Heh, you’re gonna have a lot of people wanting to buy you a drink when this is all done. =P
Mato-
I’m sure this is a subject you probed many moons ago, but…
How thouroughly aware are you of the behavior of the Nintendo GBA C compiler? Have you spent any decent amount of time trying to figure out what in the assembly may be artifacts of the compilation process?
Cuz if you haven’t, I’d be willing to look it up for ye. I’m itching for anything I can do without spoiling myself and investing large amounts of time :P. I mean, I don’t know how good Nintendo’s technology is, but it’s possible that they just have a really crappy C compiler. Knowing its intricacies might help.
Anywho…
Whats wrong with talking about my testicles Mato?
Perhaps Mato has a deep fear of testicles based on the fuzzy memory of a movie he accidentally saw part of as a child?
I salute you from Mexico, mother3.org/starmen.net Translation Team:
I’ve been read your updates, checked every single screenshot you take about your current task and watched all the movies about your progress and I’d like to thank you for all the efforts you are putting on this.
I’m a big fan of MOTHER saga and I’ll be really, really happy the day you release the English translated version of MOTHER 3.
The thing is I’d like to “pay” you for all the work you guys have done and are currently doing, so, it could not be so much, but I’d like to contribute to you, just tell me what can I do for you and I’ll do it (no pun intented, I’m serious).
Thank you again for all this, I thiunk you guys have my e-mail account, so please contact me, I’ll be really happy to help you in some way.
I think Nintendo’s compilers ARE some kind of gcc variant, actually. Many of the accounts I’ve heard of developers talking about how things get done tend to hint at such. This is wild speculation, however, and by no means a gospel truth.
Once this is all finished, you all will be some of the most popular people on the internet, lol! This is definitely one of the biggest and most desired fan translations to be released. Take your time. However much time you need. If some people can wait 10 years for other games, we can wait 1 year for MOTHER 3, the sequal to the ever AMAZING EarthBound.
So ya, we’ll wait as long as it takes you. We’ll wait eagerly, as always. I can wait 6 months for this game in English, easily. I’ll just play it in Japanese. Or, play Brawl! XD
Happy Second Birthday MOTHER 3! No, you can’t smoke today. You’re too young. Just like how children are too young to drink…coffee! XD *EarthBound Fourside “bar” reference*
So ya, keep up the good work, and the good cause! Way to do what Nintendo ISN’T DOING! Way to do it for the real fans! We all really appreciate what you’re doing, and thank you a ton for it! Good luck, and keep up the good work! π
Spent most of the night trying to track down some of the bugs with the sprite text stuff. It’s very complicated stuff, bleh. Jeff tried looking into it too, but it’s crazy. Anyway, I’m beat so I sleep now and maybe I’ll have better luck when the sun returns.
Finally got to a computer that would play the video correctly, and all I can say is… WOW. You guys rock, and this game rocks. Any chance of working something out with the big N to get it officially released? Doubt it but, eh…
Good luck finding that silly bug, Mato! Can you trap when it changes or something so that you know which routine does it?
Oh, and your rumors page should definitely mention the rumor that 4/20 was chosen because it’s Marge Simpson’s birthday π
In the mean time, I’m wondering if there’s some way to make a Japanese pun out of a situation like the one where the person ordered a trout but didn’t want fish (maybe they actually wanted trout yogurt?).
The best I can come up with is wanting koi (romance) instead of koi (carp), but even if koi are common, who eats carp? π
Blargh I want to play this in English so bad! But I’m patient. I have other games to occupy my time until then.
(Crystal Chronicles Ring of Fates and Smash Bros Brawl, Specifically)
Here’s hoping all the bugs get taken care of! =D
Fantastic!! Back to speedruns of Metroid…
Happy Birthday, Mother3!
π
MOTHER3 FOREVAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
GO GO MATO! YA BETTER FINISH THIS PROJECT IN TIME FOR MOTHER3’S “BIRTHDAY PARTY!” lol
Huge thanks to everyone putting in hard work to get this game to the fans, I check this site everyday and it’s obvious that this is extremely tedious / hard work. I just want to say I really appreciate you guys bringing this to us and I’m sure everyone else feels the same
keep up the great work.. and awesome video π
Uh … hello? Mato? I’ve tried to post this a few times and it just hasn’t shown up. Am I being censured for my previous linking of a Mother OST torrent and/or foul language? I’ll refrain from both in the future. Here goes again:
It’s a conundrum for sure, a double-edged sword, a question as perplexing as Mr. Saturn is ambiguous. How do you keep your sanity waiting for this game to be playable in English when the threat of spoilers and other things are there to taunt you every second, stalking you even in your dreams like a benevolent-yet-spoiler-laden Freddy Krueger?
The best thing for me to do is to go for the old “out of sight, out of mind” approach. If I ignore this project, one day I’ll check back and be delighted to see that it’s finished and waiting for me to play. But I love being here and saying Mato and GeoffMan make progress, I love being here to share the Mother Love with you all. So I don’t want to leave this site and this project to collect dust in the back of my mind, but that’s the only way to make the wait bearable!
εε!η³η³δΊ!ζδΉε?!
You really are working hard on this guys! We can’t Thank-You enough for doing this! I’m still having a lot of trouble finding a ROM for Mother 3, though…
A Fan,
I can’t believe that somebody knows Marge Simpson’s birthday.
