Second Draft, Part 9

16 years ago by Mato

blaiourglkj I finally finished the really big and exceptionally wordy part of the game, and after that, I sped through another 5%+ today to get Draft 2 to 91% now. Very tired. I won’t have much free time the next several days though, so Draft 2 probably won’t hit 100% until at *least* next week.

For those following with the map editor (which is downloadable here), this latest batch went from maps 402 to 623. A lot of this stuff was later game stuff, so here are some meh-er pics for now.


Good news is that there isn’t any real tough text until 99%, and there’s some repeated text coming up, so when I *do* have time to work on Draft 2, it should go fast, much like today. Once this Draft 2 stuff is done, I plan to do a playthrough of the game to fix context issues. Will also need to work some tech-ish magic to fit the full script in, it’ll probably be about 50 KB too big. After that I’ll probably revise and finish all the misc text, like battle text, descriptions etc. As for the third draft of the main script, I’m not sure about the details of that yet, but we’ll figure it out when the time comes, which will be soon.

It’s getting very close though, as is probably obvious from those recent videos. Even I’m getting excited, and I’ve played the game to death 😛

Posted on Saturday, July 12th, 2008 at 2:20 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.

243 Responses to “Second Draft, Part 9”

  1. gimmeaipod said 16 years ago:

    nice! keep up the good work!

  2. "Snake" Plisskin said 16 years ago:

    I am tired too goodnight

  3. Drakkar said 16 years ago:

    Sweet, we’re rooting for you 😀

  4. Kelb said 16 years ago:

    i think we should all pitch in and buy you a beer, good work.

  5. Boney said 16 years ago:

    So close! Keep it up.

  6. Kelb said 16 years ago:

    oh yea, and i’ve been replaying earthbound its been a 3 or 4 years and its bringing back a bunch of memories. i was hoping i would pace myself and finish the game about the time the translation got done, however, i underestimated how addicted i would get, and i looks like i will be finishing the game way too soon. anyways

    –good luck–

  7. Andy said 16 years ago:

    Awesome, so close to the end!

  8. Justin said 16 years ago:

    HOMG! 91%
    NEARLY THEEEEEEEEEEEEEERE~
    Nice work, man. I wish ye’ good luck 😀

  9. Jay6 said 16 years ago:

    Why aren’t I playing Mother? I should be playing that. I’ve already gone through Earthbound a couple times while watching this get translated. Great job so far! I’m liking it. 😛

  10. Nico said 16 years ago:

    It’s getting so close now that the anticipation is starting to hurt. =) Keep up the good work, Mato, Jeffman, and everyone else!

  11. Chen said 16 years ago:

    Been a lurker here for a few weeks… Just wanted to say, congrats on 90% Mato! Can’t wait to see the final product.

  12. Zaratus said 16 years ago:

    It’s late, I’m feeling a little goofy, and I think this is (somewhat) appropriate: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQauQ6f72Zk

    First thing that came into my head seeing 91%. =P

  13. Mato said 16 years ago:

    I decided to look at some of the site’s stats, looks like we just passed 3 million pageviews total (not unique visitors) and 320,000 unique views. Neat.

    God I need sleep. I hate when I’m too sleepy to sleep.

  14. Old West said 16 years ago:

    Fantastic work, as usual. Very thrilled to see the wonderful progress being made. Just remember that your fans and patrons shall not rest until you do. We’re behind you 100% as always.

    As for the sleeping issue, drink a glass of milk. Doesn’t need to be warmed up or anything, just plain milk will do. The melatonin might help you sleep a little more soundly.

  15. Caleb said 16 years ago:

    I effing love you Mato.

  16. Slash said 16 years ago:

    You could also turn on a dim light and read book. It always helped me sleep.

  17. Mur said 16 years ago:

    where are you from mato? its 4:30am here so if your posting around 3:30 my time either your working late or in a different timezone

  18. Brian said 16 years ago:

    I cannot wait! You guys are amazing! I’ve played the game up until the 3rd chapter and I cannot wait till you guys realize the patch so I can replay the game and actually understand what was going on. Keep up the AMAZING work Mato! Thanks man!

  19. Edrees said 16 years ago:

    OMG this is so exciting <3 <3

  20. Husky_Washu said 16 years ago:

    *smile smile*

  21. jjolli said 16 years ago:

    Realy cool, Mato.
    You do an awesome job on Draft 2. Keep up the good work. 😉

  22. Solidseed said 16 years ago:

    ohgoditsalmosthereohgoditsalmosthereohgoditsalmosthereohgoditsalmosthere

    😀

  23. dedede said 16 years ago:

    Wow good job mato!

  24. wtfitsed said 16 years ago:

    Good work guys!
    Everything’s falling into place.
    Keep at it.

  25. Valentino from SF said 16 years ago:

    I cannot wait for this to be complete. This is truly a labor of love for you and a large portion of the community. Most translations seem to die after a few months, but this one seems to get more and more gusto as it continues. Good Job.

  26. Millhouse said 16 years ago:

    Good Job Tomato
    release is coming closer
    I congratulate

    a Haiku in honor of Mato

  27. Boomerang78 said 16 years ago:

    *salutes*

  28. Futaro said 16 years ago:

    50 Kb… So will it end up being over 256 Mb?

    *Also salutes*
    Thanks!

  29. RAIDERX said 16 years ago:

    It’s so close…

  30. Itoi's Love Child said 16 years ago:

    Awesome work Mato! We’re so close to the end I can practically taste the nut bread.

  31. Tom Don said 16 years ago:

    Kudos!

  32. MotherFan666 said 16 years ago:

    Mato how the map editor is used?

  33. WakiMiko said 16 years ago:

    I… I… think I love you Mato

  34. Foffano said 16 years ago:

    Yay!!! Go, Mato! You are my hero! *_*

  35. JeffM said 16 years ago:

    So each visitor on average has looked at the site 10 times? Ha, I bet it’s another one of those 80/20 things – 20 percent of the unique visitors have made 80 percent of all the visits. I know I’ve visited this site… a lot of times.

