Localiser '8-4' Offers To Help Translate 'Retro Game Challenge 1 + 2 Replay'

I have no idea how many possible sales there could be, but I would gladly buy it as a e-shop only or even as a "limited release" by a small publisher.
No idea how expensive the publishing rights would be though, that's an unknown problem here too.

I wasn't even aware that this existed...much less on the DS...
Then again I didn't really pay much attention back then...

8-4 have done a stellar job on the English side of Sakurai’s channel. I’m sure they’d knock this out of the park.

8-4?! No, God, please, no!

@Maxz Their localizations sucks. Both English and Japanese, lol. Skullgirls 2nd Encore's Japanese localization sucks. I've played the game with JP dub ON, so, I know what I'm talkin' about. NieR:Automata's localization sucks. It has various inconsistencies that contradicts characters' personalities, weapons' names stupid and unnecessary changes, etc.

@JohnnyMind 8-4's localizations sucks. I don't know any video games localizer/translator/company whose works' quality I would call good. None of them gained my trust or respect.

It would be awesome. These are easily some of the best games ever. They are so incredibly well made and imaginative. And it would be nice to have an official English version of the second game at last.

Didn’t 8-4 publish Undertale and 198X?

@JohnnyMind «Not surprised, but if the alternative is not playing the game at all I bet most people would take even a poor localization.»
Yeah... At least, Japanese voice-overs are helpful in finding out problems in localizations. Phantom Breaker: Omnia has one of the worst localizations that I have ever seen... But I'm still happy that I am able to play this game with English subtitles. It's kinda ironic, lol.
«That said, it would be nice if more people at least called such localizations out instead of passively accepting them if not actively encouraging them!»
Yeah!

Things are different now than in 2009, I'm sure way more people know about Game Center CX compared to 2009 thanks to the efforts of those who translated the episodes, people who casually came across it and the Sakurai crossover.

I'd gladly buy a localization, never had the chance play the original localization of Retro Game Challenge.

@Vyacheslav333 NieR Automata? Wait, wut? Where is all of this coming from? I thought Square did the work themselves. Most of the work there was even done for dubbing purposes, no?

I don't really recall 8-4 taking on such big projects

@Samalik The game was localized by 8-4. And 8-4 localized NieR Gestalt as well...

I've been enjoying it a lot... Thanks to google translator. But if i they translated it, it would be better.

Unicorn Overlord's localization was fan-freaking-tastic. That is all I have to say on the matter lol

@Vyacheslav333 I can understand inconsistencies and "wrong" (if elsewhere in the game it differs or contradicts another item) within the same version of the game or story, but are you mainly upset with 8-4 because they actually write new English and not just a (hard to be 100% 1:1 anyway) direct translation?

I really don't like to defend them but I enjoy their writing (MH4 was especially amazing) and they actually hire / are run by smart writers unlike most things these days (this site included).

If you are that much of a purest Japanese fan then just play the Japanese version. Anytime a game has a direct translation it is super boring, dry, and uninteresting, (or just confusing) all traits that put me to sleep and make playing a game a chore.

There are plenty of people that are not held up on words matching EXACTLY to another languages words (solely for purity sake) and rather read a well-written, entertaining story.

@Vyacheslav333 @JohnnyMind guys, don't forget that us people who don't speak/understand Japanese, are unable to compare our English versions to the original. So I would say that as long as the job is properly done, then this is what sounds to us as the "original" version.

After playing the Bayonetta games extensively and noticing that they did one of the songs in both English and Japanese, I was curious about the "original" voice. It's actually so different that it felt like another character. So I imagine this is a bit how you guys feel on this topic.

@GOmar
"Anytime a game has a direct translation it is super boring, dry, and uninteresting, (or just confusing) all traits that put me to sleep and make playing a game a chore."
Well, in that case, the story isn't made for you then. People like us want the story in its rawest form, in a way we can still follow and learn the language from. Getting things "punched up" from the original dialogue usually just sours what the original may have been trying to convey.