That’s kind of awesome and weird at the same time. π
Mato –
I appreciate all the work on this. I started playing through the game in Japanese (using a walkthrough), but got frustrated and now am going to play through 1-2 while I wait for your translation.
You may have already addressed this (multiple times), but what are you ideas why this was not released in the U.S.? Still baffles me.
Sorry to be a dick about this, but, uh, why can’t I post any more?
The hell?! I’ve been trying to post a message since this afternoon, and each time clicking submit resulted in a refresh and my comment disappearing. And now it works? Hmm. Something is a foot! I smell a fish!
(But it’s not a cod! … Hehe … I had a better joke but I lobster … mehehe).
Ahem, carry on, citizens.
MaiXu: Sometimes stuff gets caught in the filters. I fished out one of your messages so it should be there. I dunno, maybe it thought random Chinese was spammy π
I gotta hit the real life work hard today, so I’ll get to comments later tonight hopefully. I’m already falling behind, bleh. But last night I had a horrible dream I was like sort of hacking the game, but I had to run away from the r6 register since it was running around the buildings crushing everything like the Cloverfield monster. Eventually I had to wake up and tell myself to shut the hell up and dream better.
Incidentally, r6 was where I’ve tracked that sprite bug problem to before going to sleep last night.
What a boring story. Anyway, good morning to all.
The r6 register monster will eat my face off?
p.s. Once I win the lottery I think I’ll retire you Mato.
lol, a literal coding nightmare. To make sure my last post doesn’t go unanswered, are you going to keep using Tazmily or are you going to use Brawl’s translation, Tazumili?
Good mourning to you too Mato and those hacking dreams mean are quite funny.
heres hoping…that the nearish completion will inspire people π to earthbound/mother!
Thanks Mato! Hate to waste valuable hack-time on this message board … but I do appreciate it.
@ 2:45, ‘risk-taking’? wouldn’t ‘daring’ be more natural?
OMG! I cannot wait until this thing is done! 8D
PizzaPasta: I only remember it because of that line in the Simpson’s where Homer says he remembers Marge’s birthday because it’s “April 20th, the same as Hitler’s” π If not for that line, I wouldn’t remember either one. I used to know a guy who was really into studying WW2, true, but all that stuff was just never my thing. I can, however, quote all kinds of random things out of it. I used to have a friend where we could almost talk in Simpson’s quotes. Which is pretty bad when you think about it… SNPP helps, too, if you can’t remember one, though π
In the mean time, I can only hope that Mato gets some support with Jeff and the Ghost Busters zapping R6 with Gaia beams (don’t cross the beams!), then they can throw out one of the traps and catch that stupid bug. After that, they can return to Mom’s house for steaks, to empty their trap into the containment field (an unlicensed nuclear reactor) and to cure homesickness. After analysis, they find out that R6 is somehow connected to Scientology, being a memory fragment concerning God, Satan and a giant bug zapper for souls that was implanted by insectoid aliens disguised as psychologists and intended to make sure that we think sane people are crazy and crazy people are sane. But all of that is forgotten when they face the StayPuff Marshmallow Man bug the next day…
What? The nice thing about crazy dreams is that you can always make them crazier without much effort. π
I mean, I still remember the time I went through the secret passage into the pyramid, then ran from a tyrannosaurus, got into a race car, and went through the loop-de-loop…
Great video and post Mato, all you guys are absolutely amazing and your work is incredibly appreciated. I’m so excited for the final patch! Happy late birthday MOTHER 3!
I already ran into some spoilers of this game by playing Brawl, but I don’t care. I just want to play this game!
Heh, so what’s an R6 register supposed to look like anyway? Or was it a string of code stomping around the town? =P
Heh, I’m reminded of a ‘nightmare’ my mom once told me she had (oh it was somewhere around the NES day). She used to really like playing Dragon Warrior IV, she told me in the dream that it was horrible, nobody could stop moving their hands and legs, stuck in perpetual animation like the characters in the game, how even when they stand still, they’re still walking in place. =P
Yeah, she has some *weird* dreams. Even today.
Hey Mato:
I hope this comment doesn’t insult your intelligence or anything but I remember back when I was doing an embedded systems lab in university I was getting a strange bug which occurred across a subroutine call, sometimes it would work and sometimes it would not. It turns out though that I was accidentally destroying a non-volatile register in the subroutine call. So maybe you are destroying a value in r6 that you need? Does your bug occur across a sub-routine call? And if so did you try saving the value of r6 to the stack? Again sorry if this is insulting to you, I just thought I would offer my two cents.
Cheers
Oh and to Zaratus if you are curious about what a register is read up on flip-flops, they are the building blocks of registers, and digital circuits in general.
Zaratus: If you don’t want to read about flip-flops (and beach thongs? XD) the simple answer is that registers are basically memory inside the processor itself. It’s extremely small and very limited, but fast since it’s where the processor actually executes instructions–some of which act differently depending on other registers that set various modes. There are also special registers for things like the current memory address location of the code it’s executing, or a cycle or clock counter, or other features special to various chips.
Err, will flip-flops really help him understand a register like R6? I know that’s how you make some of those gates (heck, both Mato & I had the same class where you design a CPU out of and, or, nand, etc. logic gates and flip-flops), but that doesn’t really tell you what they are from a programming point of view π
Just so you know, a register is part of the central processing unit holds a number for you so you can work on it. You can do things like put a constant value into it (e.g. set it to 5 or whatever), add/subtract/multiply/etc. something with it (either some number stored in RAM, a constant, or whatever).