    We’re all very excited!

  36. EdgartheAlien said 16 years ago:

    YESH, so close to finishing the second draft. I’m on the edge of my seat, needless to say.

  37. Aaron said 16 years ago:

    Those 320,000 unique views could mean a LOT of purchases for NoA. :S

  38. Ryukennea said 16 years ago:

    Finally…. the sequal to Earthbound draws near. Thank you Mato

  39. TheBird said 16 years ago:

    With any luck, the third draft won’t need much revising. I’m still interested in what block 0 actually does, but i’m sure that there will be an update for it when the time comes around.

    seriously, you guys rock

  40. Alan Weir said 16 years ago:

    True about Nintendo of America losing alot of sales on this.

    I don’t feel they have one bit of right to complain. If they wanted our money, they’d have released it here years ago and have been done with it.

    I’m glad however. I’d rather see an uncut, “way we actually talk” translation, rather than some half-butchered effort from them.

    Keep at it guys. Hopefully I’ll have this in my gameboy micro and ds before christmas.

  41. evansucks said 16 years ago:

    I totally agree with alan weir.
    Let Mother fans translate the Mother games.
    True, it would’ve been done a lot faster if nintendo had just done this themselves, but not with near the heart or dedication!

    Let’s put it this way. You (your group and Starmen.net) care more about this franchise than Nintendo themselves ever has (at least this side of the atlantic) so im glad that they wont have the oppurtunity to prosper from a game series they’ve basically shunned thus far.

    At least the fans get to prosper in the only way that should mean anything; personally.

  42. evansucks said 16 years ago:

    urgah…pacific…i meant pacific…

  43. gBev said 16 years ago:

    This is finally coming true: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IS0jLkzHEVg

  44. MajorasMask9 said 16 years ago:

    Holy crap, hard to believe it’s this close to being finished, since I remember way back when this site was just getting it’s first updates and things looked all messy :3. Like that Sparrow.

    687 lines to go ^o^

  45. Shelby said 16 years ago:

    yayayayay. (:
    I can’t wait for this to be done.
    You guys are like seriously my heroes.
    Good luck.

  46. Asuyuka said 16 years ago:

    Ich willan das game. =D

    (NOTE: Don’t speak German XD)

  47. mrdrew_champloo said 16 years ago:

    Looks like its time to order that EZflash 3-in-1 add on i’ve been holding out for.

  48. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    You’re my hero

  49. Yuri Leonardo said 16 years ago:

    Mato, you’re god!!
    We love you!

    Thanks!

  50. A Fan said 16 years ago:

    > 50 Kb… So will it end up being over 256 Mb?

    No, it *can’t* go over that size. It simply isn’t allowed to. What he said he’d probably do in the past was to remove duplicate text, so that it uses the same copy both times, rather than having two useless copies of the same thing.

    Now, if we just had a Rhinocerocket Booster to propel this translation over the line, demi could get working on the draft 3 revisions and get this poor patch done! 🙂

  51. Light Wolf said 16 years ago:

    It’s awesome to see all the progress that’s been made, and with such dedication. Don’t rush it, make something of great quality and put always your real life first. We’re all thankful.

  52. Incredibleman said 16 years ago:

    320,000 unique views man, that’s huge and the patch isn’t even released yet! I think that if Nintendo actually launched this game it could be a million seller easy. They release 8 Mario parties without blinking but completely ignore the appeal of the mother series here. Sometimes I just don’t understand Nintendo.

  53. Gastronomic Gamer said 16 years ago:

    Oh

    My

    Yahweh

    It’s so close I can taste it. I NEED THIS GAME.

  54. ness said 16 years ago:

    oh my god.
    HOLY SH-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
    i swear if you finish this ill have to give you LOTS

  55. Lorem Ipsum said 16 years ago:

    I’ve been coming to this site for a while but never commented.

    It looks as though you’re very close to being done! Congratulations!

    I’ve already played through the game with the menu patch and a translated script, but i can’t wait to get the full experience. You people are truly doing a wonderful job, and i commend you for all it’s worth.

  56. mike k said 16 years ago:

    Your gettin there. you’re comin down the final stretch. You can almost taste the sweet chocolaty taste of victory. Next week you will be able to feast on Victory’s chocolatey goodness!

  57. me said 16 years ago:

    This is the last leg of the race Mato. The finish line is in sight. Just 9 more % and it will be all over. Finish strong and swiftly Mato, we’re all cheering for you. The marathon will be over once the patch is released and we can all celebrate.

    Words of encouragement for Mato.

    Also a quick question: Which track numbers are Unfounded Revenge and A Smashing Song of Praise? Those two are awesome!

  58. Doc said 16 years ago:

    Yay 93%

    So I’m sure people have asked this before, but after cleaning it all up and context, putting jokes that make sense in japanese but less in english, somehow formatting those, Etc. How long would that take? Then, would it be even harder to insert all of that into the text code again? Would that take roughly… 3 weeks?

  59. finest said 16 years ago:

    Another part of the work bites the dust.

  60. Mato said 16 years ago:

    me & many others: Remember, this is only Draft 2. There’s still hacking, testing, some more rewriting, etc. to do. This is definitely not the last part of the project.

    Doc: Uhh, Draft 2 is exactly everything you mentioned there.

  61. ketchup packet said 16 years ago:

    Wow, draft 2’s almost done. (generic compliment), you guys.

  62. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    I notice how, in the videos, you never ever talk to the frogs.

    Is that simply because you don’t feel like it, or is it because it involves some unrevised block 0 text and/or is glitchy?

  63. VGK said 16 years ago:

    What exactly *is* the third Draft?

    Will it take as much time as Draft 2? or is it something else entirely?

  64. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Exp HP: I didn’t bother talking to them cause I didn’t need to save. And I was also worried about the video’s length, I was hoping to keep it under 20 minutes, though I wound up going over that anyway.

    VGK: That gets asked a lot, I should really write about it somewhere where I can link people to it. I’m sure some people around here can link you to previous answers about it though.

