Second Draft, Part 5

16 years ago by Mato

Worked incredibly hard the past day or two, and managed to push the Draft 2 progress over the 50% mark. Whew. Feel like I just ran a marathon. There was almost no duplicate text this time, so that was a LOT of work. I’d say it takes about 2 hours for each 1% now.

While I’m talking percentages, I should probably reiterate that the percentage you see in that pic there is for Draft 2 of the main script only. The actual project’s progress is much further along than that. I don’t like giving out arbitrary percentages, but if I had to give a number, I’d say the entire project itself is like 80% done. 85%? I dunno, somewhere around there. Given that this project really only began last July, I’d say that’s some insane progress, though I guess on the outside it probably doesn’t seem that way. Some (many? most?) ROM translations take 5+ years, if they don’t die first. Anyway.

For those following with the map viewer, this latest batch covered maps 66-113. And here are a few random screens. Most of the stuff this time was pretty spoilery and central plot-related stuff, so forgive the fewer (and less interesting) screenshots.


Too tired to write comments for them though 😛

Here’s a bonus goofy screenshot I made today for fun. Anyway, happy Funday Sunday!

Posted on Sunday, June 8th, 2008 at 1:20 am by Mato, filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Comments and pings are currently closed.

434 Responses to “Second Draft, Part 5”

  1. Mezer said 16 years ago:

    Hi mato! I’v been watching your and Jeffman’s progress via this site for ages, and I’m rooting for you! Gooooo Mato! Gooooo Jeffman!

    You ROCK!

  2. Anon said 16 years ago:

    First post. Glad to see this is already half way finished. =D

  3. Crazy Weavile said 16 years ago:

    Lucas uses PSI, not magic.

  4. twitches said 16 years ago:

    every time I get an urge to check this site I make exactly 2 mins after you update it

    get some sleep once in a while

    <3 ya mato

  5. saturnian89 said 16 years ago:

    Woohoo over the halfway mark. This is coming along nicely. You guys are my heroes.

  6. Beck said 16 years ago:

    Good luck, you big fruit you.

  7. Crass said 16 years ago:

    watch an episode of arrested development
    check for an update
    repeat

    my schedule for the last few days and most likely the next few

    yay for summer!

  8. Dr. Meat said 16 years ago:

    Awesome progress. I like the second “didn’t want to think of anything for this NPC to say” screenshot. At least Itoi is honest 🙂

  9. daniel said 16 years ago:

    WOW, dude you´re like a machine or someting!!!

    Guys, keep up the awesome work. You are like, my heroes or something!

    BTW, Mato:

    I´m a mexican fan and i have been looking for a project-hobby-productive for the world thing to do… and i think retranslating the game to mexican spanish (the most talked spanish in the world) would be nice. Is there anyway to get involved?

    oh, i believe my brother wanted to do something similar with EB, that spanish transaltion going on is rocking, but it´s also spanish from spain… 😛

  10. Tsukuyomi said 16 years ago:

    Again, these updates are what make life worth it. You guys deserve much praise for your hard work and devotion. Simply beautiful. Many thanks!

  11. PK2 said 16 years ago:

    I’m liking the progress here. Kepp it up guys. Loving the results so far.

  12. Rich said 16 years ago:

    what ever happened with that snake enemy? What name did you decide to give it?

  13. TBird said 16 years ago:

    Spanish from Spain is real Spanish. Just like English from the U.S.A. is real English. 😛

  14. thedeo said 16 years ago:

    i’m on the edge of my seat… great progress. Very exciting to watch as this project nears completion.

  15. ZombiePaul said 16 years ago:

    I can’t believe no one has called you on that “The Wizard” quote… or am I just too old? 🙂

  16. Pining Tor said 16 years ago:

    Hooooray ! Now take a break 🙂

  17. Yungibear said 16 years ago:

    I thought English from England was real English. P:

    Anyway, I’ve been following and I’ve always been so impressed at how much you get done in such little time!

  18. Psychomax said 16 years ago:

    Yay, only 5 more marathons to run! Come on, Mato! You can rest when you’re dead! Er, I mean done.

    😀

  19. Charlie said 16 years ago:

    Love the AVGN reference! Perfect!
    Pace yourself, but know that we’re all counting on you!

  20. "Snake" Plissken said 16 years ago:

    Mato were should I put the meth you ordered.
    You know, the supply for this translation.

  21. Near said 16 years ago:

    Charlie, that’s not an AVGN reference.. That’s a “The Wizard” reference.

    An awesome one at that.

  22. "Snake" Plissken said 16 years ago:

    What those have to do with the Nes Power Glove

  23. Drkirby said 16 years ago:

    Wow, nice progress. Keep it up man.

  24. Redlandsman87 said 16 years ago:

    Great job, Mato! These updates always brighten my day up a little bit. (Or in this case, night. =P )

    And roughly 80%…damn. O_0 I can almost taste it…

  25. Lemmerman said 16 years ago:

    You’re halfway there guys, stop looking back and start looking forward!

    I never realised that this started last July, having not been here since the beginning, but that is totally awesome progress. In under a year, you’ve managed to almost fully hack and translate an entire game! You should feel proud of yourselves.

    Now go to bed!

  26. Zach said 16 years ago:

    I’m anticipating this patch more than any other upcoming game release! FFIVDS and MGS4 are chopped liver in the shadow of MOTHER 3…

  27. Ben said 16 years ago:

    If you’re still interested in finding a method for emailing people, there’s a system that’s set up to do exactly what you want. Your ISP probably offers it, and it’s called Mailman or MajorDomo. It’s called mailing list software, and it’s probably already installed on your mail servers. 30,000 emails is a fairly large volume, but shouldn’t be any problem for a real ISP.

    If your ISP doesn’t offer this kind of service for free, mine will, free of charge. I didn’t want to post to you guys about it in a place like this because it will get lost very quickly, but if you insist on making it public, there’s my solution.

    If you’re interested in this solution, email me.

  28. Tarik said 16 years ago:

    this is incredible.

    keep up the good work!

    its gonna be sad when we cant visit this blog anymore, but its going to be great that you finish!

  29. Roland said 16 years ago:

    I started playing EarthBound again during my D&D game today. It was a sweet blend of old and new, EarthBound and the just-released 4th Edition of Dungeons and Dragons. Needless to say, my DM was just a little peeved.

  30. rc5 said 16 years ago:

    Salsa dancing=<3 (I got far enough in the Japenese version to see that, at least.)

    I don’t understand your reference to whatever, but I guess I’ll live. =P

  31. Boomerang78 said 16 years ago:

    I love the power glove too, Mato.

    Except that you can’t play for crap on that thing XD

  32. Deeman said 16 years ago:

    Perhaps a Stupid question…
    If i, like, got my hands on this patch right now, and i don´t know fuzzball about Japanese… how long do you think i coul dplay it before encounter Japanese writing?
    Sorry for stupidness, but it IS in the morning right here…

  33. Daves said 16 years ago:

    bear my children

  34. G said 16 years ago:

    Amazing work…

    i’m looking forward to the full translation of mother3 even though i’m not an English speaker.
    just keep it on! (of course, don’t let this project ruin your health please.)

  35. Fluteboy said 16 years ago:

    Wow, this is intense. I really want to quote Darth Vader here, but I’ll save that for release day. I shall play the Eight Melodies from Mother on my ocarina in your honor, though.

    Also, I tweaked the screenshot you provided of Hinawa telling lucas to get dressed before he can go outside. I put a tomato on the plate that was on the table. He has a very patient expression. If you like, I can send it to you. I don’t know how to post picture links here, so if someone wanted to tell me that’d be great.

  36. Goldcheese said 16 years ago:

    After the translation, we should begin work on the Mother 3 Power Glove Patch.

  37. Unsavory Maggot said 16 years ago:

    Nooo, no power glove. X) Nightmares, ahhh!

  38. BlackGrowlithe said 16 years ago:

    You…are…my…HERO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You should tell Reggie he can publish the game only if he puts earthbound on the virtual console 8.)

  39. hey mato said 16 years ago:

    you should name something after yourself…maybe New Year Bomb (Reduces enemy health to 1)

  40. BreakingOrder said 16 years ago:

    This is going great, but the pace seems so…slow. I’m glad you have the willpower to do this. Has anyone ever told you how awesome you guys are? Wait, most people here have, and they’re right!

  41. Sandman said 16 years ago:

    Wow, only 15% left. Keep going Mato! *imitates Rob Schieder* YOU CAN DO IT!!!!

  42. voln said 16 years ago:

    FIRST POST

    Oh, wait

  43. Jean-Luc Voleur said 16 years ago:

    Aw, man, and do you guys remember the part where Fred Savage and Lucas got into a telekinetic battle of minds and it looked like Lucas would win, but then Joe Cocker showed up and started belting out “With A Little Help From My Friends” and it opened a chasm to the underworld and Lucas fell in?

    …Or, you know, that coulda just been a really cool dream I had…

  44. That One Guy said 16 years ago:

    LOL Power Glove…

    Y’know, you guys should try to hack in an item called “Power Glove.” It could be completely useless, just like the real thing.

  45. I-am-pancake said 16 years ago:

    Lol Mato, I remember that movie. The one where we got to see Mario Bros 3 for the first time. What was it called again? Something with Wizard?

  46. Redlandsman87 said 16 years ago:

    The Powerglove reference was coined from the film “The Wizard”

    The movie had a character names Lucas (coincidence) who “loved the power glove”. The scene is pretty famous. See the original scene here –

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=nCEsLHNT0Bc&feature=related

    The Angry Videogame Nerd (which I’m sure many of you are familiar with) famously spoofed this scene, and the Powerglove in general, in his coverage of the peripheral. You can see the video here –

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=MYDuy7wM8Gk

    Now, does that clear a few things up? =P

  47. Spitball Sparky said 16 years ago:

    Lovely!

  48. A FAN said 16 years ago:

    Yeah, well you just keep your power gloves off of her.

  49. Itoi's love child said 16 years ago:

    Mato: What did you end up naming the snake?

  50. Redlandsman87 said 16 years ago:

    Woah, I didn’t mean to comment three times. O_o…if you can remove two of those Mato, that would be great.

  51. Papermariofan said 16 years ago:

    Good luck, Sir Mato. May the power of PSI guide you always.

  52. poopooped said 16 years ago:

    *cheer* 😀 ty for your hard work.

  53. Thelaundrymonster said 16 years ago:

    Wow Mato.

    80-85% after a year??? I only wish certain other translations had gone that way 🙁

    There would be a much greater incentive if the original devs took notice of the translations, played them through and then rereleased them via virtual console or something. Giving the new translators a cut in the process. I’m sure certain projects would be finished alot faster. And more good games would make foreign soil.

    This project is going wonderfully. I keep an eye on it every other day, and I’m actually going to be overjoyed when i finally get to play it. I can remember how I felt playing Star ocean when the final patch came for that.

    I haven’t decided whether I should play it on my Micro, my SP or my DS as yet. Micro seems to be winning.

  54. Blaze said 16 years ago:

    So, ahh…somebody should make a bronze plaque with your names on it somewhere…it should say something like “…for services rendered to the gaming community as a whole…selflessly, heroically, tirelessly working for a better tomorrow…”

  55. Swordfishtrombone said 16 years ago:

    LOL That One Guy, too true.

    I begged my parents for one and I got it for Christmas. That was the first, and last day I used it. Damn that Kevin Arnold for making the Power Glove look so cool. And he never even got with Denise the Grease either, even when practically threw herself at him. I mean, sure, Frank the Stank would’ve whooped his ass, but but c’mon, she was so fine.

  56. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    50%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  57. Effluvium said 16 years ago:

    I’ve been watching the Angry Video Game Nerd almost nonstop lately, so of course that’s the first thing the Power Glove reference made me think of. (Especially since I don’t even know what The Wizard is.)

    Um. Be careful you don’t get as obsessed with finishing the translation as you did with the hacking, Mr. Tomato. You don’t need to go through that again… and we wouldn’t want you to end up rushing the last bit, anyway. (Not that I really think you would, but. Repeatedly working yourself to exhaustion is just not a good thing at all.)

  58. _oMeGa_ said 16 years ago:

    Is it weird that I’m one of the youngest people here, but I get the Power Glove reference?

  59. GoldyK said 16 years ago:

    I’m back from that trip.
    I laugh at the power glove,
    I quote: “…It’s so bad”

  60. D said 16 years ago:

    Wow nice! 80 – 85% done? Hopefully you guys will be able to finish it by next month.

  61. Moulinoski said 16 years ago:

    Heh heh… The Power Glove. Wasn’t that a cheap accessory for the NES? (I’ve looked all over for The Wizard, btw, but could never find the movie…)

  62. GoldyK said 16 years ago:

    You could not find it?
    I had bought the DVD.
    It cost me ten bucks.

  63. KKH3049 said 16 years ago:

    What do you think Nintendo is thinking of you guys right now?

  64. Vagn said 16 years ago:

    Effluvium:

    If you don’t know what the Wizard is don’t worry AVGN made a video about it :D.

    And Mato you said the project really didn’t start untill July. Did you guys just start over when the two projects merged? Or is that when you switched to Harmony’s work as a base?

  65. Rolando84 said 16 years ago:

    LOL THE POWER GLOVE
    Keep it up guys, you’re doing great

  66. Mato said 16 years ago:

    daniel: I’m not sure yet. I’m still waiting to hear back from Jeffman about stuff related to the Spanish translation. A friend of his said he was interested in translating it a while back.

    Rich: I haven’t decided yet, just like I haven’t fully decided on that movie name stuff either. Right now I like stuff with the “ill-tempered” stuff, but I’m also liking “Mighty Bitey Snake” more and more, since it’s got some word play which is very similar to the original name.

    Deeman: For Draft 2, I started with a blank script and I copy-paste-from-Draft-1-edit-improve the script line by line. Since the script is still half empty (or half full) much of the game text doesn’t display in the current build.

    That One Guy: I have an idea for a comic but I have no art abilities — Lucas has the Power Glove on, saying that line and thinking he’s badass, meanwhile Kumatora (seeing as gloves are her weapon of choice) is next to him thinking oh god what a loser. Someone make it happen!

    D: Read the previous update. It will not be done in a month. It seems like every update someone says “ooh it should be done by next month then!” Even as far back as January, and we had to keep saying, “No, there’s still much more work left than you think”

    Vagn: After I made the menu patch is when we started over with the hacks (well, except for byuu’s), using harmony’s work as a base. So the current hacking really began in like September or so I’d say.

  67. mitch said 16 years ago:

    This isn’t a drawn picture, but, I’ll get to that later.

    In the mean time, all of this Powerglove talk reminds me. This is probably why I draw stupid comics about Nintendo all day:

    http://i25.tinypic.com/2d8nric.jpg

  68. Kool-Aid_Man said 16 years ago:

    You are the reason I get up in the morning, Mato.

  69. MotherAddict said 16 years ago:

    HooRay!!!!!!!!we’re getting there!

  70. Ghouls 'n Ghosts said 16 years ago:

    lol at The Wizard quote.

    I watched The Wizard this past week. Are you going to leave that in?

  71. ShadeofDante said 16 years ago:

    I still find is amazing to read these updates, and I’m starting to now realize how close we are to playing Mother 3 in English. Keep up the good work guys, this is an amazing undertaking.

  72. Evan said 16 years ago:

    I would kill to see the Power Glove line stay in the game

    …even though I know enough about the game to know that’s a horrible place for it

  73. Habiib said 16 years ago:

    Funday? That’s not a reference to the old Doug/Quailman is it?

  74. That Guy said 16 years ago:

    QUAILMAN WILL SAVE THE DAY BY HELPING MATO DO THE SCRIPT

  75. DeViouS said 16 years ago:

    Actually, “Mexican Spanish”, “Castillian Spanish” (Spanish from Spain), and South American Spanish are all dialects of the same language. Besides certain nuances that they all have, they are the same lanuguage. For the purposes of this game translation, however, (especially for the jokes and little play on words)individual regional translations may be necessary. Ie. A cattlesnake could be “vaca” (cow) and cascavel (rattlesnake) or Vacascavel. I for one would be on board for a latin american spanish version, after all it should be a little bit of everything in true Mother Style. By the way awesome job with the translation I am super amped for the release of this puppy.

