https://legendsoflocalization.com/this-be-bad-translation-17-alice-in-the-heart-wonderful-wonder-world/ (many more pics here)
Alice in the Heart has the most wonderfully bad translation... and this is just from the prologue!
This is probably THE most infamous scene in English video game fan translation. Here's how it compares to the original Japanese text + other translations: https://legendsoflocalization.com/the-infamous-arche-fs-like-a-tiger-scene-in-tales-of-phantasia/
If you're studying Japanese (or even just barely sorta kinda like Japanese stuff) you'll probably like this
The Japanese version of Super Mario RPG gets crazy with anime, music, and other pop culture references (possibly NSFW though)
Which Final Fantasy VI *translation* is the best? After comparing many different translations side-by-side, here are my final thoughts & answer.
Kitty Love for the Nintendo Switch has such an amazing translation 😂
I’d love to look more into poorly translated otome games but don’t even know where to start. If anyone has suggestions, let me know!
(I’m especially looking to find a working copy of the legendarily bad Alice in the Heart ~Wonderful Wonder World translation but it’s no longer available anywhere...)
When politics and game translations collide (more here)
Today is the 10th anniversary of the Mother 3 fan translation! I wrote this to celebrate 🍅
A look at how The Wizard was translated into Japanese and where the translation changes things slightly, including the Power Glove scene 🍅
If you’re a retro gamer or a language learner, you might like this
Here’s how Gato’s name and song changed during Chrono Trigger’s localization.
I wrote a short thing about how those weird redundant translations happen https://legendsoflocalization.com/redundant-translations-in-games-anime/
My Final Fantasy VI translation comparison is almost over, but the newest update is bigger than ever!
Nintendo's policies in the 1990s shaped a lot of game localizations at the time, so I decided to take a quick look at the actual, specific policies at the time 😎
If you can think of any other examples of game localization changes caused by these policies, let me know!
In my latest FF6 comparison update we look at Celes’ suicide scene and how it was altered for the Super NES translation. I wonder how many players saw through the changes though...
Emperor Gestahl offers to spare Celes’ life if she’ll rejoin him. In the Super NES translation, he says:
You and Kefka were given life to serve me!! It is your birthright to rule the world with me!!
The original Japanese script says something else, however:
Why don’t I give you and Kefka the task of producing offspring in order to build my Magic Empire of Gestahl?!
Basically, he wants Celes and Kefka to mate to produce magic-infused offspring for his new magic empire. …That’s nothing like what the Super NES version says!
My latest FF6 translation comparison is up! This one covers lots of topics, including 🍅
・Lots more Super NES translation errors ・Characters who speak in third-person ・Story detail removals ・More on Siegfried/Ziegfried ・Bad villain writing ・Kefka's Japanese catchphrase ・Edgar & Relm
After years of peer pressure I'm finally toying around with a Legends of Localization Patreon 😮
I'm still getting the hang of everything + setting things up but here's the first Patron-exclusive article!
Topics include:
- Mog gets a "90s attitude" injection!
- LOTS of problems in the Super NES translation
- Google and fan translations outperform some of the official translations WTF
- Japanese lessons
- Love Vomit
A reader asked me about this “sub-buttle” joke in Persona 4 Golden, so I took a look at it and wrote about the original Japanese joke here.