Battle Text Complete, Many Bugs Squashed

16 years ago by Mato

Another short but sweet update.

First, I finished the battle text today, the old m3.org file had lots of mistakes and weird things and was very ??? in places. I started from scratch and fixed, formatted, and finalized stuff. Chewy is nearly done with the enemy descriptions, which is the last text file remaining. When she’s done, I’ll put it into the game and format it to fit on screen/within technical limitations. The enemy descriptions are all really goofy, so I think people will love that stuff. Anyway, I’ll put the “finalize all misc. text” thing on the to-do list at 95%, and once I get the file and format it (probably within a few days), I’ll cross it off.

Meanwhile, Jeffman was on a roll and took out a lot of misc bugs and issues we were having. So I crossed two hacking things off the to-do list, too. Very little remains on the list now 😯


The first pic there shows the “item got stolen” text working. It was a bug we found a week or two ago. The other pic is another bug we had, basically, custom control codes in that particular part of the game were acting wonky, but now it and all other wonky cases work perfect. Many other little fixes were made. So that’s like 2 and a half things off the list today, cool.

Anyway, I guess this means I’ll get back to hacking too now. BTW, future updates will probably be little like this, since things are starting to wind down now. Not every update can be epic πŸ˜›

Until next time!

Posted on Saturday, August 16th, 2008 at 3:40 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.

318 Responses to “Battle Text Complete, Many Bugs Squashed”

  1. khanvadre said 16 years ago:

    this’ll be done in NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO time

  2. Shyv said 16 years ago:

    Have my babies

  3. Corncracker said 16 years ago:

    Nice. IU haven’t been able to read for a while, melting my cord and all.

    Knowing this is almost done is like, sex. But better.

    Anyway, I’m looking forward to these descriptions now. You should so give us an example as soon as you get them. :p

  4. Zero said 16 years ago:

    Fantastic.

  5. Mikey27 said 16 years ago:

    awsum news every time

  6. Captain Luke said 16 years ago:

    You know how they print seemingly impossible things on boxes of Honey Comb? Like, “Now tastes even better!” I bought it, ’cause every time I eat a bowl of Honey Comb, it does taste better than the last one. I used to wonder how it was possible for Honey Comb to taste any better, but I’m pretty sure I know now… They’re putting Mother 3 translation updates in their cereal. Which is awesome.

  7. Action 52 said 16 years ago:

    you’ve never been so sexy

  8. Nobody said 16 years ago:

    Why do you update 4:00 where I live? are you in asia right now or something?

  9. Nobody said 16 years ago:

    Sorry.

  10. honeymustard said 16 years ago:

    Looking delicious as always.

  11. Taefaros said 16 years ago:

    Mato, Mato, what can I say? Long-time lurker, first-time poster, which is a shame since it’s late and I really can’t think of anything non-generic to say. So, um, Duster portrait? Yeah, have some Duster love:

    http://forum.starmen.net/forum_attachments/0005/4715/dasuta.jpg

    I made it just for you. (Well, I really made it for school, but you know what I mean.)

  12. Vague Rant said 16 years ago:

    I never know whether to watch those little secret videos because I’m worried they have spoilers and are hidden for that reason. Anybody know what I’m missing?

  13. Millhouse said 16 years ago:

    oh my god, this is coming along so nicely and fast. you guys even speed up towards the end, it seems!

    awesome! but I still think “the but it failed” is a great line. the flint would be proud of you ^^

  14. xfaerietalex said 16 years ago:

    Lol, I dunno. Personally, I consider this update to be epic. I’m sure its a huge relief to know this is almost done. Good luck on the rest of the to-do list!

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

    WHOOOO!!!! GO MATO (AND JEFFMAN)!!!!!!!

  16. Aphrodine said 16 years ago:

    @Vague Rant:

    You are missing a nerd rant about EB.

  17. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    πŸ˜€

  18. Kiniest said 16 years ago:

    Double w00t.

  19. Nick said 16 years ago:

    A Block-0 approaches! What do you do?

    1. Equip th 😐
    2. Call the moon.
    3. Launch operation Crusty Muskrat.

    >

  20. james8910 said 16 years ago:

    I’m so happy right now. πŸ™‚

    thank you very much for making everyone happy.

  21. Nobody said 16 years ago:

    I wonder if anyone read my comment about the fact that mato will only rest after translations into other languages.

  22. jellytack said 16 years ago:

    hey guys, i’ve been lurking round here for a while, so i figured i’d actually take a second to tell you how grateful and amazed i am by what you’re doing. i’ve been looking forward to this game ever since i finished earthbound ten years ago (omg i’m old lol)
    … anyways thank you so very very much, you’re a huge inspiration to me. good karma for you πŸ™‚

  23. Zaxtur said 16 years ago:

    That darn Greedier Mouse! Stealing Mato’s Bread Rolls?! I hope you get him, Mato. Mother 3 is so close I can smell it. Keep up the great work, guys.

    My Physiology professor used to say when you’re running a 26-mile marathon you push yourself harder and run faster for that last mile than you did for the first 25 miles. You’re in that last mile, Mato. Keep pushing!

  24. Magitek said 16 years ago:

    I have to say, there’s a chance this will be finished before the Super Robot Wars J translation, but then, that’s good, cause then I’ll have something else to play while I wait for that.

  25. Gern said 16 years ago:

    Realizing only 3.35 items remained, Germ realized the closeness of EarthBound’s freakin sequel. I will surely miss checking this blog 20+ times a day.

  26. james8910 said 16 years ago:

    I like seeing all the changes but soon they’ll all be done then we’ll have nothing to talk about.:( but the game will be done and everyone will be happy:)

  27. shelbz said 16 years ago:

    Yes! I’m so happy that this is almost done! I can’t wait to play it. I know that it probably won’t get done once school starts though, which is gonna suck for me. I’ll just have to skip school until i finish the game. (:

  28. spicebean said 16 years ago:

    *HUGE FREAKIN’ GRIN*

    You’ve no idea how much I loveloveloooove you guys. I don’t even know why I’m so excited considering I’ve cleared the game twice (with spookychee’s FAQ), but yet I’m still sittin’ loyal to you guys, waiting, waiting, anticipating–and I’ll finish it again!

  29. TheReaper08 said 16 years ago:

    Yes battle text done,now only a couple of things left.

  30. Fireblend said 16 years ago:

    Brilliant! Keep it up!

  31. A Fan said 16 years ago:

    I have just one thing to say to that greedy, thieving mouse:

    SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

  32. Doc said 16 years ago:

    Angrier EB nerd?

    Alright, a question: If the text is almost done, how long will it take the hacking/replacing/formatting of the text into the mother 3 file?

  33. Schlupi said 16 years ago:

    give the ladies what they want, mato, and have their babies πŸ˜›

  34. Nobody said 16 years ago:

    It keeps seeming like it’s only a week away, but block zero will take three months!

  35. MrSaturn33 said 16 years ago:

    OMG, this is SO AWSOME!!! I can’t wait! πŸ˜€

  36. cowfish13 said 16 years ago:

    King Burger? That seems like the American Translators would change.

  37. Mato said 16 years ago:

    /me shines the Nitpick Bat Signal

  38. gBev said 16 years ago:

    Why is there a link to that video towards the end?

  39. dr.mario said 16 years ago:

    …You called, Mato?
    (out of breath)

    I got here as fast as I could!
    Oh, King Burger, yeah. Good work. Signal again if something bad happens…

  40. Pilot said 16 years ago:

    Maybe because Mato enjoyed it and wanted to share it with us.

  41. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Looking at the source code for a text display hack I did a few months ago, and I have nooooooo idea how it works anymore. It’s gonna suck trying to get back into the hacking groove.

  42. Slaanesh said 16 years ago:

    Wooot! Good job!

  43. Andy said 16 years ago:

    It’s a good thing we’ve got Jeffman.

    Can’t wait for this. My birthday’s in early October, and I can think of no better present.

  44. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Not even pudding pops?

  45. Psychomax said 16 years ago:

    maybe pudding pops with copies of mother 3 in them

    but then they’d be all sticky and probably broken πŸ™

  46. Poe said 16 years ago:

    I wonder what would happen if I ate a MOTHER 3 cart. Would I poop out MOTHER 4??!?!!!?

  47. jjolli said 16 years ago:

    I think you would poop out Superman 64 because even if you eat the best steak, the end result is shit πŸ˜‰

  48. Lord Prosper said 16 years ago:

    So wow. I’m without an internet connection for a week, and I get to come back to THIS? Mato, you’ve made my day.