  76. Mato said 16 years ago:

    We’re not 100% sure yet, but it sounds like the spot for Spanish translation is open, and ideally I’d like it to be TurboNess, seeing as he did translate EarthBound into Spanish. Though he’s getting a lot of people on his case for using Spain Spanish.

    That said, maaaaaaybe we’ll let there be more than one kind of Spanish translation, but it’d probably be better for us if there’s only one Spanish one. We’ll see what happens. Right now, translations into other languages are still a good ways off, translation won’t begin until after the English patch is out.

  77. abgpieceofcheese said 16 years ago:

    Great stuff Mato. I look forward to seeing your progress each day. =]

  78. Rolando84 said 16 years ago:

    I’ll be glad to help you with a latin-spanish translation, if you wish.

    Also, I’ll try to make the powerglove comic if I get any free time from work -__-U

  79. bobrocks95 said 16 years ago:

    For those of you that apparently don’t get the reference in the last pic, it’s from the movie “The Wizard”, which was essentially a giant Nintendo commercial. A character named Lucas in the movie thought he was all badass and said that line about his prized power glove.

  80. daniel said 16 years ago:

    The thing about spanish from spain is that it feels really off in written form if you’re not from spain. The differences between it and mexican or south american spanish are truly abysmal. I believe it is a matter of how we express, it’s just… different…

    I believe that the main reason for there being more than one spanish translation is that people who don’t REALLY want to play the game (someone’s brother, one of my friends, people who are not yet into mother) and do not speak english would very possibly not play it, not enjoy it, or not fully understand it.

    I know that i can play it in English, most mother fans are well served with an english translation, but for those who are not comfortable enough, because of it not being their mother language, anything closer will do. Heck, i’m sure one of my friends would play it in portuguese if he had to!

    But why settle for less? I don’t know if you guys can tell but i wan’t to translate this game to the spanish i (and some 110 million people) know and love.

  81. Drü said 16 years ago:

    Thanks for keeping it a secret, Mato.

  82. Monsuco said 16 years ago:

    Thank you Mato, you are so close. I can’t even imagine how hard this must have been.

  83. wasp2020 said 16 years ago:

    As awesome as ever.

  84. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Was looking through old posts now for old time’s sake, seeing stuff like this post just makes me want to reverse roll up in a ball and sleep and hope it all goes away. I thank Giygas that we’re done with all that now, but my god that’s a lot of stuff we had to do 🙁 I’m worried that somehow time will reverse and we’ll have to do it again. If time does reverse, uhh, I dunno if I can do this again, so please try not to make time reverse, you people fiddling with the universe’s structure.

    (EDIT: And to head questions off at the pass, yes I make regular backups and the team gets regular copies of stuff too.)

  85. Kloud94 said 16 years ago:

    Ok mato i wont alter time too bad. Great work man! Almost there! With your efforts alone, Nintendo might finally see that Earthbound/Mother deserves more attention.

  86. daniel said 16 years ago:

    ok, i won’t try to reverse time anymore…

    but i can’t say for my physics teacher, that guy’s just nuts!

  87. insaneafroguy said 16 years ago:

    if you get around .5 percent done in every hour, and the last post said you were at around 42 percent, DOES THAT MEAN YOU’VE BEEN TRANSLATING FOR THE PAST 20 HOURS????!!!!!

  88. Mato said 16 years ago:

    I put in a few hours Friday and then Saturday was like mega death march except with translation involved. Definitely can’t put any time into it today. I was actually planning to get to 50% like by Wednesday, but I wanted to get over that 50% mark very badly so I drank my weight in coffee.

  89. Azurefang said 16 years ago:

    First time posting in this blog after stumbling upon it about a week ago. Keep up the good work, I managed to beat the Japanese version of the game with the menu translations patch you had posted, and eagerly await the finished product.

  90. Redlandsman87 said 16 years ago:

    So, is it safe to say you have about four pure days (96 hours) of hacking until you get this second draft done?

    Of course, I’m sure that there are tons of variables, and whatnot, but does that sound about right?

  91. Kousuke said 16 years ago:

    JUst a quick note mato, most of the translations to spanish the videogames get, are mostly from spain. And as far as I know, the only game officialy translated to spanish in mexican spanish (the most neutral of the diferents dialects in spanish) was Shadowgate 64.

    It would be great to see mother 3 in Mexican Spanish (I hate the spanish from spain, nobody talks like that in South america), and I would be glad to help on that, because I used to fansub last year (in a Chilean fansub group) and I translate a lot for my classmates in my university.

    Anyway, I’m glad to see that the translation is going so well.
    Keep up the awesomeness mato!

  92. GoldyK said 16 years ago:

    The words, from moonspeak,
    Into english they become.
    All thanks to Mato.

  93. daniel said 16 years ago:

    kousuke:

    estoy completamente interesado en formar un equipo para traducir mother 3 al español mexicano, o al español latinoamericano.

    creo que sería lo mas apropiado para latinoamerica, en realidad hay muchisimo mas gente que sería beneficiada con esto que con una traducción al español de españa.

    que dices, estas interesado?

    extiendo la invitación a cualquier otra persona con gusto por la comunidad y amor por mother 3

    daniel

  94. Mato said 16 years ago:

    It’s too early for that, and, ideally, I’d prefer there to be one translator per language if possible. I can foresee group drama possibly sprouting up. So at the moment, I think we’ll only need to work with one person per language. And that’s not even gonna start for a few months, so it’s too early to plan stuff like this anyway.

  95. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    About demi’s translation . . . will he also be translating from the Japanese version, or will he just be fixing your translation up?

    At first, I thought he wasn’t actually a translator; I thought he was just going to check draft 2 to make sure that a reader would interpret the dialog the way that you intended. So I was expecting Draft 3 to go very fast.

    But it didn’t take a lot of common sense for me to realize that his role would probably be more about picking up nuances that you missed from the Japanese version. Which, unfortunately, makes Draft 3 almost go as slow as the first rough draft.
    Well, I can wait.

  96. neonix said 16 years ago:

    😀

  97. Mato said 16 years ago:

    No, he’ll be editing the text to sound better, not doing stuff from a translation point. It’s like if you write a book or write a big essay or something big like that, you want (sometimes HAVE to have) fresh eyes to go over it before you submit it.

  98. Jack The Lad said 16 years ago:

    You guys probably get this alot, but seeing people work so hard for other people, for a cause that is so perfect and epic…It’s really alot to bear.

    I’ve always wanted to play whatever sequel that would follow EBZ and EB. My written and spoken Japanese is pretty good, but I always wanted to play it in english.

    You guys are making this possible. Really, I don’t know how to make it up to people like you. Sorry If I sound retarded, Just I never thought I’d see the day.

    In Debt to your Team,
    Jack The Lad: Student Double Bassist.

  99. omgozer2 said 16 years ago:

    awesome 😀

  100. AkuArashi said 16 years ago:

    For a fan translation this is ridiculously fast. It’s right up there in terms of speed with some professional things I’ve seen (and in the end, due to all of your adoration for the game, it’ll come out better, since you guys actually LISTEN). For an example of a really LONG fan translation head over to Phantasian Productions. Seven years and counting, working on Tales of Phantasia for the Playstation. It’ll be well worth the wait though, because again, it’s done by serious fans of the game out of their love and want to share the game with others.

    I don’t really care how long this takes you guys, as long as you guys are happy with the finished product. I know, one day, it will be done. Until then, I’m enjoying coming here and reading on what you guys are doing and sharing with other fans of Mother and this project.

    You guys are doing fine, and I hope you aren’t feeling too rushed.

  101. Taylor D said 16 years ago:

    Go Mato! You guys are the best. Now I’m off to play some more Earthbound.

  102. theamnesiac said 16 years ago:

    Yeah, the power glove is garbage.

  103. StageProps said 16 years ago:

    Hey guys, I have a question. I’m not sure if this has been asked already, and if it has, I’m sorry for repeating:
    To anyone who has read the script/played through the game in Japanese and actually understood it, what do you think the ESRB would rate it if it were translated WITHOUT the typical Nintendo content filtering/censorship? I don’t even know why I’m asking this, just curious I guess.

  104. Mato said 16 years ago:

    I’d rather not discuss this in too detail since a lot of it will go into spoiler territory. But I would say T, maaaaaybe E10+ if the rating people were lenient. I say that looking at this: http://www.esrb.org/ratings/ratings_guide.jsp

    EDIT: I should also mention that I assume Nintendo would make some very slight changes to ensure the E10+ rating. Nothing big, and they’d probably write around instances of strong language (oh god did I open another can of worms again) and some sprite changes.

  105. AkuArashi said 16 years ago:

    StageProps: I can’t answer for this game in particular, but I can say that the Japanese allow for a LOT of things in Kids stuff that the US would through a HUGE fit over. A prime example of this would be the show NaruTaru, or Shadow Star. This anime was shown on th children’s channel and featured decapitation (among other severed limbs), and hinted at incest and rape.

    NaruTaru has only been state side in one form, the manga (which is MUCH more graphic). The manga was handled by Dark Horse, who after I think volume 7, dropped it due to content.

    Mato or Jeffman can answer your question more directly though,.

  106. AkuArashi said 16 years ago:

    And just did… Damn you’re fast Mato!

  107. Tokoro said 16 years ago:

    Very cool, I love checking back here everyday to see if there’s a new update^^ even when there’s not :3 Keep up the good work on the project :3

    Green, green… :3 lol

  108. Light Wolf said 16 years ago:

    Whoa, lots of progress!! Congrats, keep going!!

    I completely agree that, if there’s not going to be a neutral Spanish translation, there should be two Spanish translations, on for Spain since they’re all different and important, and one for the rest of Spanish-speaking countries (Latin America).

    Daniel y Kousuke: a mí también me interesaría formar un equipo que traduzca MOTHER 3 a un español latinoamericano. Hay bastante gente interesada. Creo que deberíamos considerar la opción una vez que la traducción al inglés esté lista.

    (Daniel and Kousuke: I’d be interested too in making a team to translate MOTHER 3 to a Latin American Spanish. There’s many people interested. I think we should consider the option once the English translation is done)

  109. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    hmm…. if it’s .5 percent a day, maybe a bit more if there are little jumps, this MIGHT be done in… 98 days?

  110. Mato said 16 years ago:

    My personal goal was to get it done before July… but that would require incredible sacrifices I probably couldn’t/shouldn’t make so I figure just sometime IN July is when Draft 2’ll be done.

  111. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    yesss

  112. Effluvium said 16 years ago:

    Heh. Something I’ve been meaning to ask for a while. Help me to understand this phenomenon of “translation-ese”, if you would. It seems so interesting… or would it be easier to see if I just read an early draft and a completed draft of a translated document side by side? …now where would I find one of those…

  113. AidanGS said 16 years ago:

    The Power Glove IS so bad, Lucas. It is so bad.

  114. Inzoum said 16 years ago:

    ok… just wanted to answzer something from a previous post:

    “if anyone has GOOD suggestions on how to e-mail 30,000 people without incident”

    set up a mail server to send out these e-mails bit by bit, like 5 every minute (which should take 2 hours or so). This is to ensure your ISP’s mail server doesn’t reject your outgoing mails. Call them first if you have any doubt on their limitations or rules regarding mass-sends, they might have some tips to offer. Send e-mails to Yahoo and Hotmail adresses first, they purposely delay mail delivery when done through mass mailouts or automated systems, it’ll give them a head start to sort it out so that everyone gets it more or less at the same time. TEST YOUR INTENDED MESSAGE FIRST! it may get caught in spam filters. Look up the reasons for that if it happens (terms used, use of HTML or pictures, no return address etc…) and make adjustment so the spam score goes down.

    Basically, you’ll need your own SMTP server to do it properly… I might be able to get you some more infos from my boss, which regularly has to deal out newsletters for our main client (a major electronics company), and has a pretty good experience for that kind of thing

  115. Bloodcurse13 said 16 years ago:

    lol the wizard

  116. Kousuke said 16 years ago:

    Daniel y Lightwolf: claro, me encantaria que lo intentaramos, quien sabe que puede resultar, ademas que es util hacer bien las revisiones ya que con solo uno que traduzca no puede capturar bien el sentido de las frases, en especial si ya fue traducido una vez. contactenme via mi fotolog (está en mi site) y nos las arreglamos

    Daniel and Lightwolf: Sure, I’d like to try, who knows what will be the result, Also that it would be useful for the revisions because with just one translator the real meaning of the dialogue would be lost, considering this is already being translated.

  117. Ninja of Saturn Valley said 16 years ago:

    Looking at “the wizard” reference (are you supposed to have to “the”s to make that right) immediately made me think of punching circus midgets from bad street brawler again 🙂
    “It was so bad”
    Never trouble trouble until trouble troubles you

  118. evansucks said 16 years ago:

    http://www.last.fm/music/HORSE+the+Band/_/Cutsman

    Song from the Horse the Band with both power glove quotes from the Wizard in it (one at the very very beginning and then the one from Mato’s joke at the very very end.) in a song about Cutman (called cutsman to avoid copyright infringement).

    Enjoy.
    Horse the Band rocks!!!

  119. Geno_Whirl said 16 years ago:

    recomendation (make a backup. gpd damnit please make a back up)

  120. Mato said 16 years ago:

    how dare you take gpd’s name in vain

  121. hasone said 16 years ago:

    Es obvio que deben uds traducir desde japones a espanol 😉

    Tambien voy a jugar Mother 3 en espanol, y no me importa cual version de la lengua usen.

    Forgive my mistakes. I’m still learning the language.

    I’d suggest that any other discussion of a spanish version take place in the starmen.net forums. Especially si es en espanol, no?

  122. Old West said 16 years ago:

    I just don’t understand how you manage all of this, along with your job and all of the other little nuances of your personal life. It’s unbelievable.

    How many days of ceaseless sleep do you think you’ll go through after this thing is over with?

  123. Maxwell said 16 years ago:

    Every few days or so, I check the progress here, and I’m always very impressed! Keep it up, Mato! You’re doing a great service for the entire world, or at least the world of Earthbound/Mother fans.

  124. GoldyK said 16 years ago:

    A blood replacement.
    Mountain Dew and espresso
    now fill Mato’s veins.

  125. Lastech said 16 years ago:

    Mato –

    Out of curiousity, what was the ill-tempered/mighty bitey/etc snake’s name in the original japanese?

    -lastech

  126. daniel said 16 years ago:

    lightwolf y kousuke:

    me parece definitivo que debe haber mas de un revisor. De la misma manera que Mato se apoyará en Demi. Puede facilmente haber un apoyo entre un equipo que delimite bien la parte correspondiente a cada uno.

    Pero quizá deberíamos movernos a starmen.net, puede ponerse muy offtopic. Claro que debemos esperar a que termine la traducción al inglés. Pero cuatro meses no es en realidad tanto tiempo.

    Tambien me pueden contactar en mi myspace. Si preguntan intercambiamos correos.

    (I believe we should definitely have more than one writer-checker. Just as Mato will get support from Demi. There can easily be work and help between a well defined team, with jobs clearly stated.

    Though we probably should move to starmen.net, this could get very offtopic. And it´s for sure that we have to wait until the english translation is done. But four months is not that much time really.

    I can also be contacted through myspace. We could exchange emails if you´d like.)

  127. Light Wolf said 16 years ago:

    Yo también opino que nos movamos a starmen.net. Podemos comunicarnos via PM, mi login es Light Wolf. También me pueden dejar un mensaje en mi blog.

    (I also think we should move to starmen.net. We can communicate via PM, mi login is Light Wolf. You can also leave me a message on my blog.)

