i'm a nerd and i'm bitching about nintendo games.

[Aaarg]

i love fan translations. i think the people who translate games that were never localized in the west are great. i've been able to play many-a-good-game as a result of romhackers.

i've seen people on romhacking-dot-net (you know THE compendium of fan-translations) state flat-out that there is nothing of worth left to translate for the famicom/nes. which is simply not true, even when you exclude mahjong games and fortune-telling software. there are plenty of rpgs untranslated, and games that would benefit from a re-translation (the magic of scheherazade - the game that brought kali to the us as curly!).


all right, so the shin megami tensei franchise is often cited as being the third-most popular rpg series in japan, behind final fantasy and dragon quest/warrior. it's even big in the states now, since atlus started localizing the games and people wet their pants over nocturne (with good reason) and dating-sim-crap-persona 3.

how the hell has nobody translated the first two games in the series? megami tensei/mt2

the original has been "near-completion" for years, by agtp/gideon zhi, the dude that translated the first sfc shin megami tensei games.

but i haven't seen that anybody has even announced attempting to translate digital devil story: megami tensei ii. that's totally a bummer.

the games were re-released on the super famicom, with a graphical make-over and probably some balance issues fixed. there's a translation of that in progress, too, apparently, but maaaaaaaaaaaaan. why no love for the 8-bit games?


i know there's a lot of people out there who have a stiffy for the famicom - i'm one of them. i know there's a lot of people out there who have a stiffy for the megaten franchise - i'm getting there. how come none of these motherfuckers are romhackers?

k0k0, get on this. learn japanese plz.


also, FUCKING COOL MUSIC.
tJ4zvfpcI1M
god DAMN it

[k0k0]

I once translated half of a japanese game. I wanted to fuck with romhacking.net, so I was translating the rpg but with made up shit since I don't know Japanese. I ended up giving up because it was a long ass rpg and someone already finished their translation of it.

[Aaarg]

haha, what game was it?

i just don't understand how people have translated bottom of the barrel dragon warrior clones like shell monsters story (fuck!) but not MEGAMI TENSEI 2.

i mean, i do understand it: it's easier that way.

[k0k0]

It was Elysion. It wasn't very good and I was kind of glad to stop working on it.

And yeah, those fuckers who know japanese always translate the stupid shit and leave the good stuff hanging a lot of times. Although sometimes they do the right thing.

[Aaarg]

ew, yeah. pretty bad game. nes rpgs are usually shit, but there are some good ones. if your emulator's turbo/speed key is handy, at least.

i just don't understand the lack of demand for the megaten games :'(

[Fathom Zero]

I only played the Digital Devil Story ones. :\

I DEMAND THEM. THERE IS DEMAND.

[Aaarg]

digital devil saga? on the ps2? i have both of those (i just "came into" a bunch of ps2 games so i get to catch up), but i'm about 70 hours into persona 2 at the moment, and ~20 into devil summoner: raidou v soulless army, and i think next i'll tackle shin megami tensei for the snes.

[Fathom Zero]

Digital Devil Story was what it was translated as for the SNES, as well. Them SMT's are good'uns.

Confusing fucking name structure. And Digital Devil Saga is a damn spinoff.

But all of these games are good. All of them.

[Aaarg]

OOOOH ok! i didn't realize.

i still have to finish nocturne. the dungeons just got so damn tedious and then i got to the last and was so burnt out.

also i played it new game + on a save with like 4 playthroughs and 500 hours, so fusing every demon with bright might/dark might and pierce kind of made all the bosses easy as shit (except the, like, two with null/void/reflect phys). the difficulty level was lost on me.

oh god how am i so boring

[Fathom Zero]

http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/7313/20571620x23121321231213.jpg

you've lived a long and fruitful life of video games

[Aaarg]

not even fruitful i'm only now getting into the megaten world and i'm 25 :'( :''( :'',,'',',,','','',',',','','',',',','',','O yum these tears tast goods

i remember losing interest in video games and selling my sega genesis so i'd have money to buy christmas gifts for my family because i never used it because i was always outside in the woods and then my friends got too cool to want to wander around in the woods anymore when they were being all proto-puberty-cool-dudes and then i bought a psx when i was 12 and then i got a computer when i was 14 and from that point on my life has been a downward spiral of sprites and polygons these are my final words farewell world good night sweet prince (myself)

[Dr. Boogie]

I've got Nocturne and a couple of the Persona games, along with the two DS games, but I just haven't had the time to play them yet. They sound great, I just have trouble getting into any JRPG these days.

[Emu]

I don't understand why nobody has translated the PS1 remakes of Shin Megami Tensei I and II. The Super Famicom ones are kind of hard to navigate because all the hallways look exactly the same and the PS1 versions mix that up at least a little bit.