  49. Vagn said 16 years ago:

    How did you survive an entire week without internet? 0:

  50. dUTCHYbOY said 16 years ago:

    amazing, really looking forward to this

  51. Jon said 16 years ago:

    There are 7 things left on the to-do list.
    One that is 95% done and another that’s 70% done.
    Grinding down the home stretch eh guys?

  52. AJ said 16 years ago:

    you think you can make this compatable with visualboy advance, other than the we are lucky to have such kind and dedicated people such as yourselves to translate this for us

  53. EmpoleMew said 16 years ago:

    I don’t remember a King Burger in that part of the game. But who cares, progress is good. Hopefully, Mato will find his groove again. If not, we’ll have to find someone else’s groove and have a groove transplant.

    ^My random post of the day.

  54. Ness Ness Ness said 16 years ago:

    SOOO close x_X

  55. king island guy said 16 years ago:

    i met a guy at king island if hes reading this than vist my site and sign the guest book.

  56. Jatopian said 16 years ago:

    King Burger = win.
    Jeffman, Mato, and Chewy = triple-decker win.
    I have more faith than ever that this translation will preserve the spirit of the original.

    Welcome to th:|But it failed.

  57. Derrick T. said 16 years ago:

    AWESOME!

  58. Mato said 16 years ago:

    98agasldkfjlkj i hate hacking, it tastes like Babies

  59. glemmstengal said 16 years ago:

    poor Mato, just have some Omelettes HomeRu and scoot on up to bed

    on a more serious note, don’t forsake sleep for this translation any more! lol, I read that in your last blog post
    take care!

  60. Arc said 16 years ago:

    Nice. I just got Earthbound a couple months ago, and I’m hoping on finishing it before this is done. With the amount of time I have anymore, its gonna be close. I managed to get 6 hours or so in today, but I think today is the only time I’ll get to do that in a while. Especially with school starting in 3 days.

    But nice hacking, I’m a beginner and something this size completely blows me away.

    Thanks for helping me to feed my new addiction to Earthbound.

  61. Magitek said 16 years ago:

    @Arc:I’ve got one thing to say to you:Welcome to th..But it failed.

  62. kernelPANIC said 16 years ago:

    Again, thanks for all the fantastic job you guys have been delivering week after week. I’ve been following the updates for around a year now, and I still enjoy checking out all the progress (big or small) that you guys make. I know it sounds weird, but in a way, I’ll miss all this anticipation once the game is released. I guess that looking forward to some stuff has its perks too :P.

    One translating-related question for Mato: How do you prepare yourself MENTALLY when you embark on a translating job that entails several weeks or more (be it a fan project, or something more work-related)?ΒΏ

    Thanks again!

  63. VB said 16 years ago:

    Hey Mato, this may seem like a noobish question, but I’m just curious: Why do you need to hack the whole game just to change the language from Japanese to English?

  64. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Because the game was not designed and programmed for an English language version, so technical limitations and issues arise. With fansubs, you have to alter the medium (aka video encoding) to insert the subtitles. With fan manga translations, you have to alter the medium (using a Paint program to erase text and put new text) to put the new text in. With fan game translations, you have to alter the medium (the game’s data and programming) to have text act and display properly.

  65. bill cosby said 16 years ago:

    mato will you translate me some pudding pops

  66. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Mini-update: Chewy finished the enemy descriptions, Jeff made it so they’ll fit into the ROM (we were over by like 15 KB) and I’m currently formatting them all now. Have finished 11, out of 187. Each one takes a while, a few minutes each to format.

  67. Triple10X said 16 years ago:

    Woo!! Keep chugging along like a choo-choo train Mato!

  68. The Game Master said 16 years ago:

    The game seems like it was made to prevent fan translations.

    Also, finally being able to use my own email address, I changed my name from “Nobody” to this.

    Yes, I’m Nobody.

    @Mato: http://mother3.fobby.net/preview/feb08/p_battle10.png

  69. VB said 16 years ago:

    Another small, unimportant question: will you guys give yourselves honorable mention in the credits? Surely you deserve it for being so dedicated to this; the fans would also know who provided them with the translation.

  70. poke smot said 16 years ago:

    gj guys keep it up!

    btw would i be able to use some program to change ingame texT? i use one to change earthbounds burgers etc etc into veggy friendly food items πŸ˜€ before that i had to not use hamburgers and such =/

  71. ness's dad said 16 years ago:

    man up and eat some meat your gonna become anemic
    your parents probably have a conversation about it atleast once a week and one of them says oh its just a phase.

    well lets hope its just a phase.

  72. Ghouls 'n Ghosts said 16 years ago:

    You know, this game has easily turned into my most anticipated game of the year. Sorry, Dragon Quest IV & Castlevania OoE.

  73. poke smot said 16 years ago:

    … i talk to my parents like once a month mabye …. and besides i havent eaten meat for almost 3 years now … a phase it is not.

  74. james8910 said 16 years ago:

    im a veg heag too

  75. Mato said 16 years ago:

    26 / 187 now. These take a very long time each :O

  76. Maroon500 said 16 years ago:

    Mato, which description would you say was the goofiest or most fun to make?

  77. hasone said 16 years ago:

    Mato:

    I come out of mother 3 fan translation posting retirement to tell you this:

    If you’re doing it manually or something and there’s no other way, I suggest you go to sleep and finish it later.

    If it’s possible, I suggest you write a (bash, maybe perl, maybe python, maybe something else?) script and wake up to see it done πŸ˜›

  78. The Game Master said 16 years ago:

    @Poke smot: Try to eat meat again, you don’t know what your missing, and you are eating mato’s kind. Don’t do it right away, you’ll throw up. eat small peices. AND I was also asking mato if he would release some of his tools (I asked for mother3 PKhack). I REALLY want it.

  79. Happyist said 16 years ago:

    The only way I could be happier is if someone painted me blue!

  80. ness's dad said 16 years ago:

    i dont know how people can live without ending each day with a nice shell steak, a couple pints of guinness, and a camel wide. but hey to each his own. we can still be friends. (as long as you enjoy guinness and fine tobacco products)

  81. DrΓΌ said 16 years ago:

    You can be a vegetarianβ€”it’s okayβ€”as long as you don’t belong to PETA πŸ˜‰

  82. ColdFusown said 16 years ago:

    This is definitely good news πŸ™‚ I can’t even explain how happy I am about this project. Keep up the good work!
    Thanks

  83. Marakittie said 16 years ago:

    The updates keep getting better and better! πŸ˜€
    I can’t wait! πŸ™‚

  84. Alato said 16 years ago:

    That’s an even nicer to-do list. πŸ˜›

    Yes, very, very, very nice, indeed.

    As always, you’ve done an awesome job with this hack. So thanks always, again.

    Also, I wonder how much views you just gave to that Dumb Earthbound Nerd video(maybe I should watch before I judge, though :P), as even a fraction of the hits on this could be a pretty decent boost of hits. And I also wonder how many people noticed that link.

  85. PureRok said 16 years ago:

    Happyist: Here you go, you are now blue: http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c277/purifiershou/a42092e1.jpg

    Keep on moving forward Mato! You’ll get there soon.

  86. Mato said 16 years ago:

    It boggles my mind how people are making a big deal out of the secret link in this update, but nobody ever noticed the secret links in previous updates 😯

  87. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Somebody asked the other day, and I finally checked now – as of right now there are 26,384 e-mail notification signups. That’s pretty kickass. I assume 30,000-ish by the time the patch is out, so I’d say at least 50,000 patch dloads in the first week or so. Might not sound like much, but I’d bet most translation patches only get a couple hundred or a couple thousand dloads total ever. Also, EB sold like 75,000 copies in its first entire year on the market, so this is turning out to be a very 😯 project.

    one more 😯 for good measure

  88. Toad King said 16 years ago:

    Nowhere near enough 😯

    😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯

    That should last us.

  89. james8910 said 16 years ago:

    thats awesome. i remember in earthnound i always wanted to keep the dog king and buzzbuzz on your team but king leaves and buzzbuzz died πŸ™

  90. RAIDERX said 16 years ago:

    πŸ˜€ πŸ˜€ πŸ˜€ πŸ˜€

  91. mkkmypet said 16 years ago:

    man mato, when this is out and all those people download it (including me), make sure you talk to the people at Nintendo of America and say “HAHAHA LOOK HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE PLAYING MOTHER 3 IN ENGLISH, NO THANKS TO YOU!” make them angry they never translated it. 50,000+ copies of a game that could have been sold for a profit to Nintendo.

    also, have my babies.