  65. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    VGK, Draft 3 is like a peer review of Draft 2, to avoid poorly written script. When you write something, you know what you’re trying to say, but the readers may not. You need somebody else to look over it first and make sure that everything is written in an understandable way. Also, grammar mistakes are more noticable when somebody other than the original writer looks at them.

    Without peer reviewing, you end up with something like that Mickey D commercial (Iced tea at McDonalds. The commercial has some guy channel-surfing on TV). I never understood the point of that commercial at all until just a week ago, when I finally decided to carefully watch the placement of the cup.
    If it’s that hard to figure out, then it’s poor execution.

  66. Drü said 16 years ago:

    I keep trying to click the “OK” in the update windows. Haha

  67. Apteryx said 16 years ago:

    I understood that McDonald’s commercial the first time…still a stupid commercial though.

    At least having draft 2 done will be a really big chunk of the whole project done, if only for the aesthetics of looking at the entire thing. It’s never been closer to the end than now, right?

  68. Coconut of Enlightenment said 16 years ago:

    Good going Mato. Please fix the block 0 text stuff soon, I think I’m going to go crazy from the stress.

  69. Negi said 16 years ago:

    Mato, the third draft thing really doesn’t seem that difficult. It sounds like any native speaker of english (JeffMan, Reid, etc) could do it fine. Unless I’m wrong

  70. JPeezy said 16 years ago:

    Looking good, Mato, good work! 🙂

  71. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    @ Negi:

    True, anyone could technically do it, but Mato was chosen because he’s a translator so he knows how to make things sound right and Earthbound-y

  72. Hollow said 16 years ago:

    @ Arashi:

    Mato wasn ‘ t chosen for the third draft. Demi was.

  73. seedvt said 16 years ago:

    Woot over 90%!

  74. popolord said 16 years ago:

    YAY
    you guys are the best b ^_^ d

  75. Dusty said 16 years ago:

    Does Demi speak Japanese?

  76. Ryan said 16 years ago:

    Dusty:

    Demi does not need to speak. Only read and write. But to answer your question, I believe so.

  77. Jack thompson said 16 years ago:

    Mother 3 is to violent I am going to sue you

  78. Kosaku said 16 years ago:

    Jack thompson:
    1. Mother 3 isn’t “violent.”
    2. That’s kind of a stupid reason to sue someone.
    3. This team didn’t make Mother 3, Itoi did.

  79. tabull89 said 16 years ago:

    evidently Kosaku didn’t get the joke

    Anyway, yay 91%

  80. TimeSpaceMage said 16 years ago:

    Kosaku, I’m pretty sure it’s an in-joke >_>

  81. Vinnie said 16 years ago:

    Kosaku you’re an idiot

  82. Clawclaw said 16 years ago:

    Jack Thomson opposes all video games because it’s not human nature to be violent. It’s so obvious humans by nature are the most peaceful creatures ever, we don’t start wars or anything like that ^_~

  83. Kirk said 16 years ago:

    I suppose my post won’t make it in here because of some filter, but I was going to do a nice quote about someone’s translating abilities being over 9 in the thousands range, but oh well. I’m sure you heard it before, like 9k times.

  84. Jack thompson said 16 years ago:

    Guns don’t kill people video games do

  85. me said 16 years ago:

    What I meant Mato that it’s the end of the long and tedious Draft 2 race 😉

  86. me said 16 years ago:

    Also I will ask again: What are the song numbers for Unfounded Revenge and Smashing Song of Praise?

  87. Mato said 16 years ago:

    me: If you look on the right side of each page, you’ll notice that one of those has already been shown there for months now in a screenshot. Numbers 88 and 188 are what you’re looking for, though.

  88. 8BitWalugi said 16 years ago:

    AWESOME! Now all i have to do is not get a heart attack out of excitement!

  89. lorddavid said 16 years ago:

    I am so freaking excited.
    I played Earthbound for the first time about a year ago, and man… that was awesome. Maybe I’ll replay it in preparation for this… that or play Mother…

  90. Torak said 16 years ago:

    I would like to thank you for all of your hard work on this and sticking through it, believe me I know its hard to stick through things some times. Especially when programming >.<

  91. danny said 16 years ago:

    I seriously just beat EB for the first time a few days ago. I’ve been tracking this project for a few months, but now I’m SUPER excited. Good work Mato. ^_^

  92. jared said 16 years ago:

    Way to go! I’ve been waiting soooo long to play it 😀

    Keep up the awesome work Mato!

  93. Monsuco said 16 years ago:

    Good luck Mato. I suppose sleep is important, after all, you ain’t Jeff from EB, and you can’t simply work through the night to fix something.

  94. Unsavory Maggot said 16 years ago:

    Bravo! If they named a vegetable after you, it’d be the Sweet Tomato! Yeah, that’s all I’ve got to say.

  95. Unsavory Maggot said 16 years ago:

    Urk… *fruit

  96. Doc said 16 years ago:

    Oh? It is? Sorry… I swore I read the faq or the to do list and it said all of those were draft 3 not draft two…

  97. NameMan said 16 years ago:

    They foresaw mato’s appearance and name name the Tomato after him centuries before he was born.

  98. "Snake" Plisskin said 16 years ago:

    Mato I just thought of something, how often does the ellipsis appear in the game, in order to shrink the file size you could turn that into it’s own letter.

  99. DAN said 16 years ago:

    There’s less than OVER 9000 days left for the english version of Mother 3.

  100. Rawlandsabeast said 16 years ago:

    So I’ve read all I can find about EXACTLY what’s left to do, and the estimated time that it should take, but I was just wondering Mato, how long do you think that your next play through will take?
    I figure you’ll probably have a good estimate about this since, as you said, you’ve played this game to death already.

  101. Jayarre said 16 years ago:

    What up with mother?!?

    There, I’ve always wanted to say that.

  102. "Snake" Plisskin said 16 years ago:

    A full play through with reading everything, I remember him saying, takes at least 40 man hours.

  103. Mezer said 16 years ago:

    I’m anticipating with all my might!
    Though, I’d stilll like to be able to support in some other way than shouting GOOOO MATO!! GOOOO JEFFMAN!!

