Timbrrrrrrre

16 years ago by Mato

Another small update, these will be the norm from now on probably.

Finally finished the sound hacking thing on the to-do list. Two tiny sound effects needed to be changed into English. One is when you use an item that tricks enemies into turning around. It says, “Look over there!” in a goofy, 0.4 second-long clip. The other is 1.2 seconds long and plays during an unusual version of rock-paper-scissors.

The game stores this sound data as 8-bit, signed, stereo raw PCM data at 8000-ish Hz with some extra info thrown in. In normal people terms, that means it’s low quality and sounds scratchy, as you can hear from the original Japanese clips here. I’ll refrain from posting the English clips, even though I’m happy with them, because for some reason people have a kneejerk reaction to stuff like this. Had there been actual, full-fledged voice acting in this game, like if this had been a Playstation RPG, I would have definitely found a way to subtitle it (hell, that IS what I do for a living ๐Ÿ˜› ) but these are more like two quick sound effects that would otherwise make players go “wtf was that” and we’d have to translate it for them anyway. In fact, the people who did the Japanese voices didn’t even get credited for it (or if they did, they were just in Special Thanks).

Anyway, I wrote a quick program to automate the process of converting sound files to something usable by our hack, which is good, cause it was taking me forever to do it manually. It’ll also mean translations into other languages should be able to do this sound effect translation thing pretty easily too.

Meanwhile, Jeff and I have been fixing minor bugs we see, it would actually take more time to explain them than it took us to fix them. I’m also always constantly fixing any rare typos, etc. I find.

Anyway, all this means that another thing is off the to-do list. Next, I’ll go mess with the battle control codes and hopefully fix that sometime this week.

Posted on Sunday, August 24th, 2008 at 1:10 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.

310 Responses to “Timbrrrrrrre”

  1. Poppop said 16 years ago:

    Fantastic! Someone should start bets on how many more updates will be posted before everything’s all finished. :O

  2. guy said 16 years ago:

    timberrrr

    (insert nice comment about boob wizards)

  3. kenshin9 said 16 years ago:

    Awesome. Can’t wait to play this.

  4. sergiofriend said 16 years ago:

    What’s Timbrrrrrrre?
    ๐Ÿ™‚
    Awesome Job!

  5. Mato said 16 years ago:

    I did some very rough calculations just now, first, the full script file is approx 800 8×11 pages (not including all the misc text). Some other rough estimates, and had this been a professional translation I was working on, at my bulk rates, it would’ve come to around $40,000-ish (this does include misc text), just for the translating alone. No idea how much time/effort the hacking part might have equated to in a professional setting, but Jeff and I’ve put a ton more time into the hacking.

    I’m kinda glad I’m not doing it professionally though, since I don’t have deadlines to meet, I can actually go through the game and test stuff on the fly if I want, I have way more control over how things will show up/be used, etc.

  6. Mato said 16 years ago:

    sergiofriend: timbre

  7. sergiofriend said 16 years ago:

    thanks ๐Ÿ™‚

  8. gilligan156 said 16 years ago:

    lol.

    “I wrote a quick program to automate the process of converting sound files to something usable by our hack…”

    Mato, you never cease to amaze me.

  9. Axel said 16 years ago:

    Oh dude sweeeeeet.

    I DIDN’T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO SAY SORRY.

  10. StageProps said 16 years ago:

    The sound clips are done!
    Truly reason to rejoice.
    Thanks so much Mato!

    Haikus are easy.
    But sometimes they don’t make sense.
    Refrigerator.

    Yes, I know. ๐Ÿ˜›

  11. Carl said 16 years ago:

    First!

  12. Ganondork 24 said 16 years ago:

    I’d be interested in hearing the English clips you came up with, is there any way I’d be able to save for playing the translation in a few months or so?

  13. A Fan said 16 years ago:

    Nice pun, changing the lumberjack’s cry into a reference to the sound files ๐Ÿ™‚

    Good luck with Block 0. Looks like it’s the last boss after all, given that the control codes will crumble quickly once you reengage the hacking part of your brain, and you once said you had an idea on solving morphing, I thought.

    Which more likely than not leaves Block 0 and its spread-out tendrils as the final bit to hack ๐Ÿ™‚

  14. Charles said 16 years ago:

    Great work as always, Mato!
    Keep on chugging; you guys are almost out of this!
    Remember, we’re always behind you 100%! I deposited $40,000 in your bank account. You can get it by using your ATM card.

    Sadly, though, I can’t offer to save your progress. Tough.

    Seriously, though, great job thus far! Keep up the good work!

  15. Doc said 16 years ago:

    $40000? FORTY THOUSAND DOLLARS?

    Hmm, you know for 800 pages of script that’s not bad.

  16. Genowing said 16 years ago:

    You deserve a Freaking Mint for this, and I mean were they hold money, not the candy verity.

  17. Corncracker said 16 years ago:

    I’d rather have the candy myself.

  18. IAmTheRad said 16 years ago:

    Wow, getting closer and closer to release. Great job thus far, and I’m eagerly awaiting being able to play this!

  19. Jupiter-x said 16 years ago:

    Even if Nintendo had to shell out a hundred grand to translate it, the possible sales they lost by not releasing this game in the states… It really boggles me why they didn’t do it.

    Thank you, team. Thank you for your time, and for your effort. Thank you for the late nights, the stress, the fatigue. Thank you, for sharing with us Mother 3. Thank you.

  20. Mur said 16 years ago:

    Fight! Mato Fight!

  21. seedvt said 16 years ago:

    ๐Ÿ™‚

  22. Millhouse said 16 years ago:

    tse tse tse, you mean:

    I’ve deposited 40.000$ on your account. ignoring what you’re spent [on coffee], you should have -56124$. exp to the next level:
    Mato….2

    hey, after you obliterated those in-battle custom sontrol codes, and the menu sprite text morphing, you’ll gain a level, and then you’ll learn PSI Hack omega. with that in petto, you can tame Block 0 and save the world!

    sorry, that was a BIT random…

    I wonder how much you’d have gotten if you would accept donations…
    anyways, you ROCK!
    (oh, and as a side note, the ROCK-paper-scissor game is awesome! DCMC ftw!)

  23. TheLoz said 16 years ago:

    I agree with whoever said you deserve a mint. Some tic-tacs are in the post ๐Ÿ˜‰

    ~Loz

  24. goofball said 16 years ago:

    Millhouse, you mean:

    Iโ€™ve deposited 40.000$ on your account. ignoring what youโ€™re spent [on amphetmines], you should have -56124$.
    exp to the next level:
    Matoโ€ฆ.2

    just kidding ๐Ÿ™‚

  25. MageSerge said 16 years ago:

    I’m honestly getting wet just seeing how close you guys are to finishing this. And now, after reading your estimate of $40,000, I’m even more grateful to all of you for doing this. Thanks so much to the whole team, keep up the awesome work.

  26. Nick said 16 years ago:

    I’d like to hear the English clips as well, if you wouldn’t mind. Keep up the good work!

  27. Drรผ said 16 years ago:

    You can hear them when you play the game.

  28. Derrick T. said 16 years ago:

    wow that must be the fastest update ever!

  29. Derrick T. said 16 years ago:

    5 things left!!!

    Was that hyperlink , in the update supposed to be there? It linked to youtube…

  30. tellisk said 16 years ago:

    Wow. I actually looked for a hidden link this time and missed it. Usually they’re so obvious! Thanks, Derrick! =P

  31. bananaman said 16 years ago:

    Why can’t I ever find the hidden links?!

  32. Acacia Sgt said 16 years ago:

    It is so close now,
    just a few things left to do.
    Good luck for what’s left!

    There, I have finally made a Haiku.

  33. THEDRAFTISALMOASHTDUN said 16 years ago:

    Wow, Can’t wait

  34. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    I’m having heart failure from happiness right now

  35. IWontGetOvertheDam said 16 years ago:

    Mato…. Will you have my babies?

  36. Drkirby said 16 years ago:

    Most likely the voices were done by the programers.

  37. Aphrodine said 16 years ago:

    <3 I… I love you.

    My womb is available to bear your children whenever it is convenient for you.

  38. Elizara said 16 years ago:

    I found it.

    Just a hint; check the source code; it usually makes the hidden link plain as day. (Look for a href codes (that’s html link code). One of them is linked somewhere you wouldn’t notice..)

  39. Jon said 16 years ago:

    Keep up the good work Mato, we all have faith in you.

  40. xyzzy said 16 years ago:

    a long time ago
    a translater called mato
    began a project.

    a fun game he’d played
    called mother 3 from Japan
    wasn’t arriving.

    so he began work
    on this great and big project
    and slowly it rose.

    we all watched with joy
    excited at each update
    of mato’s toiling.

    there’s just a bit more
    and we’re all so excited
    three cheers for mato!

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

    So few tasks left on the to-do list! This is amazing, great work team!