  92. Shadowcatgc said 16 years ago:

    This will sound all sentimental and crap, but, honestly, everyone in the Mother 3 hacking team.. you don’t realize it but you guys helped me come out of a depression. Like, the medical kind. My mind is easily distracted from depressing thoughts by video games and there are almost none out lately I wanna play. And then I see this, and poof! My mind has something to concentrate on again ^^

    Also, seriously, everyone who is reading this that is vegetarian please go buy yourself a tasty ribeye or new your strip, throw a bit of seasoning on it, grill it for 5 minutes and eat it, all of it. I don’t care if you’re allergic to it, just DO IT

    ..well you don’t really have to… but I recommend it.

  93. anonymous said 16 years ago:

    You’re making a great job here guys ! =D

    And for you vegets, I just want to let you know that meat and fast-foods IS good for the health, only in a different way.

  94. Arc said 16 years ago:

    @Mato, Wow, 50,000 downloads the first week?

    Thats alot of patches.

    I’m really appreciating this the more and more of these blogs I’m reading. I have a patch for FE4 and it has tons of mistakes and the ending just cuts off, which kindof kills this game. Looking at the screenshots, the amount of polish you have given the script is amazing.

    @Magitek, Thanks XD.

  95. Millhouse said 16 years ago:

    well, what do you mean with “formatting” the enemy descriptions? how can they take up that much space in the ROM?! I don’t get it… anyways, good work, whatever you’re doing, you’re doing it right!!

    and @vegetarian: if you’re vegetarian, that’s fine with me, not my problem, but don’t tell me you really did replace every instance of edible meat in the earthbound game with some kind of tofu stuff?!?! that’d be just insane, and kinda creepy…

  96. The Game Master said 16 years ago:

    i have experience, sometimes, three words can be bigger than six words when inserting them into the ROM.

  97. G'Dang said 16 years ago:

    Wow Mato, that’s a huge number of people following your awesome project. I can’t believe Nintendo USA refuses to throw us a bone. It’s like they are dead-set against releasing new Mother games in the West. But they’ll authorize shovelware all day long. It irritates me to no end. You belong in a video game hall of fame for doing this.

  98. Acacia Sgt said 16 years ago:

    I have been watching this since June, but this is the first time I have posted something. I must say, when I first watched this, at first, I thought that this was never going to be completed, like many other translation projects of many other games that I have saw. But seeing how you are close to finish this and what you have done, I’m now entirely sure that you will. Keep it up!

  99. tellisk said 16 years ago:

    I have mad respect for vegetarians. Not that I think you ever would, but I am shocked at the people trying to tell you what to do here (to eat meat).

    I really hope testing goes smoothly, because other than that nothing on the to-do list seems to require much more time at all. Here’s hoping for a short 3 months. =D

  100. mobilisq said 16 years ago:

    haha the King Burger ought to be named the Big Kahuna Burger

  101. This Man said 16 years ago:

    @mobilisq: I’ve always said that if you don’t name the main character of a game his real name (Like naming Ness in EB “Cooper”), there is something wrong woth you. But that Pulp Fiction reference is this close to having me name Lucas something like Vincent.

    Good hacking/translating, M3 team.

  102. Yadda said 16 years ago:

    …Seems there IS a limit to these names. AS I WAS SAYING…

    Whoa, I didn’t know that you could do a whole post in the name box like that, like some sort of name-talking-guy. Well… Congraturation Mato. Your story is (almost) happy end! Game is almist finish! Transrate is go! Er, stop! Soon! Because transration is finish almost! And… I’m gonna stop babbling now. Just… Nice job, man.

  103. Reg teh Yoshi said 16 years ago:

    @Yadda: Why should you stop? Engrish that is speaking is enjoyable! I type and take the translator of online the one that finds (babelfish like) the cool method that does it and want into it the text of Japan that you translate into Japanese and you obtained it furthermore and be it to do the translation that is contrary into English. It is so simple. In EngLish: For some good Engrish; Find an online translator, type something and translate it into Japanese and then back into English, the result is something like what is up there.

    Anyway, Long time lurker, second time poster. Thank you again, Mato, for making everyone’s lives better. Your determination and knowledge is a shining beacon of hope to the many mother fans that flood this website everyday πŸ˜€

  104. Reg teh Yoshi said 16 years ago:

    I ALMOST forgot

    *generic praises and whatnot*

  105. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Finished Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 enemies. 48 in all. Man that’s a lot.

  106. themaskedmuffin said 16 years ago:

    well done mato. keep on truckin’!

  107. Jama7301 said 16 years ago:

    Simply amazing. All there is to it. This is definitly something I will spend the time downloading on my crappy dial up internet.

    There’s nothing I can really say that hasn’t been said umpteen times already… Just wow.

  108. Perfect_Chaos said 16 years ago:

    Wow. As for me it is not possible to wait for release. I desire the fact that excessively it is directly done directly.

  109. mechs revenge said 16 years ago:

    kool cant wait for it to come out

  110. Lei said 16 years ago:

    That much progress in a week? Wow…. I can’t imagine working on a fan translation project so hard. Keep up the good work guys!!

  111. Mato said 16 years ago:

    80 / 187 descriptions done now. blargablargoilkj

  112. MotherLover123 said 16 years ago:

    Hey you’re getting hecksa far! Keep moving at the speed of light!

  113. mother3isgood said 16 years ago:

    YEeeeeSS!!! It’s so close to completion!

  114. Ausl0 said 16 years ago:

    Wow, you’re pretty close. GOOD JOB! I have to get back to Earthbound and finish it before I can start this. Like a guy said earlier, if you want to, you should put your name in the credits. That would be pretty cool.

  115. Derrick T. said 16 years ago:

    This is indeed a GIANT step (pun) and looks like Jeff really is dedicated. I think we need to recognize him as much as we do tomato (not belittling tomato at all).

  116. xybur said 16 years ago:

    You don’t have to point out the fact that you made a pun. It makes you look like a jerk, and people are smart enough to catch them.

    Also, good work tomato, I’m glad you stopped obsessing over every little thing and let a few other people work on stuff for you. If you really had intended on making this a one man project, I doubt this would’ve been done any time soon.

  117. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Not sure what you’re talking about, she’s been on the team since the blog started, and been working on stuff for months. Not like this is anything new πŸ˜›

  118. edwardo said 16 years ago:

    i found out my sister has cancer today

    …but this cheered me right up!

  119. Kak said 16 years ago:

    ppl love that XX/XXX count..make we fell like think are walking faster ^_^
    great job guys

  120. Kak said 16 years ago:

    gah..i mean things not think T_T

  121. VB said 16 years ago:

    @xybur: Read Maddox much?

  122. Mato said 16 years ago:

    101 / 187 descriptions done now

  123. Ausl0 said 16 years ago:

    If this will work on gpsp, I will be one happy man but don’t worry about that right now. It would be useless to test emulators before everything else is done.

  124. EliotAndrews said 16 years ago:

    Hey, haven’t left a comment in a while. It’s amazing to see how little is left [relatively]. You and your team are insanely talented, and I want to be one of those first 50,000 people to download this magnificent work. The thought of being so close to Mother 3 in English is quite an amazing feeling.

  125. Super Mike said 16 years ago:

    Good work on your fan translation! I hope you finish it soon!

    Also, I have an out-of-curiousity question. It’s about the title of the game. Since Mother 3 is the sequel to Earthbound a.k.a Mother 2, are you going to change the game’s title to Earthbound 2 or just leave it the way it is?

  126. Arc said 16 years ago:

    I believe he has said they are planning on leaving it Mother three, or possibly put Earthbound 2 in Subtitles.

    Correct me if I’m wrong.

  127. xybur said 16 years ago:

    @VB

    If I had said that the idea was from Maddox, and that it was intentional, don’t you think I’d be hypocritical for not taking my own advice?

  128. EmpoleMew said 16 years ago:

    Progress are satisfy. Satisfy=well. Mother 3 English=Peace in Internaet. Now they is hsppy 4 trnslatn=1337. Now I type normally again.

  129. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    [sheesh, does a post of mine ever get through easily?]

    @Super Mike:

    That’s in the FAQ.

  130. Lelouch Lamperouge said 16 years ago:

    It makes me sad that there will never be such a professional fan translation ever again. Which other game has such devoted fans, who don’t miss a single detail, and even push the effort, so that it even “feels” like previous games. Thank you Mato!

