Fan-translated
A fan translation is an unofficial translation of a computer game or video game into a language that it was never marketed in. This is usually accomplished by modifying the binary ROM image of the game, and utilizing an emulator to play it if it is a console game. It is sometimes an option for releasing a game outside its homeland. For fan translations of computer and video games, Japanese is usually the source language, and English is usually the target language, and fan translation is an answer to a Japanese's company's regional decision to keep a game exclusive to Japan. Most fan translators translate computer and video games into their native tongue.
Fan translation is perceived as having a number of advantages; in particular, it allows gamers to play, and understand, games that were never released in their native language. Many video games are marketed exclusively in Japan, for example; the text encoded in the ROM images of these Japan-only games can be translated to English or another language, for the enjoyment of English-speaking players and players who speak neither Japanese nor English. Not only is the practice of fan translation considered by many video game players to be a reaction to a disappointing regional decision, or the answer to a Japnaese's company's decision to keep a game exclusive to Japan, but it is also consider a sign of a demand for companies to start translating games into languages that the never bothered to translate into. Another reason for fan translation is that the English release is considered inferior to the Japanese release as to gameplay or script content or if the Japan-only game is an enhanced remake of a game that was released outside Japan or that has an original version that was already fan-translated into English.
Some of the Japan-only games that have been translated into English through emulation include Dragon Quest V (Super Famicom), Dragon Quest I & II Reprise (SFC), Cosmo Police Galivan (Famicom), Adventure Island 4 (FC), Tales of Phantasia (SFC), Final Fantasy II (FC, remade for Final Fantasy Origins), Final Fantasy III (FC), Final Fantasy V (SFC), Seiken Densetsu 3 (SFC), Live-A-Live (SFC), Bahamut Lagoon (SFC), and Radical Dreamers (SFC). In addition to English, other fan translations have also been translations into other languages such as French, Spanish, Italian, Greek, Portuguese, Latin, Norwegian, German, Dutch, Russian, and Serbian. American subsidiaries of Japanese video game companies translate their games only into English. They do not bother to translate into Spanish, although Spanish is a widely spoken language in the United States. European video game companies seldom bother to translate their games into languages other than Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish.
If a Famicom game gets fan-translated from Japanese to English, it gets respectfully dubbed an NES game. The same goes for Super Famicom games.
Fan Translators (External Links)
See Also
List of Fan-Translated Japan-only Video Games
YoJR = Year of Japanese Release. YoFTR = Year of Fan Translation Release.
Complete Translations
| Game Title | Platform | Game Publisher | Fan Translator | YoJR | YoFTR | Reason for Japan-onlyness |
|---|
| Alcahest | Super Famicom | Squaresoft | F.H. | 1994 | 2002 | Reason unknown |
| Bahamut Lagoon | Super Famicom | Squaresoft | DeJap Translations | 1995 | 2002 | Reason unknown |
| Cosmo Police Galivan | Famicom | Nihon Bussan | Jair | 1988 | 1998 | No localization rights or subsidiary |
| Cyber Knight | Super Famicom | Tonkinhouse | Aeon Genesis Translation Proclamation | 1993 | 2002 | No localization rights, power, or subsidiary. |
| Dragon Quest I&II | Super Famicom | Enix | RPG-One Translations | 1993 | 2002 | Enix America Corporation was closed |
| Dragon Quest III | Super Famicom | Enix | DeJap Translations and RPG-One Translations | 1996 | 2003 | Enix America Corporation was closed |
| Dragon Quest V | Super Famicom | Enix | DeJap Translations | 1992 | 2002 | Enix America Corporation was closed. Playstation 2 remake may get localized to North America. |
| Dragon Quest VI | Super Famicom | Enix | DeJap Translations and NoPrgress | 1994 | 2001 | Enix America Corporation was closed |
| Final Fantasy II | Famicom | Squaresoft | NeoDemiforce | 1988 | 1998 | Squaresoft had problems with Nintendo. Playstation version was released in the United States under Final Fantasy Origins. |
| Final Fantasy III | Famicom | Squaresoft | Neill Corlett and Alex W. Jackson | 1990 | 1999 | Squaresoft did not have the resources to translate the game and the Super Famicom was released around the same time. |
| Final Fantasy V | Super Famicom | Squaresoft | RPGe | 1992 | 1998 | Squaresoft opted for Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest and did not have the resources to translate Final Fantasy V. Playstation port of Final Fantasy V was released in the United States under Final Fantasy Anthology.
| | Front Mission | Super Famicom | Squaresoft | F.H. | 1995 | 2000 | The developer decided that it would be denied a North American release. |
| Radical Dreamers | Super Famicom | Squaresoft | NeoDemiforce | 1998 | 2003 | Reason unknown. |
| Rudora no Hihou | Super Famicom | Squaresoft | Aeon Genesis Translation Proclamation | 1996 | 2003 | Squaresoft had localization problems at the time. |
| Seiken Densetsu 3 | Super Famicom | Squaresoft | Neill Corlett and others | 1995 | 2000 | Squaresoft cancelled localization in favor of Secret of Evermore. |
| Shin Nekketsu Kouha: Kunio tachi no Banka | Super Famicom | Technos Japan Corporation | Aeon Genesis Translation Proclamation | 1994 | 2003 | American Technos did not have the resources to translate the game. |
| Star Ocean | Super Famicom | Enix | DeJap Translations | 1996 | 2004 | No localization office. |
| Tales of Phantasia | Super Famicom | Namco | DeJap Translations | 1994 | 2001 | Namco refused to have the game released outside Japan. |
| Ys IV: Mask of the Sun | Super Famicom | Nihon Falcom | Aeon Genesis Translation Proclamation | 1993 | 2000 | No localization rights, power, or subsidiary. |
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