As for me, I can't quite comment 8-4's track record since I haven't played any of their games (besides Automata, but that was while visiting a friend), and the closest I seemingly have gotten to them on my own is Masahiro Sakurai's regular Dev Log

@Yalloo The writing was done in Japanese, but Kamiya insisted that Bayo should be British, to where the original PS360 release only had English.
So yeah, they essentially pulled a Resident Evil, funnily enough.

@Samalik I'm not sure if I follow you.
I just looked it up, the Switch Bayonetta (1) game does have Japanese voice acting. Also seems like it's the same as in 2 & 3 (unlike the English one). So, they recorded it later on, or just didn't include it originally? Or only in the West?

To me she's definitely British indeed, I expected some kind of accent when I switched to the Japanese version XD

@Samalik A game like Retro Game Challenge does not need any kind of raw / dry / direct translation. It should be silly and fun, which can't be directly translated without embellishment and changes.

I understand your side and I agree that certain stories should be as close to direct as possible and I apologize that was not clear. I am very much against changing and adding in irrelevant topics to fit an agenda or for no reason other than the writer finds it funny . I grew up reading Working Designs' writing in games and watched anime in the 80's and 90's that pretty much was an entirely different story compared to what should have been. I am more seasoned in that regard so small changes don't bother me, but I stand by my point ANY story needs to have some amount of English specific writing done to make it palatable (within the bounds of not changing the meaning or intent of the original, of course). I by no means want a return to the era of Working Designs (I am not aware of any company that extreme), I feel 8-4 has been handling content with all the respect and accurateness needed to bring us a story that is still fun to read.

@JohnnyMind I completely agree with you.

Unfortunately, it seems nowadays' world is becoming more and more polarized, with all sorts of people taking everything personally and completely ignoring different perspectives and points of views.
Who knows, this can always change, but at the moment I even read that in some museums here in Amsterdam, they're renaming old sculptures and paintings because they're now considered racist or discriminatory or whatever the reason is.
It seems that we've become too stupid to understand art, or point of views that are from a different time for example.

Videogames are not just art but also entertainment, so there's the company's image that's involved (in the case of Mother 3), so it is a bit different. But still. I'm so glad there is still a wide variety of topics and perspectives in games today, and Nier Automata is a very good example. I found it quite extreme in some views, and that made me enjoy the game much more. It's one full, unique view of its own, a gorgeous art piece. I enjoyed it in English, and good to know it's not such a bad localization after all 😅

Oh, I'd love that. Retro Game Challenge was one of the best hidden gems in the NDS library. Was very sad when the sequel never made the jump.

@JohnnyMind thanks, man. And yes, let's keep enjoying all those great games ... as long as we can!

Meh. When a company tells me they don't want my money, I don't find a way to give it to them.

With how much effort fans have gone to make the TV show this game is based on accessible illegally to an international audience, it would hopefully not be lost on Fuji TV to make it viewable by some official means.

@CannibalChristmas Well, it is understandable though if a product is estimated to cost more money to localize than is estimated to bring in.
That statement about Retro Game Challenge has been said again from some Xseed team. They have said that approving that game was based on their feelings as game fans and not by good business sense. Licensing as well as the cost of development work to adapt the game program for a language that was not originally planned for, added towards making the game quite expensive to localize.

I played the original and the fan translation of the second one - both awesome games. It'd be cool if more people were able to play them. I heard the 3rd one isn't as good, but I would be interested in playing it anyway if that one was ever translated - officially or otherwise.

Why do I have a feeling that if I say I don’t mind localization that I would get mobbed?
Anyway I wouldn’t mind seeing this get translated. Heck there’s a bunch of games I would love to see get localized. (Mother 3, klonoa heroes, etc)

@Samalik but the thing is… its rawest form, direct translation.. it isn’t the intent of the original creators. Direct translation causes things to get lost in translation. That’s why direct translations are boring and soulless. Language and culture are intertwined. When you take things as their exact meaning, you lose the culture and intent behind it. That is just the way language works. If you have ever lived long periods of time in different countries and actually lived with the common, average Joes, most people can understand this. Its not just learning a language, its learning to be a human from scratch.