  42. Mato said 16 years ago:

    I’ve played this game so much now and worked on it so much now that it’s really turned me numb, but just now while playing through a small part I finally felt a twinge of excitement that it’s almost ready to be released. It was just a tiny bit, but I think it’s probably what everyone else is feeling. I like that feeling, it reminds me of like 13+ years ago when Final Fantasy III US was slated to be released and I was excited beyond belief and couldn’t wait. It’s really rare that I feel that about any game anymore, so that’s pretty cool. Just a little more hacking and then I can sleep again ๐Ÿ˜€

  43. Vagn said 16 years ago:

    Sometimes I get a tingle of excitement, but then I realize its just gas.

    Oh yes:
    *Generic Praises*

  44. reklusive said 16 years ago:

    You are so freaking awesome Mato…. Are you Jesus? :O

  45. buttfrenzy said 16 years ago:

    If I had $40,000 I’d give it to you. Well, okay, it 40K was the ONLY thing I had, I wouldn’t. But If I got, say, 500K, I’d definitely give you 40K of it. <3

  46. MW said 16 years ago:

    You know, it’s actually pretty weird. When I first heard the “What’s that?” sound clip, I had Boney use the item that induced it.

    I was just, “… did that dog just talk?”.

  47. Pistachio? said 16 years ago:

    Almost there so close i can taste it. ~Licks Screen~

    we’ll GJ! Mato and Team!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hope to see the finished product soon.

  48. M. Bison said 16 years ago:

    “Anyway, all this means that another thing is off the to-do list. Next, Iโ€™ll go mess with the battle control codes and hopefully fix that sometime this week.” How come the apostrophe after “Next” links to this? :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhtJ7lD1Ngc

  49. Triangle said 16 years ago:

    lawl, “licks screen”

  50. blueflare said 16 years ago:

    Ahhh! Awesome!

  51. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Wow, there’s been like 14,000 dloads of the sound clip file since I first put it up a few months ago. That’s almost as many as the # of total menu patch dloads (15,000+). I never realized people had been dloading that file that much, and I only linked to it from the project to-do page until today.

  52. reklusive said 16 years ago:

    I hope you guys put yourselves in the credits, and not just in the “special thanks” section ^__^

  53. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Updated the to-do list very slightly with very rough time estimates for each thing left. It doesn’t take other stuff into account, like setting up our distribution methods, making sure the site doesn’t explode, writing the readme, setting up something to email 30,000+ people, etc. Most of that stuff will probably be done by neither me or Jeff though.

  54. Mato said 16 years ago:

    reklusive: No, we decided not to, it would be tacky and the credits is kind of weird and probably if we hacked our names in there we’d have to remove some other names I think. Besides, we got that intro screen with the URL to here, and we’ll have the readme file.

  55. TheReaper08 said 16 years ago:

    Mato its good that the sound clips are done which is another thing off the to do list and Mato its good that you decided not to put the new english sound clips because that is something that should be a surprise when people play the game,also people would start to complain about the voices if you post up the new english sound clips lol.

  56. RAIDERX said 16 years ago:

    ๐Ÿ˜€

  57. hasone said 16 years ago:

    I think, maybe, that over the past month we may have gradated from 3 months left to 2.5 months left ๐Ÿ˜›

    Good job. I can hear the numbness in your writing. If you’re happy not slowing down, that’s fine, but that numbness kinda worries me. This isn’t work, right? I, at least, would rather you enjoy yourself than get the thing early.

  58. Doc said 16 years ago:

    Sounds roughly 3-4 months though, The word “Few” always confuses me. I’m hoping that maybe this isn’t as complex as it sounds on the list (Except block 0) And the “Week long” is an easy fix. Should be, but again, no more stress on mato. After all, we shouldn’t really beg, I mean seriously now, the chances of translation when mother 3 came out was about 1%, look at it now.

  59. Mr. Nosy said 16 years ago:

    (So my assumptions on the clips are right…)

    Sorry that I have not posted in this blog (for reasons of which I am not sure), yet I read it frequently!

    Anyways, Mr. Mato, to quote one of those clips you posted, “End this fight!*”

    P.S. For those who are wonderng, he will leave “OK desu ka?”/”Odeska?”/”Okeska?” alone, since he says that “OK desu ka?” is an Earthbound/Mother staple. (It appeared non-translated in the English Earthbound.)

    However, that makes me curious. Would people be able to change the “OK desu ka?” clip with the automatic sound converting program?

    * = At least I heard it like that.

  60. Asok said 16 years ago:

    It’s like the time when the corn stalks are fully grown but the ears just aren’t quite ready yet. You can see them, but you can’t eat them. But you know they’re almost ready, and you just can’t wait.

    In a way, Mother 3 is like corn. And I think that is an analogy quite suitable for the game.

  61. Lei said 16 years ago:

    OMG MW!!! I had no idea you commented here too! I frequent your site!

    Man, you’re just amazing Mato. Nothing else to say, but that you are incredibly amazing.

  62. Arc said 16 years ago:

    Nice.

    *patiently waits for Mother 3*

  63. Jak1437 said 16 years ago:

    MageSerge said:
    “Iโ€™m honestly getting wet just seeing how close you guys are to finishing this. And now, after reading your estimate of $40,000, Iโ€™m even more grateful to all of you for doing this. Thanks so much to the whole team, keep up the awesome work.”

    Eeeeeeewww…

  64. A Fan said 16 years ago:

    > it reminds me of like 13+ years ago when Final Fantasy III US was slated to be released and I was excited beyond belief and couldnโ€™t wait.

    Heh. I remember that. I got that game for Christmas that year, and I knew exactly which package it was (I knew the size of SNES game boxes quite well…). I could hardly wait.

    And then I rushed through opening presents when we finally got to and played the game ASAP, with my trusty issues of Nintendo Power by my side. I believe I played it for almost all of Christmas break and beyond.

  65. Cheese said 16 years ago:

    Sounds like you have 7 outta 8 sounds collected (Earthbound joke)

  66. GhostSonic said 16 years ago:

    Only 3 things before testing, it seems. how exciting. That block 0 doesn’t sound so nice though.

  67. Troy G said 16 years ago:

    $40 grand for this much work is more than fair. It is well over a years worth of work.

  68. EmpoleMew said 16 years ago:

    Cool, the sound clips are done. Its so close now, I can practically taste the omlettes. *drools*

  69. Lei said 16 years ago:

    I have a question:

    In the walk throughs on Starmen.Net, how do you all figure out the EXACT number of HP an enemy has, offense, defense, etc.? I dont think it ever says in-game….

  70. Alfonso Alfredo said 16 years ago:

    From now on, whenever I see something awesome, I’ll say, “I can’t believe it’s not Mother 3!”

    ๐Ÿ™‚ ๐Ÿ™‚ ๐Ÿ™‚ ๐Ÿ™‚ ๐Ÿ™‚ ๐Ÿ™‚ ๐Ÿ™‚ ๐Ÿ™‚ ๐Ÿ™‚ ๐Ÿ™‚ ๐Ÿ™‚ ๐Ÿ™‚ ๐Ÿ™‚ ๐Ÿ™‚ ๐Ÿ™‚ ๐Ÿ™‚ ๐Ÿ™‚ ๐Ÿ™‚ ๐Ÿ™‚

  71. Lord Prosper said 16 years ago:

    Go Mato go!

  72. Derrick T. said 16 years ago:

    You should make a M3 contest for when youre done like the pk tuben

  73. Nathaniel said 16 years ago:

    These updates are like my oxygen… but lighter.

    I’m flying high tonight….

    *anticipation grows*

  74. Mato said 16 years ago:
  75. Karma said 16 years ago:

    “Iโ€™ll refrain from posting the English clips, even though Iโ€™m happy with them, because for some reason people have a kneejerk reaction to stuff like this.”

    You mean weeaboos that get fantardish and ignorantly elitist when they hear the devil’s language known as english?

    Why do you even remotely care what those idiots think? I’d like to hear the clips. ๐Ÿ™

  76. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    Mato: That’s how I found the site.

  77. Andy said 16 years ago:

    Mato, who voiced the sound clips? You?

  78. noco said 16 years ago:

    Oh, Mato-mato.
    What’s with all the pseudo-hidden links?

  79. Impossible said 16 years ago:

    “Another small update, these will be the norm from now on probably.”

    I just checked, this is the fourth update in a row Mato has said this. >_>

  80. Hyarion said 16 years ago:

    Lei wrote: “OMG MW!!! I had no idea you commented here too! I frequent your site!”

    Hm, THAT MW. Didn’t realize it was him until I saw Lei’s post… makes sense that he’d know about this, he’s a devoted MOTHER fan after all.

    Always nice to bump into people I know in different corners of the Internet.

  81. Gurb said 16 years ago:

    I agree about the whole kneejerk reaction thing. Still though, it’d be nice if the sound effects were still in the game, somewhere, somehow *mysterious music*

    Anyways, great work as always!

  82. FramerJ said 16 years ago:

    Hilarious, Mato.