  128. Rolando84 said 16 years ago:

    A mí también me interesaría ayudar, cuenten conmigo. Claro, si es que se puede ^^U

    (I’m also interested, count me in! That is, if it’s possible.)

  129. TimeSpaceMage said 16 years ago:

    Wow, I understood more of that Spanish than I thought.

    As for the snake, I still like “The Fang”.

  130. mobilisq said 16 years ago:

    “I’m worried that somehow time will reverse and we’ll have to do it again”

    Vonnegut? do I see a fan of Vonnegut?

  131. Can0fMean said 16 years ago:

    -What is the percentage of whole Draft 2 out of all the hack?

    -You thought you released the final version without any bugs/glitches. What would happen if it is found out that somebody had missed a little bug?

  132. daniel said 16 years ago:

    Rolando84, Light Wolf y Kousuke:

    Ok inicié un topic en el foro de mother 3 (el que no tiene spoilers)para discutir la traducción. Allá soy danster.

  133. h4x said 16 years ago:

    Whoa! Glad to see the progress on this. I had totally forgot all about this game until a friend of mine brought up earthbound on the snes. Looking forward to the final draft!

  134. Biff said 16 years ago:

    Good gpd!

    Over 50 percent!

    Hooray…glad to see another milestone in the rearview…

  135. Benji said 16 years ago:

    Wow, theres alot of comments here… well, if u read this, just know that im supporting you guys 100% and hope you manage to get this project done 😀 GO TEAM! YOU GUYS ARE CHAMPS

  136. Creature201 said 16 years ago:

    I believe Mato said in a really old update that the name of the snake in the japanese version was something along the lines of “Snake That REALLY Bites When It Bites”, for those that are wondering.

  137. Some random guy said 16 years ago:

    (insert generic comment of approval/praise here)

  138. Lastech said 16 years ago:

    Creature201 –

    Sorry, I intended thinking more the actual characters in the original japanese (or at least their romaji equivalents); my guess was that it was a pun on the word for snake (蛇 / hebi), but I thought I’d ask rather than troll through the code.

  139. Orry said 16 years ago:

    Aim for July 24. That is my birthday, you see.

    THE DAY OF RECKONIN

  140. andy said 16 years ago:

    ……..I…….am…..hap-py. (hehe, you guys are sooooo awesome)please keep it up!

  141. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    BOING!!

  142. Bribo Baggins said 16 years ago:

    I love you. In a waaaay hetero life-mate way.

  143. Reanzet said 16 years ago:

    M3 power glove patch?! GOOD GOD NO!
    anyway, progress=win, and Mato is making major progress, so Mato=win. don’t know if that made perfect sense, but w/e. :3

  144. ty said 16 years ago:

    The progress of this project is seriously amazing. I have watcherd many translation projects come and go in the past. But this is actually the fastest moving and most professionally done project I have seen by fans of any game. I absolutely believe the Mother 3 Fan Translation will go down in history as one of the most organized and well done projects ever. Thank you all for your hard work! Everyday my excitement builds to finally be able to play. I have been a die-hard fan of the series since Earthbound came out for the SNES. Since Mother3’s release I have made it a point to avoid any spoilers. I appreciate the fact this blog and starmen.net go out of their way to protect us from spoilers. The day this comes out I will be calling into work sick.

  145. Skullrama said 16 years ago:

    The Mato asks, and the Mato recieves.

    Straight from the talented hands of my good friend Steve, I present to you the requested comic.

    http://www.ebminon.cc/lucasobadd.png

  146. Faux said 16 years ago:

    Get this man a BURGER.

  147. Nutsjesmoar said 16 years ago:

    If it was Vonnegut, wouldn’t the oceans be freezing instead of his computer?

  148. Rai said 16 years ago:

    Much like ty I will also be “calling in sick” on the day that this translation gets released. I remember renting EarthBound for the SNES shortly after it first came out. Since then, I’ve played it completely through and finished it more times than I can remember. In fact, just last week I finished it again for the umpteenth time. I even got my own mother hooked on EarthBound back in the day! There were times that I nearly had to wrestle my SNES away from her. Sadly though, she suffered a stroke and can no longer play games like she used to. But I did inform her of this translation, and she’s expressed an interest in trying to play it when it comes out. From the way all the videos and screenshots look, I know you guys won’t disappoint either of us. Keep up the good work!

  149. Typhin said 16 years ago:

    Five seven five.
    The syllables on each line.
    I never get them right…

    Crap!

    (I’ve been meaning to do that one for ages, but I keep forgetting. It was either that, or start quoting the Orz at the “time going backwards” thing. “At this *playground*, Taalo are making *time jokes*. It is too funny for the Orz!” )

  150. Typhin said 16 years ago:

    Heh, I did much the same as Rai. EB was the first game I played so long, I saw the sun rise. I even got my mother hooked on it at one point. (It’s a rare thing she gets hooked on a game, but when she does… We still have a TV that has the playfield from Dr. Mario burned into it!)

  151. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    same here, only 3 games ever left me awake all night: Brawl, EB, and GH2
    Sadly, no one in my family but my brother seems to like EB. The only video game my dad ever liked was Mario Golf XD

  152. LynxRunner said 16 years ago:

    This game should totally have a Cornish Translation. 🙂

    … What? I want to learn Cornish. If not Cornish, how about a Swedish/Icelandic translation, eh? Russian? Arabic?

    Well, good job on all that, nice to know it’s going well. I’ll go back to toiling to my site now.

  153. A Fan said 16 years ago:

    Calling in sick? You guys are doing it wrong 🙂

    Load Virtual Boy Advance onto a USB stick along with the game and take it to work. It helps if you’re not usually very busy & have your own office.

  154. Crippler said 16 years ago:

    I had a suggestion for sending out 30k e-mails or so – you can probably use something like a fastmail account… for $15 you can use the SMTP and have 80m of bandwidth, if the e-mails are 1-2 kb that should be plenty. Probably the easiest/fastest solution, though not free = (

  155. A Fan said 16 years ago:

    All or Nothing Snake?

    All-Out Attack Snake?

    Those seem more like they translate the name, though I don’t know how good they are.

  156. Drü said 16 years ago:

    Think Mato’s decided already. He’s keeping it a secret 🙂 good

  157. Clems said 16 years ago:

    First post here!

    Way to go man! You rock! Translating Mother 3 is not only a good thing, it’s a necessity for all mankind!

  158. evansucks said 16 years ago:

    Vonnegut wrote about all sorts of things, one being ICE-9 (which can turn the whole world’s water supply into ice) and another being the Trafalmadorians, a 4-dimensionally race of beings that , even though they could see the universe from its birth to its death, could not prevent the end of time because “it has already happened and will ALWAYS happen that way.” ie, if the universe folded time space in on itself to the point where this project rewound 6 months, it would be fate working against us and nothing else.

  159. Ixoyz said 16 years ago:

    Good job as always, Mato.

    Now… I know this is off-topic, but it’s the only way I could think of to solve my problem.

    I’m trying register an account for the forums, but I’m not getting the email that I need. I’ve checked to make sure my email is correct, I’ve tried to get it resent several times, but I’ve gotten nothing. >_> Help?

  160. Typhin said 16 years ago:

    VBA on a work computer? That’s just ASKING to get caught, you know. *grins* Better to get a flash cart and maybe a Micro. At least then, they can’t keep track of what you’re running. (Besides, most companies also disable portable storage media for fear of data theft or virus introduction.)

  161. EmpoleMew said 16 years ago:

    Is it wrong that I want to see an Engrish Mother 3 patch? I thought that one screenshot a few updates back with the auto-translator was hilarious. (I spelt that wrong, didn’t I?)

  162. Old West said 16 years ago:

    I thought that one screenshot a few updates back with the auto-translator was hilarious.

    Whoa, which update was that?

  163. Some random guy said 16 years ago:

    we should translate mother 3 to japanese after 😛

  164. Chronel said 16 years ago:

    Great job Mato! that text really looks so eartboundish, I hope that the translators to other lenguages will understand and translate the mother humor just as well as you do.
    You deserve 1 Rock Candy and 23 Sugar Packets.

  165. MrSaturn33 said 16 years ago:

    OMG, you are doing so much hard work for us! 🙂 Thank-You! 🙂 I too love the power glove, its sooo bad! XDXDXD Best. Saying. EVER! Actually know this is:

    “This game stinks”

  166. SirVenom said 16 years ago:

    Hey, Tommy (haha, something other than “Mato” for once), will the third draft be the final draft? Also, shouldn’t the final draft (which is pretty much just review, right?) be much faster than the second?

    Thanks,
    SirVenom

  167. someguy said 16 years ago:

    *Reads the 2 hour per percent thing*
    O_O I personally think you should take a week off. I mean you deserve it.

  168. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Effluvium: It’s an old example, but here’s a line from Draft 1 of my Star Ocean translation.

    “…The arrival destination of people who miraculously survived among the Moorians who were thrown into a different space by an anomaly was the planet Roak, and this desolate Farget!”

    Clunky and “translation-esy”. Draft 2 had this (and then later on someone else edited it, haven’t played the final patch myself so dunno what it says)

    “…Miraculously, there were some Moorians who survived the
    disastrous anomaly on Earth. Some of those survivors were thrown through a spatial gateway
    and found themselves on Roak, while others wound up on this desolate planet of Farget!”

    So that’s an example of translation-ese. Draft 2 is meant to get rid of that, make things smooth, fix any grammar/spelling issues, format text correctly, semi-finalize any jokes or references, etc. etc. So it’s a lot of stuff all at once.

    Lastech: “Snake that really bites when it bites”. The description goes on to say “…and it doesn’t bite when it doesn’t bite…”

    Can0fMean: There will be bugfix versions of the patch, I don’t think there’s any way getting around that, unless we’re really lucky and if we do really good testing. But even professional companies have to put out fixes for their things. And patch updates are extremely common in ROM translations.

    SirVenom: I dunno what’s gonna happen with the third draft. It could take a long time, or it might be quick. I can’t tell, and it’s the biggest unknown left.

    ————

    Last night I played a Draft 1.5 version of the game. Started playing from the very beginning, trying to view it from the eyes of a new player. I’m not sure how to express it in words. Maybe it’s because there’s still a good deal of polishing and fixing that needs to be done, but the experience was a very ehhhhhhh one. Someone asked if all this hacking’s killed the game for me, but until yesterday it was a definite no. Maybe it’s just a case of it being a bad idea to switch from intense script work to playing, kind of like how it’s not a good idea to eat a 5-course dinner then run a marathon immediately after. Or maybe what this feeling is is the same thing Itoi felt as the game was nearing completion. The game isn’t EB, so I’m worried people will play like the first chapter and not like it. Maybe that’s what it is. Or maybe I’ve just played Chapter 1 so many times that I’m sick of it, heh 😛

  169. mike k said 16 years ago:

    Mato/anyone that can answer my question:
    I am very much interested on playing this game on my GBA/DS. However, I know nothing about flash carts. When the translation is done, would I be able to just buy a blank flash cart and linker (which is what wikipedia calls the thing that links the flash cart to your computer) and download the translation to my computer and then transfer the file to the blank flash cart and play it on my GBA/DS? If so, can anyone tell me where to get blank flash carts and linkers?

  170. Tyler Okrainec said 16 years ago:

    keep it up guys you can do it you are allmost there

  171. SirVenom said 16 years ago:

    Lol, yeah. It has always been my belief that the developers can’t get the same enjoyment out of their work as the players…. it may be the same with your translation work.

    Plus, having played through alot of the game and having my stinking game erased, I can say that playing through chapter one more than once is VERY frustrating… but it is the same with EarthBound, also; slow beginning.

  172. Tony said 16 years ago:

    It might not be EarthBound, but its an offspring of Itoi’s work. Thats good enough reason for me to play!

  173. Zeruel 21 said 16 years ago:

    But Mato, it isn’t supposed to be EarthBound. I think that there are some people who want to view the game as “EarthBound II” in a literal sense, whereas the actual game is very different. If people don’t like it because it isn’t EarthBound, there isn’t anything you can do. Mother 3 is its own game, and people need to recognize it as that.

    About it not being an amazing experience, that may be because you translated all the stuff, so it still holds memories of you trying to decide how it should be. Things lose their wonder when you were the one making it 🙁

  174. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Zeruel: No, I know that. But I think most people are expecting this to be just like EB. There’ve been (and maybe are now?) people on this blog who seem to think it’ll be exactly like EB. So a tiny part of me is worried people won’t give it enough of a try. I’d say it gets EB-ish eventually, but I think most people who expect this to be the second coming of EB won’t go that far. Also, they might be too hyped up thinking it’s EB 2 that it’ll be a big disappointment.

    I dunno, those are the kinds of feelings I had playing through the first chapter. Nothing we can do about such people though.

    Anyway, never mind my weirdo thoughts too much. Just wasn’t sure where to mention all that. It did kill my motivation yesterday, I’ll try to put an hour or two in today though.

  175. mike k said 16 years ago:

    Mato/anyone that can answer my question:
    I am very much interested on playing this game on my GBA/DS. However, I know nothing about flash carts. When the translation is done, would I be able to just buy a blank flash cart and linker (which is what wikipedia calls the thing that links the flash cart to your computer) and download the translation to my computer and then transfer the file to the blank flash cart and play it on my GBA/DS? If so, can anyone tell me where to get blank flash carts and linkers?

    By transfer I mean drag and drop because that is just about all that I can do.

  176. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Jeffman recommends something called “M3 Real”. We’re not linking to specific sites or shops here though, that would probably make things look even worse for us if we wound up in court. So please use search engines.

  177. Typhin said 16 years ago:

    Mike K: I believe pretty much all flash carts these days support a drag-and-drop style interface. However, since mine’s in the territory of 7-8 years old now, I have to use a special program with mine.

    However, if the one you get DOES have a special requirement, it will come with the program as well as any instructions you need.

    (Bear in mind that if it doesn’t use MicroSD or other memory cards, and doesn’t have its own adaptor, you might need something with a link cable port. An original GBA or GBA SP, for example. That’s what mine requires, but unless I buy a new cart, I don’t really have much way of saying definitively what it would require for you.)

  178. Typhin said 16 years ago:

    Oh, and out of boredom, since I went ahead and tested it… On a GBA, in order to tell the system to boot in “Slave Mode” (as in, from a link cable with a game that only needs one cart) without taking the cartridge you have in there out, you press Start and Select during the splash screen.

    …Turns out, that still works on the DS, in spite of there not being any link cable port.

    I dunno, just strikes me as amusing. ^_^

  179. EmpoleMew said 16 years ago:

    @Old West: That update was “Draft 2, Part 2”

  180. Dr. Hobo said 16 years ago:

    Really? JeffMan suggests M3 Real? When I was asking him about which one to get late last year I though he suggested M3 Perfect! Hopefully I won’t have any problems with mine…

  181. JeffMan said 16 years ago:

    As long as it can run GBA games and it has enough memory, either should work. Note that for the M3 Real, the GBA slot thingy is sized for a DS Lite and won’t fit in a DS phat (unless you open it up and put it in a regular-sized GBA case).

  182. mike k said 16 years ago:

    And if you play it in your ds, will it go strait to the game as if it were the normal game or do you go to some folder screen where you have to choose the game? and why would it only work for a ds lite? is it not the same size as a regular gba game?

  183. evansucks said 16 years ago:

    Remember tho, putting it on ds flash carts wont let you play this masterpiece on the gameboy player…gba flash ftw if you can find em.

    I almost think this fan translation may pinch the gba flash cart biz in the ase. It would be pretty cruel irony considering the reason Nintendo didn’t release Mother 3 was probably due to projected poor sales.

  184. Zaratus said 16 years ago:

    Heh, doing some research on my own, I had already ordered an M3 Real. It seemed the best choice for what I wanted, a friend had already recommended it, and the price was right. From all I’ve been reading on it, it seems to be one of the easiest to use.