To a person born in Japan the Japanese language version of a game is understood to them personally in a way completely different to what the direct translation can offer to a foreigner. That is where a good localization can come in and adapt the original game to a different audience so they can have the same general experience in ways their culture can relate. Its the most that can really be done, unless you are willing to go live in Japan for years and form close bonds with regular people there, just to play a video game. And that would have to be in Japanese to make sense and keep the culture, not English.

So of the 3 options, 1. Terrible dry direct translation that loses its soul and the original meaning behind the words. 2. Localization that changes the dialog but keeps the intent. 3. Moving abroad and devoting years of yourself. I think the most common sense choice for the masses, is localization.

I think many purists have good intent, but the reality is, direct translation isnt pure and it never can be, because language and culture do not work that way. Language is not mathematical, factual, and binary. Its is a human dance, with nuance. If you don’t feel the music and let your own dance flow, you will just look like a robot copying someone else's moves. Dance without rhythm is not really a dance. That’s what happens with direct translation. Trying to preserve it exactly, ruins it. It is no longer art or entertaining. It’s just computer code.

IMHO purists are destroying the purity. And the constant complaining just causes division in the community along with getting really annoying and turning people off.

Every community you go to these days someone is just there complaining and complaining. There is no joy left anywhere.

Pretty pleaaase! I want to play this game so badly. Make it happen, Bandai-Namco!

I would love to see this come out in English, the first two games were awesome.
I think these games feel a bit better on the TV, so Switch would work well. It's not exactly a simple process to get the first two on a TV, but it can be done if you have a modded Wii U.

This game is really great!

Loved the ds game… and since that is basically in the switch game.. they only have to translate a bit more..

The charm was in the little magazine articles etc.. that might be quite difficult to get the proper tone.. they should hire stuart campbell of amiga power fame!

Glad i have the originals, but would love to have them on switch also! Retro Game Challenge was perhaps my favorite 3rd party game on the DS, which is saying something, considering how many fantastic games the DS had.

I learned about RGC on DS several years after it was released and I loved it. Luckily the sequel had a fan translation so I was able to play that too and I would love to see an official release over here for Switch. I mean, if the original game had any marketing it wouldn't have taken me so long to know about it.

@Yalloo Yes, because Nintendo commissioned the Japanese "dub" for the Wii U release. Kamiya always intended Bayo to speak English, even in Japan. He's still an old-school Capcom creator at heart.

@DestructoDisk am I trying to read someone giving good examples of fundamentals from Japanese to English or am I reading a rant of someone who is giving up on the world?

Look, I'm not here for an Americanization of Japanese stuff (unless the Japanese stuff was trying to be comically American). Hell, I'm not even in America right now. I'm here for games not from any culture I lived in. I am intelligent enough to know that I'm entering international waters when I play or watch something from the east. And while there is good faith translating being done by people who earnestly want the work to be maintained (which I've seen lots of in the Blue Archive community for example), there are also lots of bad faith localizations being done too in the professional scene. So please don't go on ranting about "the purist" for just wanting the bare minimum on wanting the closest product possible from one language to another. People can forgive the pun that doesn't work in another language, but they won't forgive changing characterization, expression, or tone because the one who was tasked with importing the story said it was "too boring and I hate it", especially when what could have been properly translated was already easy to understand in English as is, but was avoided anyways.

@Samalik You are still thinking binary. Puns are simple constructs of language and not what I was talking about.