The difference between registers and other memory is that it’s a LOT faster (because it’s part of the CPU). So the register contents are usually used for things you’re working on right now. There are also special registers, like the status register that tells you stuff about what just happened (e.g. was the result of the last calculation zero? was there a numeric overflow? was the result of the last calculation negative?). A number of instructions do different things depending on the status register. For example, you might grab some number from memory, subtract 5 from it, and then do a BRZ (branch if zero) to jump to another part of the program if the result of the subtraction was zero. Because you subtracted 5 from it, the only way to get zero is 5 minus 5, so subtraction with the answer you want is often used to test if numbers are equal.
That’s right, if you want to know if a number is equal to 5, you’d subtract 5 from it and test whether or not the answer was 0 π You do lots of stuff like that in assembly.
Oh, there are other special registers, too, like the stack pointer and the program counter. The program counter (PC) tells you where the next instruction to execute is. When you jump/branch to another part of the program, you change that so that you execute different instructions (for example, if that number we subtracted was your HP, you might be dead, so jump to the “GAME OVER” screen). The stack is… it’s own thing. It’s a special bit of memory where you keep stuff you’re working on that won’t fit into the CPU itself. It’s sort of like an inbox, where you drop things on top of it when you get more work, and pull things off the top when you’re ready to finish them. And yes, you can make it overflow (this is bad) if you make too much work for yourself without finishing it π
Anyhow R6, unless I’m badly mistaken, is just one of the normal registers. It holds… pretty much whatever you want it to. But the game must have expectations for it or something. And just like forgetting to carry a 1 when adding, you get weird results like crashes when you screw up the math in some part of the program π
If you really want to learn about it, read up on how to write assembly code for a RISC processor. I believe that the GBA uses THUMB and ARM. The average Intel CPU is CISC. That means it has fewer registers and crazier opcodes (i.e. things you can do to the registers or memory). ARM uses lots more general purpose registers and fewer opcodes.
Stick is equipment? SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE
Happy birthday, Mother 3, and thanks to you dedicated guys and girls for persevering. There will be so much more to celebrate once 4/20/09 rolls around. π
I loved the video! It really brightened my day to read that you guys are so close to finishing! Thank you for all your hard work and dedication, Tomato, JeffMan, and everyone else involved!
Hey I got a question: I just recently downloaded a Mother 3 ROM, and I noticed a few problems. First is the audio; there are lots of various small “popping” noises that pop up. It’s nothing major, but something I noticed. Next is the graphics; while character sprites and animations all work fine, the backgrounds all seem skewed. It’s kinda hard for me to explain, but again, it’s nothing “major”. But the MAJOR problem I’ve been having is that the game crashes everytime I try to save. I’ve tried with both the “original” ROM, and on a ROM with your patch uploaded, and I get the same problems. When you release the final patch, will these problems be fixed? Or will I need to download a new ROM? Also, could it be the ROM or the Emulator that’s messed up?
I downloaded the Mother 3 ROM from using a Download Manager, though I’ve heard that’s not recomended, and the Emulator I’m using is “BatGBA”(it was the first one I found).
@A Fan:
You’re right telling someone to read up on flip-flops will not help them understand registers from a programming perspective, but being an electrical engineer I am more interested in the hardware part of things. Please excuse my bias π
But in RISC (and CISC for that matter) processors there are certain registers which are assumed to be constant across sub-routine calls (AKA non-volatile registers), and ones that are not assumes to be constant (volatile registers). My comment before was just inquiring that Mato may (or may not) have accidentally treated a non-volatile register as a volatile register and thus corrupted a value across a subroutine call.
For everyone who is not familiar with this stuff please excuse our technical blah blah, but myself and obviously others find this stuff really interesting.
Oh and the GBA does use an ARM/THUMB processor. It has a really nasty syntax too from what I’ve seen, similar to a Motorola 68K or MIPS-32.
Great job on the nostalogic video and Happy Birthday Mother 3!! You guys are doing great. I would wait 5 years if it meant that this thing would be coming out! Take your time we all support you guys and what your doing!
It looks like we’ve found out the problem behind the weird sprite issue, which is good. The fix was to just move a branch two instructions or so later. But now for some reason, in very rare cases, the game will not print some sprite letters fully. It’s really weird and I can’t think of why moving a branch would cause that. But I guess we’ll find out eventually π
Isn’t that what always happens? You fix one thing, only to find it messes up another…
Wow, weird indeed. Good luck figuring it out!
It looks like consecutive letters, I think.
Maybe that has something to do with it?
YOU GUYS RULE!
in assembly, moving things around can totally make a difference. anywho…
Wassup all?
To Mato: I’d read what Vagn said and reply to it. Because I want to know, also π
Have a great day/night/inbetween, all!
hey mato, check this out
http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?board=914622&topic=42642587
this guy is making a guide for mother 3, it looks pretty cool and he wants help getting english screenshots for it, if you get a chance, maybe you could get in contact with him and help him out a little, f you have the time of course, obviously i don’t want you taking time away from the translation for this.
Rog:
Use Visualboy Advance instead, it’s the best GBA emulator, bar none. I’ve never even heard of the one you were using.