I am a huge faggot for the SMT series (obviously <-------) and I've played most of the games. I tend to rank them thusly:

1) Nocturne
2) Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment (Two parts of the same game, basically)
3) Devil Survivor
4) Persona 4
5) Persona 3 (Preferably the portable version, since it has GURL MODE)
6) Digital Devil Saga 2
7) Digital Devil Saga 1
8) Strange Journey
9) Persona 1

I haven't played enough of SMT1 and 2 to rank them honestly. I got fairly far in SMT1 and put it down and now I can't figure out what the fuck. :( The game is so frustratingly difficult to navigate unless you're drawing up your own maps to supplement the godawful automap system. I didn't get all that far in SMT2 but it's got a fuckawesome setting and great music. Also SMT1 and 2 have some of the raddest hero designs (although you never see them in game):

SMT1:
http://www.popanime.net/megami/wiki/images/thumb/a/a0/Hero_(SMT1).jpg/250px-Hero_(SMT1).jpg

And his Kazuma Kaneko redesign:

http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080722040453/megamitensei/images/thumb/6/65/Hero2.jpg/162px-Hero2.jpg

It's like he's straight out of an 80s sci fi. I love the idea of the hero using both a sword and a gun, something that's apparently unheard of outside of this series. Also look at that wrist computer. Fuck Omni-tools, this shit should be the sci fi standard.

[Aaarg]

i stopped playing smt2 when i got to a big place that had no random encounters so i just went around filling out the map, forgetting that you need ENERGY TO MOVE. so then i was taking damage with every step. and refilling health costs a lot of money.

and then not only do you have to pay to revive a dead demon, you have to PAY TO PUT HIM IN YOUR PARTY. fuck.

i'll play it in the not-too-distant future, paying more attention, but fuck.

i don't plan on playing persona 3 or 4. also, no ds, so i'll only end up playing the ds ones if ds emulation gets stable.

also i thought kaneko was the artist/designer for the old ones, too.

[Emu]

No, Kaneko didn't show up til around the PS1 era, AFAIK.

And yeah MAG conservation is one of the things that becomes really painful if you're one of those people (like me) who has to fill in every tile of the map.

edit: if you go to the YouTube page of that video you linked it links to this forum under the "As Seen On" thing.

[Aaarg]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazuma_Kaneko

he was there forever! i thought that was the case. an old friend was big into the series (like, had NA and JP versions of nocturne and the ps2 devil summoner games and strange journey) and used to talk about how much better the guy got at artwork over the years.

i kind of like the older human designs better, though. they're silly, but there's just something i find a little unsettling about the way everybody looks in the ps2 games.

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/megaten/smt3-chiaki2.jpg
scary!

man, i was so excited when i was able to fuse barong in nocturne, and then more excited when i saw how goddamn cute he is. but he's weak to death or something and he dies all the goddamn time and i think it would have been a pain to give him resist death so i ended up having to get rid of him and i think that's when i lost interest in that game.

because of barong. cute little barong.

[Emu]

http://chudahs-corner.com/img/cover/k/KICA-5047_front.jpg

He's done more than just SMT, yanno! Maken X on the Dreamcast has some pretty wacky Kaneko art associated with it.

He also designed Dante and Vergil's demon forms in DMC3.

[Aaarg]

never played any of the dmc games, i only know dante from his obnoxious cameos in nocturne.

man, speaking of video game artists, yoshitaka amano is great.

[Fathom Zero]

I wrote a paper on him once. Also, this is a good book. (http://www.amazon.com/Yoshitaka-Amanos-Mateki-Magic-Flute/dp/098023350X)

[Aaarg]

looks it. i'm surprised my old roommate didn't have it. he had a few amano art-books. same guy that had a bunch of smt/kaneko art books.

[Fathom Zero]

Oddly enough, I bought it after seeing an interview with him about it in Heavy Metal Magazine.

Also, I want a Jack Frost tattoo. I need to make this happen.

[Aaarg]

i think mara would be better suited for you

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/7805/marag.jpg

[Fathom Zero]

It's got so many veins. :eek

[Aaarg]

needs lots of blood!

demon blood

[Emu]

One of my friends has Serph's Water Crown symbol tattooed on his arm. It's rad as hell.

[kahljorn]

what the hell is going on in that picture

did that monster build himself a deathcart?

[Emu]

Mara is the demon that tempted the Buddha with sexual ecstacy prior to attaining enlightenment. It didn't take.

In SMT he's represented as a huge green screaming penis riding a badass chariot. That's pretty much par for the course for this series.

[ThrashO]

I was the model for that drawing.