    Of course, I’ll still do that, but anyway…
    Uhh… Fancy a shoulder-rub??

    😛

  104. gBev said 16 years ago:

    Dan: You could’ve said that 20 years ago.

  105. Millhouse said 16 years ago:

    Dan’s internet reference power is OVER 9000!!
    gBev: it’s an internet meme, something with vegeta screaming that… I’m not sure if you noticed…

  106. Suggestion said 16 years ago:

    Okay so after the patch is released, we’re all gonna want to show our appreciation for it in some way other than just typing “THanks ThAnNks ThanKsS”

    What if…. we make youtube videos that are like 15 seconds long (because longer vids might get annoying) in which we do something creative with a tomato… like put it in a pint of beer, and do a toast with it or something… (that’s kinda lame actually)

    but yeah, the Mato-man will feel our thanks on a much deeper level, and he might even enjoy seeing what people come up with

    Im just wondering how many peeps here would actually do that, hmmmmmm….

    welp, just throwin’ it out there

  107. Master of Ramen said 16 years ago:

    Will the completely patched file be over its original size of 32 Megabytes? (please say no).

  108. Skullrama said 16 years ago:

    Well, I’m no programming genius, but seeing as how the patch will be ADDING a lot of code, I don’t think it’s possible not to make it bigger.

  109. fffffffffffffff said 16 years ago:

    are those percentage updates hand-cropped? does alt+print screen not work for that dialog box?

  110. Mato said 16 years ago:

    I do use alt+printscreen for them. I don’t know why they look strange that way.

  111. A Fan said 16 years ago:

    Microsoft probably has an off-by-one error in their code, because it looks like it shifts it about one pixel to the side 🙂

  112. Kirk said 16 years ago:

    This has probably gotten too old, but…
    http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y270/jharek/over9k.png

  113. Anna said 16 years ago:

    Mato I was watching the new shin-chan, and I have a question

    Did you write the line “I’m mad at the rabbit and out of habit I stab it”?

    Because that’s an amazing line if you didn’t write it, send kudos to whomever did 🙂

  114. Larry said 16 years ago:

    As always, you friggen rock Mato!

  115. Vagn said 16 years ago:

    Mato you should post a picture of your balls so everyone can worship them.

  116. "Snake" Plisskin said 16 years ago:

    Such as your baseballs, basket balls, foot balls, and ping pong

  117. Erik said 16 years ago:

    No need to work so hard. But, thanks for caring. Also, I don’t know why, but I get the feeling Nintendo May announce something to do with EarthBound on Tues during their press conference. Though, this may just be another one of my hopes that won’t come true.

  118. Stef said 16 years ago:

    Wow! 90% Already! Thats incredible.
    Go Mato, JeffMan and everyone else working on this project!
    I think Mato needs more Red Bull.
    ‘Cause Red Bull gives you wiiiiings! (commercial, lol)

  119. riskyfish said 16 years ago:

    I know a lot has been said, both in these comments and across the entire endeavor, but I must say, good sir, thank you. Your hard work is, definitely and undeniably, greatly appreciated. Much love to you and thanks. :1

  120. MotherLover123 said 16 years ago:

    Jaw dropping. Awesome job.

  121. Alato said 16 years ago:

    10% left for Draft 2. Yay.
    Maybe the next update will be “Draft 2 Part 10 – 100%”? 🙂

  122. "Snake" Plisskin said 16 years ago:

    How would wings help him with a translation

  123. Zade said 16 years ago:

    Well I for one know that if I had wings I’d be a happy fellow, and when I’m happy I’m more productive…a stretch perhaps, but it made sense to me.

  124. Inpachi said 16 years ago:

    The end of draft 2 is so close to being done that I can almost taste the kittens.

  125. Kirk said 16 years ago:

    Can’t wait to be here at Draft 3 90%!

    I promise to stay away from the Tower of Love and Peace.

  126. Captain Optimo (formerly Kirk) said 16 years ago:

    ^^^ Edit ^^^ I didn’t mean that to sound rushing. I was just being very optimistic. ‘Changes name to Captain Optimo’

  127. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    soon…

  128. Typhin said 16 years ago:

    Stef: Red Bull is some nasty stuff, though.

    Doc: “Prepare to taste OBLIVION! Which tastes just like Red Bull! …Which tastes *disgusting*!”

    Caboose: “I just have to think about bad things, like milk–no, Red… Red Bull! Now I am thinking of kittens… kittens covered in spikes!”

  129. That Random Guy Down The Street said 16 years ago:

    I bet everybody already knows this, but…

    Red Bull is the urine of Chuck Norris.

    (Speaking of which, I hope he’s pulling for you, cause then you’ve got some SERIOUS firepower if Reggie says something stupid about Earthbound)

  130. buttfrenzy said 16 years ago:

    This is amazing. I can hardly contain my excitement. Mato you are a HERO. A HERO!

  131. Mato said 16 years ago:

    rofl, I haven’t slept much, so I misread that as “excrement” 😀

  132. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    I just looked at the video for OVER 9000!!!, and now I can see why it’s an internet meme.

    More on-topic, I’m still waiting for EB to hit VC. Hopefully today it will. I really don’t understand what they’re waiting for.

  133. Mato said 16 years ago:

    I wouldn’t bother waiting for it, even with the ESRB rating.

  134. hasone said 16 years ago:

    mato, even I can hardly contain my excrement when I see that you’re 90% done with draf 2 😛

  135. hasone said 16 years ago:

    by the way, mato, which series of characters do you use to make the smiley that looks like this? o_o

  136. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    😮

  137. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    no, that’s not it

  138. Nobody said 16 years ago:

    YESS!!! Will you release it when draft 2 is done and release a cleaner version for draft 3? I want to get the game!!! In other news, will there be a PK Hack for this game after the release!? Man! I want this game so badly!!! It could possibly be even better than earthbound itself! And also, anybody who thinks that a mother 3 translated by nintendo won’t be as good as this, think again. Shigesato Itoi won’t allow a bad translation by nintendo.