    Definitely shop around though, the price can vary quite a bit. I can’t mention where I got it, but I got it for $50.00 + shipping, found a 5% off coupon, shipping from Hong Kong was only about $6.00. Got a tracking number and everything. =P Oh, and that was WITH the GBA expansion cart you need for GBA games. Though, the GBA expansion only works for DS Lites, as it’s too small to fit in a regular DS. Oh, and you do need to buy a MicroSD card to use on it for storage, but I was able to snag one off eBay for $9.96 for a 2GB SanDisk brand one.

    Although, I did find you can just take it out of the shell and put it in a regular GBA sized shell and it’ll work fine. It’s just that the cart is designed for a DS Lite, to fit flush with the system and not stick out. I just happened to have an extra GBA game around here I don’t care much for, and I was able to get the triwing screw out of it and it’s actually quite simple to do. Though, some other site sells empty GBA cartridges, presumably just for this situation.

    I haven’t gotten it in the mail yet, but expecting it sometime this week, probably.

    Gonna test it out for Mother 3 when I get it, and see if I have better luck with the combo system without using an emulator. Or perhaps I’ll find out I just suck. Or that I’ve been trying to combo to the wrong parts of the music the whole time. Hoping it’ll work without any problems, they claim 100% compatibility.

  185. A Fan said 16 years ago:

    > VBA on a work computer? That’s just ASKING to get caught, you know. *grins*

    That’s why it’s nice to work in IT, especially when the only other IT person here is my boss (and he knows & doesn’t care so long as my work gets done).

    It’s also fun to watch subtitled anime on the work computer, too 🙂 The real worry are the network filters (I don’t look at anything strange, but you never know how things will appear to them…) so this is actually ‘safer’, believe it or not.

    It doesn’t hurt that things like VBA and video players allow you to use save states / pause right away so you can drop everything and do some work if an emergency comes up. Besides, I think they like hearing “right away, boss!” and seeing you get up to do whatever.

  186. Zaratus said 16 years ago:

    Hmm, and as someone else mentioned with a gameboy player… That’d be pretty nice. I have a GameCube, but it’s not hooked up any more in favor of my Wii, but I never got a gameboy player. Eh, it’s not a big deal, playing it on my DS.

  187. Vagn said 16 years ago:

    I have a M3 Real and it works great. I haven’t had a problem with any games (Mother 3 with the menu patch works awesome, although I still suck at combos). A fair warning for everyone looking to buy a flash cart though: if the online company doesn’t have an address and phone number listed on their ‘contact us’ page be very suspicious. There are lots of phony websites out there that advertise to sell these sorts of products. While I don’t want to post a specific site to purchase one of these products from; a Google search for ‘NDS flash cart reviews’ or something similar will give some good results on what carts to buy and where to buy them.

    But remember don’t order something from a company that doesn’t willingly give their info, sites that just have ‘online chat support’ are especially notorious.

    Mato maybe you should add this to the faq as it seems to come up alot lately.

  188. Vagn said 16 years ago:

    Haha, nevermind it is in the faq 😀

  189. VGK said 16 years ago:

    Can you Elaborate on what exactly Draft 3 is at this point in time?

  190. Old West said 16 years ago:

    Thanks, Mew

  191. Old West said 16 years ago:

    HARPOON-LIKE PAJAMAS

  192. mitch said 16 years ago:

    “Can you Elaborate on what exactly Draft 3 is at this point in time?”

    If this blog were a geographical feature, it’d be an echo chamber.

  193. Elizara said 16 years ago:

    Just asking 🙂

    My birthday’s in a week, dunno what my bro was planning on getting me, but as I’ve said before, I have a original GBA.

    Anyone know what would be a good flash cart to stick in that GBA? M3 Perfect, if I could still find one?

    I’m just curious so I can plan. ^^

  194. Vagn said 16 years ago:

    Check google 😛
    Sheesh come on people.

  195. Jon said 16 years ago:

    Mato, I plan to use the patched Mother 3 on my Wii, via Visual Boy(homebrew channel).

  196. Psychomax said 16 years ago:

    Mato: That feeling is something everyone gets when they’ve worked on something for a really long time. I started writing a novel a few months ago, and stopped because it was such utter crap. I read through it again a few days ago to see if there was anything I could salvage, and I was engrossed. I think it was some of my best writing, and couldn’t wait to get started again.

    Seeing as you’re a professional translator, I doubt it’s genuinely bad, you’ve just been looking at it for too long. Leave the fresh-eyes to Demi, because after you’ve put so much time into something you just can’t do that yourself.

  197. Retro Hippie said 16 years ago:

    I sooo wanted a power glove, just for five minutes.

    Well, Good job mato! Go make yourself a batch of hazelnut coffee. Just think the coffees on us.

  198. Lelouch Lamperouge said 16 years ago:

    Can you post a vid of you, Jeffman and the rest of the crew working? Just wanna see what the workplace looks like

  199. ok said 16 years ago:

    just go google images of crack dens… mato do the meth.. jeffman is prolly clean.. but mato.. whoof… to be as good as he is.. you need meth.

  200. Old West said 16 years ago:

    Can you post a vid of you, Jeffman and the rest of the crew working? Just wanna see what the workplace looks like

    They don’t work in the same room, or geographical region for that matter. It’s not that type of collaborative project. 😛

    So far I’ve yet to see Mato himself, but I have seen a couple pictures/videos of his lovely cat. D:

  201. Kumatora said 16 years ago:

    Hm I’d sorta like to see that too!

    I wish I could help Mato, but all I can do is say good luck. =)

  202. Matthew said 16 years ago:

    I’d like to thank you. It’s not from me … it’s on behalf of the universe.

    Hang in there!

  203. mike k said 16 years ago:

    dude. I have to find new games to fill the space between now and the mother 3 release. Right now Im in sort of a mario bros. phase. Im playing superstar saga right now and I will play the new super mario bros. next. It is great to have a step brother to borrow games from. Why I am posting this, I cannot say. Maybe I just want attention…maybe I just need to do something while waiting for the patch and superstar saga isnt satisfying enough…maybe. Eitherwhile (its a transition word like anywhom or anyway. you can make any word just by taking one of the following words: any, every, either. amd adding one of the following words to the end of it: which, while, whom, who, what, where, when, way. Follow this rule, and you will have an unlimited amount of transition words) So…Eitherwhile, Still cant wait for the patch. Everyone just confused me with all of their talk about M3 and what not, so I think I might just play it on vba instead. Thank you for reading my note, especially the stuff in parentheses which I hope was a big help.

  204. TheMetroidMan said 16 years ago:

    Hey Zaratus, could you email me that site and info for where you got that deal for your cart? 50 dollars for both the DS and GBA carts is a pretty solid deal, could you just email me at MetroidMan1118@hotmail.com ? Or if anyone has any information on those kinds of flash carts just email me? Thanks a lot and keep up the great work Mato!!

  205. Yambomb said 16 years ago:

    For people wanting to play this on their DS, the EZFlash 3 in 1 is the best and cheapest way to go. It’s a slot 2 (GBA slot) cartridge that fits flush with the DS. It has 256 internal memory, which is low, but will fit Mother 3 and a few other games as well as homebrew programs easily. It also doubles as a RAM expansion for the DS Browser and as a Rumble pack that are used by certain DS games. It only runs about $20. Note that the EZF 3in1 cannot do DS emulation alone.

    It also combos well with an R4 or CycloEvolution DS (slot 1/ DS card) homebrew cartridge, which utilizes the Slot 1 port for DS homebrew and emulation. The R4 and CycloEvolution run of Micro SD cards and the Cyclo can take SDHC cards which allows you to have 4GB (ludicrous) amounts of space on a single card. The R4 only allows regular micro SD cards. Note that the R4 and Cyclos, or any slot 1 card cannot do GBA emulation and homebrew by themselves.

    Any more questions, make a post or drop me a line.

  206. NotTheThreadPolice said 16 years ago:

    Okay, not to be the thread police, but talk about carts really needs to stop/be removed. The last thing we need is to give N any ammo to stonewall this project. We’ve waited too long and been smacked down far to much by N management to let that happen. Plus the work of the team is absolutely epic.
    And I’m not remotely interested if you get a good deal or not.

  207. Yambomb said 16 years ago:

    I forgot to mention that I personally use an M3 Perfect Lite because it does GBA and DS emulation in a single cartridge, is relatively fast, and works with every program and game. Only flaw is that it has a clunky UI.

  208. 1 said 16 years ago:

    Wow, then yuo’re l33t hax0r teh r@d.

  209. Yambomb said 16 years ago:

    “Okay, not to be the thread police, but talk about carts really needs to stop/be removed. The last thing we need is to give N any ammo to stonewall this project. We’ve waited too long and been smacked down far to much by N management to let that happen. Plus the work of the team is absolutely epic.
    And I’m not remotely interested if you get a good deal or not.”

    You’re drifting off into “big brother” territory there. Homebrew cartridges have been around for years and years (back to old Gameboy grey brick days)Nintendo already knows about them and is taking measures to deal with them. If they were going to stone wall the project over anything, it would be copyright infringment, not because fans are using them on a 2 year old game they don’t plan on releasing stateside. The only reason companies bring litigation down on projects because of lost profits, which they’re not really losing any of because the game isn’t being released in North America, and most people here already have the moonlanguage cartridge.

  210. Fluteboy said 16 years ago:

    Mato, I’ve played up to chapter 4 with the menu patch and can honestly say as a fan of EarthBound that even though the basic structure of the game is not the same, MOTHER 3 is just as good. It’s like reading Terry Brooks’ Sword of Shannara series, then reading the Scions of Shannara Series he wrote later. They’re set in completely different times and visit places in totaly different ways, but we care about the characters in the same way. The fans of the old EarthBound are such fanatics because they care about the game. I’m sure that they will care about this game to.

    Fear not, Lord Mato! Those who scoff at this game because it is different from the EarthBound that they learned to love are the same blinded idiots that scoffed at The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess because it wasn’t the suped up version of Ocarina of Time that they wanted! It is these same people that cannot learn that things must evolve, that things must CHANGE. These people fear change. But, lo! Isn’t change exactly what we are trying to accomplish? Is this entire project not a wakeup call/slap in the face of those who withold works of great art from entire societies just because they are to lazy/stupid/worry that they won’t get as much money as they would otherwise?

    If my wording is too confusing, I’m talking about NoA. They’re refusal to translate MOTHER 3 is an example of the thing we are fighting against: stagnation. The things we love most MUST EVOLVE. Otherwise, they will be left behind as the rest of the world continues to change.

    What I’m trying to say, Mato, is that you shouldn’t worry that there will be people who hate your translation and all of MOTHER 3 just because it is too different from EarthBound for their liking. I’m sure Mr. Itoi had these same doubts when he was making the game. It would be silly for someone to re-hash all these worries again for the english translation!

    ^ sorry my post was so long and uncontributing. I tend to talk alot.

  211. zach reed said 16 years ago:

    mad props to you. thanks so much for doing this. i appreciate your time and effort like you wouldnt believe. code on, brotha!

  212. madlobster said 16 years ago:

    Yambomb mentioned the EZFlash 3-in-1. They also make a GBA sized version. If you’re buying it just for Mother 3 and know someone with a DS and a slot-1 card like the R4, they can load the game to the 3-in-1’s NOR EEPROM for you, then it can be used in any GBA. It’s only like $25.

  213. Yambomb said 16 years ago:

    “Yambomb mentioned the EZFlash 3-in-1. They also make a GBA sized version. If you’re buying it just for Mother 3 and know someone with a DS and a slot-1 card like the R4, they can load the game to the 3-in-1’s NOR EEPROM for you, then it can be used in any GBA. It’s only like $25.”

    doh
    Listen to this man, my post is worded incorrectly and I make it seem as if the 3 in 1 can do Mother 3 by itself, but this is not the case. Sorry for any confusions :(.

  214. Carl said 16 years ago:

    I’d personally recommend the EZ-flash IV. It’s the same size and shape as a regular GBA cartridge, so you won’t be stuck having to play the game on a DS Lite or anything. It’ll work on a GBA, a Micro, the DS/DS Lite or the Gameboy Player, just like any other GBA cartridge.

  215. MetallicaBreath said 16 years ago:

    Amen to that, Fluteboy. Couldn’t word it better myself. 😀

  216. Tom said 16 years ago:

    @Yambomb

    Right. I have my moon-language copy and a Extreme Flash Advance. I bought my Japanese cart soon after I found out about the translation project. Hopefully the game+patch will work on my version flash cart, I bought the flash cart so I can play M3 on my Gamecube w/ my Hori Gameboy Player controller.

    *Ecstatic for the release of this translation*

  217. IAmTheRad said 16 years ago:

    Can’t wait for this!
    Hopefully my cart will play this!

  218. Vague Rant said 16 years ago:

    A note on the EZ-Flash 3-in-1 and EZ-Flash IV (and possibly the M3, I’ve heard, but can’t verify), sleep mode is nonworking on those carts. The carts generate spurious interrupts which cause the game to immediately wake up from sleep again. It’s possible to fix if you know what you’re doing with a GBA ROM and a hex editor, so hopefully some bright spark will figure it out and it should be only a minor fix when the time comes. I’m interested in Mato/Jeffman’s perspective on the matter, it seems like a good idea to fix this in the translation patch, or perhaps to offer a separate sleep mode patch for those whose carts need it. Unfortunately I have little-to-no technical knowledge in this area, so I can’t be of any use with regards to what would need to be edited to make it work, but there are a couple of guys on PocketHeaven who have had success finding what needs hacking to make it work.

  219. Some random guy said 16 years ago:

    I had a dream last night that I went on the computer to check this site, and you guys were 60% done with the script revision.

    Huh.

  220. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    I’ve played Chapter 1 and can see that it’s real different from EB, but it seems awesome either way.

  221. Typhin said 16 years ago:

    Yambomb said:
    “For people wanting to play this on their DS, the EZFlash 3 in 1 is the best and cheapest way to go. It’s a slot 2 (GBA slot) cartridge that fits flush with the DS. It has 256 internal memory, which is low, but will fit Mother 3 and a few other games as well as homebrew programs easily. It also doubles as a RAM expansion for the DS Browser and as a Rumble pack that are used by certain DS games. It only runs about $20. Note that the EZF 3in1 cannot do DS emulation alone.”

    The cart is 256? Cart sizes are almost always measured in bits (something the DS-X team has had to deal with, as screaming kids who can’t open their eyes and read “The cart is 4 Gbit, which means 512 Mbyte” start screaming “My 4 gb cart only has 512 megs! How dare you try to trick me!” and such. But I digress.) so a 256 Mbit cart is only going to hold 32 Mbytes, or exactly enough for the Mother3 rom and nothing else. Though, Mother3 is the only GBA game (to my knowledge) of that size.

  222. EdgartheAlien said 16 years ago:

    half way through O_o keep on truckin’ mato.

  223. That Guy said 16 years ago:

    hot doggity dig

    another 10%!

    remember tomato whenever you need help, scream OOOUUUEENNNDAAAANN! as loud as you can, and a bunch of guys dancing will help you with the 2nd draft

  224. ALX said 16 years ago:

    Make go faster!

  225. Bats said 16 years ago:

    Get an R4, EZflash 2 in 1, and Cory 1942’s GBA loader and you’re good to go.

  226. Danthro said 16 years ago:

    Good job! Keep up the good work and remember…
    It’s gonna be sooooo satisfying to finish it you’ll feel like you won the olympics.

  227. cherrypie said 16 years ago:

    Very exciting, keep up the great work, it’s great to see a translation project pushing forward so fast. If this is the level of progress that is possible I look forward to the day I’ll have Mother 1+2 & 3 in my pocket, that will be awesome. 🙂

  228. Maketa said 16 years ago:

    Back here –
    http://mother3.fobby.net/2007/12/07/hacking-to-do-new-guy/
    – you stated “Snap the gray box to the names correctly.”

    Is this already “done”? It looks like it mostly snaps for text such as that Friendly Ghost shot up on the side, but then looking at the other screenshots (Alec, Ollie) there’s still a huge gap in between the text and the end of the box.