  83. LuffyDan said 16 years ago:

    “Had there been actual, full-fledged voice acting in this game, like if this had been a Playstation RPG, I would have definitely found a way to subtitle it (hell, that IS what I do for a living ๐Ÿ˜› ”

    I’ve always wondered Mato-san, if it is alright for me to ask, what exactly is it that you do for a living? How did you come into this line of work? As a translation student I’ve been trying to find out how to get into the business, but there isn’t too much at my school as far as info.

    Oh and yes, keep up the awesome work! XD

  84. Genowing said 16 years ago:

    Lol. I find it funny how when people here tell Earthbound jokes, they have to “(Earthbound Joke) I would find it hard to believe that anyone here, except for a sad few, have not played it, or remember it.

  85. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Andy: reid, meeellla, plo.

    Impossible: Yeah, but sometimes people don’t pay attention; we still get plenty of “what happened to draft 3” questions and stuff, even one update later I think.

    noco: It’s something I’ve been doing for fun for the last month or two. No real reason. It’s kind of lame how people always ask “why did you put a secret link there”, because that makes it instantly non-secret ๐Ÿ™ So maybe I should stop. It was just me being goofy.

    LuffyDan: Here’s this, but it sounds like you already know that. I translate and subtitle anime, Japanese movies, etc. and translate Japanese video games.

    I wrote this to answer your question about how to get into the industry (I get the question pretty regularly) but I still have yet to write the second part. The short answer is, once you have the skills, you have to wander into the world on your own, most likely as a freelancer. It’s tough getting started.

  86. Millhouse said 16 years ago:

    wait, you translated kingdom hearts and one piece? wow. I didn’t know you were… I don’t know… but wow. having such a professional translate mother 3 is more than any fan could ever hope for.

    and thanks for linking for that article on how to get started, I was just about to ask you to link to it.^^

    btw: please don’t stop hiding those links in your articles, but instead, continue! is there some possibility to make them more secret? like, setting the formatting fo the link so that it looks like completely normal text? that way, you would only see it with a mouse over.

    and please people, don’t point out the (earthbound joke). it ruins the funny. and don’t point out the secret links. spelling out jokes is never good. that being said,

    great work, Mato, woot!!

  87. bananaman said 16 years ago:

    I just found the totally non-secret link.

    Gooooooooooooooo Mato!

  88. noco said 16 years ago:

    @Mato
    Noooo don’t stop I enjoy the videos ๐Ÿ™‚
    I promise I’ll stop askin!

  89. MidnightCeltic said 16 years ago:

    Whoa ๐Ÿ˜ฏ That was weird. But anyway, good job and be glad it’s almost over. AND GET SOME SLEEP! Geez.

  90. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    You should start hiding the links in other people’s comments. We’d never find them!

  91. Lei said 16 years ago:

    The weeaboos about the translation are INSANELY annoying. Just shut up and thank him for his work, gosh! I don’t see YOU translating a game!! XD

  92. Habiib said 16 years ago:

    Mato and co.

    You guys are seriously doing an excellent job. I’d still play this patch even if you changed all text to say SEXY BEAM. You guys are swiftly becoming (if not already) internet superheroes.

  93. Mint said 16 years ago:

    You guys deserve Theme songs or something. D:

  94. Typhin said 16 years ago:

    I found lots of secret links, like the one to some Japanese voice clip thing, and a link that pulls up a to-do list! Wow! *grins*

    Sorry, couldn’t resist.

  95. Stealth Zwerdog said 16 years ago:

    Awesome! I’m sure everyone would have been perfectly happy with the original Japanese sound effects. You are really going above and beyond.

  96. sKaNkPiT!!! said 16 years ago:

    id rather have the sound clip unchanged. they didnt change the “okska” to “you sure?” in EB. i dont think they changed mario’s voice from english to japanese in mario 64. now that i think about it, i can hear mario saying “ikuzo” instead of “here we go”.

    though, it sounds like you’ve already gone through a lot of trouble to acheive it. just my thoughts, ill play & enjoy it either way.

  97. Mato said 16 years ago:

    I’m pretty sure Itoi intended them to be understood by the target audience, as they’re not exactly throwaway lines that don’t matter. They’re intended to be understood.

    “OK Desuka” was put into Mother 2 without his knowledge, and had Nintendo not left it the same for whatever reason, and had there not been a sound player entry crediting the clip to Itoi, we probably would’ve translated it too. But he said he put it in Mother 3 as a nostalgia thing, so we’re going along with that here as well.

    It just seems so strange that people aren’t bothered that here we are, messing with 800+ pages of text written by a guy renowned for his incredible writing skill, but same people are against the idea of changing six WORDS recorded by the programmers into English.

  98. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    I finally got KH 2 weeks ago, and after discovering that you translated it, my respect for you has gone sky-high

  99. Mato said 16 years ago:

    I didn’t translate the main text though, I only translated the so-called “script direction”, which is boring stuff like “character walks down the street, looks up, sees blah blah, reacts this way, then runs away”, for use by who-knows-who. It was only a few days worth of work, and I did it through an agency, so in all likelihood I’m not in the credits. But having the script and other docs was pretty neat, though it also killed my desire to play it, since I already knew what happens, heh.

  100. sKaNkPiT!!! said 16 years ago:

    Mato: im only against it because it just seems like an extra detail that could be omitted. like changing kumatora’s name to ‘Jean’.

  101. david said 16 years ago:

    Really liking the progress you’re making. From the regular updates I can tell that this will probably be the most polished fan translation in like.. ever. Frankly I’m pretty sure the uninformed won’t even be able to tell that this isn’t an ‘official’ translation.

    Just had a little question. If Nintendo were to announce that they were going to translate Mother 3 at this point in time (even though I acknowledge how insanely unlikely that is) would you still drop the project? That would be a real shame, considering the progress you guys have made. I’m sure that with your intricate knowledge of Earthbound you’ve done a better job than any professional translator ever could.

  102. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    Hm, why would you have to translate the script directions if the cutscenes were already there (in Japanese)? I thought that the only things translators had to do to CGI cutscenes was to record new voice acting and change the subtitles. I don’t see why they would need the stage directions.

  103. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Yes, we’d still stop the project, even now. But I don’t think that’s going to happen.

    Exp HP: Dunno why. But it’s common in anime to translate the script direction too, since some things might not be so obvious, such as descriptions of how lines should be delivered.

  104. The Game Master said 16 years ago:

    *Specific praises*

    Great!

  105. Monsuco said 16 years ago:

    Hmm, I suppose one challenge you might be having is how to make it seem “professional” but at the same time, it still needs to be “earthbound-ish”. I mean, a lot of the stuff in earthbound was good just because it made little sense or was just said in bizzare ways. Take Mr. Saturn, none of what they said made much sense, but the game was wonderful because of the bizzare way they talked. Moonside is another great example.

    Is it hard to make a game like M3, since so much stuff resembles “Engrish” instead of normal English? I wonder.

  106. Crono801 said 16 years ago:

    I, too, am surprised by how many mainstream professional translations you’ve done. How much of a hand did you have in Dragon Ball, One Piece, and Shin Chan?

  107. coromoro said 16 years ago:

    Yo, Mato:

    So how about donations, will they be accepted? Or is there some type of law thing?

    Cuz imagine, just one buck for every patch downloaded and you’d easily get over $50,000.

  108. jellytack said 16 years ago:

    didn’t you also translate dragonball episodes, or something to do with the series? i think i remember seeing that somewhere. that’d be pretty awesome, i loved dragonball so much when i was a kid. i distinctly remember cursing the translators whenever they put a repeat on lol ๐Ÿ™‚

    of course i didn’t really appreciate how much work it is back then.

  109. Poe said 16 years ago:

    Hey everyone who is impressed by Mato’s huge list of professional translations: give the one called “Speed Grapher” a try if you haven’t already. I was pleasantly surprised by how awesome it was. <3

    Also Witchblade is cool if you like boobies (also has a good story, but c’mon, you know they want you to focus on the boobies instead).

  110. falcon2008 said 16 years ago:

    coromoro said xx ago:

    Yo, Mato:

    So how about donations, will they be accepted? Or is there some type of law thing?

    Cuz imagine, just one buck for every patch downloaded and youโ€™d easily get over $50,000.

    It’s best to leave money out of this. Money just makes things ugly…

    If Mato or anyone else involved in this project accepted any money for this project, Nintendo could file a lawsuit against them for profiting from their game.

    So, no, no donations. If you wanna help, buy the original Mother 3 cartage, the sound track off of iTunes, or something like that.

  111. shaundotcom said 16 years ago:

    I can see it already! Thank you so much for all the work you have put in. You truly are a God amongst men!