  139. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    Actually, Nobody, a Nintendo translation wouldn’t be as good. Nintendo isn’t afraid to cut a few corners. Mato is. Which is also exactly why it won’t be released after Draft 2 is finished.

    That, and it’s still too buggy to be released yet, anyways.

  140. Anthony said 16 years ago:

    Nobody said : “YESS!!! Will you release it when draft 2 is done and release a cleaner version for draft 3?” I badly want to know that and i haven’t seen a topic about that! Maybe someone has ask about that but it hasn’t come to my ears !

    And again, great work Mato! I look forward to play the game !!

  141. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    Oh yeah, another reason Mato’s translation would be better . . . when games are officially translated, usually they have different parts translated by different people to help speed up the process. This creates some internal inconsistencies that are difficult to avoid.

    This game is being fully translated by Mato, and then fully revised by Demi. This makes it more consistent and overall better.

  142. Anthony said 16 years ago:

    ok I have see the answer of Exp HP thanks!

  143. Nobody said 16 years ago:

    the bugs must be pretty bad for the translation not to be released after draft 2. and my oppinion about the translation hasn’t changed. I know that shigesato itoi wants the game to be released here. the only thing that’s stopping him is nintendo’s ignorant views of how mother 3 would market here in the U.S. That’s pretty much the only thing that’s stopping anyone but Mato from translating it. Nintendo doesn’t hate Mother, they just think nobody else likes it.

  144. Nobody said 16 years ago:

    Oh, and the fact that mother 3 is a little bit more serious and graphic than EB. look at the alcohol reference in the snapshot to thee right.

  145. Nobody said 16 years ago:

    Anyway, will a PK Hack for mother 3 be released? I could probably do alot more with this than with Earthbound.

  146. habiib said 16 years ago:

    Haha, PK Hack. I still remember the original one with the possession ghost and “Mista Saturn keel you.”

    Fun times

  147. Triangle said 16 years ago:

    hasone: highlight the smiley, copy it, and paste it in notepad, it will show what was typed for it.

  148. Vagn said 16 years ago:

    Nobody:

    Nintendo didn’t release Mother 3 here because they wouldn’t have made any money on it. It would have been released late 06′ and at that time the GBA was pretty much dead. I don’t think they wanted to put the resources into translating an RPG for a dead system. (I guess FF6A sold well but FF has a larger fan base that Mother).

    Its not so much that NoA hates Mother, it is more the fact that they are a company whose goal is to make profits, and they probaly wanted to allocate thier capital to projects that would have a better return (like the wii and twilight princess). Mother 3 only sold 400,000 copies (~70000 to people abroad), that isn’t very good considering it was on Famitsu’s most wanted list for over 10 years.

  149. Germ said 16 years ago:

    Vagn, that was a very intelligent reply. Hooray for that. Also… hooray for Mato and Mother 3 translation awesomeness.

  150. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    @Nobody: The glitches are bad. Some are game-stopping, some are game-resetting, and some are Moonside-creating:

    Warning: Possible spoilers in Related Videos (the things on the right side of the website, and the things that show up after the video finishes)!

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=urT9dgKJ4c4

  151. mike k said 16 years ago:

    Do you guys think that Nintendo would make a money if they released the entire Mother trilogy in English for the DS and inlcuded some bonus stuff like old gameplay footage from the Earthbound 64 project? They wont, its just a hypothetical question.

  152. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    With this fanbase, heck yeah. That would be a dream!

  153. hasone said 16 years ago:

    This is what I think of everything here.

    😯

  154. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    Mother 3 did only sell 400,000 copies, but that was in a single nation. Had they released it in Europe, Australia, and the Americas, It probably wouold have sold at LEAST a million copies. and to Nintendo, a million or more is a successful game.

  155. UW Ness said 16 years ago:

    I wouldn’t hold your breath on that one either, at least not for an English version… but that would be the best thing ever.

    Keep up the good work, Mato! You oughta talk Jeffman into having Dr. Andonuts send you an “Instant Revitalizing Device,” might help out with that sleeping stuff.

  156. UW Ness said 16 years ago:

    The other thing though, even if they had released M3 in other countries, they would have had to spend money on at least some marketing, rather than leaving it all to the community. Having to spend that money on a game that might not do well outside the community probably just wasn’t a risk they were willing to take.

  157. hasone said 16 years ago:

    i’d buy it and i don’t even *have* a ds

  158. Retro Hippie said 16 years ago:

    Hey mato,

    I have made a great blog on the mother 3 translation progress.
    you should really read this.

    onettworld.blogspot.com

  159. sunzo132 said 16 years ago:

    Mato, I would bother with the Earthbound on VC thing because NoA WILL get it out there but they are just wasting time. I called a NoA rep. and she said that I should “Keep my eye out for it and Earthbound is a very popular game.”

  160. Some random guy said 16 years ago:

    sunzo132: Really? Wow…that’s pretty good news!

  161. Mackincheese said 16 years ago:

    Woo! I promised myself that my second playthrough of Mother 3 would be in English, and it looks like that day is faster-approaching!

  162. JeffMan said 16 years ago:

    sunzo: What that rep said doesn’t confirm a VC release at all. They’ve been saying the same thing now for a whole year. The ESRB thing doesn’t confirm a release either. So it’d be a better idea not to get your hopes up.

  163. StageProps said 16 years ago:

    Remember that it’s not NOA that decides what is released on the VC, but Nintendo of Japan.

    Anyhow, we all digress. Great work Mato, we all really appreciate your hard work.

  164. "Snake" Plisskin said 16 years ago:

    Stage props you are wrong, Mario RPG was only released in Japan NOA decided not to.

  165. seedvt said 16 years ago:

    “Snake” Plisskin: Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars?

  166. danny said 16 years ago:

    seedvt: I’m pretty sure he’s talking about VC.

