Fan translation
A
fan translation is an unofficial
translation of a
computer game or
video game, sometimes into a
language that it was never marketed in.
The fan translation practice grew with the rise of
video game console emulation in the late
1990s. A community of people developed that were interested in replaying and modifying the games they played in their youth. The knowledge and tools that came out of this community allowed them to work with translators to
localize titles that had never been available outside of their original country of origin.
Fan translations of computer and
video game console games are usually accomplished by
modifying the binary ROM image of the game. In dealing with translations of console games, a
console emulator is generally utilized to play the final product, although
game copiers or similar devices can be used to run the translated ROM image on its native hardware. The central focus of the fan translation community was of
Japanese-exclusive computer and video games being made playable in
English for the first time. The work done bringing a game into English was, however, often a starting point for translation into a variety of other languages.
The fan translation community was at its most popular, and attracted the most media attention, when certain popular game titles were still being worked on. These were usually parts of popular series such as SquareEnix's
Final Fantasy. Some consider the peak was reached with the translation of
Seiken Densetsu 3, a title that was highly desirable to RPG players and also very difficult to translate on a technical basis.
 |
RPGe's translation of Final Fantasy V was one of the early major fan-translated works. Original Japanese is on the left; RPGe's translation is on the right. |
Reverse engineering and the rise of console emulation made fan translation possible. One of the early complete translation patches for a video game was released in
1997. The patch, produced by
RPGe, was designed to translate
Final Fantasy V for the
Super Famicom (also known as the
Super Nintendo Entertainment System) into English. While translating games had been around by the time of the patch, it was the first to prove to a large audience that the in-depth hacking required for such a project was feasible. New groups quickly sprang up in RPGe's wake and began translating other works.
Earlier big translation projects were for example, done by Oasis for the
MSX system.
Konami's RPG
SD-Snatcher was translated in April 1993, and
Dragon Slayer VI: The Legend of Heroes was translated in 1995. Oasis has done a number of other translations before 1997 as well, and Maarten ter Huurne and Takamichi Suzukawa released a translated version of
Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake in April 1997.
These were possible before emulation on
PCs became popular (or even adequate enough to play games) because the games were on
floppy disks, and were therefore easier to distribute to the users, in comparison to
ROM cartridges used by video game consoles (the MSX also used cartridges, but methods were discovered to copy the content onto floppy disks and other media too).
While fan translations are indisputably illegal (Article 8 of the
Berne Convention explicitly reserves the right of translation to the copyright holder and whoever receives permission of them, saying
"Authors of literary and artistic works protected by this Convention shall enjoy the exclusive right of making and of authorizing the translation of their works throughout the term of protection of their rights in the original works."), it is unusual for copyright holders to object. This is probably largely because the electronic games in question are generally not considered commercially viable in the target language, so the translation is rarely seen as a source of lost revenue. However, in 1999, one well-known incident in which copyrighter holders took action involved the translation of a Windows game maker called RPG Maker 95. The Japanese company
ASCII had their
lawyers send a cease and desist e-mail to the translation group KanjiHack. The group shut-down immediately but the project was eventually finished by others. Unlike most other translation projects at the time KanjiHack were working on titles that were still commercially available in Japan. Titles from the
RPG Maker series were eventually localized and officially released in the US for the
PlayStation and
PlayStation 2.
A popular belief in the fan translation community is that distributing only the translated text, as a patch to the full, original game, is legal. The reasoning is that the patch only contains the new data and directives for where it is to be placed, and does not have the original copyrighted material included in any form, and therefore it is useless unless the user applies it to a (copyrighted) ROM, the acquisition and legality of which they are left completely accountable for. This belief, while untested in court, is probably not supported by international copyright law, but this strong anti-
software piracy attitude by the fan translation community may have convinced copyright holders to, by and large,
turn a blind eye.