    Not that it’s a big thing, I’m just wondering if that’s how the final dialogue boxes will end up looking.

  229. Dr. Meat said 16 years ago:

    I would also recommend the EZ-Flash IV (it’d be much cheaper than an R4+3-in-1 as well), but like Vague Rant says, sleep mode doesn’t work. But if there’s an easy fix, that’s awesome. I had never heard of it before.

    Also if you’re using an EZ-Flash IV, you could use the Mother3 skin I made for it.

  230. JeffMan said 16 years ago:

    Maketa: It’s been asked many times, and the answer is that it’s final. It’s impossible to make them snap closer for really short names without overhauling the system. The original game even does this. So it’s gonna stay like that.

  231. Maketa said 16 years ago:

    JeffMan: ah, okay, thank you for the response.

  232. Tyler Okrainec said 16 years ago:

    Mato Me and all Earthbound fans at my school thank you

  233. Dan the man said 16 years ago:

    hey why is it when u attack ,you see floating musical notes?

  234. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    Mato, you said you don’t want people rushing through the game, so can we slow down time, THEN rush through the game?
    jk, I couldn’t rush through the game if I wanted to, i’d get bored

  235. NecrosaroIII said 16 years ago:

    Because the game features a combo system where you have to hit the A button to the rhythm of the music.

  236. Nutsjesmoar said 16 years ago:

    Mato, the US government is recalling tomatoes because of a recent salmonella scare! You haven’t been affected by this have you? I have some acquaintances in Holland who can hide you and your tomato friends in a secret room in the back of their house if needs be.

  237. Monsuco said 16 years ago:

    Wow, I am surprised so many of you want cartridges instead of just VBA.

    I did play through the first chapter of Mother 3, and I would say it is very different from Earthbound. Of course, I only had the menu hack. (SPOILER NOTE: I am going to discuss gameplay elements, but not really storyline.) The “odometer” HP meter is still there. I loved that meter, it saved me in oh so many boss fights in Earthbound. It seems to move slower than the fast moving Earthbound Odometer. The game also seemed to focus on different characters, while Earthbound was pretty much just Ness (with a brief period of Jeff and Poo taking center stage). I also noticed how there seems to be a lot more adventuring and a lot less fighting and leveling up. That might have been just something done because it is the beginning of the game. Of course, Mother (Earthbound Zero) was very different from Mother 2 (Earthbound), and thank god. In my opinion, Mother involved WAAAAAAAAAAYYY too much leveling up and random battles. Earthbound was nice in that you rarely had to take a long time to level up (you really only had to when you got a new party member or right before the final boss, and getting Paula was the only time you had to spend a tremendous amount of time leveling up). I was happy with those differences. I am sure Mother 3 will be a welcome change (and if not, I can always beat fan made stuff done with PK Hack).

    Keep up the stellar work Mato.

    Hmm, are Spain-Spanish and Mexico-Spanish really that different? I thought it was more like British English vs. American English, where you know, the Brits do things like spell Color with a u and call gas “petro” or call fries “chips” or pants “knickers” but you can still understand them.

  238. Vagn said 16 years ago:

    I know this is off topic but… Do any Americans know what a toque is? Just curious. (PS I’m Canadian eh?)

  239. Hiro0015 said 16 years ago:

    If anyone is looking for a flash card, I’d recommend the SuperCard SD. It’s really easy to use =)

  240. Dr. Meat said 16 years ago:

    I hope that is a joke.

  241. Second Prize said 16 years ago:

    Geez, hoser, most Americans know what a toque is, eh. At least, those of us who enjoy Bob & Doug McKenzie…Which should be aboot everyone.

    And just to justify this post…Good job with all the progress, M3 Translation Team!

  242. Light Wolf said 16 years ago:

    I also plan to use just VBA. I read somewhere that the music combo thing could not work correctly on VBA, is that true? Because I don’t want to buy a flash cart just for this one game.

    To Monsuco: There are lots of words only used in Spain (or another country), that sound very weird in other places. Not only that. The structure of the dialect is a bit different. Spain Spanish uses a more “ancient” structure, like, when in English you hear “thou” and” thy” and that sort of things. I’m not sure how to explain it, but, trust me, they can be very different. You still understand it, but it’s not natural.

  243. evansucks said 16 years ago:

    “Fear not, Lord Mato! Those who scoff at this game because it is different from the EarthBound that they learned to love are the same blinded idiots that scoffed at The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess because it wasn’t the suped up version of Ocarina of Time that they wanted!”

    Dude, Twilight Princess WAS a suped-up version of ocarina of time! The gamecube version is even laid out IDENTICALLY (ie, mountain villages, deserts, Death Mountain itself, and water regions, ALL placed identically to Ocarina of Time). Twilight Princess is OBVIOUSLY homage to Ocarina of Time. Dude, without a boat and cartoony graphics, WIND WAKER is almost the same as Ocarina of Time but not as blatant a rip-off as Twilight Princess by any means.

  244. evansucks said 16 years ago:

    If my wording is too confusing, I’m talking about NoA. They’re refusal to translate MOTHER 3 is an example of the thing we are fighting against: stagnation. The things we love most MUST EVOLVE. Otherwise, they will be left behind as the rest of the world continues to change.”

    NOA isn’t afraid to release Mother 3 because it’s DIFFERENT from Earthbound. They’re afraid that Mother 3 is THE SAME as Earthbound (ie, selling like shiza on us shores), hence, no release.

  245. some random guy said 16 years ago:

    you know whats weird?
    i can combo better on the vba than on the gba
    i can bet a constand 9-11 hits on the vba, but on the gba i can only manage 5 if im lucky
    weird, eh?

  246. Yambomb said 16 years ago:

    “A note on the EZ-Flash 3-in-1 and EZ-Flash IV (and possibly the M3, I’ve heard, but can’t verify), sleep mode is nonworking on those carts. The carts generate spurious interrupts which cause the game to immediately wake up from sleep again.”

    This is a problem when you try to sleep a DS when you don’t have a DS card in Slot 1. As long as you have a cartridge in there, all games (and most homebrew apps) running off slot-2 carts sleep fine.

  247. Ironfist said 16 years ago:

    LETS TRANSLATE IT INTO ATLANTEAN

    Anyway good Job Mato and Jeffman

  248. JeffMan said 16 years ago:

    Yambomb: Nope, I just tried it now, it still doesn’t work.

  249. hawkeye2777 said 16 years ago:

    Light Wolf: I don’t know how the PC version works (since I use a version of VBA that is for Wii Homebrew), but I know that the sound is not perfect on the Wii versions of VBA and is very difficult to pull off combos. I don’t think the PC version has too many problems with speed or sound, but I don’t know for sure.

    Also, good job to Mato and co. on this project. Keep it up!

  250. Nutsjesmoar said 16 years ago:

    Toque, toque… isn’t that the Norwegian guy from Dethklok?

  251. ok said 16 years ago:

    i cant believe what a den of piracy these comments have turned this site into

    it may be time to do a complete blackout for the final mile, mato, before these cheapskate pirates net you some unwanted legal attention

  252. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    Does it take too long to get used to the music combo thing? I’ve tried and gotten 6 max…

  253. Dr. Meat said 16 years ago:

    I’ve beaten the game a few times and only gotten a 16-hit once. I don’t know how long it’ll take to get used to since I never did at all, but it’s a fairly easy game even without it.

  254. Oscar Taylor said 16 years ago:

    Great work with the translation! This is THE MOST IMPORTANT rom translation project ever! Don’t give up hope! Keep on keepin’ on!

  255. zLeed said 16 years ago:

    I’ve hit 16-hits plenty of times. Maybe it’s because I’m using the recording VBA and not the regular version. Anyways, it’s just practice. Some are unbearably slow while some are extremely fast to keep up. It’s not necessary like Dr. Meat said, but it’s really helpful. You can reach damage past some of PK attacks.

  256. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    alright, thx

  257. Some random guy said 16 years ago:

    we should translate the game into Uzbestistanian, so three more people can enjoy the game 😀

  258. Pizzaman said 16 years ago:

    To the people recommending the EZ Flash IV: Have any of you tried it with Mother3? I just bought an EZF-IV and Mother3 is literally the only game that does not work. No matter if I try to write it to the NOR flash or just running it regularly, I get the following error: “WARNING: PSRAM is not enough”

    Seems like it’s too big for the EZF-IV. Has anyone else gotten this to work on EZF-IV?

    (Disclaimer: I have bought two copies of the Japanese Mother3 so far. Sorry if this isn’t the place to discuss this, it seemed too relevant to ignore.)

    (P.S. Keep up the good work, Mato! Thank you for doing this! I can’t wait for the final patch!!)

  259. Zeph101 said 16 years ago:

    Geeeze

    There are other places to talk about flash carts
    I know they’re not ilegal but that doesn’t mean
    ninty is ok with them.

    Talk about them somewhere else and don’t ruin the project.

    Which, btw, is going at a rapid pace imo. I remember it took ages for the Star Ocean one to be finished
    Wish I could help more than just giving you your just congratulations.

  260. Carl said 16 years ago:

    I had no trouble running Mother 3 on my EZ-Flash IV by loading it into NOR memory.

  261. Zaratus said 16 years ago:

    Pizzaman: Some carts take the cheap way out and only have 128 megabits (16 MB) of ram, as there are very few GBA games that actually are 256 megabits (32 MB). Mother 3 just happens to be one of them. There are others, but I can’t think of any offhand.

  262. Itoi's love child said 16 years ago:

    It’s been a while since Mato posted on the boards. Hope the crank hasn’t got the best of him. Wait till the patch is done Mato, we’ll reserve a spot at rehab for you, right next to Lindsey Lohan and Ed McMahon!

  263. Dr. Meat said 16 years ago:

    Pizzaman:

    It depends on what kind of EZ-Flash IV you have. If you’ve got the regular fat DS/GBA kind, you can load it into NOR memory by pressing select with the ROM highlighted.

    If you have the Lite or Compact versions, I’m pretty neither have enough memory for Mother 3. Sorry, if that’s the case.

    The Deluxe version should work the same way as the fat DS/GBA version, I imagine. I only have the original EZ-Flash IV, so I don’t know for sure.

  264. Nutsjesmoar said 16 years ago:

    I think someone needs to create a forum/thread somewhere outside the site regarding emulators/roms/piracy etc., it’s reaching critical mass here.

  265. me said 16 years ago:

    I agree with Nutsjesmoar. We need to move on to a different subject. Like, what’s the first thing you’re going to do when you hear the Mother 3 patch is out?

    I gonna play with my pet monkey Salsa. (I don’t really have a pet monkey, just a dog)

  266. Jupiter-x said 16 years ago:

    If you have the Lite or Compact versions, I’m pretty neither have enough memory for Mother 3. Sorry, if that’s the case.

    I thought that EZF4 used mini-SD cards, so wouldn’t your memory only be limited by the size of the card you had? and you can get tons of memory on those things, like 2GB which is way more than enough for a 32mbit game. Or maybe I’ve got that wrong, I’ve only been looking into it today…

  267. Monsuco said 16 years ago:

    Well, there are flash card forums. We don’t need to create one. Just check Usenet or the flash card producer.

    As for VBA having sound issues. I noticed that too, only I did so on Linux. I haven’t tried it on Windows (my brother played one of the VBA games on Windows, it worked for him, but I think it was a Gameboy Color game). Don’t know if it is a VBA problem, I might have an old version, it might just be ALSA (damn you ALSA), or it might be Mother3 specific.

    Does anyone else find themselves checking this site every couple hours hoping for an update? Gah, the suspense is killing me!

  268. Dr. Meat said 16 years ago:

    I’d settle for the official word on if we’re allowed to discuss flash carts and such in this way. Although it’s not really a surprise that people are going to be playing this translation patch on an emulator/flash cart (I specifically bought mine for it). It’s a fairly gray area though, so I’d definitely understand if Mato would rather we not talk about that stuff.

    I bought the cart so I should be exempt from all accusations of piracy 🙂

  269. Hiro0015 said 16 years ago:

    I’m pretty sure Mato and the others have stated that the game CANNOT be flashed to a regular Mother3 cart. I too bought the Japanese version, $18 shipped when Play-Asia had the sale 😀

    and yes Dr Meat, I do use a SuperCard, and actually like it a lot. I love having the ability to back up my DS game saves with it =)

  270. Dr. Meat said 16 years ago:

    Maybe SuperCards just got better, then. I have a SuperCard SD that can’t run Mother3 without crippling slowdown. If it works, that’s great.

    Also what’s up play-asia sale buddy, best $18 investment ever

  271. DJ Squarewave said 16 years ago:

    I also obtained the game in a Play-Asia sale. Got that beautiful red box sitting on display at the top of a shelf, lording over my room…or at least it would be if it wasn’t a tiny GBA game box on the top of a shelf.

    My friend who is so paranoid about spoilers that he doesn’t even check this blog always shakes his fist at me when he sees it up there. 🙂

  272. A Fan said 16 years ago:

    VBA sound works fine for me, but it doesn’t sound that good. It sounds a lot harsher, probably because it faithfully replicates the sound output by the gameboy, but not the properties of the speaker. I dunno, but I even hunted down the damn GBA system ROM to try and improve it, but that didn’t help at all 🙂

    And that thing was a pain to find. Someone left it on their site, but took the link away. The link was only found in Google’s cache, but that was enough to download it. I think they actually removed it after that, but I forget 🙂 Nobody bothers because nobody really needs it for anything, anyhow.

    In short, don’t bother.

  273. Fluteboy said 16 years ago:

    Monsuco said:

    Does anyone else find themselves checking this site every couple hours hoping for an update? Gah, the suspense is killing me!

    I feel you’re pain. Really, I do. I lurk around this site all the time. I even take time to read all the comments people make (Hee hee! People are stupid!).

    … <__>…

    …Ahem.

    Anyways, I really love what you’re doing here, Mato.

    P.S. I work at a local Dairy Queen. Today, the general manager threw out all of our tomatoes… lunch has lost all the magic… :_(

  274. Fluteboy said 16 years ago:

    WTF? I really need to brush up on my emoticons… What the heck was that thing between the dots?

  275. Pizzaman said 16 years ago:

    Re: Nutsjesmoar and others asking to end the discussion-

    I agree that there is probably a better place for this discussion. But I haven’t found it–I’ve been looking for forever for a forum with a “Mother3-compatible flashcarts” topic that had more than 1 post.

    I also think it’s unfair to lump together “emulators/roms/piracy/[flashcarts]” and say it’ll bring trouble to the site. Many of us have tried to make clear we own the Japanese Mother3 game to head off conflating these subjects into one big indiscernible mass. We all want to support this game. But the subjects are different: flashcarts/emulators are OK to discuss nearly anywhere on the internet, as they are NOT illegal (flashcarts being the exception in a few countries). Roms/piracy are NOT OK to discuss on any legitimate website, and I doubt any of us really intend to discuss them.

    So, I think if we stick to flashcarts/emulators and stay away from roms/piracy, we should be ok. Nintendo knows of this site/project, they haven’t shut it down yet (which, if they’ve been waiting to do so, seems almost vindictive since this project has gone on for so long and Mato has long ago voluntarily agreed to do so any time they wish it), and talking about the only means to play the translation is really a logical topic of discussion.

    We all will respect Mato’s choice if he doesn’t want us to talk about this stuff here, I’m sure. And if this conversation was in a searchable message board, that would be best. But it’s clear to me that so far nowhere but here have there been enough Mother3 people constantly congregated to really have this conversation effectively.

    That’s my two cents.

    (P.S.: Thanks Carl – EZF-IV works, I must’ve made a mistake before when I was trying!)

  276. LarryTheCucumber said 16 years ago:

    Fluteboy, was this because there has been a salmonella scare concerning Tomatoes?

  277. "Snake" Plissken said 16 years ago:

    I heard about the salmonella scare with the tomatoes. It must be a government conspiracy. Oh my god , Nintendo has infiltrated the government!

  278. Redlandsman87 said 16 years ago:

    They’ve taken Mato!

