Legends of Localization

Let's take a REALLY detailed look at how various video games were translated and localized! Check out the full site here! https://legendsoflocalization.com! Read my giant book about EarthBound here! Fangamer Amazon Read my book about Zelda here! Fangamer Amazon Let's be friends on Twitter! @ClydeMandelin Join me on Twitch, where I often translate Japanese games, ROM hacks, and more! twitch.tv/clydemandelin

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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!

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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/

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https://legendsoflocalization.com/personal-pronouns-in-japanese/

If you're studying Japanese (or even just barely sorta kinda like Japanese stuff) you'll probably like this

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https://legendsoflocalization.com/the-pop-culture-obsessed-monsters-in-japanese-super-mario-rpg/

The Japanese version of Super Mario RPG gets crazy with anime, music, and other pop culture references (possibly NSFW though)

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https://legendsoflocalization.com/final-fantasy-vi/summary/

Which Final Fantasy VI *translation* is the best? After comparing many different translations side-by-side, here are my final thoughts & answer.

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https://legendsoflocalization.com/this-be-bad-translation-14-kitty-love/

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...)

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When politics and game translations collide (more here)

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https://legendsoflocalization.com/mother3-timeline/

Today is the 10th anniversary of the Mother 3 fan translation! I wrote this to celebrate  🍅

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https://legendsoflocalization.com/movies-in-japanese-01-the-wizard/

A look at how The Wizard was translated into Japanese and where the translation changes things slightly, including the Power Glove scene  🍅 

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https://legendsoflocalization.com/wanderbar/

If you’re a retro gamer or a language learner, you might like this

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https://legendsoflocalization.com/chrono-triggers-gato-in-japanese/

Here’s how Gato’s name and song changed during Chrono Trigger’s localization.

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I wrote a short thing about how those weird redundant translations happen https://legendsoflocalization.com/redundant-translations-in-games-anime/ 

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https://legendsoflocalization.com/final-fantasy-vi/part-13/

My Final Fantasy VI translation comparison is almost over, but the newest update is bigger than ever!

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https://legendsoflocalization.com/game-localization-and-nintendo-of-americas-content-policies-in-the-1990s/

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!

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https://legendsoflocalization.com/final-fantasy-vi/part-12/#celes-on-the-cliff

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...

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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!

Anyway, my latest article covers this topic and a bunch more from this section of Final Fantasy VI!

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https://legendsoflocalization.com/final-fantasy-vi/part-10/

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