  131. Zinco said 16 years ago:

    xybur, haranguing people for pointing out their puns and telling them that doing so makes them looks like a jerk might reflect more poorly on you than on the person pointing out the puns. You should keep a more serene attitude among people who aren’t intentionally out to aggravate you.

  132. Eddward said 16 years ago:

    Mato said: i hate hacking, it tastes like Babies

    How does Mato know what babies taste like? Maby Mato’s actually a witch or something.

  133. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    ???
    Huh, I guess I used the incorrect tag for a hyperlink.

  134. Auri said 16 years ago:

    Before the cauldron cools, we must care for mato-mato.
    Before the babies spoil, we must care for mato-mato.

    Because while I can’t say what fresh infants taste like, I can assure most anyone that spoiled infants would not taste good. Unless you like children who always get their way. I, personally, cook up a plate of OmelettesHomeRu when I do something I hate.

  135. Dan said 16 years ago:

    “Because the game was not designed and programmed for an English language version, so technical limitations and issues arise. With fansubs, you have to alter the medium (aka video encoding) to insert the subtitles. With fan manga translations, you have to alter the medium (using a Paint program to erase text and put new text) to put the new text in. With fan game translations, you have to alter the medium (the game’s data and programming) to have text act and display properly.”

    Actually some movie players can load subtitles from a separate file and overlay them onto the video at the proper times. πŸ™‚ I know MPlayer can do this.

  136. madlobster said 16 years ago:

    Babies taste pretty close to suckling pig.

  137. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Dan: Yes, I know this, but that’s a recent thing and I was trying to make a point rather than get into the fine details.

  138. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Also, 120 enemy descriptions done now. I’m done for tonight, and the next few days will probably be very slow going.

  139. Game Over said 16 years ago:

    Thats quite alot of enemys….Don’t give up all you God Hackers! One of my rabid Mother friends says she will have your babies!………….*shudder*

  140. Mur said 16 years ago:

    i am surprised we have not heard a peep from Nintendo yet *knocks on wood* i would of thought that they would of asked you to stop the translation. Personally if i was the one hacking it i would tell nintendo i would stop and still finish it.

    I do have to say this had been the most Epic translation project i have ever watched.

  141. FMArthur said 16 years ago:

    Uh oh. Looks like schools coming up. Mato, for the sake of my education please don’t finish that patch! :O

  142. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    I’m going to tell my school not to open for the sake of Mother 3.

  143. BP said 16 years ago:

    I just finished my playthrough in Japanese and am looking forward to replaying it in English.

  144. adzix said 16 years ago:

    1) hooray for the steady progress. although i feel like the waiting is killing me, i am happy so much thought and efford is put into this project, making sure everything is in it’s right place.

    2)so mato mentioned pudding pops. being from austria, i never heard of them. so i googled. then that took me to a link about a re-release of those @ cheap eat blog and from there i made my way to the candy blog. and now i’ve been reading through chocolate reviews for 2 hours. talking about the internet as a time killer, weird.

  145. Alfonso Alfredo said 16 years ago:

    Austria doesn’t have pudding pops?
    Oh, the horror! That’s almost as bad as not having any Berry Crunch!

  146. Alfonso Alfredo said 16 years ago:

    I’ll explain what Pudding Pops are:

    For those unfamiliar with the assortment, Jell-O Pudding Pops arrive in a variety pack consisting of ten pops; a mostly even split between “Vanilla,” “Chocolate” and “Chocolate & Vanilla Swirl.” It’s the latter variety that truly afforded these pops such notoriety. While most of the population have stubborn preferences between vanilla and chocolate, few can resist the charms of the almighty swirly pop.

  147. Arc said 16 years ago:

    @Mur, they legally can’t stop you from hacking a game, its perfectly legal to hack, and to translate.

    The only possible way they could stop Mato and the other good folks behind this hack is if they were actually supplying the rom. They are not, and they won’t, they will supply an IPS patch, which is perfectly legal.

    Owning the rom is illegal, but hacking it is perfectly fine.

    Now, I severely doubt you would get in huge trouble from having the rom anyway because it is a japanese rom never allowed into our market. You’d probably get in more trouble for downloading a song off of the internet than you would for downloading the rom. Plus its easier to track songs anyway.

    Sorry if this worries anybody.

  148. Xanth said 16 years ago:

    @Arc-
    Actually, I’m pretty sure it’s still illegal if not a gray area at least. When it comes down to it, Mother 3 is Nintendo’s intellectual property, and since it’s unauthorized by Nintendo, the translation project could possibly be seen as violating intellectual property rights through appropriation and unauthorized representation I think.

    Also, while I think it’s true that more people have gotten in trouble for downloading songs and movies than they have for roms, it’s because Nintendo (and other video game companies) have a tendency to go after the distributor instead of the downloaders. That’s why a lot of direct download piracy sites wouldn’t last long in the late-90’s, early 00’s, and why Nintendo and a bunch of other companies are going after the flash cart makers now.

  149. Pessego said 16 years ago:

    Yeah!!!
    I want to play it!!!

  150. Typhin said 16 years ago:

    It’s not so much the legality of it, but as a show of respect, Mato has already said he’d pull the plug on the project if they announced an English release.

    I have to buy a new cart, my old one has died. *grumbles*

  151. Awesometastic said 16 years ago:

    @xanth: I’m pretty sure it’s not illegal actually, because of the fact they arent using nintendo’s IP to make money. As long as it is being distributed free of charge (the patch, not the japanese ROM) i believe it’s all right.

  152. DeWalt said 16 years ago:

    Long time follower and first-time poster. Here is a question, I have yet to see asked. I know during testing you are going to check the compatability on numerous emulating platforms. Will any testing be done on a modded xbox with a gba emulator? Just curious, either way I will fire it up on my psp. Really looking forward to this

  153. Rai said 16 years ago:

    The first place it’s going as soon as I get it is on my laptop. I for one will be locking myself away in my office and playing it… with a note on my door that says “Secret Project In Progress – DND!!!”

  154. A Fan said 16 years ago:

    Awesometastic: The copyright holder has the sole authority to authorize translations because they’re considered to be ‘derivative works’ :/ Read USC 17 sometime; it’s pretty crazy. But let’s not worry about that.

    As for the other person wanting to know ‘will it work on [device]’, you should find out. You’re going to need the Japanese version anyhow when the patch comes out (You already have it… right? You WILL need that, even if you’re making your own copy, or the patch will be USELESS to you.)

    So try loading it. It’s not hard to get the game started, even if you understand nothing. If that works, the patched game will work as well. You don’t need to wait to be told if your device will or will not work. You can find out now! πŸ™‚

  155. Reg teh Yoshi said 16 years ago:

    What the Translation Team *shot* is doing is illegal. They are unauthorized to edit Mother 3, therefore they are breaking the law. But I don’t think Nintendo or any legal figure would care, since the project does not intend to gain profit or distribute the ROM. And then there’s the fact that the project would halt if an official translation was announced.

    I think we’re on the safe side πŸ˜€

  156. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    Mato and the others are not accepting donations, and the project will be stopped if an official translation is started (to make sure it won’t flop due to the many who downloaded the patch). Also, Nintendo is sort of turning a blind eye to this; some of the big guys there want to see the translation, themselves.

    While this translation is illegal, we are pretty safe.

  157. Mur said 16 years ago:

    I do not think its about the translation team making money than more of Nintendo loosing money if the game was ever released and to protect their property.

    But i do hope they do nothing because that would help the community.

  158. :) said 16 years ago:

    Exp Hp….lol, nevermind.

  159. Brian said 16 years ago:

    “While most of the population have stubborn preferences between vanilla and chocolate, few can resist the charms of the almighty swirly pop.”

    HAHAHAHAHAHA!

  160. Mini-boss said 16 years ago:

    It can’t be illegal to translate Mother 3, or to hack it. If you bought something, you have the right to do whatever you want with it. If, say, you go to the store and buy a new TV, but then somehow go and replace the built-in speakers with better speakers, or anything at all, you’re messing with the product, but YOU own it. Therefore, YOU can do with it whatever you want with it.

    As long as the translation team owns legit japanese carts of Mother 3, which they undoubtably do, this isn’t illegal. Choosing to take their work and share it with others for free isn’t illegal, either.

    Now, if they were giving away the ROM of Mother 3 for free, then hoo-boy would that ever be illegal. But they’re not, so it’s ok.

    Also, go Mato and all! You all rock!

  161. Vagn said 16 years ago:

    You are wrong. I could explain why you are wrong but I’m feeling lazy. Do some research on copy rights, patents, and intellectual property and you will see why.