  167. sunzo132 said 16 years ago:

    We’ll have to wait till 2mmarrow then 😉

  168. Doc said 16 years ago:

    What does the power scouter say about the number of hex code lines done?
    IT’S OVER SIX THOUSANDDDDD

  169. bubble-gum monkey said 16 years ago:

    If Nintendo picks this series back up and puts EarthBound on VC, I will BUY it ASAP on the Shop Channel and show the game to ALL of my friends. However many Wii points it takes, Wii would gladly like to play MOTHER 3. 🙂

  170. shadowdeku said 16 years ago:

    I have a 2000 wii points card in my sock drawer and 800 on my wii. It doesn’t matter if NOA’s gonna be pissy and not release it at a good time, I’m ready for ANY VC game they release, at any schedule.

    Speaking of which, Nintendo’s E3 conference is tommorow, if I’m not mistaken.

    **ties fingers in a knot for a hopeless reason**

  171. "Snake" Plisskin said 16 years ago:

    Why are they releasing so many neogeo games, I don’t care about the neogeo

  172. "Snake" Plisskin said 16 years ago:

    seedvt of course i was just lazy

  173. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    Hm, I guess the NeoGeo games must be selling well (surprisingly). Probably because nobody’s ever played them before because nobody owns a NeoGeo.

    Haw.

    Although, to be quite frank, I usually buy VC games for nostalgia. Or, in the case of Zelda II, Punch-Out!!!, SMB: The Lost Levels, and Sin and Punishment, because the games are often referenced by my fellow video game geek peers.

  174. "Snake" Plisskin said 16 years ago:

    I guess but I wish that Nintendo would listen to it’s fans rather than selling out to it’s former competitors

  175. StageProps said 16 years ago:

    @Snake:
    Actually, if you were to consult NOA, you would find that it is not they who decide what is released here, but, in fact, Nintendo of Japan. Call them up, ask them. If you want more proof, there is a topic confirming my statement on the Starmen.net forums. Or at least there was as of like a month ago. But we digress again. This whole VC discussion is kind of off-topic anyway.

  176. StageProps said 16 years ago:

    Ah, I found it. Here it is:
    http://forum.starmen.net/forum/CurrentEvent/EBSiege/47611/

  177. Mato said 16 years ago:
  178. Kevin Grumbles said 16 years ago:

    lol, that’s a tough line…so many possibilities…

    I’m so impressed by your progress…this whole project has progressed at such an amazing speed, kudos to everyone involved ^_^

  179. kevindubrow said 16 years ago:

    Could that possibly mean that you are done with the draft?!?

  180. Mato said 16 years ago:

    It’s amazing how people read way too much into everything and misinterpet everything. Like the guy who thinks the patch will be out next week, heh.

  181. kevindubrow said 16 years ago:

    You can’t blame me. You did put the translation for “End.”

  182. danny said 16 years ago:

    I think “!” is probably the only line in M3 I would understand. >_>

    Concerning the progress percentage, would that exclamation mark count towards Lines to go? Just wondering.

  183. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Yeah that would count as one line. Sadly, most lines are a little more complicated than that.

  184. Mato said 16 years ago:

  185. someguy said 16 years ago:

    Mato are you going to take out lines like that for demi so he doesnt have to waste his time on stuff that really doesnt need to be edited? Maybe it would go by faster that way.

  186. Mato said 16 years ago:

    There are only like 10 lines like that.

  187. Danny said 16 years ago:

    Nyu… It’s been ages… Can’t wait anymore… *cries*

    Oh well, as long as you give me a cookie… <3

  188. Tyler Okrainec said 16 years ago:

    SO CLOSE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  189. Popo said 16 years ago:

    Sterling work, Mato (and everyone else who’ve put their time and effort into this.)
    I’m sorry I only got into the Mother series recently, I’d have liked to be part of this anticipation more.
    Congratulations and well done on doing such impressive work.

  190. ForteMP3 said 16 years ago:

    Keep it up Mato!

    Everyone who is excited though, please remember something:

    -This is only the 2nd of 3 drafts
    -There is still bug testing that will be needed to squash bugs.

    Not trying to downplay Mato’s progress or anything, because you ROCK Mato. This is truly amazing work, and I can’t wait to see the final product!

  191. madlobster said 16 years ago:

    I think what needs to be done is to kidnap Demi, and force him to do draft 3 as fast as possible at gunpoint. I nominate whoever did that to Mato. At least, I assume that someone did that to Mato, because no one would voluntarily do that much translation so fast…

  192. honeymustard said 16 years ago:

    @Someguy
    I don’t think Demi will be wasting that much of his time revising lines that are only “!”…

  193. mike k said 16 years ago:

    Popo: You have really been missing out on the anticipation. Pretty much what we have been doing is praising mato, waiting for the patch to come out, and said what we will do when the patch comes out. For example, “I wont pee till mother 3” at first decieded he wouldnt pee until mother 3 but later decided he would pee, but only in anticipatioin of mother 3. Sooooooo……Yeah……..You have really missed out.

  194. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Doc: Don’t be stupid. If you want to talk about that stuff, take it to the message board.

  195. Germ said 16 years ago:

    Old, stinky misc. intrigues me.

  196. Mato said 16 years ago:

    It used to be how we converted non-main script text files like a year ago. It’s not used anymore, we use a thing I made called binconv for that.

  197. Germ said 16 years ago:

    The awesomeness that can happen in a year…

  198. Nobody said 16 years ago:

    Seeing how advanced the tools you use are, there is no doubt that pkhack for mother 3 will be released soon. Great work mato! Finally another game! I’m getting real bored, especially since There’s only one game I haven’t beaten. I’ll go get the mother 3 rom, play through the first few bits, then lock it away in anticipation of the release, which is the only key.

    The games antitranslation defenses became unstable!

  199. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    I still can’t believe how far this project has come.

    7658 lines. That’s how much text is in the game. To be clear on what a line is (or what I believe it is), it is, with how the Mother series bullets text, the text after one bullet. 7658 is a lot of bullets.
    Now we’re down to 600 lines.

    And before that was the hacking. Lots of hacking. So much hacking that it burns. I started following this website right when you added that Friendly Ghost picture, talking about the gray name boxes. But then I went all the way to the last page and read every single update up until then. I know how much hacking you’ve done. I know how many people have helped.