There have never been any legal cases involving fan translation issues, and such projects have been relatively widespread over the Internet for years. In recent years, anime
fansubbers have started to attract the attention of some American anime distributors; and as of
2004 one manga
scanlator has been handed a cease and desist by a Japanese company, but most of this attention has been restricted to polite entreaties asking fan translators to refrain from dealing with licensed material.
|
Neill Corlett and Alex W. Jackson 's Final Fantasy III (original Japanese version is on the left; their translation is on the right) |
This is a partial list of Japanese video games which have been translated into English by fan translators.
MSX translations
*
Parodius ~Tako wa Chikyū o Sukū~ (
Konami,
1988) — translated by
Takamichi Suzukawa*
Snatcher (
Konami,
1988) — translated by
Daniel Caetano, Takamichi Suzukawa & Artemio Urbina in
2003*
Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (
Konami,
1990) — translated by
Maarten ter Huurne and Takamichi Suzukawa et al. in April
1997*
Dragon Slayer VI: The Legend of Heroes (
Falcom,
1989) — translated by
Oasis in
1995*
SD Snatcher (
Konami,
1990) — translated by
Oasis in
1993*
Xak - The Tower of Gazzel (
Micro Cabin, 1991) " translated by
Oasis*
Ys: Ancient Ys Vanished Omen (
Falcom, 1987) " translated by
Oasis*
Ys II: Ancient Ys Vanished The Final Chapter (
Falcom, 1988) " translated by
Oasis*
Ys III: Wanderers From Ys (
Falcom, 1989) " translated by
Oasis*
Illusion City (Microcabin, 1991) " translated by
Adriano Cunha & Takamichi SuzukawaNintendo Famicom/NES translations
*
Akumajou Densetsu (also known as
Castlevania III) (
Konami,
1989) — translated by
Vice Translations*
Cosmo Police Galivan (
Nihon Bussan,
1988) — translated by
Jair in
1998*
Destiny of an Emperor II (
Capcom,
1991) — translated by
Magic Destiny*
Final Fantasy II (
Square Co., Ltd.,
1988) — translated by
NeoDemiforce in
1998*
Final Fantasy III (
Square Co., Ltd.,
1990) — translated by
Neill Corlett and
Alex W. Jackson in
1999*
Glory of Heracles II, (
Data East,
1989) — translated by
The Spoony Bard in
2000*
Joy Mech Fight (
Nintendo,
1993) — translated by
AlanMidas in
2000*
Wanpaku Kokkun no Gourmet World (
Taito,
1992) translated by
The Spoony Bard. This game was officially released in
North America in 1992 under the name
Panic Restaurant but with a few alterations by Taito's North American branch.
Super Famicom / SNES translations
*
Alcahest (
Square Co., Ltd.,
1994) " translated by
F.H. in
2002*
Bahamut Lagoon (
Square Co., Ltd.,
1995) " translated by
DeJap in
2002*
BS The Legend of Zelda: Stone Tablets of Antiquity (
Nintendo,
1997) " translated by
The BS Zelda Homepage Team in
2005*
Cyber Knight (
Tonkinhouse,
1993) " translated by
Aeon Genesis in
2001*
Cyber Knight 2: Chikyū Teikoku no Yabō (
Tonkinhouse,
1994) - translated by
Aeon Genesis in
2005*
Dragon Quest I & II (
Enix,
1993) " translated by
RPGOne in
2002*
Dragon Quest III (
Enix,
1996) " translation started by
DeJap and still in progress by
RPGOne. As of
December 17, 2005, it is currently at 47% completion.