  162. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    That’s a bit different, Mini-boss. First of all, what you’re comparing it to is still not perfectly acceptable. It voids warranty, among other things.

    But more importantly, in your example, you are only modifying the thing that you own. That is not what Mato is doing. For Mato to be doing that, that would mean that, on a single cartridge, Mato is editing the Read-Only Memory. First of all, that is physically impossible to do thanks to the storage medium of ROM.
    If Mato could even do that (I’m talking theoretically here), then when he is done, that single cartridge would be in English.
    By your logic, that would be legal, but none of us would get to play!

    Mato is editing a copy of the ROM on the computer. I think most hacks still are legal (as long as only a patch is distributed, not the ROM), but there is one big problem with a translation; I might be mistaken here, but I believe that the copyright of the game applies to the text in the game. And that copyright is extended to include all variants of the text (derivitave works), including different languages. Because an English form of the text is included in the patch, this makes the translaion patch illegal.
    Even though Mato translated it, I think that the English text is still property of Nintendo, so only Nintendo can legally choose what to do with it.

  163. Carl said 16 years ago:

    You are mistaken, Mini-boss.

    Yes, Tomato can do whatever he likes with his Mother 3 cartridge–such as translating its text into English–in the privacy of this own home, but once he shares that work with others, he runs afoul of copyright restrictions, as a translation is considered a “derivative work” (http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/101.htm), and “the owner of copyright … has the exclusive rights … to prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work” (http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/106.html).

  164. NHGenie said 16 years ago:

    Exp HP – Close. Practically any hack would constitute a derivative work, because all parts of the game are covered by copyright including but not limited to the actual text (script) as you pointed out. Even if all the team did was hack the code to allow Roman letters and translated nothing, the patch would still run afoul of copyright law.

  165. Rai said 16 years ago:

    I think that the legality of this whole issue is completely moot. And NOJ wouldn’t have jurisdiction here in the US anyway (Mato is in the States right?), unless they forced NOA to take action. As Exp HP said, Nintendo is pretty much ignoring this whole thing anyway, and people in NOA want to play Mother 3 in english as much as we do.

    But on the other side, Mato and the team are doing things right, for the most part. They’re not accepting any money for this, they’re not giving out copies of the ROM, and there were many links to sites to purchase the actual cartridge posted in this blog. If any legal troubles were to happen (in a worst case scenario) they’d have those facts on their side, and would at least lighten any kind of punishment that gets handed down. Any judge in this country would look at all their actions to date and then be lenient. But again, legal action from Nintendo is about as likely as Giygas succeeding in his plans.

    Not to mention that legal action on this would severely hurt Nintendo’s reputation and make the general public see them as little better than, oh say, the RIAA and MPAA. And right now, I don’t think they need any more negative publicity.

  166. Vagn said 16 years ago:

    K guys, lets bring this discussion to the spillover board. This has been brought up lots of times, and I’m sure Mato isn’t too worried about the legality of this otherwise he wouldn’t be doing it.

  167. Alex said 16 years ago:

    Mato, sorry if this has been answered but if there are 50,000+ dloads in the first week or so, will it slow the dloads down? sorry im not great with computers techically, so if this sounds stupid thats why πŸ™‚

  168. glemmstengal said 16 years ago:

    I wouldnt worry about the legality of this project, he is distributing his patch that he worked on and created.. THAT is his. Now, downloading the rom is another story, but with no other way to play and understand this game in the states they would have a hard time busting each individual who downloaded in. In short: there is zero reason to worry

  169. 62t said 16 years ago:

    Alex, the patch will be really small, and will probably be host at different sites. So I wont worry about it

  170. Anthony said 16 years ago:

    There’s a ton of free site that we’ll let us download the patch like megaupload, zshare, bee something. Maybe the solution is to put it on a lot of site!!

    And I can’t wait to see the final product!

  171. The Game master said 16 years ago:

    @Mur:Nintendo of America DID comment on one of the previous updates, if I’m not mistaken.

  172. The Game master said 16 years ago:

    Too bad I can’t speak at the spillover board…yet.

  173. ness's dad said 16 years ago:

    im pretty sure that wasn’t actually nintendo of america commented. the translation teams background investigation department for posting on the blog pretty much consists of “if you can type the letters in the name box, you are who you say you are”

  174. EmpoleMew said 16 years ago:

    If Mother 3 was released by Nintendo anyway, they’d run into difficulties. Whether they call it Mother 3 or Earthbound 2/3 or whatever, people who don’t know will be asking about the other(s) which they seem to not want. Thus, only people who know about the series and curious people would actually buy it, which wouldn’t look too good for sales.

    Plus, I doubt NoA really cares what happens with the Mother series as long as people don’t ask them about it anymore.

  175. Carl said 16 years ago:

    “Whether they call it Mother 3 or Earthbound 2/3 or whatever, people who don’t know will be asking about the other(s) which they seem to not want.”

    If that were to really be a concern, I’m sure Nintendo would simply drop the number from the title like they did when they translated MOTHER 2.

  176. Ausl0 said 16 years ago:

    @ Carl:

    No it’s not that. He’s saying that if Nintendo translated mother 3, people will start asking for the first mother to be translated.

  177. L said 16 years ago:

    Guys, there is a whole thread dedicated to discussion about the legality of the translation–move it there:

    http://forum.starmen.net/forum/Mother/3_Blog/The-legality/

    Knock yourselves out.

    I will say one thing, though: As a law student, I can tell you most of what everyone on this and the spillover board says about “the legality” is a mix of half-facts and half-understandings. This includes the most confident posts I’ve been reading here. The posters are not lawyers. As a copyright law student, I’m glad people are interested in the subject. But this discussion is not a constructive legal discussion–at best it’s smart people musing on legal questions without useful legal training, and at worst it’s a game of “telephone” where laypeople are paraphrasing paraphrases of non-lawyer analysis they’ve read some other time on a forum post. So please please please, when someone says something about the legality of the translation, just take it with a big fat grain of salt.

  178. NOA said 16 years ago:

    Keep up the good work, guys!

  179. Typhin said 16 years ago:

    @Carl: Yeah, but then they’d go with the lovely title, “Earthbound Advance”. ^_~

  180. Poser Man said 16 years ago:

    I think I just got a boner

  181. hank said 16 years ago:

    mmmm these recent updates make me want to eat a giygas cookie.

  182. Aoi Neko-chan said 16 years ago:

    Man, you guys are so cool. Even with you guys doing all the work, you still take the time to post frequent updates. You also tell us all the little details about what you’re working on.

    Keep up the great work!!! ^-^

  183. Slash said 16 years ago:

    All this talk about legality and NOA is making me kind of nervous. I wonder if they google themselves to see what the internets are saying about them.

    …Of course there’s always the possibility of them already knowing. 😯

  184. Juan Love said 16 years ago:

    I actually would like to here Mato’s opinion on the matter as it stands (about the legality of the matter). I am sure that he and others have talked with NoA about. Especially those that are members of the Starmen.net Team.

  185. Vagn said 16 years ago:

    They do know, infact some NoA employees are just as excited about the patch as we are.

    *Generic Praises* and such.

  186. Coconut of Enlightenment said 16 years ago:

    So, Jeff finally figured out how to make it so that scrolly text doesn’t make sprites blink. Hmm…I can’t think of a witty comment to make there.
    Oh well, good work and keep going!

  187. Reanzet said 16 years ago:

    I’ve been around the world!…..without internet. Now i get a whole bunch of updates at once, YAY MATO! πŸ˜€
    On-topic: it seems like the formatting is going much faster than you’re making it seem like, or it’s just me.

    Aside from that, how many puns/jokes in the Japanese version of M3 translated badly (and which ones?)? I think someone mentioned you had to change a couple, but I’m not sure.

  188. mike k said 16 years ago:

    Here’s a witty comment on Jeff fixing the blinky text:
    Yippee cayeh motherf***er

  189. Nenacu said 16 years ago:

    Hey Mato, I’m sorry to ask something that’s probably been asked several times over, but I don’t browse the comments as much as I should. When you finish up with the hacking and go into the testing phase, are you going to release the patch to the public? I, for one, would be glad to test the Mac emulators for you. Sorry again if this is an irritating question, and thank you all very much for your hard work.

  190. saldite said 16 years ago:

    Nenacu: All testing will be handled internally by Mato and the rest, just as it says in the FAQ.