  112. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    Arashi said 3 hours ago:
    I finally got KH 2 weeks ago, and after discovering that you translated it, my respect for you has gone sky-high

    Mato said 3 hours ago:
    I didnโ€™t translate the main text though, I only translated the so-called โ€œscript directionโ€, which is boring stuff like โ€œcharacter walks down the street, looks up, sees blah blah, reacts this way, then runs awayโ€, for use by who-knows-who. It was only a few days worth of work, and I did it through an agency, so in all likelihood Iโ€™m not in the credits. But having the script and other docs was pretty neat, though it also killed my desire to play it, since I already knew what happens, heh.

    That’s still impressive enough for me ๐Ÿ˜‰

  113. Derrick T. said 16 years ago:

    If Mato or anyone else involved in this project accepted any money for this project, Nintendo could file a lawsuit against them for profiting from their game.

    At least it would get their attention…I wish Reggie was tied down and forced to agree to release M3 in the us. But tomato, couldn’t you mention donations on the download page?

  114. "Snake" Plisskin said 16 years ago:

    Reggie we should kidnap Reggie and Make play the shovelware Nintendo releases on the we and tell him we will let him go when Nintendo releases Earthbound and Mother on VC. Killing two birds with one stone, getting rid of the shovelware and getting mother and earthbound on virtual console. If that doesn’t work we will kidnap his girlfriend and children and do the same.

  115. Super Go! said 16 years ago:

    Yeah, if only Reggie was in charge of what gets released here, that would work.

    @Mato or anyone else who has played all the way through M3:
    Does Mother 3 require a lot of leveling up in order to progress through the game? How much time must be dedicated to leveling up relative to EarthBound?

  116. noco said 16 years ago:

    @Super Go!
    Not much, I mean, not as much as M1. But you still shouldn’t be level 20 at the last level.

  117. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    It’s kinda like EB, you don’t really need to train much, you level up as you go along

  118. Sage said 16 years ago:

    There’s only one part of the game that you need grinding.

    I beat the game without Kumatora learning pk ground.

  119. SomeoneCrazy said 16 years ago:

    Nice double post!

  120. Zaxtur said 16 years ago:

    Thank you.

  121. falcon2008 said 16 years ago:

    Derrick T. said xx ago:
    But tomato, couldnโ€™t you mention donations on the download page?

    As much as I agree with you, I still say it’s best to leave money out of it…

    @Mato: Back me up here, man… Wouldn’t putting money into the mix just make things ugly?

  122. Mato said 16 years ago:

    There’s a whole thing in the FAQ page about it. Besides, we only accept donations in bacon form.

  123. Drkirby said 16 years ago:

    I would be careful with what you say Mato, because you may end up with like 50 pounds of Bacon in a single week, and you can’t let good bacon goto waste, so you will be forced to cook it all, and… Eh…

  124. noco said 16 years ago:

    Only 50lbs?
    More like 500lbs.

  125. Poe said 16 years ago:

    Don’t worry. All that bacon will keep the aliens busy – that’ll make them forget about poisoning our drinking water!

  126. ZombiePosessor said 16 years ago:

    Wow Mato, I didn’t know you were involved in BECK! That’s a great anime, one of my favourites.

  127. Pineapples said 16 years ago:

    You say that jokingly, but how freaking weird would it be if someone really did send you a few pounds of prime sliced bacon?

  128. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    Speaking of bacon, I’m hungry.

    *generic praises*

  129. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    Ah, that hit the spot. It would’ve been a delicious donation, had that been its fate.

  130. A Fan said 16 years ago:

    Do pigs count as bacon, or do you have to baconize them first?

    What? ๐Ÿ™‚

  131. noco said 16 years ago:

    Porksoldiers?
    ๐Ÿ™‚

  132. Mur said 16 years ago:

    so mato now accept donations of pigs

  133. blu said 16 years ago:

    Hey Mato, I’ve been following this project for a few months now, but I just realized by looking at your resume that you graduated from Arizona State. I’m studying there right now. Rock on!

  134. Millhouse said 16 years ago:

    Mato, you’d really deserve a lot more than what you’d have earned if you’d have done this commercially. just to get up the dedication and spend one’s time on projects like these, completely without any payment, and without any obligation, just for doing that, you deserce a million $. no one told you to translate this game, and no one told you you had to make it perfect, to be so picky about details, but you just took it for granted. as soon as anyone asks you a question regarding japanese or being a translator, however obvious it be, you always give a honest answer. if everybody would be like you, the world would be a better place. and there’s be more earthbound fans around, which would be nice, too ;P.
    you’re a good soul, a real friend. you do those things without any payment, you don’t even accept any donations! I mean, you would have earned at least 50.000$ from fans’ donations, but you don’t wanna take any chances. wow. just wow. I know this sounds extremely cheesy and kitsch, but I couldn’t resist. thank you. I’m going to learn japanese now.

    oh, and how do you like your bacon? as a whole (pig) or sliced?

    and @Snake plisskin:
    don’t just don’t. it would be unhuman. no human has ever done so much bad that he deserves having to play Nintendo’s shovelware. not even Reggie. if reggie would be really cruel, he’d announce the game now. I don’t want to see a thing like this project come to a halt before completion.

    so, I’m off to learn my hiragana by heart.

  135. Millhouse said 16 years ago:

    okay, sorry for the double post, but @Mato: would this be somewhat correct as a japanese sentence?

    ใ‚ใŸใ—ใฎใญใ“ใฎใชใพใˆใ‚ใฎใ‚‰ใงใ™ใ€‚
    and what about
    ใ‚ใŸใ—ใ‚ใซใปใ‚“ใ”ใ‚’ในใ‚“ใใŠใ†ใ—ใพใ™ใ€‚
    I know, normally, you don’t write in all-hiragana, that’s the way a small child would talk, but is it, grammatically speaking, correct to write everythin gin hiragana? I couldn’t find anything conclusive about this on the internet… and would these two sentences be correct? I know I’m n00b…

  136. honeymustard said 16 years ago:

    …what does that have to do with the translation?

  137. party ball said 16 years ago:

    mato, if we ever come across each other in a breakfest restaurant, I will buy you a plate of bacon.

  138. Rai said 16 years ago:

    Mato said 10 hours ago:
    Besides, we only accept donations in bacon form.

    I know a place where you can get half-pork bellies that have just been sliced into bacon and then the whole slab was packaged up again. So if I ever see you ’round here Mato, you’re getting a whole slab o’ bacon. (And it’s good bacon too!)

  139. Millhouse said 16 years ago:

    okay, sorry, should have posted that on the spillover board, but now that I’ve already posted it, I’d rather leave the question unanswered than post it agai on the spillover board…

  140. Super3dcow said 16 years ago:

    That’s amazing. I didn’t know you did some work for Kingdom Hearts. That’s like, my favorite game ever. By the way, ONLY 5 THINGS REMAINING ON THE TO DO LIST!!! The day of absolute happiness is not far!

  141. Edrees said 16 years ago:

    So, where’s the bacon option on paypal? I can’t find it. cuz I’m noob

  142. david said 16 years ago:

    Let’s all genuinely send bacon. Just for kicks.

  143. Derrick T. said 16 years ago:

    Why are people talking about bacon?
    Beggin strips like that dog commercial

  144. A Fan said 16 years ago:

    Poor Mato. At this rate, he’ll drown in bacon.

    His death will be swift, yet delicious.

  145. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Nothing very exciting, but last night I snuck an hour of time into Mr. Schedule and started investigating the battle control code thing I gotta hack/fix. I’m busy busy with work this week, doesn’t help that air conditioner died. I think this will be the easiest thing left to fix though. I’ll try to get lots of time for it in a few days. Otherwise there’ll be nothing to update about, heh ๐Ÿ˜‰

  146. noco said 16 years ago:

    Battle Control Codes: The new block 0?
    Maybe they’re working together… ๐Ÿ˜ฏ

  147. Eyedunno said 16 years ago:

    I forgot the janken game. I listened to the clips a few months back and couldn’t for the life of me figure out what that voice was saying (Jan press play?). I guess context is everything.

    Anyway, I can’t imagine what you intend to translate that to. Hell, I’m not even sure what “janken poi” means in Japanese (though my ๅบƒ่พž่‹‘ says it’s either from ็Ÿณๆ‹ณ or a Chinese version of ไธกๆ‹ณ), and there are tons of regional variations (janken pon, janken hoi). Do you actually say anything in rock-scissors-paper in English? Will you just have the sound of a hand slapping?

  148. The Game Master said 16 years ago:

    I’m surprised Spam Bots don’t comment on this site. Any way, I’m amazed by your acts. It’s like, “Oh noes! We have to put this in, but we don’t know how! I know! Let’s make something that does know and will do it for us!” Perfect.

    *Specific praises*

  149. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    Millhouse said 6 hours ago:
    okay, sorry for the double post, but @Mato: would this be somewhat correct as a japanese sentence?