    I think your translation now surpasses Harmony7’s dropped translation. You used to call him a hacking god, with those perfect screenshots of Mother 3. But hey, all the text in your screenshots is also perfect now, and I don’t think he was going to replace those voices, or add in those stars.

    Mato, just hack like you’ve always done it, regardless of how the jerks here push you. If it’s gotten you this far, it must work.

  200. beams said 16 years ago:

    only 16 hours and draft 2 left!!!!!!!!
    looks promising

  201. evansucks said 16 years ago:

    I agree with Exp Hp.
    Great game NEEDED translating.
    Fans NEEDED this game translated.
    Luckily, we just have really smart, programmer types who love this game as much as we do becuase, let’s face it, if they hadn’t assembled the dream team of rom hacking, this may have NEVER gotten finished.
    I guess what I’m trying to say is that this is the most effort I’ve seen a team put into a translation (and actually make steady, fast progress) and I’ve been around since Neil Corlett released the Seiken Densetsu III.

    Its sad to see projects like the policenauts translation flounder when this one was handled so…professionally.

  202. Keith said 16 years ago:

    Hey Mato, I know everyone is getting excited since the patch should be done in about a few months (1 month minimum?) But, is it going to be out straight when it hits 100%? Or is there going to be countless months testing, recheckin, or even Draft 3? Not to sound negative (I have no knowledge on what you’ll do before releasing), but will it be released as soon as everyone says?

  203. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Exp HP: You’re wrong again. There can be multiple bullets per line, and there most often are. You can consider a “line” as the entire thing a character says when you talk to one. Some lines are long, like the chirpy birds. Some are even longer, like in “the speech”. Please don’t get people confused with false info, it’s always a pain to have to set the record straight whenever people get the wrong idea 🙁

    evansucks: Yeah, that’s too bad about the policenauts thing. The Mother 3 translation would’ve met the same fate last year too probably because of how much hacking there is and how hard it is, as is obvious months later. So Jeff and I (well, mostly me, since he was already dabbling in ASM at the time 😛 ) had to learn how to do advanced hacking to keep things moving, and I was just supposed to be the translator. Otherwise we’d be stuck in limbo too 🙁 I hope they figure out their hacking problems, I know what it’s like to work hard on a translation and then have it sit there while you feel helpless because of hacking issues.

  204. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Keith: At the moment, I’d say it’s at least 3 months off. The percentage you see in those pictures is the percentage for Draft 2, though I won’t consider Draft 2 done until I also go in and fix context issues.

    See the to-do list for a list of other stuff that still needs to be done.

    As for Draft 3, I’m not sure how that’ll go yet, we’ll figure it out in a few weeks. It’s possible it won’t be like the process for Draft 2, and may be lots of spot fixes rather than a huge full-script sweep. Part of the reason for Draft 3 is also to make things sound better, not just to find mistakes, typos, etc. I don’t think people realize that.

    Anyway, I’ll probably talk about it all in more detail eventually. I should probably put up some kind of big banner or something somewhere, because people mistake those percentage boxes for the project’s percentage, and it may be good to finally make a possible release time a little more clear.

  205. Vagn said 16 years ago:

    Keith if you are not sure what is left to to guess what… there is a To-Do list! It’s been there all along; go check it. Do expect the patch for at least 3-4 more months. Also stop pestering Mato or I will smight you with my hand of wrath.

  206. Mato said 16 years ago:

    On another note, most of the remaining text now is text from all the ghosts you can talk to, and text from the last hour or two in the game. That’ll get us to 99%-ish, and then I gotta go and finish up Block 0’s text, which will be a pain.

    BTW, those who don’t mind spoilers should check out the msg board, because I sometimes post requests for help/suggestions for things. Good chance to get in the readme or get a badge or something 😛

  207. Millhouse said 16 years ago:

    okay, could somebody please explain to me what block0 does, or at least point me to a place where it’s explained? ever since I’ve heard the term for the first time, I’ve been left puzzled about what it is and what it does…

    also, has Deni already begun with Draft 3 while you’re finishing draft2 or will he only start with it once you’re done and once you give him the filly revised version (post-draft2)?

  208. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    Woah, then 7658 lines is a LOT of text! Holy moley! Mother of crap!

    Okay, once again, I say, look at how far you’ve come. [shudders and retreats into fetal position]

    …aye carumba…

  209. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Block 0: see here

    For example, in the screenshot I posted yesterday (here), you can see that that line there is from Block 626, it corresponds with Map 626, though because of how the map editor works, it’s morel ike Map 625 (or was it 627).

    Block 0 corresponds to no map at all, and contains all sorts of misc. text that appears in the game but isn’t connected to a map. Like text that displays when you open gift boxes, or scrolling text, or that text at the beginning that says “Welcome to Mother 3 World”. There’s about 300 lines of text in Block 0, and since it’s full of unusual/non-standard stuff, many of the lines use different programming than other blocks.

    In other words, let’s say the game’s script is like your house. You’ve organized it relatively decently and things are nice and organized. Block 0 would be like the closet full of random crap and if you open the closet door it all falls on you. So even though you cleaned house, you gotta clean out the closet and reorganize it too.

  210. mike k said 16 years ago:

    I just watched Nintendo’s e3 press conference. Man, watching reggie talk about stuff other than mother pisses me off for some reason. The worst thing is that the nintendo power tease thing was not even for a new zelda game.

  211. "Snake" Plisskin said 16 years ago:

    or KH.
    mato do’t you mean Welcome to:

  212. Germ said 16 years ago:

    don’t you mean don’t

  213. Poe said 16 years ago:

    Hehe, I like your “closet full of random crap” analogy. Now it makes perfect sense!

  214. "Snake" Plisskin said 16 years ago:

    no, it’s short for do it
    Kidding yeah I meant Don’t

  215. Mato said 16 years ago:

    What *did* the Nintendo Power secret game turn out to be?

  216. Germ said 16 years ago:

    I thought it was to be revealed in the September issue (i.e. received in August)? I could be mistaken.