*
Dragon Quest V (
Enix,
1992) " translated by
DeJap in
2002*
Dragon Quest VI (
Enix,
1994) " translated by
DeJap and
NoPrgress in
2001*
Dual Orb 2 (
I'Max,
1994) " translated by
Nightcrawler's Translation Corporation in
2002*
EMIT Series (
Koei,
1995) " translated by
BAO in
1996*
Final Fantasy IV (
Square Co., Ltd.,
1991) " translated by
J2e in
1999*
Final Fantasy V (
Square Co., Ltd.,
1992) " translated by
RPGe (SoM2Freak, harmony7, Barubary) in
1997*
Final Fantasy VI (
Square Co., Ltd.,
1994) " translated by
RPGOne in
2002*
Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu (
Nintendo/
Intelligent Systems,
1996) " translation started by
J2e and finished by
Fire Emblem Sanctuary of Strategy in
2004*
Front Mission (
Square Co., Ltd.,
1995) " translated by
F.H. in
2000*
Front Mission: Gun Hazard (
Square Co., Ltd.,
1996) " translated by
Aeon Genesis in
2004*
Koryu no Mimi (Oosawa Arimasa, M.A.T., Inoue Noriyoshi, VAP;
1995) " translated by
RPGOne in
2004*
Live-A-Live (
Square Co., Ltd.,
1994) " translated by
Aeon Genesis*
Magic Knight Rayearth (
Tomy,
1995) " translated by
Lina`chan in
1999*
Mickey & Donald Magical Adventure 3 (
Capcom,
1996) " translated by
RPGOne in
2004*
Mysterious Dungeon 2: Shiren the Wanderer (Chun Soft,
1995) " translated by
Aeon Genesis in
2006*
Radical Dreamers (
Square Co., Ltd.,
1998) " translated by
NeoDemiforce in
2003*
Rockman & Forte (also known as
Megaman & Bass) (
Capcom,
1998) " translated by
Aeon Genesis in
2002*
Romancing SaGa 3 (
Square Co., Ltd.,
1995) " translated by
Mana Sword in
2000*
Rudora no Hihou (
Square Co., Ltd.,
1996) " translated by
Aeon Genesis in
2002*
Sailormoon: Another Story (
Angel,
1995) " translated by
Bishoujou Senshi Translations in
1999*
Seiken Densetsu 3 (
Square Co., Ltd.,
1995) " translated by
Neill Corlett, SoM2Freak, Lina`chan, Nuku-nuku, Filia, et. al. in
2000*
Shin Nekketsu Kouha: Kunio tachi no Banka (
Technos,
1994) " translated by
Aeon Genesis in
2003*
Star Fox 2*
Star Ocean: Fantastic Space Odyssey (
Enix,
1996) " translated by
DeJap in
2004*
Tales of Phantasia (
Namco,
1994) " translated by
DeJap in
2001*
Ys IV: Mask of the Sun (
Falcom,
1993) " translated by
Aeon Genesis in
2000Other translations
*
Fire Emblem: Fūin no Tsurugi (
Nintendo/
Intelligent Systems,
2002,
Game Boy Advance) — translated by
Fire Emblem Sanctuary of Strategy in
2005*
Xak III: The Eternal Recurrence (
Microcabin/
NEC,
1994, NEC
PC-Engine) — translated by
NightWolve, Paul England and
Akimaru in
2004*
Ys I & II Complete (
Falcom,
2001, PC) — translated by
NightWolve and
Deuce (with initial help by Shimarisu) in
2005*
Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys (
Hudson Soft,
1993, NEC
PC Engine) — translated by
NightWolve, Shimarisu, and
Deuce in
2004Unauthorised translations of computer games are also done by Russian
software pirates. Interestingly, some games, such as Japanese
hentai games are localised using the English version as a source.
*
Scanlation*
Fansub*
Console emulator*
Japanese language*
List of Famicom games*
List of Super Famicom games*
Parallel imports
*
Regional converter*
Regional lockout*
Regional record*
Reverse engineering*
ROM hacking*
ROM image*
Translation*
Video game*
Video game publisherFan translators
*
Aeon Genesis*
DeJap*
Demiforce*
Falcom Fan Translations by NightWolve*
F.H's Webpage*
KingMike's Translations*
Kitsune's Den (Formerly called Vice Translations)*
Magic Destiny*
Neill Corlett*
Nightcrawler's Translation Corporation*
Retro Crew*
ROMhacking.net*
RPGOne*
Stealth Translations*
The Spoony Bard