  191. Jamiany said 16 years ago:

    I wait for the day that Mato posts an update “It’s all done! You guys can play it now!” (because I check this before my emails)

    I’ve been staring at this update for the last 3 days πŸ™ If I keep watching maybe it will come faster, like the Wii.

  192. Alex said 16 years ago:

    With 3 months-ish left to go it looks like I’ll be enjoying some quality M3 time over Christmas this year. Can’t wait!

  193. Alex said 16 years ago:

    I know this should go on the forum but I need a quick answer and I know you guys respond quickly. In order to enjoy M3 do you need to have played both EB and EB Zero? I’ve played EarthBound (M2) but don’t know if Mother 3 is a direct sequel, in which case is it worth playing EBZ? Thanks!

  194. Jamiany said 16 years ago:

    You don’t need to play Earthbound Zero to enjoy Mother 3, but it’s a good thing to play while you’re waiting for Mother 3. I also think it helps explain the plot/jokes a tiny bit better of Mother 2 and somewhat 3.

  195. Mur said 16 years ago:

    For downloading the game, it would be nice if we could set up a torrent to download it ( example of a torrent downloader utorrent.com ) that way we can save on bandwitdth and can quickly transfer the file to mass amounts of people with more progression.

  196. MidnightCeltic said 16 years ago:

    Not all people can use Torrents though. I can’t because my stinking Dial-up moves so darn slow that it just doesn’t load much. I mean, the preview pics STILL haven’t loaded. And I REALLY WANT TO PLAY THIS.

  197. Alex said 16 years ago:

    Yeah my PC won’t allow me to use Torrents. Maybe multiple methods of dloading can be used?

  198. Magus said 16 years ago:

    Mato can always upload the patch to places like megaupload or something if he really has to.

  199. Nutsjesmoar said 16 years ago:

    That’s some nice dewonkification.

  200. Typhin said 16 years ago:

    I’m sure pretty much every method of hosting will be used. Both torrents and a static site. Even if Mato doesn’t set up torrents, they’ll be uploaded by fans in no time.

  201. Drkirby said 16 years ago:

    To be honest, I think you will end up with a lot more downloads the first week, like 100k. Though I am sure you are going to lose a good number of downloads from someone loading up a translated Mother 3 rom to Bittorrent, and other sites hosting the patch.

  202. EmpoleMew said 16 years ago:

    As long as people are enjoying in English, it shouldn’t be that big a deal, right?

  203. Lei said 16 years ago:

    I’m having little trouble with it in Japanese |D

  204. A Fan said 16 years ago:

    The files are small. This site and a few mirrors like megaupload (just in case) will be fine. Torrents are overkill, especially because you’d have to set up a tracker, etc.

    @Nenacu: You probably don’t need to test the patch in every different emulator. Either the emulator works or it doesn’t, mostly, and the patch is unlikely to introduce any bugs not present in the original. So if you want to test, fire up a copy of the Japanese ROM (which you will NEED to use the patch and should already have downloaded ages ago) and see if that works.

    If it does, the game will very likely work when you patch it as well. This gives you lots of time to fiddle with work-arounds so you can find a way to play it. You probably won’t be able to get too far given that it’s in Japanese, but you can probably make it through naming the characters and maybe to the first save even if you don’t understand a thing (I’ve done most of that, though I couldn’t find a save frog, so I just looked at those dinosaurs I think I was supposed to feed or something).

  205. Pistachio? said 16 years ago:

    Great Work M3translation team can’t wait to play it!!!!!!! T~T

    Also would it be possible to post like a How To install the patch faq or something like that since i have never installed a patch on a rom and im sure others will need help doing this πŸ˜€

    thx for the the hard work and time you out into the patch.

    Mato=God lolz

  206. jc52031 said 16 years ago:

    So theres three months left? Haha. I was expecting it out this week. Well in any case, awesome job hacking team.

  207. xfaerietalex said 16 years ago:

    @Pistachio

    I’m pretty sure if you go to the menu patch download page there is a link to the program and I think it tells you how to patch it too. Its very easy, assuming you do it the same way πŸ™‚

  208. 62t said 16 years ago:

    Yea if people have concern about patching and running on emulator, try using a Japanese rom and menu patch as a test.

  209. Demolisho said 16 years ago:

    As mato has loved you, love one another. Also, secret links are secret.

  210. Larry said 16 years ago:

    Keep up the great work Mato! Awesomeness^10.

  211. MotherLover123 said 16 years ago:

    πŸ˜€

  212. ... said 16 years ago:

    Fact: In Earthbound Zero, the description for the Franklin Badge says that Benjamin Franklin wore it when he did his lighting experiment(with the key on the kite thing).

    Mato: If you had to guess how many lines of text is in block 0?

  213. The Game Master said 16 years ago:

    Stupid Block 0. The only thing that’s stopping us from playing now. It might even have been released a week later if it weren’t for that DANG BLOCK ZERO!!!

  214. A Fan said 16 years ago:

    I think Mato already translated all the lines in Block 0? It’s just the fact that they come with crazy font routines that breaks things. Oh, and that one really huge ‘line’ in it actually crashed their tool. Hopefully, they fixed it after that πŸ™‚

  215. TheReaper08 said 16 years ago:

    Mato finishing all 120 enemy descriptions is huge news its more like front page news instead of just a normal comment,anyways congrats.

  216. Zaratus said 16 years ago:

    TheReaper08: There’s 187 enemy descriptions, not 120. He’s only done with 120, still 67 more to go. Still, it’s getting there.

  217. "Snake" Plisskin said 16 years ago:

    For torrents you should use Opera it is free.
    And Mato please fix the saving issuse with VBA for Mac

  218. Arc said 16 years ago:

    How to install a patch.

    Download Lunar IPS or a similar program.

    Select the file that you want to patch to the rom
    Select the rom.

    It is now patched.

    Also, some Emulators, like Visual Boy Advance, include a auto patcher. All you have to do is rename the patch to have the exact same name as the rom, excluding the file type, and the emulator should do it itself.

  219. noco said 16 years ago:

    @Arc:
    It won’t be an IPS

  220. Arc said 16 years ago:

    If its a translation patch, it should be.

    Unless you guys are gonna use the new ups patcher being developed by Romhacking.net

  221. aoe said 16 years ago:

    Tomato, go for the dual reference and rename King Burger to Burger of Kings

  222. Reg teh Yoshi said 16 years ago:

    Lunar IPS won’t be able to handle the job, since the full patch is expected to be larger then 16 Megabytes (LIPS cannot make or apply patches over 16 megabytes). The patch will most likely be used with ups or the same method the menu patch was made with.

  223. guy said 16 years ago:

    i thought UPS was made by Byuu who made it during the hacking/translation portion of the game?

  224. Reg teh Yoshi said 16 years ago:

    My bad, Lunar IPS CAN make patches larger then 16 MBs, it just can’t patch files larger then that.

    Sorry about that :s

  225. jellytack said 16 years ago:

    @…:

    I’ve never finished earthbound zero, and i didn’t know that’s why it’s called the “franklin badge:… awesome! πŸ™‚

  226. Reg teh Yoshi said 16 years ago:

    And by files, I mean IPS patches.

    <_<

  227. A Fan said 16 years ago:

    @ “Snake” Plisskin

    I think that’s a VBA issue, not a Mother 3 issue? You might want to check that it has the correct save settings, “auto” won’t work for all games. Sometimes you have to set it to whatever size of flash the game uses.

    I think it’s been mentioned before, too, and people have found work-arounds, but I don’t remember.

  228. noco said 16 years ago:

    Unless “the translation team” πŸ™‚ decides to use ups, it’s gonna be a ppf

  229. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Ugh, so much false, incorrect info.

    see here

    I better add it to the FAQ I guess.

  230. Reg teh Yoshi said 16 years ago:

    “And by files, I mean IPS patches.”

    Ignore that. I was right in the first place.

    Man I’m gonna hurt myself with all these self-corrections πŸ™

  231. some person said 16 years ago:

    King Burger. Hm.

    Nope, I see no copyright infrigement there.

    *generic praises for Mato and co.*

  232. Doc said 16 years ago:

    So, while I know it’s not neccesarily legal to hand out roms, would you authorize it if you someone happened to re-upload a patched rom to somewhere to claim it’s “The United States” version? I’m not suggesting I’d want to do this, it’s just something I’m curious about.

  233. Mr PPV THC said 16 years ago:

    Just droping by to say THANK YOU!

  234. EZWayOut said 16 years ago:

    Maybe too late to suggest such a thing and it may be a case of me not understanding but couldn’t formatting of text be done relatively quickly using regular expressions and a programming language such as Perl rather than by hand? Or maybe I misunderstand the process. Thanks!