“Final Script Check – This is where I make sure edits stayed true to the original text, and where I also iron out any text bugs/issues. About a week, I guess.”
This brings up a question. Are you going to keep most item/character names close to the same as Mother 3’s, or are you going to change them to be consistent with Earthbound? For example, calling Mr.Bat Mr.Batty.
Also I’d like to ask: You mention a few times before that all these new hacking utilities you guys are inventing are going to help hackers in the future. Are they going to be publicly released once the patch is finished?
Uhh yeah, I wasn’t actually trying to be technical or anything, just sort of silly. Guess it’d be more accurate to say he was getting chased around the town by a giant circuit?
Y’know, just trying to visualize an R6 register destroying a city like a rampaging monster. Something similarly absurd like the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man terrorizing New York.
But, hey, now I know (somewhat) what an R6 register is. =P
After the patch is released (and I don’t mean immediately after, mind you) we’ll probably create a catchall translation tool that’s compatible with our patched version of the game which allows trusted translators to localize it into different languages. It might not go public for a good while, which means that we would probably start off by taking requests from community-renowned ROM translators or something. There really isn’t any point of releasing our current tools, as they have been very customized for this project and you guys wouldn’t understand or even have a need for using them.
God that took forever. But we finally figured out how to fix that weird sprite bug, and then Jeff’s suggestion was like an obvious slap in the face with a trout, and I managed to fix the problem I showed above. I’ll spare the boring details, but it was a combination of repeated letters + the game’s own efficiency checks + sprite boundaries.
Anyway, this also fixed another real nasty bug that would remove any character in your party who didn’t have PSI if you went to the PSI menu. It was weird π
There’s still a few bugs left, I think they’re all related though, and they’ve been around a long time. It seems to involve sprites not being turned off when they should, and other weird stuff. These black bars show up a lot, almost always during shop stuff. There’s also something weird at the end that I’ll have to check out too, unless my fix just now fixed that as well.
Sorry, is there a reason for all that blue text now? Or has it always been blue and I’m just really, really thick?
I had an awesome idea … that will never happen … what if Nintendo, seeing this awesome project and the dedication of its fans, is waiting quietly until GeoffMan and Mato et al. finish and then will ask them to release the hacked English game on WiiWare?
Impossible, I know, but the karma would be so good …
The blue is for debugging purposes. Wouldn’t be able to see the text otherwise, since the background is black too. You can see this here too.
*now* I can smell the end cooking. you’re definitely in the bug-hunting phase of this sprite stuff, which means you’re at least 20% done with it.
I kid:)
I hope.
In any case, here’s to fixing the sprites real, real, soon now!
*offers a congratulatory tomato to mato*
I wish I could say that I watched the video……. but still, keep up the good work!
Seriously Mato and Jeff those screen shots are beautiful! You are both amazing! Keep up the splendid effort!
OK, I think I see what the problem is with that black bar stuff. I actually got it to do something even crazier in a save menu. It has to do with the battle hack, if you can believe that. It looks like it’s mostly just an initialization thing, I’ll have to delve a little deeper into it. Tired but don’t want to put this down yet. I want this stupid sprite hack donnnnnnnne
I’ve been kinda stalking this site for a while now…I just now had the urge to say something…
…I think you guys are doing a great job..I can’t wait for it to be done…
…Been looking forward to this ever since I finished EarthBound..You guys are really putting alot into this..
..I like the video.
Heh, the menu programmer even poached some of the battle text routines? Wow, that guy was crazy π
Me? I’d have printed most of the crap on a background layer and been done with it. But I guess it was easier for him to use sprites everywhere just because they were used for a few necessary things…
> Jeff’s suggestion was like an obvious slap in the face with a trout
The fish, or “non-fish” kind? π (Sorry, Aphrodine!)
Mato, Have you gotten those slowdown issues from the sprite text hack stuff sorted out yet or is that a whole ‘nother can of worms still?
I should be asleep, heh. But I wanted to get this other bug killed. Finally got it. It’s the same bug as the black bar bug in a few posts above. Here’s before and after.
It was a pain to locate, but some intuition helped it go by pretty quickly. Only like 5 lines of code, too. I think that does it for actual sprite text bugs. I still need to finish the status icon handling, and then it’s on to slowdown-fixing. I have a plan for fixing the slowdown, but I do not look forward to it π
One question, what time zone are you in Mato? PST?
And nice that you fixed that black bar bug. π
Nice job with the black bars, Mato. ^^b
Heh Heh Mato… “some intuiton helped it go by pretty quickly.” !! Nice Nod.. One-Off.. A Wink If You Will.. I Know what Intuitoin Really Is!! Meth !! Good Work Friend!! I Wish I Could Code 1/10000th The Skill You Have Possess! What Was Nature of The Five Line of Code Which Causing the Bug? I Am Interest Really
Damn, Mato, you’re a genius. You seem to solve every bug you encounter in a couple of hours
Sahweet!
Mato: I love you.
Mato good job at killing bugs and by the looks of it on the screen shots that last bug was a big issue that you solved.
mato: I assume you’re on top of it, but is there any way to optimize the original code and your code in just such a way that it all takes the same amount of time it did in the japanese version? this optimizing stuff sounds like a hassle, but it doesn’t seem unsolvable. We’re behind you 100%!