  217. SAM-E-BOI said 16 years ago:

    Okay, I just finished watching the conferences, and the Nintendo one was very dissapointing, as apposed to the Sony one, which was totally awesome!

    I still can’t believe that Rockstar chose the DS instead of the Wii for the new GTA.

    Patapon 2 and Resistence Retribution look awesome, and Retribution doesn’t look like the GRAW and Rainbow Six Vegas attempts on the PSP, so I take that as good news.

  218. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    Vol. 231 (August) of NP is the one with the teaser, and I don’t think I got the September issue yet. It would be Vol. 232.

  219. shadowdeku said 16 years ago:

    yeah, i get my np at the end of the month, so i wont expect it for a while

  220. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    Hmm, this is interesting…

    “Nintendo Power (ISSN 1041-9551) is published 13 times a year (monthly, except semi-monthly in September) . . . ”

    So, with how magazines are always listed under the next month, does this mean there are two September issues or two October issues, I wonder?

  221. JeffMan said 16 years ago:

    The extra issue is a special holiday one that isnt assigned a month, IIRC. They publish it in September because it’s a few months before the holiday season.

  222. EmpoleMew said 16 years ago:

    After finally beating Earthbound for the first time, my anticipation levels are OVER NINETH-

    *headshotted*

  223. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    *loads ropesnake gun*

    Darn, I’m a bit late. Dang snipers!

  224. "Snake" Plisskin said 16 years ago:

    I loved the big announce today will release something great
    it is…
    it is…
    it is…
    it is…
    it is…
    it is…
    it is…

    Wii Music: a Guitar Hero/ rock band clone, with no peripherals or skill required

  225. Narrator said 16 years ago:

    The Cheering crowd goes silent, soft sobbing can be heard.

  226. Zade said 16 years ago:

    I’m just glad Reggie didn’t set a copy of M3 on fire while on stage. Thankfully he settled for beating up some woman with a sword.

  227. "Snake" Plisskin said 16 years ago:

    Reggie helped me decide my career path I am going to be an economist and not run a company like he does.
    PS
    That Press conference was directed towards investors not any one else

  228. sunzo132 said 16 years ago:

    I thought the best game was Animal Crossing: City Folk

  229. Kumatora said 16 years ago:

    Cool 91 percent? *faints*

  230. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    I just found the perfect example of why different parts of the script should not be done by different people (which means Mato is doing it right):

    The person controlling net crime organization “Gospel” in Mega Man Battle Network 2 has no official spelling for his English name. His name is only stated twice in the series, both times occuring in MMBN3. First, the main character’s father (Yuuichiro Hikari) calls him “Sean.” Then, at the end of the game, he is called “Shun.”

    Called once by the direct romajiization of his Japanese name, and once by the English equivalent. And in the same game. Nice, Capcom.

  231. "Snake" Plisskin said 16 years ago:

    Mato 6000 of those page veiws are my doing. I think this is my 6001st

  232. TheMetroidMan said 16 years ago:

    Any IGN avid reader will note while Matt Cassamassina was grilling Miyamoto with tons of questions, (which include everything from where the f*** Kid Icarus was, to asking if another Mario Galaxy, Pikmin 3 and New SMB 2) he randomly asked if EarthBound would make its way to another console soon. Disappointly he said they have no plans for that HOWEVER he did say he was good friends with Mr. Itoi and sees him every once in a while so that it might eventually happen? I just found it funny that he asked, of all series, an EarthBound question. However he failed at asking about Mother 3 maybe making an appearance over here in America. Take a look, I’m too lazy to link but go to http://www.ign.com and look it up.

  233. themaskedmuffin said 16 years ago:

    hey mato, have you ever thought of tricking everybody by posting an older percentage to make them think you went BACKWARDS?

  234. TBird said 16 years ago:

    “I’m just glad Reggie didn’t set a copy of M3 on fire while on stage.”

    That would be a heck of a lot better than pretending Mother 3 doesn’t exist outside of Smash Bros.

  235. Mato said 16 years ago:

    themaskedmuffin: Of course 😛 I wouldn’t do it though, people already get so much wrong info when I post proper updates, wouldn’t want to see what happens with fake info 😛

  236. OrangeJuice said 16 years ago:

    Wow Mato, pushing past 90% already? That’s aweosme suace!

    December 24th would be a great release date by the way 🙂

  237. Mato said 16 years ago:

    No, it’ll be out way before that. I can’t keep working on this thing for that long.

  238. Zaratus said 16 years ago:

    I think it’d be something akin to the stock market crash of 1929. People jumping out of windows, general panic. Especially if you made an announcement that there was a LOT of text hidden away in the ROM that was missed, and now it ends up you’re only at 37%. And it’ll take longer because that’s all completely untranslated stuff, that still needs to go through a Draft 1. And there’s lots of nasty hacking involved. Whole project delayed at least a year.

    I think this blog would explode. Or, the vast amounts of anguish and rage would cause some mood slime to manifest ghosts and evil spirits, and eventually cause the Statue of Liberty to take a walk across New York and smash in the roof of a building.

    All over a prank. And it’d be on your head Mato.

    Wow, I need to get out more. =P

  239. Zaratus said 16 years ago:

    Mato: You *KNOW* you’re going to be quoted on that comment now. It’ll spread across the internet, as other misconstrued comments have already been, claiming it was due out back in May. Of course, this one is likely to be true, unless some devil hacking comes up. Or, err, my previous post. =P

  240. Bret said 16 years ago:

    haha come on tomato, we all know you are really at like 99.9% done with the whole project, you are just keeping it a secret! Oops did I let the cat out of the bag? My bad!

  241. Keith said 16 years ago:

    Oh okay, thank you fro answering my question. I have one quick one now, Will there still be Name entry in the beggining? As I read a previous update where you said you may have to take it out…

  242. dr.mario said 16 years ago:

    Keith,

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxXHMUAxqH4

  243. Keith said 16 years ago:

    But,
    http://mother3.fobby.net/2008/07/03/hacking-still-going/#more-722