  235. Mato said 16 years ago:

    The formatting also includes shortening text by rephrasing if there’s not enough room on screen, checking the translations, fixing typos, making things look good in general, etc. Also, because each enemy is a different size, the amount of space varies for each description. So no, it’s not something that can be automated. Even if a script WAS used, I’d still have to go in and test it anyway (and do all the other aforementioned stuff).

  236. Alfonso Alfredo said 16 years ago:

    If we’re renaming King Burger to Burger of Kings, then we should also rename Taco Bell to Nacho Mama.

  237. Kuro:) said 16 years ago:

    This may sound very… newbie, but once you release the patch, do you plan on updating it at all should problems arise? And if one were to update their patch, would it cause you to loose save data in the game? Sorry I couldn’t find the answer on the FAQ…

  238. seedvt said 16 years ago:

    Kuro: When I patched the current menu patch onto my clean rom with a save, I was able to continue the save without any problems.

    But I would think that Mato & co. would attempt to fix any problems that arise after the release.

  239. Arc said 16 years ago:

    Alright, a ups patcher.

    Which should have a similar set of instructions.

    I’ll go download one and try it out.

    Thank you for the information Mato.

  240. 3months? said 16 years ago:

    Where is this 3 months thing coming from?, it’s kinda crushed me.

  241. Mato said 16 years ago:

    It’s nothing new, I’ve been saying that for the last few weeks. Just look around older updates and older comments of mine.

  242. Millhouse said 16 years ago:

    […] So far, Mother 3 has been announced in Europe, but yet to see a translation into US. […] β€œοΏ½?Remarkable because: this unique game will probably come to Europe, but not to the USA.οΏ½? You can check out a scan of the article below. […]

    what? there was no scan on that page, but it still leaves me to wonder what their sources were…
    god, I’m so glad this is not true. I want to play this game, not Nintendo’s translation.

  243. EmpoleMew said 16 years ago:

    @Millhouse:

    Was that a Nintendo Power article?

  244. MegaBlues said 16 years ago:

    Oh @_@ the tension is killing me! I check this site almost 10 times a day. And don’t forget to rest. Take it easy, don’t push yourself too hard, or you’ll mess up. remember to keep your priorities straight, don’t neglect your life outside of the hacking world. Keep on trucking, make back-ups in case of crashes, and ensure that this project has a 100% chance of success.

    …and on a more fan-boyish note…

    ZOMG So close to being done ^_^ I can taste the baked yammonster and feel the rhythm of the Sound Battle. And when this is finished, I shall eat OVER 9000 tomatoes with everything! But if you give up, the tomato will forever be ridden with E. Coli! And also, I’m pushing for ya! Keep on truckin! And in honor of Mother 3, I shall only use Ness and Lucas and play only on Earthbound stages! *runs off and makes a “MAKE MOTHER 3!” stage on SSBB*

  245. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Was probably referring to this from april/may 2006

    boo

  246. Dr. Meat said 16 years ago:

    Way to mess up the pixel ratio on a picture that takes up half the page, Professional Magazine!

  247. coromoro said 16 years ago:

    Man, this is awesome. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I seriously cannot wait to play this. πŸ™‚

  248. Cubear said 16 years ago:

    Tess, a young boy in a stripey top

  249. jellytack said 16 years ago:

    betcha didn’t know his name was really Tess πŸ™‚

  250. Benmar said 16 years ago:

    Did it seriously just call Ness, “Tess” in that article? Ouch. Or is that his name in Europe? (which makes no sense)

  251. bananaman said 16 years ago:

    BOOOOOOO!
    And, it’s so close. I can’t wait! Wait. Actually, I can.

    Well, anyway, *generic praises*

  252. The Great Morgil said 16 years ago:

    Man, i had this weird dream last night. I logged on to this blog, and there was a full blown trailer uploaded just waiting to be watched. When i tried playing it, some error came up and a bunch of html code started showing up. When i was finally able to get it to work and about to play it, then i woke up.

  253. Jay6 said 16 years ago:

    lol, Tess. I don’t remember a Tess from Melee. XD

  254. mike said 16 years ago:

    yea good job but i was reading this and i tryed to find a mother 3 rom thats works and i cant find one can anyone help? cause i use to have one but i got a new computer so yea thanks for the help

  255. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    [This word filter just keeps on attacking me!!!]

    Mike, we will not provide you with a location for getting the game. We won’t even help you find hardware to transfer it to if you want stuff like that.

    Generally, the best sites are the ones where you register. They have a better selection than the others, because the community provides the games. I will not say any more than that.

    If your Mother 3 does not work in Visual Boy Advance for Windows, you have a bad copy. I’ve confirmed it to work.

  256. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    Sorry, the page wasn’t refreshing for me. I waited 5 minutes and still nothing.

    So my posts WERE getting through.

    Sorry!

  257. seedvt said 16 years ago:

    Mato: Ouch, that scan hurt

  258. Keith said 16 years ago:

    @Benmar: Sadly, EarthBound was NEVER released in europe. I have put up with an injected VC game.

  259. Vagn said 16 years ago:

    Please guys there is a FAQ that will answer most of your questions, and people should know as a being a part of the emulation community that asking for ROMs in any sort is always a big no no. I’m sure its frustrating for the translation team to see the same questions over and over again, especially since they take the time to read all the comments.

  260. Gene said 16 years ago:

    ilu gaiz <3 very much.

  261. WarioWare said 16 years ago:

    Thank you Guys for this translation, your Project is really great and very serious. Mother 3 is one of the best games for GBA, and it must be played by all gamers.

    Hope to see soon the final version of the translation, thank you again!!

  262. The Game Master said 16 years ago:

    My annoying friend, who posted ASCIIs on my previous name (Nobody) while I was in the bathroom just told me he is gonna download the patch and upload somewhere else and claim it’s a better patch. Fortunately, I talked him out of it by telling him haw useless it would be.

  263. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Very hard to find time the past few days, but I did some just now and 133 / 187 descriptions done now

  264. Batdawg said 16 years ago:

    I love you guys, and every little thing that you guys do to get anyone in the U.S. who doesn’t unterstand japanese a little closer to enjoying the sequel to one of the best game series of all time is just a beautiful and noble effort. I love you guys. And those are strong, True words.

    You GUYS RROOCCKK!!!!

  265. Derrick T. said 16 years ago:

    Cool! Tomato, are ya gonna put up an update tomorrow? I’m guessing that there will probably only be another 5-6 updates? Probably 2 more for hacking and 3-4 for testing? How many do you think, tomato? You’re probably closer than me (duh XD)

  266. Yo ho ho said 16 years ago:

    I remember reading that scan a long time ago and being so excited.

  267. bob said 16 years ago:

    So much fail in that magazine article. Tess, Earthbound called Mother in japan, MOTHER 3 IN UK BY DECEMBER. But yea, great work as usual can’t wait :D.

  268. Googi said 16 years ago:

    When it says “EarthBound” is called “Mother” in Japan, I think it’s actual referring to the title of the series itself. On a similar note though, the official title for the unreleased localized version of “Mother” is “Earth Bound,” though for differentiability purposes it’s become largely referred to as “EarthBound Zero,” after the Demi hack.

    Still, it’s obvious they weren’t referring to the first game specifically.

  269. Nilethevile said 16 years ago:

    Sweet… 133/187
    man I haven’t posted in long time but I’ve been lurking almost daily. coming down to the last and the excitement has me on the edge of my seat.
    Ive told some freinds in the last few days of this project and they had no Idea there was a mother 3 but they love EB.
    so they too are now patiently waiting to play M3. It is going to be great to play this through the ’08 holiday season(assuming it gets finished and released in three or so months, not that I care if it takes longer)

  270. BaG_2.0 said 16 years ago:

    I can’t believe I only found this site a day ago! I’m a big fan of Mother 2 (EarthBound, but you already knew that)and I have been hopping for a stateside release of Mother 3 ever since I saw the first Japanese commercial on YouTube.

    When I saw all the progress you have made, I almost thought this was an official developers blog for NoA, but this is just as good!

  271. ketchup packet said 16 years ago:

    Hooray! the mini updates are back. amazing progress mato, I can’t believe how much got done so fast. keep on truckin’.

  272. noco said 16 years ago:

    @BaG:
    It’s better! πŸ™‚

  273. Richarbro said 16 years ago:

    Hey bud keep up the great work!
    I can’t wait for it πŸ˜€

  274. Mato said 16 years ago:

    30 descriptions left. I’ll try to get through them tomorrow.