Wow. I never knew my infamous fish story would ever gain popularity outside of my coworkers at my restaurant.
I guess the good news is that (so far) I never had another “trout is a fish!” incident.
… Now I kindly have to tell my customers that they shouldn’t put flammable objects into fire. (I wish I was joking).
——–
Anywhoo, I couldn’t possibly be more excited that the weird sprite bug has been fixed. The new screen cap looks absolutely marvelous now. Sexy even. So sexy that the new screen cap could replace one of the girls in a Play Boy magazine and nobody could tell the difference.
You’re going down status icon handling!
Firstly, I can at least have pity on the poor fool who gets confused with flammable, because if flammable and inflammable mean the same damn thing, which is pretty stupid when you think about it. Mistaking trout for anything other than fish, however, is a special kind of unforgivable stupid.
Secondly, it’s PlayBoy, one word. I know this because in China PlayBoy is a εη, ming pai, a “famous brand.” It’s on bags, t-shirts and shoes and belts my students wear, they even have a line of designer suits for God’s sake. I wish I was joking.
MaiXu: You remind me of Dr. Nick from the Simpsons when you say that, but that might be where you got it from π I assume the words descend from flame and inflame, which is odd, because those don’t quite have the same meaning. Oh well.
Aphrodine: With any luck, one of those customers will set themselves on fire, then you can submit them to the Darwin Awards π But if you think restaurant patrons are pyromaniacs, you should have been at my 9th grade science class back in the day. When everyone has a bunson burner, you become grateful that the tables have some kind of fireproof coating.
Again with a stupid hacking dream. I dream of just sitting here, trying to fix bugs in ASM code. It goes on forever, and I have to wake myself up and tell my brain to shut up and stop it because it’s not going to fix whatever bug it’s trying to fix, cause there’s nothing there. I think maybe I’ll take a day off or something heh.
I haven’t even gotten to the comments here yet and there’s almost 200 gargh.
When I win the lottery, I think I’ll buy the Internet and give it to Mato.
mato:
Perhaps you *will* fix the bugs in your dreams. I’ve been known to solve math problems in my sleep.
Are the dreams unpleasant? Are they even concrete?
You guys are doing fine,
but I think you guys are missing one thing,
Shouldn’t you guys make MOTHER 3 become Earthbound 2 you know, to go with this USA confusion of EarthBound stuff,
you know, just a suggestion…
I know it would take a day or two to fill in all the MOTHER 3 script spaces with
EarthBound 2,
but wouldn’t that title make sense?
You guys still rock!
even though lucas sux compared to Ness in SSBB ; )
~KoolKojo
1) Lucas does not suck
2) Mato, is it possible to teach yourself to sleepwalk? Maybe your dreams are figuring out the code and you wouldn’t know!
Mato So Good.. He Sleepcode!! Mato Wake Up One Morning.. Slur He Words.. He Discover He Had Pipe full of Meth Hang out of He Mouth.. Mato Was Smoke Meth in His SLEEP! Wow!
> Again with a stupid hacking dream. I dream of just sitting here, trying to fix bugs in ASM code. It goes on forever, and I have to wake myself up and tell my brain to shut up and stop it because itβs not going to fix whatever bug itβs trying to fix, cause thereβs nothing there. I think maybe Iβll take a day off or something heh.
Hey, don’t knock dreams, they’re just extra time for debugging π I mean, I once figured out a bug in one of my class assignments back in college while I was in the dentist’s chair. The dentist asked me if I was in pain or something because I went “aha!” π
But once I got out of there, I tried my fix and it worked perfectly.
So just get plenty of rest when you need it and with any luck, you’ll find the bugs in your dreams π
WHO DARES TO INSULT THE PERFORMANCE OF LUCAS IN BRAWL?!?!?!?!
LUCAS KICKS ARSE!!
On a more pleasent and mentally stable note, great job fixin those last two bugs. Keep up the good work Mato! ;D
I’ve said this a thousand times, but it’s amazing how far you’ve come. It seems like yesterday I was watching the game glitch up with missing text constantly and die screamy deaths.
To Jeff:
Thanks man. I downloaded the new emulator, and everything works perfectly.
I love this game! Mato, you guys are doing a hell of a job. Keep up the great work. I can’t wait to play in full English.
Problem solving technique #16 from Wikipedia:
Incubation: input the details of a problem into your mind, then stop focusing on it. The subconscious mind will continue to work on the problem, and the solution might just “pop up” while you are doing something else.
Lucas, unfortunately (for the developers of Brawl, who had a vision of balance for all the fighters), surpasses Ness. Like a “Ness 2.0”
Oh, and I have decided that until some form of MOTHER-related media is released (i.e.: This patch, EarthBound for the VC, etc.), I will only be playing as Lucas in competitive play. It’s a fantastic way to build as a fighter.
If only I felt the same for Zero Suit Samus – (geez)
What do you plan to do about the slowdown? Do you have a clever trick, or is it going to have to come down to cutting off any excess cycles you can find?
We’ll do essentially what the game also did — only actually load/draw the font when necessary; if it’s already been drawn and no changes have occurred, skip the entire drawing sequence altogether. The slowdown occurs because right now we’re always redrawing no matter what.
So it’s like someone’s constantly hitting F5 on you?
It all depends on how you use them in Brawl as to how good they are. I’ve been beaten several times by Nesses even when using Lucas.