    ใ‚ใŸใ—ใฎใญใ“ใฎใชใพใˆใ‚ใฎใ‚‰ใงใ™ใ€‚
    and what about
    ใ‚ใŸใ—ใ‚ใซใปใ‚“ใ”ใ‚’ในใ‚“ใใŠใ†ใ—ใพใ™ใ€‚

    Everything’s right except for 2 things. If your cats name is Nora, then it should be in Katakana, and, the “wa” before “nora” should be written like a “ha” character

    Sorry for non topic post, please don’t spank me

  150. Eyedunno said 16 years ago:

    plus study is ในใ‚“ใใ‚‡ใ†

  151. NecrosaroIII said 16 years ago:

    namae should probably be Onamae. Then again, I’m not sure how that honorific would work with regards to animals.

  152. A Fan said 16 years ago:

    @noco: Err, no. Mato just said that they were *easy* to hack. Which makes sense, really, because Mato wrote that custom code (and therefore, it’s not so hard to understand).

    Block 0 is likely to still be the hardest thing, if only because those display routines it uses are spread all over the game (and that will make them hard to find, etc.). Not to mention that one evil line (which contains the entire ending or something) is so big it breaks the insertion tool…

    The morphing is likely to be of medium difficulty (at least, compared to the other two…), but Mato once said he thought he knew what it was, so if he can remember all of that and if he’s right, it might go down relatively quickly.

    I just hope that Mato finds some free time, goes into deep hack mode, and comes out with a game that works perfectly ๐Ÿ™‚

  153. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    To answer an off-topic question…

    Eyedunno:

    Where I live (Eastern US), people say “rock, paper, scissors, shoot,” or “1, 2, 3, shoot”. Both players reveal their hands on “shoot”.

  154. Voretus said 16 years ago:

    Everywhere I’ve played, we’ve said “rock, paper, scissors”, and thrown on “scissors”.

  155. Eyedunno said 16 years ago:

    “namae should probably be Onamae. Then again, Iโ€™m not sure how that honorific would work with regards to animals.”
    It usually wouldn’t, and especially not when it’s your own pet (and the same goes for your own family members and close friends).

    “To answer an off-topic questionโ€ฆ”
    The above Japanese homework help or whatever it is is (very) off-topic, but how is discussion of what’s going to be done with one of the soundfiles off-topic?

  156. Derrick T. said 16 years ago:

    I JUST BEAT EVERY ENEMY IN ALL FORMS AND GOT EVERY OBTAINABLE ITEM IN MOTHER 3! EVEN THE 3% CHANCE ONES

  157. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    How do you know you have everything?

  158. falcon2008 said 16 years ago:

    Derrick T. said xx ago:

    I JUST BEAT EVERY ENEMY IN ALL FORMS AND GOT EVERY OBTAINABLE ITEM IN MOTHER 3! EVEN THE 3% CHANCE ONES

    We can hear you just fine without you yelling, most of us aren’t that old yet.

    And, yeah, how do you know you have everything?

  159. Googi said 16 years ago:

    Not to back him up because I think the random outburst was kind of obnoxious too, but it isn’t hard to find a list of items in the game, if you want to know if you’ve got it all. Without such a list, it would be kind of difficult to be aware of the Video Relaxant in “EarthBound,” only available by hacking the game.

    Then again there are quantity restrictions on the inventory, so I doubt he specifically HAS every item obtainable. So I’m just assuming he means he’s got it all at some point.

  160. Goldcheese said 16 years ago:

    How do you know he HASN’T hmm?

    I wonder… When Tomato finishes the translation, will people respond the same way?

    Tomato: I finished the translation!
    People: You did not, did you translate EVERYTHING?!?! The japanese version is better! I could of translated this better in my sleep. HOLY COW A TALKING TOMATO!?!? I’m gonna eat you with my salads!

  161. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    Well, my first reaction was “well, good for you, so what.”

    But then it occured to me, who would be trying to get 1 of every item in an item with a limited inventory, anyways? It would waste your inventory, and even then, you won’t have anything to show for it (other than some rare items not everybody has).

    You would have to look through a list of all the items in the game and try and remember if got them all at some point.

    Mostly, my arguement is that, in a limited inventory game, you really won’t ever get the feeling that you got everything. There’s always that uncertainty, even with an item list.

    Not to mention that, for a game that wasn’t released in the US, any item list would be in Japanese (as I doubt anybody would make a list with the Menu patch translation names, being that any such list will need to be massively updated).

  162. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    (that post ended up bigger than I thought it would be)

    (Whatever. My posts are always long, anyways.)

  163. Googi said 16 years ago:

    Well there are English walkthroughs and stuff for the game. This is just the first actual English translation of “Mother 3” itself, but there are several walkthroughs for the game that go as far back as 2006 (or so I can see from GameFAQs). It really just depends on how specific those authors’ interpretations of kana were they were doing their translations.

  164. Space Slob said 16 years ago:

    I want to make a small suggestion when you get around to testing…

    Try it out on Wii Homebrew Channel’s Visualboy Advance? I haven’t seen a list of platforms you’re testing on, and if you already have that on there…

    Well, that would be awesome.

  165. Triangle said 16 years ago:

    Perfect_Chaos: that drawing you made was pretty good dude ๐Ÿ™‚

    although i clearly did not describe the block 0 thing properly,.. i meant a zero made out of blocks, not a block made out of zero,.. oh well ๐Ÿ™‚

    your picture gave me an idea, so i made this….

    http://www.fhqhosting.com/ui/block0.swf

  166. Shadiko said 16 years ago:

    GAH… I’m getting super impaitient. But I’m being patient at the same time. ๐Ÿ˜›

    I just wanted to say. That Everyone who worked on this is my hero. ๐Ÿ˜€

  167. Nintendo said 16 years ago:

    We’ve been following this for a while, and it looks like you’re almost done!

    You will be receiving a cease and desist shortly.

  168. Noir said 16 years ago:

    Hey Fobby team,
    First of all I just wanted to thank you and the rest of the translation fir taking time ot of your social work, and family lives to help translate this game. Although I still need to buy an Earthbound cartridge, I really hope to play the translation! Having no expertise in your field, there is no way I could truly appreciate the countless hours of work you guys have put into this. I’m sure that once I get the patch, my computer will explode from how cool you guys are! ^_^
    Yours Sincerely,
    Noir

  169. Goldcheese said 16 years ago:

    Psh oh yeah? Well my computer already blew up 3 times.

    OMG A TALKING TOMATO!

  170. Damn Impressed said 16 years ago:

    Mato’s “My time was worth about 40k” thing made me extremely depressed. He’ll bring joy to a lot of people, but not nearly as much as would from an official translation by Nintendo, and he won’t even get a cent for it. I wonder if Nintendo might pay him for the translation? That would be the best of all possibilities, but it’s not going to happen.

  171. Jorge said 16 years ago:

    It’s not totally relevant, but I just wanted to say that I love the Starmen mug. Look at the picture of tomato translating the game. Priceless.

  172. A Fan said 16 years ago:

    If you ever finish that SWF, make sure block 0’s tornado of blocks attack is at least 4 boxes high. And don’t let Mato forget to hypnotize it with a Video Relaxant, before finishing it with PK Thunder ๐Ÿ™‚

    His eyes shoot lightning bolts, you know…

  173. Perfect_Chaos said 16 years ago:

    @Triangle: Thank you. I gladly appreciate you kindness and will give you a cookie.

  174. ok said 16 years ago:

    meth binge is coming . then he will be dne this glorious hacking..

  175. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    @ Perfect_Chaos

    You give me cookie too, plx?

  176. Lei said 16 years ago:

    Millhouse said:
    ใ‚ใŸใ—ใฎใญใ“ใฎใชใพใˆใ‚ใฎใ‚‰ใงใ™ใ€‚
    I just realized, that sentence is correct but it would be written like this…
    ใ‚ใŸใ—ใฎใญใ“ใฎใชใพใˆใฏใฎใ‚‰ใงใ™ใ€‚
    For some reason it’s always written like “ha” in Japanese, even though it’s pronounced “wa”. Weird, huh?

  177. Perfect_Chaos said 16 years ago:

    @Arashi: You can have one too. *Gives Arashi a cookie*

  178. Alfonso Alfredo said 16 years ago:

    I’m actually eating cookies right now.

  179. Roland said 16 years ago:

    So, the script direction could tell the voice actor to put more emphasis on a certain word, like as foreshadowing, or other things that might be missed in translation?

  180. gBev said 16 years ago:

    It’s pretty funny that no one even commented on the fake cease and disist notice ๐Ÿ˜›

  181. A Fan said 16 years ago:

    @gBev: Who cares about that? We have cookies!

  182. Typhin said 16 years ago:

    “How to deliver lines” always makes me think of “These pretzels are making me thirsty.” From the Seinfeld episode…

  183. Demolisho said 16 years ago:

    maybe you should hack the whole game into an interpretive dance RPG based on the story of the hobo who sleeps in front of the lincoln memorial.

  184. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    Ok….