  279. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    DON’T TAKE MATO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

  280. Vagn said 16 years ago:

    Mato is probaly just taking a well deserved break, or he decided not to post because of the overwhelming discussions on flash carts even though he expressed that he doesn’t want that going on here. 😛

    So come on guys don’t be lazy and use a search engine, it’s not that hard to find information on this stuff.

    Also the first thing I’m gonna do when the patch comes out is soil myself, haha. Then after that I will call in sick to work, or tell my girlfriend I’m sick if its the weekend (she always makes me do stupid crap like go shopping with her).

    I think the better question is though what are Mato and Jeffman going to do right after the patch comes out?

  281. DeadNight said 16 years ago:

    Whoo didn’t visit for so long..

    And I’m really happy to see all the problems from last time I’ve checked were solved. well that’s old news for you guys…

    When the game comes out, I’m going to open my window, scream my happiness for the world to hear, remember that I need to download the patch, and dance a little while it’s downloading.

    Anyhow, IMHO after the patch is done, the game should first be translated to CAPITALIZED ENGLISH. or maybe not.

  282. Tarik said 16 years ago:

    its been almost two days since we’ve last heard from mato!

    i miss him already…

  283. evansucks said 16 years ago:

    The first thing I’m doing when the patch comes out is put it on my flash cart (which ive already made fit into a crap gba game’s cartridge case with a brand new shiny mother 3 label) because I bought Mother 3 in a language i DONT EVEN UNDERSTAND (thanks for that Play-Asia link during the sale Mato because yeah, Mother 3 is now GONE, probably because of this project alone…)and am legally able to do so 🙂

    Honestly, I went through all the effort to create the truest looking (and functioning) flash cartridge i could in regards to a legit game just so i could play it the way I’ve played ANY of the past Mother games. On the actual Hardware.

    Oh, and just so nobody says “You cant play Mother in english! It never came out here!” Well, no it didnt. But that doesn’t mean i dont own it.

  284. ceravic said 16 years ago:

    I wouldn’t worry Mato. I have played only chapter 1 with the menu patch and even without understanding whats being said its one of the best opening chapters I’ve ever played in a game.

  285. ZombiePaul said 16 years ago:

    Man, I sure hope that after all this time this doesn’t turn into an emulation forum during the home stretch. This isn’t a burn on those who use them, but I feel that since we’re closer than ever to the game some of us have waiting a DECADE for; we should cool it with all the emu posts. I know it probably won’t get NoA to shut this down, but there is a SMALL percentage chance that it will. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I think that the integrity of this project should be paramount. So why bother discussing something that MIGHT gather unwanted attention? It has also been stated many times that this isn’t a forum about emulation/roms, etc. Use Google if you must.

    Once again; this is not a personal attack of those who have posted about these topics, but a plea that perhaps you’re discussions could take place elsewhere. For the sake of all of use who’ve waited so long for this, as well as a courtesy and show of respect for those who are sacrificing so much personal time so selflessly for so many others.

    Thank you.

  286. I like mother 2 said 16 years ago:

    Awesome but PLEASE don’t make a big deal out of it like what you did with earthbound. If you do than you just ruined the game and I won’t play. I stopped playing earthbound when I found out that there was an entire about an okay game. So please if you can just make a level editor and be done.

  287. Minor Man 23 said 16 years ago:

    Awesome but PLEASE don’t make a big deal out of it like what you did with earthbound. If you do than you just ruined the game and I won’t play. I stopped playing earthbound when I found out that there was an entire FORUM about an okay game. So please if you can just make a level editor and be done.
    I think he has a point but I would not stop playing a game JUST because of a forum about it.
    PS: Good job Mato ^_^

  288. Vagn said 16 years ago:

    ^^ (At above)
    Damn Kids! *Shakes fist*

  289. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Note: I’m alive, but every time I say something, the server has a hiccup and the post gets not posted. Been busy with real life work, real life, all-nighters, lack of sleep, blah blah giant squids blah blah etc.

    Earlier I mentioned my thoughts after playing Chapter 1. I decided to try playing it on real hardware starting with Chapter 2 to see if that would be less disappointing. It’s definitely less disappointing to me now. Still a lot of work left on it, but the essence of a fully translated and polished game is there now.

    BTW I don’t care if people talk about flash cart stuff here, just as long as no links to stores are given out. In fact, I’d like to know more about each type of flash thingy myself, because if you think this is bad now, just think when the patch is released and people start asking questions about every single kind in existence. So I’d like to know more about the quirks of each kind beforehand.

    Man I do not look forward to helping people troubleshoot problems and stuff once the patch is out :X

  290. rc5 said 16 years ago:

    Aw, well there will always be those of us too cheap to buy flash carts. =D

  291. evansucks said 16 years ago:

    Flash 2 Advance
    the original or the ultra seems to be the MOST FULLY functioning flash cart when compared to the functions of an official gba cartridge.

    the Reason i point out THIS particular flash cartridge is because it is the only one (that i can see, and man, have i researched this A LOT) that you never have to charge again to maintain save files.

    On the other hand, it’s also one of the hardest to find. I wanted the original F2A cartridge (because the Ultra looks like it might not fit in an official gba cart BUT ive never been able to find a pic from behind to signify where the f2a’s screws lie either…) but either of the F2A’s, if you can even find them, are also some of the most expensive flash carts.

    STILL, if you wanted a flash cart that functions FULLY like the real thing, F2A is the way to go.

    Personally, i settled for EFA (Extreme Flash Advance), modified a gba case, and just have a little usb port comin outta the top, but i HOPE to acquire an F2A someday. It still works one hundred percent with mother 3 BUT, the USB port is strangely enough, insignificant to me. It helps it stand out from the rest of my gba carts.

  292. Jeff said 16 years ago:

    Any slot-2 card is going to play GBA games without any trouble (probably). If you have a slot-2 card with a passthru in slot-1 that you use for DS games, you won’t have a problem.

    The main issue is when you have a slot-1 card and no specialized card for the slot-2 that lets you run the GBA game through it. It’s pretty much the slot-2 card + passthru in reverse.

  293. evansucks said 16 years ago:

    Heres what i dont get.
    NORMALLY, cartridge games save to RAM, right?
    And THOSE are the saves that require a battery to back them up, correct?
    Well, if i’m correct, doesnt Mother 3 save to FLASH, meaning it doesnt need battery backup?

    Could be WAY off base but i mean, if a flash cartridge never loses a ROM flashed onto it due to lack of battery, but just the RAM save, then wouldn’t flash saves be fine without battery backup?

    I’ll experiment. Get back to you in a month (when the battery should be exhausted without a charge) with the results.

  294. Cubear said 16 years ago:

    Well, an easy solution for your troubleshooting woes, Mato!
    Just never release it. Then you’ll never need to troubleshoot anything.

    Obviously a joke, but don’t worry too hard, the community can help the community, I’m sure a site like [this blog because it will feature a flash cart guide at release] could help people with their flash cart woes.

  295. JeffMan said 16 years ago:

    evansucks: But when you put it onto a flash cart, the ROM’s save type doesn’t really matter anymore; whether it’s 64K Flash or 64K SRAM, the flash cart decides how it’ll save it. On mine, for example, it keeps the save files on my microSD card, but loads them into temporary SRAM when in use, which operates on a battery. So even though MOTHER 3 uses a Flash type, my flash cart will still use a battery-backed save when I’m playing. Other flash carts use dedicated SRAM, other flash carts uses dedicated Flash RAM, other flash carts don’t have any form of SRAM, it really all depends on the model.

  296. confused said 16 years ago:

    (first time poster)
    Mato and Jeffman I’m really happy at all the progress and I love checking this blog and also Mato/Jeffman/anyone who can help me I need to get a flash cart (sorry to bring up this subject again) and I’m thinking of getting a M3 lite which looks good but if anyone out there has one I need help. First, how do you connect it to your computer. Second, what does side loader mean. And Third do you need to buy anything else besides what comes in the box(like a linker or something) thanks for the help everyone(O and I’m glad Mato hasn’t been taken by the government =) )

  297. mike k said 16 years ago:

    I was the one who originally brought up the flash cart subject and I just want to say to mato/jeffman/everyone else…………..SORRY

  298. MrPopo said 16 years ago:

    I have a G6 Lite, which consists of a Slot 2 device (with changable shell for regular and DS lite form factor), and sometimes requires a passthrough slot-1 card. So far it’s been working quite well for me.

  299. OMGZ said 16 years ago:

    awesome, i love how often and the huge chunks you post (and do!)

  300. mike k said 16 years ago:

    Sorry to post twice in a row but because I am interested in buying a flash cart, it would also be helpful to know what size the mother 3 file will be in megs. Just a ballpark number would be great. That way I and everyone else can get the same size flash cart

  301. confused said 16 years ago:

    Thanks MrPopo yours is what I was looking for because it comes with an adapter but every store is sold out so I decided to go for a M3 lite which is like that but it doesn’t have a computer adapter thingy so now I’m confussed(so if anyone has a link to a site that sells the G6 lites that would solve my problem too but other than that can you answer my previous questions)thanks.

  302. Vagn said 16 years ago:

    Confused if you’re gonna use this on a DS lite I suggest gettig an M3 real instead. You can get a bundle that comes with a RAM pack to play GBA games.

  303. evansucks said 16 years ago:

    Mato already said before that Mother 3 is 256 megs (so dont get a 128 meg cart or suffer your own consequences of not researching/listening). Be careful tho because some flash carts that big wont hold it due to having the gui on the flash cart PERMANENTLY (tho some, like the efa, can choose not to use a gui at all). Like everyone else says, DO RESEARCH FIRST.

    Jeffman: I think you misunderstood me. I know all saves on cartridges require battery backup (aside from flash. Didnt know about that until you explained it just now). The reason i brought any of that up in the first place tho is because with flash carts (or at least gba flash carts), LOTS have the nasty habit of making you play the game every few months or the save file gets erased.
    Not the case with the F2A (or the F2A Ultra). Apparently these flash carts hold saves naturally as long as regular carts do (years and years on end.Specs say 4 years for all battery backed saves, gba or otherwise, so that MUST mean 4 years worth of time spent playing to wear it out because my original zelda save from almost over 20 years ago is still kicking at this point). Anyway, that would OBVIOUSLY be the ideal way to play mother 3. Like it was ACTUALLY released here.

    Confused: Man, Mato JUST gives us permission to talk about flash carts as long as we DONT ask for links to sites that carry them and WHAT do you do?
    Read, for the love of god, READ!!!!!

  304. evansucks said 16 years ago:

    Sorry confused, that was meant towards mike k.
    Just go to gba-temp site linked before.
    That site should be clean.
    Been there a billion times and, as far as i can tell, you cannot make purchases from that site.
    Good info on gba flash carts too.

  305. Old West said 16 years ago:

    Mato already said before that Mother 3 is 256 megs

    That isn’t true. The ROM is only around 30. Dunno where you got that figure. Unless you mean Mb.

  306. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    Ok, two questions:

    To Mato or anyone who speaks really good Japanese: Sorry for off-topic-ness, but do you know what Marth says in SSBB? I’ve been able to identify ” Everyone, please watch me”; “I’m not quite there yet”; and one that i THINK is ” It seems today’s victory goes to me, doesn’t it?”

    To Mato: When you first played Mother 3, did you keep the default names and favorite thing?

  307. Nutsjesmoar said 16 years ago:

    I’m more curious about what those Latin lyrics are to the Fire Emblem theme song in SSBB.

  308. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    You can find them on youtube. Just put in ” SSBB SSE ending”

    it’ll show the SSE credits with latin and English lyrics

  309. Vagn said 16 years ago:

    @Old West

    Video game paks (and flash carts) are always measured in megabits, while memory on the computer is always measured in megabyte. There are 8 bits to a byte, so 256megabits/8bits/byte = 32megabits.

    🙂

  310. Vagn said 16 years ago:

    Er megabytes for above.

  311. EmpoleMew said 16 years ago:

    I’ve played through all of Mother 3 with the menu patch and I have to say, that this game is indeed “Strange, funny, and heartrending”. Although, I do think Mother/Earthbound Zero’s “No crying until the ending” works for Mother 3 as well.

  312. NessAndLucas said 16 years ago:

    Oh My GOD! Its been in development for almost a year, and you guys are almost done? Once your done with this, Put it in the World Records Book.

  313. Dr. Meat said 16 years ago:

    evansucks: I’m pretty sure the save thing is only a problem on some flash carts that use USB linkers. If you’re using one that takes external memory (such as mini-SD) it’ll most likely write the save to the memory card automatically.

  314. Crosby86 said 16 years ago:

    So, if I can get my hands on a Flash2Advance 256MB is that a safe bet to go with?

  315. Nutsjesmoar said 16 years ago:

    @Arashi

    No, I think that’s just the generic SSBB theme song. I mean the actually Fire Emblem song, I’ve searched for months and there’s no transcription of the Latin lyrics anywhere in existence as far as I can tell. So I have to sing my stupid made up version:

    “Faa–a–yah Em-burem, Vene-vidi-vici, pu-u-nching extras, doo-de-doo-de-dum.”

    If there’s any Latin scholars here with good ears, maybe you can help end my torment once and for all:

    http://www.smashbros.com/en_us/music/music13.html

  316. confused said 16 years ago:

    sorry I just relized I asked for a link, sorry =( I didn’t mean to do that, and thanks

  317. confused said 16 years ago:

    O and Vagn I was looking at the M3 real but I don’t think that it can play SNES and NES games and again I’m not sure how to connect it to my computer.

  318. Crosby86 said 16 years ago:

    Faiaa Emuburemu tegowai shimyureeshon yari hajimetara nemurenai
    Fire Emblem, tough simulation when you’ll begin playing it, you won’t be able to sleep anymore

    Masateru hazu na noni hissatsu ichigeki (ichigeki) nokoru Raifu aseru Riraifu
    Although you should surpass your opponent, a critical hit! When there’s nothing more left, Life Staff, when you’re in a hurry, Relife Staff

    Semeru mo mamoru mo nai chie shibotte (shibotte) dare hitori to —-e shinase wa shinai
    Both in attack and defense, don’t press unwisely, and don’t let anyone die!

    Faiaa Emuburemu tegowai shimyureeshon yari hajimetara nemurenai
    Fire Emblem, tough simulation when you’ll begin playing it, you won’t be able to sleep anymore

    Tsuyoi otoko ni irekomisugite (sugite) mawari no senshi wa henachoko bakari
    Put too much effort on powerful people, and your warriors on the whole will only be novices

    Faiaa Emuburemu tegowai shimyureeshon Ai to yuuki no monogatari
    Fire Emblem, tough simulation a tale of love and courage

    Faiaa Emuburemu tegowai shimyureeshon katte kuruzo to isamashiku
    Fire Emblem, tough simulation come and win bravely!

    Abunaku nattanara sutakora nigero (nigero) ogoreru mono wa dotsubo ni hamaru
    When things become dangerous, run like the wind those who get cocky will put themselves in peril

    Faiaa Emuburemu tegowai shimyureeshon katte kuruzo to isamashiku
    Fire Emblem, tough simulation come and win bravely!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAJhN5n9nBE&feature=related

  319. Crosby86 said 16 years ago:

    Hmm, thats still different than the Brawl version though.

  320. Vagn said 16 years ago:

    Confused:

    The M3 real does have that functionality, and it connects to your computer via a microSD reader which comes with it. So you have to purchase a microSD card along with the M3 real. Jeffman also reccomends it so ya, it can’t be bad.

  321. Nutsjesmoar said 16 years ago:

    Yeah, I knew about the old Japanese lyrics, but those pesky Latin ones keep evading me.

    However, that commercial makes me smile. Japanese people in medieval garb on the turrets of a castle at night, singing operatically about “Shimyure-shons” – what’s not to love about that?

  322. Nutsjesmoar said 16 years ago:

    medieval European garb, I should say.