I see. That does seem like it will be hard to work in, and you’ll probably get some really bad bugs if you aren’t careful…But then, you’re better than that π
To the people talking about Brawl: I think it depends on the player, and how they use the character they choose.
I kick butt with both Lucas and Ness, but my friend fails at using them, and kicks butt with Kirby..
:P.
I have a question Mato…
Did you celebrate 4/20 this year? Just wondering… since you literally ARE my role model and you realizing the crap behind America and it’s anti-drug laws would mean you wouldliterally be the coolest person on the ntire internet in my respects.
I am worote an essay about you last year for amy writing calls and your contributions to hte internet communities. I hope one day I can meet you (not in a creepy way) just to see a fellow super fan.
Thank you for absolutly EVERYTHING you have done and keep on going.
Peace ~ Adam
Oh god that was bad… sorry
REVISION
I have a question Matoβ¦
Did you celebrate 4/20 this year? Just wonderingβ¦ since you literally ARE my role model and you realizing the crap behind America and itβs anti-drug laws would mean you would actually be the coolest person on the ntire internet in my respects.
I wrote an essay about you last year for my writing class and your contributions to the internet communities. I hope one day I can meet you (not in a creepy way) just to see a fellow super fan.
Thank you for absolutly EVERYTHING you have done and keep on going.
Peace ~ Adam
[…] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments […]
Mato:
Could you share the nature of the fix that was implemented; which you talked about in the last mini-update? I am curious about it.
Mato, I know what mean with the dreams. I’m a butcher, and a firefighter, and sometimes I have dreams where the customer wants like, a t-bone steak cut into sixteen slices, or something ridiculous. I have to wake myself to remind myself I don’t actually have to cut the meat.
I’m with Mato in that “straight from the horse’s mouth”. Just wait for people to start complaining after those 7 months pass.
I predicted earlier in this thread that it might take 6 to 7 months for a patch release but where did Mato post that it might take 7 months for a patch release cause he has not yet predicted anything about a date on a patch release so GamezGeek should not post any false estimate on a release.
I Rock with both Ness, aaaannndd Kirby π
Anyway, I know right, people will complain if it doesn’t come out soon, heck even I will XD!
Mato and the gang are fast with hacking though, as you may see, so I’ll bet this patch will be done by the end of summer, not November!
I rock with Falco too!
TheReaper08…
Major hacking – Thereβs probably 2 months left of this, barring anything unexpected.
2 months
Script Draft #1 – I finished this last summer.
2 months + 0 months
Script Draft #2 – This will probably take me a few weeks, but letβs be conservative and say a month.
2 months + 0 months + 3 weeks
Script Draft #3 – This is the biggest unknown. demi and other skilled writers/editors will be doing this. I donβt know what to expect, and I know demiβs a busy guy. So letβs be super extra conservative and say 3 months. Itβll probably be much less, but letβs play it safe for now.
2 months + 0 months + 3 weeks + 3 months
Final Script Check – This is where I make sure edits stayed true to the original text, and where I also iron out any text bugs/issues. About a week, I guess.
(Note that during the script revisions, Jeffman and I (mostly him I assume) will be fixing little bugs and finishing minor hacks)
2 months + 0 months + 3 weeks + 3 months + 1 week
Testing – Too hard to say, but the game will probably have been tested pretty well by this time already. Letβs say a few weeks.
2 months + 0 months + 3 weeks + 3 months + 1 week + 3 weeks
2mo+0mo=2mo
2mo+3wk=2 3/4mo
2 3/4mo + 3mo = 5 3/4mo
5 3/4mo + 1wk = 6mo
6mo + 3wk = 6 3/4mo
about 6.75 months
hm… I noticed that you put the latin word for love as “amore” (first visible at 0:41 in the video).
That’s actually put in the ablative singular form, which is generally used for prepositional phrases or special uses. (e.g. I am sitting here out of love)
A better translation would be “amor” (nominative singular), which would refer to the word as a subject (e.g. Love is a feeling)
Just saying, as I’m not taking into account the Japanese script.
This is my first time commenting on any update, or even talking on this site. I just felt like I needed to say great job. From what I’ve read and can just guess, translating and hacking Mother 3 is a pain in the butt, but you still go on with it. Your dedication to this is just amazing and makes me wish I had the attention span to do anything like this>_>.
I can’t tell you how happy it makes me that I’ll be able to play Mother 3 once it finally gets done, however long it takes. I’m only 15 and only played Earthbound like 2 or 3 years ago once I finally got fed up about knowing nothing about whoever Ness from SSB/M was. It’s a great game and is truly unique and wonderful. I’m nowhere near as a big a fan as anyone else on this site, but I just can’t wait until you guys finish translating and hacking it. Keep up the great work!
Yadda thats a pretty good estimate.
In Italian, it’s amore. (which is the song that is referenced)
In French, it’s amour.
In Portuguese,Latin and Spanish, it’s amor.