    Just be sure to have cookies

  185. Alfonso Alfredo said 16 years ago:

    We should all send Mato new air conditioning units. Just imagine what he could do with 300,000 of them…

  186. gc said 16 years ago:

    @Nintendo: don’t ๐Ÿ™

  187. mike k said 16 years ago:

    Hey…why hasnt mato said anything lately. Also, for some reason I never got around to playing Ocarina of Time, so I bought it on the Virtual Console. It be rockin me world right now. But seriously, now I want to learn how to play the ocarina for realsies.

  188. A Fan said 16 years ago:

    Funny, after playing Zelda, it always makes me want to get out my boomerang ๐Ÿ™‚

    I suppose I should be glad it didn’t make me want to set the bushes on fire with a candle…

    I wonder if Zelda ever made someone want to turn into a fairy? Probably not. Almost no one played Zelda 2 and those who did were probably busy searching for that #@$#@ hammer to pound rocks with.

  189. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    Probably not. Almost no one played Zelda 2 and those who did were probably busy searching for that #@$#@ hammer to pound rocks with.

    Or spending hours trying to reach the Great Palace just to find out it’s seemingly endless. It’s rediculously huge!
    I would link to a map of it, but the website it’s on is in the filter.

  190. Poe said 16 years ago:

    Waah, this is not the place to discuss Zelda.

  191. Shuri said 16 years ago:

    @gc: Check the link on that post.

  192. coromoro said 16 years ago:

    Soo, is anyone besides me playing through EarthBound before the patch is out?

  193. Zaxtur said 16 years ago:

    I played EarthBound for the first time earlier this year, and I just finished EarthBound Zero the other day.

  194. Zaxtur said 16 years ago:

    Does this page have a block on the word anagrams?

  195. Jaysus said 16 years ago:

    Guess not.

  196. Zaxtur said 16 years ago:

    L-U-C-A-S . . . C-L-A-U-S . . . anagrams.

  197. Millhouse said 16 years ago:

    oh god, not the lucas claus thing again… I’ve heard that a hundred times already – . –

    and for the record, people who started playing Zelda2 back when it came out are probably STILL looking for that @#ยฌ!! Hammer.

    I played through Earthbound twice since I found out about this project, once as Ness and once as “I say”

    and the people who started playing OoT back then are probably still stuck in that darned water temple (YOU #ยฐ@ยฐยฌ|ยฐ@#ยฐยฌ TEMPLE!!)

    and as a side note: thanks for all the answers, is “wa” always spelled as ใฏ? just like ใ‚’ is pronounced “o”?
    and Nora, as a foreign name, would be in katakana, but is it grammatically correct to write foreign names in hiragana? or is it just usual to write them in katakana?

    and Mato’s probably finally getting a bit of the sleep he deserves. or he’s hacking away at that custom control code or that sprite morphing thing. either way, good luck, mato!

  198. THE MESSAGE IS DOWN THERE DIPSHIT!!! said 16 years ago:

    Mato hasn’t talk for over 1 day…
    Think he spoiled? ๐Ÿ˜ฏ

  199. Auri said 16 years ago:

    The great mato-mato never spoils!

  200. coromoro said 16 years ago:

    I don’t think Mato has any meaningful posts to reply to. XD

    Look at all the garbage above (including mine).

  201. Alfonso Alfredo said 16 years ago:

    Ness – NES
    Ninten – Nintendo
    Lucas – COOKIESAREGOOD

  202. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    That’s what I always say!

    Mother is like EarthBound, but EarthBound is less NES-y and more Ness-y

  203. MotherLover123 said 16 years ago:

    I t
    hink yo
    u g
    uy
    s ar
    e awes
    ome in ev
    er
    y way!

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

    My Spanish teacher recently had a son. His name is Lucas. The first thought that popped i my head when I heard this was: Mother 3.

  205. EmpoleMew said 16 years ago:

    Actually, I always saw Ness as SNES, instead of just NES. But when you really think about it, his name could be referencing both.

  206. Larry said 16 years ago:

    So when is Nintendo gonna hire you, Mato?

  207. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    I had to write an essay for English about tree wishes I would make If I had them. I chose PSI powers, MOTHER 3’s worldwide release, and a Magicant Bat

  208. beams said 16 years ago:

    I always thought-
    Ness = SNES
    Ninten = Nintendo
    Lucas = COOOKIESAREGOOD

  209. Derrick T. said 16 years ago:

    falcon2008 said 1 day, 22 hours ago:
    Derrick T. said xx ago:

    I JUST BEAT EVERY ENEMY IN ALL FORMS AND GOT EVERY OBTAINABLE ITEM IN MOTHER 3! EVEN THE 3% CHANCE ONES

    We can hear you just fine without you yelling, most of us arenโ€™t that old yet.

    And, yeah, how do you know you have everything?

    I went through the M3 walkthrough AND i searched hidden items like the cool ring you can get (cant say where)

  210. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    Yeah, let’s not forget about Ninten’s and Ness’ Japanese names, Famico and Fcs.

    (If you’re wondering where Fcs comes from, its that, like Ness is SNES with the s moved to the end, Fcs is SFC with the s moved to the end).

    Poor Fcs was picked on all through elementary school because of his unpronouncable name and his unsatisfiable urge to eat Babies. Sure, he saved the world before he was even old enough to play T-rated games, but the bullies didn’t care.

  211. Alfonso Alfredo said 16 years ago:

    I once wrote an english essay on a recipe to make babies taste better. My teacher thought I was serious. (Does anyone hae a good baby recipe? They’re always too chewy)

  212. Reg teh Yoshi said 16 years ago:

    “gc said 21 hours ago:

    @Nintendo: donโ€™t :(”

    Click Nintendo’s name in that reply. I dare ya ๐Ÿ˜‰

    When ever Mato updates the blog with progress, I get more and more excited. So to keep myself under control until the release, I started playing Earthbound Zero. And for those thinking about playing it, don’t hesitate, it’s a fantastic game ๐Ÿ˜€

  213. Vagn said 16 years ago:

    Maybe if we’re lucky, Jeffman will do an update in the next few days when Mato is busy *hint hint*.

  214. Zaxtur said 16 years ago:

    EarthBound Zero is sweet. But you have to level up a LOT in order to progress. I used Mato’s Double Experience Patch and played the game in 4x speed to level up and it still took a while. Be prepared for that if you decide to play it, which you definitely should. You can find Mato’s Dbl Exp Patch on starmen.net under the Mother 1/EarthBound Zero page.

  215. A Fan said 16 years ago:

    Yes, the *particle* wa is always written as ใฏ. But there are words that use ใฏ with its proper pronunciation, ha. If I remember right, it’s because the particle wa used to be pronounced ha. But somehow they changed the pronunciation while still writing it the same way as always. Or something like that.

    As for ใ‚’, at least it’s *always* a particle. No words contain it as a syllable (at least in modern Japanese… I guess the old stuff might have used it). I think I’ve heard some speakers add a *very* light w sound to the start of it though, but it could be my imagination or an accent.

    There are a few kana that aren’t used at all any more, too, but most materials don’t discuss them in depth. But they’re the reason for them being called the “50 sounds” when there aren’t quite 50 of them any more.

  216. eric said 16 years ago:

    man.. i cant wait. ive been checking at least twice a day lately for more updates…

    I REALLY REALLY hope you call it “Earthbound 2” rather than “Mother 3”.

    the first US release was Earthbound.. just makes sense, in my mind, to continue with this and call the sequel “Earthbound 2”.

    ..either way i dont really mind.. I JUST CANT WAIT TO PLAY

  217. Dark Hamsterlord said 16 years ago:

    When I play MOTHER3 for the first time, my favorite food will be Tomato. (That is, if OmellettesHomeRu doesn’t fit.)

  218. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Note: I haven’t said anything because 1. I’m crazy busy with real life work and 2. nothing’s happened lately, like I mentioned would be the case a while back. Some days I wind up working like 12+ hours, so there’s just no time to do other stuff ๐Ÿ˜

  219. Bret said 16 years ago:

    GOSh Mato you are SOOOOOO lazy!!! HAHAHAHA J/K

  220. noco said 16 years ago:

    Yay working 12+ hours ๐Ÿ™‚

  221. THE MESSAGE IS DOWN THERE DIPSHIT!!! said 16 years ago:

    It’s alright, it’s nice to know you’r not soiled! ๐Ÿ™‚

  222. jellytack said 16 years ago:

    they say that underneath mato’s beard there’s no chin… only another fist

  223. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    Sorry for the off-topic question, but it’s really been bugging me, and I don’t know where else I could ask.

    I tried putting some things in a game through a translator. Well, before I installed the IMEs, I spent a really long time trying to convert the kana to Romaji.

    Here are the words that I’m unsure about. How would these translate to Romaji? Btw, I am certain that I do not mix up ใ‚ท and ใƒ„, or ใ‚ฝ and ใƒณ.

    ใ‚ปใƒณใ‚ทใƒงใ‚ฆใ‚ปใƒณใ‚ทใƒงใ‚ฆ
    “shyo” does not make sense.