On the other hand, you gave examples of characterization, expression, and tone as things that shouldn’t be changed. However what I am trying to explain to you, is things like that in other countries, can not always be translated. They don’t always have equivalents outside of their own linguistic and cultural borders. If you have a constant interaction with other cultures, you will constantly hear “there is no word for that in English or there is no way to express that in your culture, it doesn’t exist”. And as you get deeper into that culture you will understand it more. Tones that your brain can’t understand until you have been fully engulfed and reprogrammed by your surroundings. Word for word translation simply does not work.

This is one reason why, factually speaking, text can become boring and lifeless when translated. There is no existing tone for the same text in another language. And even if you are a native speaker of the original language, the text loses its tone when translated. The tone is lost because the new host language does not support it. Keeping the text as is does a disservice to the text. That is what localizers understand as they are generally people of two cultures who understand why text will not work directly translated.

Yes I do understand there are bad localizers. Some that go too far and change stuff that does work in binary translation. Or some that take what won’t work in translation and rightfully try to replace it, but they are bad at choosing a new tone or text to make the replacement with. They are not necessarily creators, writers, or story tellers, so their new dialog can be cheesy or seem out of place. A good localizer can take what is untranslatable and make changes that flow well.

It is factual though that entire characters just get ruined by direct translation, as their entire tone is not translatable. Even to a bilingual who is native to the original language, once moved to a different language, reading of the character, all is lost, and it is now a different character. Aside from tone loss, the direct translation actually creates inconsistency in the character along with the baggage of being boring.

As far as Japanese and Japan goes, they are one of the more extreme examples on Earth too, making everything I said above even more intensified than a typical regional difference.

Unfortunately this is a thing that people struggle to understand. On the outside language seems like math. “This word equals that word”. “I feel like this or act in this way so it must have an equal way to express those things in another language”. In reality it doesn’t work that way. There are things that can only be expressed within a language and culture and is completely lost and untranslatable to another culture and language. When you take something like a huge rpg story, these issues come up multiple times, changing the world the game takes place in. It isn’t about simple puns. You can easily come up with replacement puns that are appropriate in context, or you can explain the pun in direct translation. Puns are for the most part binary if you understand both languages. I am not talking about binary stuff. That is just communication.I am talking about the analog dance that is language. Language goes far beyond communication.

@DestructoDisk
"However what I am trying to explain to you, is things like that in other countries, cannot always be translated. They don’t always have equivalents outside of their own linguistic and cultural borders. If you have a constant interaction with other cultures, you will constantly hear “there is no word for that in English or there is no way to express that in your culture, it doesn’t exist”. "

You're talking to someone who speaks multiple languages, you know that right? I might not be the best at Dutch or Japanese, but even I know this is a load of bollocks. If a single word cannot be directly translated, then it is translated roundabout in earnest (I hope) or the word is kept in the translation with an understanding that the audience is smart enough to understand it and the culture around it.

As for this: "It is factual though that entire characters just get ruined by direct translation, as their entire tone is not translatable. Even to a bilingual who is native to the original language, once moved to a different language, reading of the character, all is lost, and it is now a different character."
Um, no. I've seen examples of characters talk more extremely when "translated" but have a different tone when you listen in on the original and try translating it in your head yourself to find that the English was totally supported but the localizers decided to "punch it up" instead of keeping it in earnest. You're ignoring how the charisma of the story's world generally gets expressed, especially when characters are generally calmer than the imported effort. It's called reading the room, which when it comes to Japan in general, is a vital skill to have. English in itself is already a very versatile language to support that with no cultural tiedowns anymore. The only real concern when it comes to Japanese is the Kanji itself, which can imply various things off of a character based on the writing of their name alone. And English releases more often than not, ignores explaining this, sometimes for worse. you actually need to look it up yourself to understand the meanings of otherwise subtle sounding character names. But that's the nature of import media

I said it before and I'll say it again, if the translated story in its rawest but Grammarly correct English (stylisms aside) is too boring for you, it wasn't made with you in mind.

@Samalik 🤦‍♂️😳😩