So you’re all right, he just used it as a reference to a song.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That's_Amore
I just want to point out that I purposely didn’t add up the estimates and give a total estimate for a reason. The point wasn’t to say, “Hey it’ll be done in X months”, but instead, “These different things will each take about X amount of time probably”. There’s a slight difference, but the difference is there π
What’s so wrong with that’s amore?! Why would you want to just look like someone never heard of the phrase [like the song] and just settle it at amore? Sheesh. Soon we’ll have people asking for a sepeerate menu option making the Z’s S’s (like British English) and the grays/greys spellings etc. Sheesh. Just infer from context clues what it’s trying to say. This script already seems alot more polished than the NOA product of EarthBound ever was. NVM thanks Arsenis. YOu took care of that. (Literal amor aside, what really looks/sounds better? amor or amore?)
I’m guessing that it’s because some of those individual items might over-lap or be separated by a few days here or there, which throws off any combined calculations, right? It’s not like you’re a robot-man, completing each task in sequence without breaks. Thanks for the estimates anyway, it’s very exciting news no matter how you look at it!
Where the hell is the donate a million dollars button?
That button would me on Tomato’s site. Once I get a real job, I’ll be “buying” my Mother 3 that way.
It’ll be nice to play an English Mother game that doesn’t have all that pointless NOA censoring and family-friendly bullshit, and is much closer to Itoi’s feel. Hey, maybe when Mato’s done with Mother 3, he can undertake a more faithful fantrans of Mother 2? Surely he doesn’t have enough to do, and as well all know, hacking ROMs is so easy.
Sorry, Mato. You’re committed now. I look forward to downloading this patch at exactly midnight on November 22nd.
I’d have guessed 4 months, personally, knowing how fast Mato has moved through the current hacks. (That’s a wild guess, mind you, don’t hold Mato to it…) But script draft #3 is by demi, I guess. We don’t have a blog where we can terrify him into moving faster with our enthusiasm, like we do with Mato… π
Hack that sprite! Translate that joke! That screenshot is exactly 1 pixel off! We don’t pay you to slack off!
… or pay you at all, for that matter … π
Mato .. Good Man.. You know What I Want to Post About you Smoking Day And Night.. But I Give You Respect this Post ! Good Work on Latest Hacks.. Sounds Like you Burning Midnight CH2 !! So to Speak.. Good Good.. Please Do Detail Hackings in Further For Us! While My English no Good I Hope to understand Code More !
Especially Five Line Fix You Say Last Update !
amor or amore: does it really really matter? π―
it’s obviously a reference to the famous song.
the song is in english, but the word ‘amore’ is italian, and the song is supposed to be italian-styled, albeit outrageously stereotypical of italians. The word is not from latin, or spanish or any of the other languages derived from latin.
Nor for that matter does the word come from dutch, korean, russian, eskimo or pig latin. So while there are many beautiful words for ‘love’ out there, including liefde, sarang, lyubov’, takutsugusuppuq, and ove-lay, it doesn’t matter b/c they’re not in that famous song.
Please trust that Mato & crew know what they’re doing.
They’re geniuses.
Fin.
The video looks great. I’m so excited for this translation, it’s really coming together. Don’t let these nitpickers frustrate or discourage you, Mato. Keep up the great work!
Tomato,
When this Mother 3 Blog is over, what will I do with my life? π
~SoreThumb
Probably play mother 3 a lot π
Umm.. i’m guessing the apparently random text flickering evident in many parts of the video is something that has simply yet to be adressed, yes?
I haven’t watched the video in a while, what text are you referring to specifically?
Status icon handling is coming along. It’s annoying and sometimes I wish I could just ditch the icons entirely or make my own black and white icons using the game’s font, but I don’t want to cheat, plus the game deserves to be done the best way possible.
Still a bit of work left to make the icons fully work. It’s lame because only 8 item descriptions use status icons. Oh well, shouldn’t be more than a day of work to get working.
Mato, very sorry for going a bit off topic, but i just had a quick look at your EB0 remake thing….. — you’re really able to remake the enemies, and even show them on the scenery?!? — as opposed to before where battles just pop up from nowhere as you’re walking around? Because that’s the only thing stopping me from playing EB0 right now… I dont like the random pop-up battles
Seeing as I forgot the item menus are still being worked on… I guess its mostly just text in the menus in battles. It’s hard to point out anything specific, but like… uh.. in the video, how the PSI names flicker as you move between menus and such… i’m not good at explaining.. just watch the battle secion of it again.
Actually, the original game does that a bit too. Nothing I can really do :/ The hack used to flicker a whole lot more because it spent a lot more time erasing text where there wasn’t text, but I fixed that so it’s relatively comparable to the original game. It may be a tiny bit more noticeable since there’s more text overall, but there’s not much we can do. For some reason the programmer had it so everytime you do something all the text has to be erased and redrawn, even when unnecessary π
Ah.. I kinda figured it was somethin like that. It’s ok, and sorry for makin it sound worse than it was.. small stuff like that tends to catch my attention more readily I guess. π
Not that it really matters now, but here’s the original flickering in action. It’s probably a little more obvious in English because there are more letters and they’re closer to each other. I think it seems a little less obvious on real hardware, but I’m not sure.
There are far too many people who need to listen to some Dean Martin in these comments.
When the moon hits you eye like a big pizza pie
That’s amore
When the world seems to shine like you’ve had too much wine
That’s amore
Triangle: Did you not see the various videos of my EB0 hack? There are a whole bunch here, so you can see what all is possible. I think M3 will be the end of me though π Clones may be needed to continue my EB0 work later π
Hey Mato, quick question.