    ใƒจใƒชใ‚คใƒƒใ‚ฝใ‚ฆใƒŽ
    I’m not sure if this is yoriissouno or yoriissoono. After all, doesn’t “gakkoo” end in ใ†?

  224. A Fan said 16 years ago:

    @eric: I believe that’s already decided. The name “Mother” is too important to the plot to change.

    Maybe we need to make a patch for EarthBound to rename it back to Mother 2? ๐Ÿ™‚ With any luck, we can change that “Cafe” back into a Bar, and a few other things…

  225. coromoro said 16 years ago:

    After seeing it being called “Mother 3” so many times, it’s hard to see it as Earthbound 2. I prefer Mother 3 personally. It looks nicer, and feels like it’s MORE, to me anyways.

  226. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Alright, found a tiny bit of time right now, so I’ve started to trace out a battle control code routine to see how it can tell the difference between enemies and non-enemies. After figuring it out, I’ll have to do it again with another control code, but at the moment it doesn’t seem like it will be hard, mostly it’s just trying to figure out what certain values indicate. If we had documented source code (maybe not even documentation, as variable names would be useful) I could have this done in hours. But without source, it’ll take a little more work.

  227. Germ said 16 years ago:

    Thanks Mato, Lord knows the world needs people that have such dedication to their endeavors.

    It never ceases to amaze me that even the tiniest bits of time are carved from (sometimes) 12 hour work days and used to further the completion of this awe-inspiring achievement.

    I just can’t believe that it’s so incredibly close; all thanks to Mato, JeffMan, the Team, and the fans who clamor unrelentingly for, undoubtedly, one of the greatest RPG’s conceived.

  228. odanhammer said 16 years ago:

    All i can say Mato is ketchup.

    If for some reason no one knows what i mean , just think of attack of the killer tomatoes.

  229. Fluteboy said 16 years ago:

    The title will be MOTHER 3. No ifs ands or buts. “Earthbound 2” can be a subtitle.

  230. Millhouse said 16 years ago:

    @Exp Hp: I could be wrong (I most probably am), but to me, this would translate as
    ใ‚ปใƒณใ‚ทใƒงใ‚ฆใ‚ปใƒณใ‚ทใƒงใ‚ฆ
    senshiyousenshiyou
    ใƒจใƒชใ‚คใƒƒใ‚ฝใ‚ฆใƒŽ
    yoriitsusouno, but it’s probably pronounced soono… and I think gakkou is ใŒใฃใ“ใ†, but this could be wrong… I’d rather leave an answer that will be rectified than none, regarding that I’ve been helped, too.

    sorry for off-topicness.
    and I thought you’d be able to retrieve the variable names with your tools. so this way you’re basically trying to pick out the neeldes in a haystack in the dark?
    wow. my respect for this project has just grown even more…
    go mato, go mato!

  231. Sabaca said 16 years ago:

    I really want to help you, Tomato, for this great project. I can test Mother 3 on the PSP without any problems.

  232. Ausl0 said 16 years ago:

    @ Sabaca:

    All testing is internal so no go for you getting to play the game earlier than others.

  233. Sabaca said 16 years ago:

    Oh. So, good luck for the translation, I’m really waiting for her impatiently !

  234. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    It’s a her?

  235. kevinchai said 16 years ago:

    Yeah, her – like a boat.

  236. Shadiko said 16 years ago:

    You put the patch into the game. Its a baby. ๐Ÿ˜›

  237. noco said 16 years ago:

    A female baby ๐Ÿ™‚

  238. Derrick T. said 16 years ago:

    Can’t wait until the next update!

  239. reklusive said 16 years ago:

    Ah the miracle of life ^_^

  240. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    Actually, it’s not a female baby, it’s a mother.

  241. PSIBETA said 16 years ago:

    I ordered the whole saga on GBA on ebay. I can’t wait to play it in english too!

  242. Shadiko said 16 years ago:

    The game is the mother, the patch is the baby. Thus being called the Mother the Third.

    Keep up the work. ๐Ÿ˜€

  243. Timothy W. Crusius said 16 years ago:

    Slightly off topic but TheSpeedGamers are doing a 55 hour marathon of EB. Check it our on Starmen.net . . thats how I’m passing the time till the next update.

  244. Alfonso Alfredo said 16 years ago:

    I’m passing the time by watching the Earthbound Zero commercial that my name links to.

  245. Alfonso Alfredo said 16 years ago:

    It’s awesome.

  246. A Fan said 16 years ago:

    @Milhouse:

    You never get variables unless they compiled it in debug mode and you have something that can read the debug information. In other words, Mato is working with raw hexadecimal machine code here. There are no amenities at all, and the only documentation is what you write down yourself.

    @Exp Hp

    Sheesh, what is this? A test on confusing kana? The evilness of ใ‚ท, ใƒ„, ใ‚ฝ and ใƒณ is almost enough to give me that Japanese superstition about the number four. Though I know there are kanji that are worse in various ways that are painful (no, that stroke has to be *longer* than the other stroke… and those strokes *almost* touch but can’t! and that one slants this way, not that way and is written in the OTHER direction so…). I’m beginning to pity the Japanese children studying kanji. No wonder it takes 9 years in Japanese schools…

    > ใ‚ปใƒณใ‚ทใƒงใ‚ฆใ‚ปใƒณใ‚ทใƒงใ‚ฆ
    > โ€œshyoโ€ does not make sense.

    senshou senshou

    The only word I know like that is ‘war’, so I can’t translate that. But there are lots of expressions like that where they say the same word twice for some reason.

    I think you missed the glide there, too. Shi + yo = sho.

    ใƒจใƒชใ‚คใƒƒใ‚ฝใ‚ฆใƒŽ

    yoriissouno

    That’s a long i in there, but a small tsu, which means it doubles the so (which has a long vowel at the end thanks to that u after it).

    I’m afraid I don’t have any dictionaries or anything to translate that, either. But that’s how you romanize it, at any rate, when using Hepburn which everyone outside of maybe the Japanese Ministry of Education seems to use. Honestly, there’s no point to that other style. We might as well just learn the kana properly rather than use it.

  247. dr.mario said 16 years ago:

    more like mato is the dad and the translated game is a half-japanese half-american-person baby. ask your parents about the rest. when you’re older.

  248. questionman said 16 years ago:

    There’s something insignificant written here,because its insignificant,…

    I like put this as my sig but cant come up words to finish the sentence.

  249. P Town said 16 years ago:

    “more like mato is the dad and the translated game is a half-japanese half-american-person baby. ask your parents about the rest. when youโ€™re older.”

    Are you telling me that momma was a Geisha-Ho?
    Nooooooooooo!

  250. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    @A Fan:

    “War”, hm? Do you mean that it has an odd way of spelling similar to that of War, or do you mean that it actually looks like a part of it could mean “war”?

    Because what I’m trying to translate is the text on one of the Medals in Japan-only GameBoy Wars 3 (one of the early games in a series known to America as Advance Wars). So it wouldn’t surprise me that it says “war” somewhere on it.

    But even once I got the IME and was able to type in japanese characters, the online translators still didn’t recognize a bit of it. Rediculous…

  251. Douglas said 16 years ago:

    Hey, Mato, Have you taken a peek at the Speed Gamer’s EB Marathon. Seems these guys are spreading the word to call into NoA insanely well. Enough that they’ve gotten the Call Reps talking about how many calls they’ve gotten asking for EB, some also being very irritated too =P. Not to mention people are absolutely stuffing the support Email Mailbox.

  252. sully said 16 years ago:

    For the purposes of profiling, how many earthbound fans also happen to be settlers of catan addicts?

  253. A Fan said 16 years ago:

    Whoops. War is sensou, not senshou. (I’ve been watching Tokoban Sensou lately, which translates as ‘Library War’). And I doubt it would usually be written in katakana.

    It could either be a sound effect or it’s repeated for emphasis. Somehow, I want to say that it feels like a sound effect to me, but I could very well be wrong about that. Mind you, they also use sound effect type words as if they were normal words sometimes, so it’s even crazier than that. Read up on Japanese onomatopoeia and “mimesis” sometime. You might find a clue there.

    With things like that, you usually need the entire context, anyhow. That, and I’m only a total beginner at Japanese, though I’ve used that online kana trainer for long enough that I don’t understand how I can still make mistakes on some of those damn kana ๐Ÿ™‚

    @sully: I know what that is, at least. But I’ve never played it.

  254. A Fan said 16 years ago:

    Urk. Make that Toshokan Sensou (“Library War”). I don’t know how I got the word that wrong ๐Ÿ™‚

    It seems like a weird title until you watch it. After that, you realize that it really is about a war between libraries and the government. Sort of like Fahrenheit 451. Or should I call it the “Book of Prophecy”? ๐Ÿ™‚

  255. Impossible said 16 years ago:

    TheSpeedGamers EarthBound Marathon is about to start on Mother 3 with the menu patch, check it out here:

    http://www.thespeedgamers.blogspot.com/

    And remember to call Nintendo!