  323. evansucks said 16 years ago:

    Dr. Meat
    STILL not getting it (maybe i suck at explaining this).
    Almost all flash carts can save (even eeprom/flash saves in most cases with a patch or two).
    But MOST flash carts (as in, all but the f2a flash card, at least as far as i can tell) require to play your flash cartridge at least once every month or two or your saves is erased (because, the battery backup runs out without a recharge from a gameboy advance to recharge it, kinda like a car battery runs out without running the car).
    This is where the f2a differs (the regular AND ultra). You could leave it sitting on a shelf for years (like my aforementioned nes zelda cart) and come back and your saves will still be fine which is why i wish i could find a place that looks legit that carries them (yes, i know most flash sites aren’t that great, but these ones look EXCEPTIONALLY shady).
    Definitely seems like the best way to act like the world wasnt retarded and Mother 3 was actually released here two years ago.

  324. A Fan said 16 years ago:

    Well, vini vidi vici is a famous Latin quote (“I came, I saw, I conquered”). Was there any more Latin than that? Because I don’t claim to know much of it, but someone on here joked about making a Latin translation, so… 🙂

  325. Nutsjesmoar said 16 years ago:

    I’m pretty sure the words “vene vidi vici” aren’t in there, but that’s the only Latin I know, and it sort of sounded like that, either that or I saw someone on youtube write they thought it sounded like they were singing “they can see the penis”

  326. Dr. Meat said 16 years ago:

    I knew what you meant, but I worded my response badly. Obviously you’re using the kind which uses a linker so that applies to you and it’s good advice to people who are also using those carts.

    What I meant is that the problem doesn’t really apply to users of carts which take external memory cards, so they don’t need to worry about their saves disappearing (unless they’re lazy and never write their saves). Sorry my bad wording made you write all that.

  327. Magus said 16 years ago:

    Yeah Evan. Most slot 2 carts I’m familiar with use a microSD card. (and by most I mean my m3lite).

  328. A Fan said 16 years ago:

    > I saw someone on youtube write they thought it sounded like they were singing “they can see the penis”

    For Japanese lyrics using English, that wouldn’t be impossible. Or all that surprising…

    I dunno, though. Something like vene, vidi, vici is both famous and somewhat appropriate for a game like Fire Emblem which is based on conquest.

    I just wish that the FE6 translation for the SNES wasn’t so broken. IMHO, the system in that one is the best (repairing / handing down weapons, instead of having to stock & buy them by the dozen).

    I wish there were a Mato-like person skilled at SNES hacking who could fix that translation patch, because I still have the links to where to get all the tools they used on it. I just don’t know a thing about hacking SNES assembly code (or enough to translate some of the remaining untranslated bits, for that matter).

  329. earthboundriven said 16 years ago:

    Mato, you’re a great a person for doing something like this. You’re doing thousands of people a great favor, including myself and my older brother. We’re allot older now since earthbounds release, but bringing back that nostolgic feeling will be priceless. The best things in life are free indeed. Much love and respect from miami fl.

  330. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    Why get it for SNES? There is a GBA FE6 patch out there. I’ve already played it

  331. Typhin said 16 years ago:

    Umm, I have a “Flash2Advance” myself. Not an Ultra, just the regular one. 256 Mbit.

    It does have a battery. However, this battery has not yet lost a save on me. …At least, that I’ve noticed.

    The cart DOES NOT support all save-types, especially EEPROM. It’s probably around 75% compatibility, if I had to take a wild guess.

    Mother3 fits on there exactly, however, it didn’t run when I put the J version on, from a file I had ripped myself. If I had more interest, I could mess with it, but since I saw no real reason to mess with trying to load a Japanese game when I already had the cartridge sitting in my hand, I didn’t.

    To be honest, it’s gotten to the point where most of the time, I just use Pogoshell to read books and/or play music. ^_^;;

    But that’s probably because I’ve already beaten just about every GBA game worth playing that’s in English.

  332. GhostSonic said 16 years ago:

    the to-do list metions that it fixes a problem that most flash cards were having, i’d assume that it inclues Flash2Advance.

  333. GhostSonic said 16 years ago:

    by it I mean the translation.

  334. JeffMan said 16 years ago:

    GhostSonic: Not quite; we’re actually going to make a guide that deals with saving problems specific to each platform, because it’s impractical to try and incorporate all of those fixes into the patch, especially since most users aren’t even having save problems. Don’t worry about it now though, we’ll take care of this stuff when the time comes.

    evansucks: You and I both know we can’t mention flash cart websites here, but offering your email address for that info still crosses the line. 😛 You’ll have to do the digging on your own.

  335. JeffMan said 16 years ago:

    Vagn: I missed your post until now, but that website contains links to online shops that sell flash carts, which is still a no-no. It is indeed great for reviews, but we kidnapped a guy from there already to help us out with a flash cart guide later on so there’s no need to show it around. 🙂

  336. Vagn said 16 years ago:

    Sorry Jeffman I was trying to push people in the right direction; but I guess I crossed the boundaries 🙁 wont happen again.

    But thats great that you kidnapped the guy to help out with the flash cart guide and as always keep up the great work.

  337. Pizzaman said 16 years ago:

    Well, since we’ve been given the go-ahead by Mato:

    EZ-Flash IV worked with Mother3, with and without the menu patch, on my Game Boy Micro. The cartridge itself fits perfectly in my GBM. EZ-Flash IV does not need a DS loader card, so you can use it directly with the GBM.

    Nobody knows if the final patch will have any issues with particular cards, but as someone who spent forever looking for something that I could be sure 1) fit flush in a GBM, 2) had enough NOR flash to hold Mother3, and 3) did not require a DS to operate, I hope I can save others the trouble, since EZ-Flash IV meets all those requirements.

    Other people may know of better cards, I’m not an expert, but this one seems cheap and likely to work.

  338. Phalan said 16 years ago:

    EZ Flash 3 in 1 (also called EZ Flash V) is fairly popular with the DS lite, but it requires a Slot 1 device to load and holds the 256Mb/32MB games in NOR ram. It requires an external loaded that patches the game to use SRAM (512K/4Mb), best is Rudolfs GBA Exploder. GBATemp has a decent wiki on it that may help. I’ve yet to test Mother 3 (J) on the card however.

  339. Castform said 16 years ago:

    I just wanna know about some game progress T_T 3 days is an agony not knowing whats going on with the traslation!!!!!!!!! thank you for this but even the game i ssold out everywhere : (

  340. gregsid said 16 years ago:

    Great job man, I can’t wait. But just out of curiosity, is it only you working on the second draft? or is the whole team working on the draft together?

  341. Jay6 said 16 years ago:

    Eh. I’d only like to game progress when it’s at 100%. Until then, keep working. Keep everyone in agony for a while, and then surprise us with the full English translation patch. 😛
    I know it’s not done yet, but I’d rather think that you’re working harder on Mother 3 when you don’t post anything for a while.

  342. Second Prize said 16 years ago:

    You guys and your Latin just reminded me of a local strip club that had “Veni Vidi Veni” on their billboard.

    I thought it was the most clever thing I’d ever seen on a strip club.

    Sorry for the off-topic, but I thought it was funny…

  343. Apteryx said 16 years ago:

    Rofl, that is actually clever. Who would think it from a strip club…they couldn’t have made that up.

    ….oh yeah, um, go Mother 3!(?)

  344. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    Ok, nevermind about what Marth says in Brawl, can you just tell me what “dekitai” means?

  345. Vague Rant said 16 years ago:

    “I would also recommend the EZ-Flash IV (it’d be much cheaper than an R4+3-in-1 as well), but like Vague Rant says, sleep mode doesn’t work. But if there’s an easy fix, that’s awesome. I had never heard of it before.”

    It’s easy for the end-user, but somebody has to figure out what needs to be patched first. Once somebody has done that, it’d be easy enough to make a patch, but it might get confusing if people start getting into the issue of patching order. As long as the instructions are clear, most people should be fine, but there’ll always be people who don’t read the manual. The changes could just be integrated into the translation patch, but I can see how people might object to changes to the ROM which only effect a subset of users. I mean, unless they dig around in a hex editor they won’t know that anything’s been done, but I’m sure there’s people out there who’d complain.

    “I’ve yet to test Mother 3 (J) on the card however.”

    I can confirm that Mother 3 plays, saves, etc. just fine on the EZ-Flash 3-in-1.

  346. starmand said 16 years ago:

    dekitai sounds like it’d mean “want to be able to do,” or something like that. Although I am several years out from my last Japanese class, so I’m sure someone better informed could give a clearer answer.

  347. A Fan said 16 years ago:

    > There is a GBA FE6 patch out there. I’ve already played it

    Where is that patch? I didn’t know there was a GBA version of it to begin with (thought I knew there were other GBA versions of FE).

    I figure that linking to just a patch ought to be okay, given that this whole site is dedicated to making one… 🙂

  348. madlobster said 16 years ago:

    I think I have the solution to the sleep mode problem in the EZFlash. Change offset 188E from C0 to 40.

  349. Jungyin said 16 years ago:

    A Fan: There is no SNES version of FE6, “Fire Emblem: Thracia 776” is FE5.

  350. Dr. Meat said 16 years ago:

    A Fan: If we’re actually talking about FE6 and not 5, here’s the patch (not sure if this is the latest version or anything):
    http://eaichu250.superbusnet.com/fe6trans.php

    I played through it a while back, it was great fun. I liked it more than FE7 or 8, actually.

  351. Jamus said 16 years ago:

    Mato:

    You posted recently about sending massive batches of email. This is something I actually did for a company I used to work for.

    Your major problem will be automated spam detection– if you throw too many alarms you’ll end up not only filtered by individual ISPs or end-user software, but your mail server may end up blacklisted.

    Some obvious things apply: make sure that your emails are originating from a real mail server- i.e., that it is a dedicated mail server with a static IP and its reverse DNS is set correctly. (At least the same domain name)

    Be sure to include a link to a website through which the user can remove themselves from your mailing list.

    Send the emails in batches using BCC, with no more than 20-50 addresses per email. (We used a perl script which invoked sendmail on a unix system.) Any more than this can make your email look like spam when many addresses go to the same mail destination mail server, I’m told.

    For similar reasons, sort your address list by domain. This prevents you from sending the same identical message to the same mail server dozens (or hundreds) of times just because individual people ended up split into different blocks. You’ll STILL be sending it multiple times if you have more than 20-50 addresses for that domain, and it’s ok to have more than one domain in the same email. But this helps to reduce redundancy, overhead, and false spam detection.

    Unfortunately, many end-users are a bit overzealous and can be trigger-happy with the built-in “mark this email as spam” buttons that their providers give them (notably AOL). Or they have short attention spans and can’t remember signing up. Or they misunderstand and think that “spam” means “anything I may have been interested in before but no longer want to receive.”

    Make sure your domain abuse settings are correct, make sure you supply a real reply address (even if it’s just a bulk one to receive the MASSIVE number of bounces you’ll get), and make sure to reply promptly over the next couple of days to any spam notifications you get, especially from outfits like Spamcop– failure to do so can land your domain on a blacklist shared between multiple ISPs.

    Hope that helps. I don’t read the comments often and this email address is mostly spam, so post a little shout to Jamus if you’d like to talk to me any more about it, and I’ll contact you.

  352. A Fan said 16 years ago:

    Oops. The one I’m talking about is actually Seisen no Keifu (Record of the Holy War). I guess that should be FE _4_ not 6. D’oh!

    Maybe I should try FE 6, too…

    See also: http://darktwilkitri.thegreatbeyond.net/dtntd_fireemblem4.php

    In 8 days, it will be exactly 2 years since that project died. Err, make that 7 days now.

  353. Vague Rant said 16 years ago:

    madlobster: I can confirm that entering and exiting sleep mode works in Mother 3 with my 3-in-1 with that edit.

  354. tibbs said 16 years ago:

    Don’t know if anyone mentioned it already, I’ve played the game a little on my PSP (both Japanese and Menu patch), both worked perfect!

  355. DeadNight said 16 years ago:

    できたい (dekitai) can mean the following:
    – Want to be able to do something.
    – Want to be ready for something.
    – Want to be good at something.
    – Want permission to do something.
    – Want to grow.

    It all depends on the context, so pick up the one that best fits you.

    Wow I’ve picked my way through the Japanese Mother 3’s intro again today, and was really surprised at the fact that I understand 90% of it, when just a few months ago I couldn’t piece 80% of the words, let alone use a dictionary to translate them.

    I guess that showed me that my Japanese course is really helping. Or that after you learn て form along with all of its conjunctions (most notably ている), most of what is added to the verb stems become a piece of grammar instead of random hiragana to spite you and get in your way of using a dictionary ^_^.

  356. honeymustard said 16 years ago:

    Regarding flash carts, I have an “Extreme Flash Advance 256Mbit Long Card”, which holds the Mother 3 ROM perfectly. It plays it and saves it with no problems. So if you want the most basic and simple to use flash cart, you should definitely look into one of these.

  357. xmaverickx said 16 years ago:

    honestly its amazing what you guys did , if you dont get a sick job somewhere for doing this then someone needs to be takin care of ahha

  358. Minor Man 23 said 16 years ago:

    1%=2h 50%=100h 100h=4.1666667 Days. Your almost done with the second draft woohoo!!!!
    ^_^ ^_^ ^_^!!!!!

  359. Crosby86 said 16 years ago:

    @Nutsjesmoar
    I emailed Nintendo. They don’t have access to the lyrics either!

  360. Schrix said 16 years ago:

    So my calculations show me this:

    4 days=96 hours
    -8 hours of sleep a day=64 hours
    -2 and a half hours each day for food and ‘other’=54 hours

    You should roughly be in the area of 75%, yes or no?

  361. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    DeadNight said 4 hours ago:
    できたい (dekitai) can mean the following:
    – Want to be able to do something.
    – Want to be ready for something.
    – Want to be good at something.
    – Want permission to do something.
    – Want to grow.

    It all depends on the context, so pick up the one that best fits you

    Got ya, i’m Guessing ” want to grow” would be best here, thx
    I finally discovered I can just listen to Marth’s lines over and over on the Sound player, rather than playing like 40 battles in an attempt to here his Phrases XD

    God, I woke up this morning and had a huge desire to play Mother 3. I’ve already gone as far as to decide what my favorite thing will be and what i’ll put as my settings. Really, Thank you Mato. i don’t think anyone would ever be patient enough to do this, so take your time, and make it as awesoem as possible for us

  362. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    @Schrix: Uhh, 4 days, 8 hours of sleep is 32 hours…

  363. Germ said 16 years ago:

    64+32=96

  364. Nutsjesmoar said 16 years ago:

    Yeah, I think it’s some kind of conspiracy. I bet it isn’t even real Latin, they just made up some ancient europeany-sounding lyrics and sang em all operatically.

    Or they took the lyrics from ancient Sumerian inscriptions summoning the ancient alien race that created humanity back to earth in the form of 13 magical skulls in the Mayan ruins or something.. the truth is out there.

  365. Old West said 16 years ago:

    Got ya, i’m Guessing ” want to grow” would be best here, thx

    I’m sure there’s a separate verb for grow, though. Dekimasu is a variant of “to do” or “to perform”, as far as I understand, and shouldn’t be used in place of a verb that may describe what you are trying to say with more accuracy.

    Then again, I know little Japanese compared to someone who listens to Japanese phrases in a game and translates them with minimum effort (since I would have difficulty discerning the words to begin with, let alone translating them), so don’t take my word for it.

  366. Old West said 16 years ago:

    Sorry, I didn’t really look over the context of your statement, Arashi. Disregard the above message.

  367. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Schrix: You do realize I have a full-time job, a more-than-full-time job in fact? And that I have a tiny bit of an outside life? And that I don’t work on the project every spare minute I have? That’s pretty rude IMO to try to calculate things out like that, seriously. Besides, if you even paid attention to my previous comments, you’d see there’s been 0 progress.

  368. DeadNight said 16 years ago:

    @Arashi: You’re most welcome.

    @Old West: If you’re interested, the verb you were looking for is そだつ (sodatsu) – “to grow up”.