Do you have a link to that page of yours, the one with the various sound effects and a song that wasn’t featured in M3? I’ve been looking around for it, but I haven’t been able to find it…
Thanks again for all thee great work!
Yeah, I should make a page on my personal site for that stuff sometime. For now, here is the forum thread where I post stuff and talk about stuff, here is the directory itself here. I’d recommend the forum thread to be honest π
Also note (to anyone in general) that there are spoilers and stuff in those links above.
Thanks very much, Mato!
Nice job so far, you guys. Been watching this since it started, and glad its come along so far, so fast. =4
I wish all translation teams were this talented…
@Nutsjesmoar
Actually, Italian is one of the five romance languages, thus making it based on Latin.
Mato, thank you so very much for all your hard work.
i’ve been waiting to play mother 3 since it was announced as being in development, and i’ve been lurking daily and watching this project since it’s earliest inception on mother3.org.
tomato, i just want to say thanks to you and jeffman for all your hard work. i hope the endless nit-picky comments don’t get either of you down; there are a lot of people out here who would be purely grateful for even the most rudimentary translation (let alone the sort of quality you guys are working towards), but sometimes i get the feeling we don’t comment as often as those who want to point out mistakes and stuff. so yeah, to both of you, your work is deeply, deeply appreciated, and thank you.
WHOOOO!! PROGRESS ON STATUS SYMBOLS!!!
@ok: would you stop with the meth thing?!?!
I love coming back from school to find a mini update or something
When I win the lottery, I think I’ll buy Mato a cloning machine.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/zeropunctuation/4845-Zero-Punctuation-Super-Smash-Bros-Brawl
someone else who wants mother 3 out of japan
funny video to
@StageProps: I know it is, I think I just worded that sentence in an unclear manner. The other languages derived from Latin *besides Italian* would have been more correct, but I’m lazy.
Thanks a lot Mato,
I guess i’ll wait for your EB0 remake, and not bother with EB0 then, even though i know it’s going to be out in 3 years, if it’s finished at all. Welllllll…i’m a newly graduated scientist… so send me a spit sample in a petri dish and i’ll see what i can do about the cloning issue.
Austin: awesome video there, thanks for the link man
ArashiSai: I second that motion… although.. i guess we can just not read it…..
Very good progress so far, allllmost had everything working perfectly (minus the speed issue), except now I gotta fix something with the battle memory names, which is weird, cause they’re not even written with sprite text π It’s an old old bug that used to happen if enemy descriptions were especially long, guess it’s time to figure out what the dumb problem is once and for all. Also, for some reason the ‘y’ in Battle Memory uses the 8×8 font. What a weird bug. It switches fonts for some reason heh.
Something I’ve noticed is that all the lowercase “a” letters need an extra pixel-width of space after them; none of the other letters ever touch each other, except these. Seems easy to “fix,” if it’s even a problem.
The font and the font spacing info was taken directly from EarthBound. So the “a” thing you see was there too.
Anyway, fixed the battle mem problem easily enough, I just messed up copying one of the original instructions we overwrote in a branch. Found one last thing it looks like though, where an icon is near the very end of text.
when an eel bites your thigh, as you’re just swimming by
that’s a moray
The sprite welding (minus tuneup) is almost done? Awesome!
> when an eel bites your thigh, as youβre just swimming by
> thatβs a moray
True, it’s a moray for you, but quick: is it a fish or not? π
Is there an ichthyologist in the house?
Yes, eels belond to the class Actinopterygii, or ray-finned fishes. π
Alright, I have absolutely no idea why, but icons on the second line of descriptions don’t seem to want to work well. I’m gonna take the easy route and stick the icons on the top line (almost all of them were there anyway) for now. There are only 8 descriptions where icons come into play, so it’s not that big of a deal. Maybe future hackers/translators will have to take it into account, but it’s really not worth the headache. If there’s time during the editing phase, I’ll go back and look at it, I guess. Anyway, here are some of them in action. Damn they look good.
The descriptions are all in first draft form too, just in case nitpickers show up π
I’m gonna do some more general testing and hopefully that should do it for sprite text (minus optimization).
Sweet, i’ve been dying for a new update. I’m tired of seeing ” Mother 3’s Birthday” even though it was 3 days ago
mato, I must say that your fix seems dangerous. Whenever I do something like that it always backfires. Then again, I *do* want to play this game, so maybe I should not make comments that might spur you to take more time to work on the translation.
So, tell me or no: have you done any work on speeding up the sprite text?
When I win the lottery, I think I’ll buy Mato a new website… because I may just break this one with all of my refreshes.
Hey, I’ll take any shortcuts if it causes this project to come out faster. It’s not like the end user is going to know about this problem unless they’ve read this blog.
Good work Mato!
Thanks so much for all you’re doing. This will be legendary! I’ll be graduating with an MBA in December and one of the first things I plan on doing is donating some $. Anyway, EB is the greatest game ever and I’ve waited since 1997 or so for EB64 then Mother 1+2, and THEN Mother 3. Thanks for doing what Nintendo wouldn’t. You rock.
Brett
Mato:
Also, for some reason the βyβ in Battle Memory uses the 8Γ8 font. What a weird bug. It switches fonts for some reason heh.
—————–
Dude, that’s not a bug. It’s a feature. It makes the ‘y’s looks cuter. Leave as is.
[/reason #101 why Aphrodine is not a ROM hacker]