  256. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Got another hour or so of time today so I’ve followed code more. I’m getting real close to figuring out the answers I need.

  257. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    keep goin’!

  258. coromoro said 16 years ago:

    I had a dream that Block 0 was destroyed really easily. Like a disappointing boss in a game.

  259. Exp HP said 16 years ago:

    That would be neat, if Block 0 would be defeated just by having Mato walk around it and pick up the Axe.
    But then this would happen:

    Thank you for
    saving me, Mato!
    But the finished
    translation is in
    another castle.

  260. Wallace said 16 years ago:

    So At about 1pm est time I mentioned in the Chat for thespeedgamers about This site! at about 2:30pm est They read the E-mail I sent to direct people to the mother3.fobby.net so I’m wondering if that caused a large spike or were my efforts futile?

  261. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Nope, nothing at all, not even a tiny spike. I’m guessing the people watching the thing are already all aware of the site.

  262. seedvt said 16 years ago:

    Yep, I even heard the Speed Gamers mention the site once at around 11:30 AM PST.

  263. coromoro said 16 years ago:

    Exp HP: Oh no, that would be terrible!

  264. XXXW0 said 16 years ago:

    woohoo your famous

  265. Reanzet said 16 years ago:

    just give Mato some POWERTHIRST!

  266. Henry SG said 16 years ago:

    It will make him win at Block 0!!!

  267. Sleepy, Staring said 16 years ago:

    And he’ll have FOUR HUNDRED BABIES who will also work on the translation at the speed of KENYANS!

  268. A Fan said 16 years ago:

    Clearly, what Mato needs to fight the Evil Block 0 is a HUGE supply of ones!

    Here, I’ll donate a few of mine: 1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
    1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
    1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
    1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

  269. The Game Master said 16 years ago:

    Block 0 is as hard as Culex, you need something you most likely won’t have and you need high stats and sKiLz.

  270. The Game Master said 16 years ago:

    @A Fan: He said in the form of bacon, not ones! And that many electrical circuts turned on would cause your computer to asplode!

  271. The Game Master said 16 years ago:

    Oh yeah… *Specific praises*

  272. Pistachio? said 16 years ago:

    i gave a shout out to the translation team. ๐Ÿ˜€

  273. Pistachio? said 16 years ago:

    i gave a shout out to the translation team. ๐Ÿ˜€ at the speedgamers site

  274. Zaxtur said 16 years ago:

    Mato, your updates sustain me.

  275. A Fan said 16 years ago:

    @The Game Master: Those 1s are actually tiny, digital strips of bacon. Isn’t technology amazing? ๐Ÿ™‚

    He might also need a secret weapon against Block 0, though. But I can’t find a two to give him. They tell me “there’s no such thing as two” …

  276. shade said 16 years ago:

    Just another post of support. I think you’re at the point where:
    “[playername]’s prayer
    was absorbed
    by darkness”

    Just a few more turns to go…

  277. Jabberocky said 16 years ago:

    It seems like I only just started to come here, when it was actually months ago. To think of all the progress that has been made since even April.

  278. bananaman said 16 years ago:

    @A Fan:Give him a 0+1. Or a diginuke.

  279. Matt_S said 16 years ago:

    I don’t care how long this takes, because you guys are doing something that wouldn’t even be happening without you. Now show that code who’s the boss!

  280. hasone said 16 years ago:

    Mato:

    I’m going out of the country for a month, so if you finish your thingy before then, I’ll be sad.

    Actually, I won’t, but chances of that are small anyways, right?

  281. hasone said 16 years ago:

    Actually, the fastest people in the world are jamaicans. Though a kenyan did win the marathon, which is more what this is ๐Ÿ˜›

  282. EmpoleMew said 16 years ago:

    Time for another crazy post from me.

    Block 0=Carrot Mato=knife. Missing link: sharpener.

    …You can see where I’m going with this. If you do, please tell me because I don’t even know. ๐Ÿ˜€

  283. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    You mean he’s going to “hack” the crap out of it

  284. Arashi said 16 years ago:

    defintion of hack :

    1) reprogram
    2) cut the crap out of

  285. nintendope said 16 years ago:

    Mato,

    Whoever asked what you did for a living asked the question I had been wondering about for a while. I’m really glad you wrote an answer to it, and reading through it made me remember how much I enjoy learning new languages. The part about studying abroad and how you handled it money-wise were particularly inspiring, because I’ve been wanting to study abroad since middle school (I’m 19 now) but do not qualify for financial aid.

    Thank you for writing what you did, and if you ever have the time to finish, I hope you do. Translator hopefuls and monolinguals alike could stand to learn a thing or two about how much effort it took you to get to where you are now. ๐Ÿ™‚

  286. EmpoleMew said 16 years ago:

    @Arashi: Yeah, I guess that’s what I was going for.

  287. DJ Squarewave said 16 years ago:

    nintendope:

    Same here, after reading it I’m far more inclined to eventually doing study abroad, and I’d love to read anything else he has to offer on this. I’m currently in the second year of the Japanese program at SF State, and any advice from a guy like Mato would surely be useful since it’s the same sort of field I want to go into myself. ๐Ÿ™‚

  288. Midna said 16 years ago:

    Closer and closer every day ๐Ÿ˜€

  289. mike k said 16 years ago:

    The patch could be released much sooner if Mato would only use a montage.

  290. Whane said 16 years ago:

    Gonna need a montage?

    MONTAGE!

  291. kevinchai said 16 years ago:

    This place used to be so much more lively. Where did everybody go? Mato! Even if you haven’t done anything worth note(which I know you have), please make an update. It has been an entire week lol.

  292. coromoro said 16 years ago:

    no update = death ๐Ÿ™

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

    Can we have a mini-update?

  294. Triangle said 16 years ago:

    nope… we cant… why? because there’s probably simply not much to update about…. of course he’d update as soon as he accomplishes something dude ๐Ÿ™‚

    he’s just very busy these days as he’s said, so we’re just gonna have to wait

    hmmmmm.. come to think of it…i cant remember the last time i saw “1 week ago by Mato” after a post title

  295. tellisk said 16 years ago:

    @hasone:

    You missed the joke. Google “Powerthirst”

  296. Triangle said 16 years ago:

    oh yeah, the cookies were awesome ๐Ÿ™‚

  297. Jorge said 16 years ago:

    Burger King sent him a cease and desist letter

  298. Mato said 16 years ago:

    Like I mentioned, updates will be sparser from now on, that’s what I kept talking about ๐Ÿ˜›

    And still hacking away at the battle control code thing, I’ve gotten farther but as usual the game is often nonsensical.

  299. noco said 16 years ago:

    Yay update ๐Ÿ˜€
    I should go to bed.

  300. Vagn said 16 years ago:

    Man i’m gonna go through withdrawal when the patch comes out Mato, I NEED UPDATES, I WILL GIVE YOU THIS WATCH FOR AN UPDATE MATO.

  301. ok said 16 years ago:

    mato go through withdrawal as well .. from the meth.

  302. C.T said 16 years ago:

    Updates… magyahhhh…. need brains- er updates…. magyahhhh

    Just kidding, you’re doing great Mato!

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

    Thanks Mato, that’s what I thought you were working on. People were mentioning the block 0 hacks and I was puzzled cause I didn’t see you write about working on that at this point in time.

  304. kevinchai said 16 years ago:

    You see, block 0 is like the final boss. All the other things to be hacked are like it’s minions.

  305. Millhouse said 16 years ago:

    no official update for a week.
    I guess that means the project is dead. sorry, someone had to make that stupid joke.

    POWERTHIRST it’s been some time since I laughed this hard. you’re going to have babies, 400 BABIES!!!

    please, Mato, do an update. even if it’s just the usual “I guess updates will be scarce and rare form now on…”.
    please, Mato, tell us you’re still alive!!

  306. Derrick T. said 16 years ago:

    Well there shouldn’t be that many updates anyway, right?
    Theres 5 things left i think and that should mean 5 more updates and then that’s it. I hope you update it today, though:D

  307. Zaxtur said 16 years ago:

    I don’t understand what the battle control code is and what is wrong with it as of right now.

  308. Mato said 16 years ago:

    It’s a number of things, but you’ve probably seen one instance of it in action as “The Flint”.

  309. Nenacu said 16 years ago:

    I think people are talking about block 0 like it needs to be cut to pieces. Nah, I’ve discovered its true weakness. Feed it massive quantities of micro prayer bacon. Then it will become fat and docile.

    Bleh, I should sleep before I speak.

  310. bananaman said 16 years ago:

    The Flint Norris attacks! The Flint Norris inflicts 4000000 damage. The enemy used welcome to th ๐Ÿ˜ The but it failed!

    LOL that was stupid.
    I guess I just gave an bunch of instances, although didn’t you say “welcome to th :|” was sprite text?

    And *Lotsa Praises*