  275. Doc said 16 years ago:

    As general, thanks mato. So, after this I suppose all the text will have been finished…? Would this mean a few more polishing texts, then cramming it into the game, squashing all the bugs, fixing little things like the sound and other weird little innormalities, then finally releasing the patch?

  276. A Fan said 16 years ago:

    Am I reading the to-do list, or will finishing those descriptions leave you with nothing to do but hacks & fixes?

    Or is there any other “misc. text” we might not remember or know about?

  277. Jamiany said 16 years ago:

    “INNORMALITIES?”

    I think you mean Abnormalities. You’re getting too hyped about this.

  278. MajorasMask9 said 16 years ago:

    Mato for president.

  279. Rai said 16 years ago:

    I’d vote for him.

  280. jellytack said 16 years ago:

    Mato for emperor

  281. Anthony said 16 years ago:

    Hello
    I’d like to know if it’s possible for you to add to the game something like a tiny sidequest like to fight a big boss harder than the hardest boss of the game. I think that mother 2 (earthbound) lack in these type of sidequest. It would be interresting to fitgh like “Tomato Hacker Boss” with all the best move of the game. well, I think it’s a great idea but is it possible?

  282. Millhouse said 16 years ago:

    Mato for emperor of the universe!

    (and no, I wasn’t referring to that article, but to some article I sound via google on the web. this is an awesome piece of fail, though… the page had a “via source” link, but it only led to a french 404 site…

  283. Anthony said 16 years ago:

    Hello Mato,
    I’d like to know if it’s possible for you to add to the game something like a tiny sidequest like to fight a big boss harder than the hardest boss of the game. I think that mother 2 (earthbound) lack in these type of sidequest. It would be interresting to fitgh like β€œTomato Hacker Boss” with all the best move of the game. well, I think it’s a great idea but is it possible?

  284. TheMetroidMan said 16 years ago:

    He already said he is not going to be adding anything additional into the game. All he is doing is a faithful translation of the text into English for all of us to enjoy, and is not adding anything that isn’t already in there.

  285. Derrick T. said 16 years ago:

    So I’m guessing that Tomato won’t update until he finishes all 187 descriptions. I hope that’s today!

  286. confused said 16 years ago:

    Quick everyone vote Mato in November as a write in candidate
    (if I had art skills I would draw a picture of someone poking there head out of the voting booth saying how do you spell tomato?
    Hint hint!)

  287. A Fan said 16 years ago:

    Write in Mato for 1st Emperor of the Moon!

  288. Whane said 16 years ago:

    All hail Moon Emperor Mato and everyone in MoonLand

    (Nongeneric Praises)

  289. 3months? said 16 years ago:

    Well to be honest, This is possibly the most detailed Translation I have ever seen, and it needed to be from the sounds of it.

    Initially I assumed it was very close to being finished and was surprised to hear otherwise, but then again I know nothing about the process.

    So Mother 3 team I tip my hat, this thing will be flawless when it’s released and I can wait for that day……………. anyways it’s my own fault and not played Earthbound till a couple of months ago.
    I could have been blissfully happy without it, only if I had not seen it in my snes rom list and decided to play it for the initial 5 Min’s that turned into 3 solid days.

  290. Reg teh Yoshi said 16 years ago:

    @Anthony

    Mato is just translating the game’s text so we can read it, he’s simply doing what Nintendon’t XD. He did add a “Battle Star” feature that gives you a gold and silver star depending on how many front and back poses of enemies you encountered.

    I do like your way of thinking, though. Who knows, after the translation is done, some other PK hax0r may make a “Special Edition” with a bunch of new features.

  291. Mato said 16 years ago:

    20 descs left

  292. Derrick T. said 16 years ago:

    cool! Are ya gonna update it today?

  293. Shyv said 16 years ago:

    Keep it up, were all looking forward to it.

  294. Brian said 16 years ago:

    Party on Mato!

  295. me said 16 years ago:

    Mato said that he’ll probably finish the enemy descriptions by tomorrow.

    Anyone who votes mato for eternal universe president say Aye!!
    Aye!

  296. The Game Master said 16 years ago:

    @Googi, The official name for unreleased mother translation IS Earthbound Zero. They made that the name because it was a Beta.

  297. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Stop with the false info blargh πŸ™

    The NES proto was called Earth Bound. demi hacked the “ZERO” into the title screen after dumping the ROM.

    Besides, they’d have to be able to tell the future to know that a SNES sequel would be coming out years later and that they’d call that EarthBound too.

  298. some guy in an ambulance said 16 years ago:

    Holy crap, it’s so close to being done, I can almost taste it.

  299. ehime said 16 years ago:

    Way-2-go Mato! So close, yet soooo far away.
    You got us all in thrall here man! Watch your
    health and keep up the work!

  300. ehime said 16 years ago:

    +1 for Proto-Bound

  301. Fanta said 16 years ago:

    Haha! You tell ’em! Set the facts straight, Mato!
    And we’re all behind you, Mr. President, sir!
    xD

  302. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Interesting, that one dummied-out enemy, the “Tiny Li’l Forest” even has a description written for it, though you can never fight it normally.

    There’s also stuff in here that makes it look like they were planning on including extra info for each enemy, like height, weight, personality, habitat, and exp points, but they either scrapped it partway through development or they commented out the code or something.

    Almost done with descriptions, I want to do one last check against the original text to make sure we didn’t mess anything up. I probably won’t update until I do the voice hacking tonight/tomorrow though.

  303. Shuri said 16 years ago:

    I’m guessing we won’t get to see Tiny Li’l Forest put into the game will we? Are the heights, weights, etc. all in the programming so you can see what it is supposed to be, you just can’t see it while playing the game? Or are there just spaces where it looked like you could put that info in? Are there other dummied-out enemies but without descriptions?

    That should cover every question people are about to ask.

  304. Derrick T. said 16 years ago:

    Oh, ok…:(
    But I can’t wait until tomorrow!
    Tomato, you should try to put the tiny lil forest in there if tehre’s enough memory…

  305. Derrick T. said 16 years ago:

    Oh, I wanted to also ask tomato: Is buying the M3 CD track from Itunes good for the franchise as well? Or should I get the CD itself?

  306. Triangle said 16 years ago:

    Shuri : yeah you saved me some time πŸ™‚

    Derrick T.: Mato said before that buying it from iTunes does help, but i don’t know if it does more than the CD itself

  307. sage said 16 years ago:

    I’ve been a longtime lurker and this is my first post but I must say good job.

    I try to get as much recognition for Ness as I can by using him in smash tournaments. If I win one he could become more popular or something, like Marth.

  308. Derrick T. said 16 years ago:

    Yeah, Marth is one character to complain about not (like a lot of people do) Ness. Ness is from both the US and Japan. Did they ever translate that frie emblem game with marth?

  309. Reg teh Yoshi said 16 years ago:

    Nope.

    Fire Emblem DS will have him, since that’s a remake of their first game. It is coming out in America (But I wouldn’t consider it a translation).

  310. Acacia Sgt said 16 years ago:

    Too bad. Him and Roy appearing in Melee was what brought Fire Emblem to the rest of the world (and I’m glad they did). Too bad it didn’t happen the same way with Lucas in Brawl.

  311. Reg teh Yoshi said 16 years ago:

    That’s Reggie for ya :p

  312. Drkirby said 16 years ago:

    Could we get the pic and decription to that dummied-out enemy? (And not a “Just go to the Mother 3 Spoiler board at Starman” responce)

  313. ThirdStrongest said 16 years ago:

    So Mato, when you finish the translation, will you continue your service to mankind? Maybe you could try curing cancer? That shouldn’t be TOO hard after all this…

  314. Crysta said 16 years ago:

    Is the dummied enemy info complete? Er.. I mean.. is there that info for every enemy? Or does it only cover like.. half of them?

  315. Lei said 16 years ago:

    That’s it, I’m making MOTHER 4 myself. 😐

  316. MotherLover123 said 16 years ago:

    πŸ˜€ Yeah, keep it up!

  317. Skullrama said 16 years ago:

    …If he gives you the ‘just go to the mother 3 spoiler board’ response, it’s for a reason. The information about a number of things in the game on this little board is limited to prevent spoilers, and I completely trust Mato’s judgement on what does and doesn’t break that embargo. If you disagree, you’re gonna have to just deal.

  318. Mur said 16 years ago:

    i could so see the mother community going out and developing the next mother game and totally not put it on Nintendo’s platform