  369. Phalan said 16 years ago:

    @MATO – Don’t think he meant to be Rude, just inpatient. Also take all the time you need, Life > any game don’t burn yourself out.

  370. Nutsjesmoar said 16 years ago:

    Fear not, Mato. My calculations (and my nature-summoning powers as a master druid) lead me to believe that Schrix will be mobbed by a flock of sharp-clawed snowy owls sometime in the very near future…

  371. LarryTheCucumber said 16 years ago:

    Mato, you should take a break, but make an update about it…

  372. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    I really am glad so many people here know Japanese. My course has been on hold since March and I learn more here than from my old notes

  373. ThatNintendoDude said 16 years ago:

    Damn, that’s a lot of comments. o_0

    But I agree with an above poster, I would rather have this patch finished than buy any upcoming huge game.

    You’re on the home stretch! Book it! 😀

  374. Randy B. said 16 years ago:

    Mato, great work buddy dont listen to rude people or let them get you, the true fans of this game would wait for as long as it will take, you have a real life go enjoy it! We know that you are just as passionate to this game as us if not more!

  375. Elk said 16 years ago:

    Keep up the good work Mato. ^^ Don’t work to hard, and take a break if you need to. Don’t let people like Schrix discourage you. You and the whole team are doing an outstanding job! Hope this tiny post among the many gives some encouragement, but probably not. XD Everyone here supports you!

    P.S. This is my first time posting, and I have been on the site since last week. I have been following all the comments. It’s nice to see such a healthy Mother community. If there is anything I can do, even if it is just to provide encouragement, just let me know!

    Did’nt mean to ramble on like that, but keep up the good work all! You guys have renewed my love for the Mother franchise. ^^

  376. cant think of a name said 16 years ago:

    anyone interested in flash cards but dosent really know what to get should go over to gbatemp.net and read the reviews theres lots of info there

  377. Roland said 16 years ago:

    Don’t sweat it, Mato. There will always be impatient jerks like that, regardless of how quickly you work. I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you this, but take your time and fill your other obligations.

    And to anyone who may complain about the project taking too long – Tomato has a job that eats time, and he isn’t a hermit, he’s allowed to have a life just like the rest of us. I’m grateful they’re doing 3 drafts of the script – They could just as easily have released the patch with Draft 1 and called it a day, but Mato wants the finished product to be as polished as possible. IIRC Mato wants the patch to simulatewhat the game would look like if Nintendo had actually translated it. You don’t get those kind of production values from most fan translations, and even some professional jobs.
    I would like to personally thank Tomato, Jeffman, and everyone else involved with this project for all the hard work they have put in. It may be early for congratulations, but I think they are in order because I know you guys will see this through to the very end – I had my doubts along the way, but now I’m certain I will play M3 in english.

  378. Sonicandtails said 16 years ago:

    Just want to point out that, I haven’t read much, but it seems that you are afraid of flashcarts or something. They are in fact, completely legal. Using them for piracy is not, using them for homebrew is. But I’m sure you know this 😛

  379. Blah said 16 years ago:

    How are flashcarts legal? They aren’t licensed by Nintendo.

  380. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    Flash cart = Legal

    Dowloading Nintendo ROMs to them without having an original copy = Not legal

  381. Vagn said 16 years ago:

    Its actually illegal to download from the internet ROMS regardless if you have the orignal cart or not. It would only be legal to download ROMS to a flashcart if you dumped the ROM yourself.

  382. Mato said 16 years ago:

    I’ll probably put this in the next update, but from now on, stuff that isn’t directly related to the project or stuff that isn’t related to the post should be posted here:

    Spillover Board

    I can’t keep up with all these off-topic comments, so I’m guessing most regular visitors can’t either, or they don’t bother. So continue flash cart talk over there, it’ll help put answers all in one place, too.

    Go forth and do good!

  383. Carl said 16 years ago:

    Blah:

    “How are flashcarts legal? They aren’t licensed by Nintendo.”

    Nintendo is not the law. They don’t have to license a product for it to be legal.

  384. Pineapples said 16 years ago:

    Thanks, now I can read the blog without cyphering through a hundred Seinfeldian posts. May I suggest that you include this off-topic link in your next update, and on the FAQ page? Too late, I just did! 😀

  385. Some random guy said 16 years ago:

    YESS!!! A spillover board! possibly the greatest invention since sliced bread!

  386. Habiib said 16 years ago:

    http://tomato.fobby.net/junk/fpics3/nut/test_01.png

    Heh heh

  387. Schrix said 16 years ago:

    Er, I didn’t mean it like that, I usually just check in randomly, and I posted with out really thinking. Sorry if I sounded like an idiot. I’m just a little on edge, now that I can see the end of the project. But yeah, Life is a lot more important than this, pace yourself an give everyone a translation the fans will be proud of.

    Again, sorry for making an ass of myself.

  388. Old West said 16 years ago:

    ^Snicker

  389. Old West said 16 years ago:

    Wow, just the wrong time to have another reply come in. Meant at the one above Schrinx

  390. Old West said 16 years ago:

    *Schrix

    Typos >_<

  391. LRE said 16 years ago:

    I just wanted to say thank you.

    Thanks for taking time out of your schedules to work on something that isn’t financially rewarding.

    I love you guys. Keep on~

    LRE

  392. Brian said 16 years ago:

    i crave update

  393. ZombiePaul said 16 years ago:

    Let Mato rest! We need him sane! 🙂

  394. Will said 16 years ago:

    Only legal if you dump the ROM yourself? Really? So I bought the Japanese version and I’m still gonna have to break the law to play the game? That blows. There’s only one thing I know how to dump and it sure in hell is not a ROM.

  395. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    Sorry about these constant “help me translate’ posts, but I can’t see how ” saseru mono ka” can get to ” I won’t let you!” I’ve tried word for word to translate, no help. Can anyone…?

  396. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Arashi: umm, that’s not relevant to the blog…

  397. DeadNight said 16 years ago:

    @Arashi: Well without any context I’d say that ものか (monoka) is used here to indicate that the speaker is saying the opposite to which he believes.
    させる (saseru) – to do

    So it would add up like させるない (saseru-nai).
    I’m speculating, though.

  398. DeadNight said 16 years ago:

    btw, I’m speculating on how it adds up. ものか (monoka) is really used that way.

    And Mato posted before me… sorry.

  399. DeadNight said 16 years ago:

    sorry for the tripple post… but I’ve got that wrong

    させる (saseru) – to make someone do something.

  400. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    So sorry Mato, won’t happen again

  401. Mato said 16 years ago:

    BTW, since there’s not too much to say right now and since I’m running on only a few hours of sleep total this week, I’ll do the default “still alive” post tomorrow rather than today. Maybe I’ll find some time to get a few %s done first.

    So many comments 😯

  402. zLeed said 16 years ago:

    Yes, the first time I’ve seen a post go over 400 comments. It is rather amusing.

    Oh and mato, don’t worry about keeping up with the posts(you know, a new post every 3 or 4 days). It’s not essential since this is a draft thing. What I suggest for energy is some energy drinks or those 6 hour non-crashing drinks I’ve heard so much about. There’s also this powder of vitamin C (with a combination of B vitamins) that gives a good kick in energy.
    Ack, off topic. Oh well.

    Sometimes it makes me wonder how you can have a working rom (with patch)that works well with the actual GBA (or DS) when it was technically for the emulator.
    Oh and Mato, when you’re doing the “draft”, is it just putting in the english words in there or are there japanese letters that need to be switched to english? (strictly the way it’s done I mean)

  403. Brian said 16 years ago:

    we should all chip in and send mato on a nice 1 week vacation…

  404. Old West said 16 years ago:

    Mato, you are neither obligated nor expected to appease us if it conflicts with more important priorities, i.e. rest, work, relaxation, and so on. Make an update whenever the heck you feel like it; we are indebted to you already simply because of the countless favors you and the team have done for us up to this point. Don’t let impatient comments pressure you, you’ve done so much more for us than one could ever ask of a person.

  405. Ami said 16 years ago:

    Wow!! That’s amazing! Thanks so much for doing this! 🙂

  406. Near said 16 years ago:

    Is that a grown up Paula in the bottom left of the Yokuba picture?

  407. Jay6 said 16 years ago:

    Near: Paula isn’t really in Mother 3. (not as an NPC) So no, that isn’t Paula.

  408. SorenAK47 said 16 years ago:

    *Ninja’s in behind Mato and injects him Hitman style with some tranquilizer.*

    Operation Fresh Morning Tomatoes, complete.

  409. Psychomax said 16 years ago:

    conversation with my brother:
    so when does the translation come out?
    idk, a couple months, maybe around August?
    …why does EVERYTHING come out in August!?

  410. Allosteric said 16 years ago:

    Many thanks for all your hard work.

  411. Sandman said 16 years ago:

    May god help us for the game to come out by August.

  412. Some random guy said 16 years ago:

    @Sandman: I wish it were true, but I imagine September would be the earliest 🙁

  413. Kirk said 16 years ago:

    Mato.. Relax and unwind. Good things will come in due time. Stay hydrated and stretch.

    And..
    -Non Illegitimi Carborundum- 🙂

  414. Beavis Saves said 16 years ago:

    Dear M3 translation team,
    As hard as you are working, i would like to remind you not to go into the light at the end of the tunnel, where you can hear grandma and see your old pets frolicking. You’ve come this far, don’t work yourselves to death. Keep defibrillators on hand, for all our sakes. I’m curious to see if Nintendo will react to this, as the release approaches.
    Anyway, thanks for your work, now get back to it!

  415. Snuffy said 16 years ago:

    we should all chip in and send mato on a nice 1 week vacation…
    ——
    The Tropicana in NJ was really nice. Cheap too.

  416. Crosby86 said 16 years ago:

    That would be a really unique way to offer support without doing anything that could cause any legal issues. (If it ever came to that).

  417. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    yeah, just donate 1 dollar each. We already know from the e-mails he’d get at least $30,000 XD

  418. I-am-pancake said 16 years ago:

    •Mato!
    •Looks like you got your head handed to you.
    •So, how about giving it another shot?
    •Mato, decided to return after summoning all the courage and energy he had.
    •Good luck!

  419. Brian said 16 years ago:

    yeah seriously, and if we all donated 10 dollars each, he’d have a badass house….lol

  420. Brian said 16 years ago:

    sorry for the double post….had to…post #420! woot

  421. "Snake" Plissken said 16 years ago:

    I know Mato has said this before. But let me reiterate, do not talk about donations at all!! Exchange of money makes nintendo aggressive.

  422. Monsuco said 16 years ago:

    Has Nintendo really been all that aggressive really? I mean, Nintendo, like every single other company in the world cares about one thing, and that is making money. Lawsuits and legal threats typically cost more money than they make (unless Mato is actually some billionaire, which would be an interesting twist, but then again, billionaires normally have an army of lawyers behind them, so even then lawsuits are usually a loss), and it is unlikely Nintendo will actually sue to stop an abandoned game from being playable in a country they didn’t even bother to sell it in. I suppose it is best to be on the safe side, but I doubt Nintendo really gives a damn here. They have hardly even bothered with the sites that actually host ROM files. I imagine if they were going to threaten anyone, it would be them, and not a site that is going to host a patch that can be used on the ROMs.
    Oh well, once, again safe side.

    In many ways, this is sort of similar to the issues with libdvdcss. Libdvdcss can descramble the CSS encryption scheme used on DVDs. Technically, libdvdcss (like a game ROM) is illegal (at least in the USA thanks to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, though since it is unclear if CSS is actually considered copy protection, and since the DMCA has some exceptions for providing compatability, and it isn’t clear if CSS is actually considered copy protection, since it is so incomplete), but there are plenty of programs such as MPlayer, Xine, Ogle, and VLC, that can use libdvdcss (but with exception to VLC, they don’t include it by default), and it is perfectly legal for them to do so (much like it is perfectly legal or a patch to exist even if using it on the ROM isn’t, there is no copyrighted or illegal code in the patch).

    IANAL but I imagine we won’t see any issues from Nintendo. I also doubt if Nintendo will do anything to people downloading the ROMs. They might sue the websites that host ACTUAL ROMS, but that would likely be all they would do. Trying to sue those who downloaded the ROMs is damn near impossible since many of these sites keep no record of who does what, and not to mention suing the individuals downloading is a public relations nightmare and is seldom worth it. Look at what happened to the RIAA, there have been boycotts by fans, some artist are starting to refuse to work with them, and pretty much everyone hates them, and they still haven’t put a dent in filesharing. Within a few years of Napster shutting down, filesharing had grown exponentially and continues to grow quite rapidly.

  423. Lurkar said 16 years ago:

    😀 Just wanted to say hi and good luck on the translation. Been checking back every once in a while, and it seems you guys made some real progress. So yeah, bye. O:

  424. NOA said 16 years ago:

    But there aren’t any Earthbound Fans

  425. "Snake" Plisskin said 16 years ago:

    I am just saying we shouldn’t bait the tiger.

  426. Typhin said 16 years ago:

    “If you get aggro from Nintendo, it means you’re going to lose 50 DKP, because you didn’t know what to do. If you get sued into the whelps, you’re going to lose 50 DKP again, for not being where you’re supposed to be. Now listen up! You’re going to translate very very slowly! Once we get two patches on it, then you can translate! C’mon, translate like you mean it! Patch it, mod it, you want to get the filesize down as fast as possible!”

    …I could continue, but I just won’t. I’m sure you get the idea. ^_^

  427. Cubear said 16 years ago:

    I’m quite glad about the spillover board, as this page is so big that my wii gives up loading it before the first comment!

  428. "Snake" Plisskin said 16 years ago:

    Mato this is Solid Snake, respond please.

  429. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    gawd, i can’t stand to look at anything related to M3 anymore. I’ve even stopped using Lucas so much in Brawl. Please, Mato, make it as good as possible. I don’t mind waiting a long time as long as the patch is very well done, which, i’m sure, it will be with your skill

  430. MrKite said 16 years ago:

    BRAVO. Mato, you’re a freakin’ saint. This translation patch of yours is finally going to allow us English-speaking Mother/EarthBound fans to play Mother 3.

    Once again, BRAVO.

    -Eagerly awaiting an update-

  431. NukeFall said 16 years ago:

    Monsuco:
    Actually the patch is technically copyright violation thanks to the “derivative work” section of copyright laws, which generally includes a whole skew of things one of which would be the right of translations. The copyright holder of a work has the right to authorize translations, and unauthorized translations are a copyright violation. Which is why I imagine the crew is being safe on this kind of stuff. A good book on this copyright right stuff would be Free Culture, a book that is freely available under the Creative Commons License.

    Anyways actually on topic: Mato you might be my hero. Did you pick up GBA hacking as the project went along? If you did thats damn impressive (I’m still trying to fully get ARM ASM..). You’re doing an awesome job on the translation too! Take as much time as you need man to make a good draft.

  432. A Fan said 16 years ago:

    NukeFall is correct about copyrights. We should be glad NOA isn’t being aggressive here 🙂 If anything, they’re doing the smart thing with emulation and selling games on VC. They’re light years ahead of the other game companies in that regard.

    As for DeCSS & co., there was lots of fuss over it at first, but nowadays, they’ve given up. Even with VLC, all you do is download it from the link where you say that you’re “not” subject to such laws. Not a high barrier 🙂

    Hopefully, they’ll realize that the heavy-handedness is futile someday, lest I have to memorize more large hex primes, like the one beginning with 09F9 … Then again, with that scary ACTA treaty on the horizon, who knows? :/

  433. "Snake" Plisskin said 16 years ago:

    I am sorry about starting this conversation lets just not talk about the exchange of money.

  434. Vanessah said 16 years ago:

    Mato, dude, you really need a vacation. D: Too much caffeine + junk food + not enough sleep = probable heart attack. Either that or petite maul seizures (that’s what I experienced a lot in college :X ).

    Take it easy for a bit and focus on other, more important things. You deserve it. ^^