[Aaarg]

oh i'll bet

[Aaarg]

i'm trying to work my way through mt2 in japanese. equipment is an issue. spells have yet to become an issue, but they will. so far i've been able to figure out dia and a map spell.

anyway the intro to this game is fucking badass.
http://klimp.dk/img/ss/mtii01.png
http://klimp.dk/img/ss/mtii02.png
http://klimp.dk/img/ss/mtii03.png
http://klimp.dk/img/ss/mtii04.png

http://klimp.dk/img/ss/mtii05.png
http://klimp.dk/img/ss/mtii06.png
http://klimp.dk/img/ss/mtii07.png
http://klimp.dk/img/ss/mtii08.png
http://klimp.dk/img/ss/mtii09.png
http://klimp.dk/img/ss/mtii10.png

[Fathom Zero]

I love occult things in 8-bit games. Never got to see any of that as a kid. It was all Super Marios and Pac-Mans and Mr. Do.

uZ22NFedRPI

Also fuck this game. Too hard for my five year old brain to figure out.

[Aaarg]

haha, yeah, nintendo of america was way tame and i would have loved some of this japan-only stuff as a kid. well, yeah, i love it as an adult. whatever.

remember monster party? i'd rent that game all the time. i was never good at it, but it was awesome.

i recently finally got a hold of my attention span long enough to beat a game i've always liked but never got anywhere in - getsu fuuma den.
http://klimp.dk/img/ss/gfd19.png
http://klimp.dk/img/ss/gfd21.png
http://klimp.dk/img/ss/gfd24.png

fukin cool


and speaking of games too cool for late 80s america...
http://klimp.dk/img/ss/sh04.png
http://klimp.dk/img/ss/sh08.png
http://klimp.dk/img/ss/sh10.png
^ that's one frame of a few of this dude's flesh melting off.

[Esuohlim]

Also fuck this game. Too hard for my five year old brain to figure out.

Oh shit, I forgot this game existed. Talk about the most disappointing trip to Blockbuster ever.

[Aaarg]

if i'm not mistaken some internet video game journalist historian dickhead claims that to be one of the best games ever

[Esuohlim]

Gameplay basically involves nothing but hitting a retard with a slingshot and making him mad. Those are the only controls. It's fucking awful.

[Fathom Zero]

To be honest, I did have a lot of fun shooting the retard with a slingshot and making him mad.

[Aaarg]

oh, these kids! in my day if you wanted to shoot a retard with a slingshot and make him mad, you'd have to find a slingshot. and a retard!

[Emu]

Fuck you guys I love Pac-Man 2.

[Esuohlim]

GO TO THE MOUNTAIN AND PICK SOME FLOWERS

I remember getting stuck on that mountain because I shot the retard too many times and made him too mad. I didn't have any happy pills to shoot at him and he wouldn't do anything but pace back and forth all pissed no matter what I tried.

[Aaarg]

man, you know what game they should have made a third of?

tomba

[zerothree]

Tomba YES! Although I didn't really like the 2nd game as much as the first, they were such great games.

I'm such a sucker for side-scroller platform rpgs.

[Aaarg]

yeah, the second one was marred by awful awful voice acting. and i didn't like the water temple or whatever.

but it did have this pretty sweet attempt at being danny elfman,
5Dywzb3XQ6Q

[MrSmiley381]

I really wish the Famicom versions of Megami Tensei I and II would get translated. NES (and slightly more expensive, SNES) games can be dumped to cart using EPROMS, so these games could be translated and then played on actual hardware. Hell, I have SMT I & II for the SNES, and it's a hell of an experience. Even though the Famicom game got Super Famicom ports, the Famicom version of Megami Tensei II has an awesome custom sound chip; that's why it sounds so damn cool. Downside is to take advantage of this you would need a Famicom, though I hear a top-loader NES works as well, and I got a Famiclone to output some damn fine audio for Megami Tensei II.

[ThrashO]

I really wish the Famicom versions of Megami Tensei I and II would get translated. NES (and slightly more expensive, SNES) games can be dumped to cart using EPROMS, so these games could be translated and then played on actual hardware. Hell, I have SMT I & II for the SNES, and it's a hell of an experience. Even though the Famicom game got Super Famicom ports, the Famicom version of Megami Tensei II has an awesome custom sound chip; that's why it sounds so damn cool. Downside is to take advantage of this you would need a Famicom, though I hear a top-loader NES works as well, and I got a Famiclone to output some damn fine audio for Megami Tensei II.

Yeah I made an adpator from a Gyromite cart and it works pretty well for my front loader. I made a wire that hangs out of the system so you can retrieve it. You need the same thing for a top loader too though.

Some games however aren't too compatible. It might function but either the sound or some the graphics will be goofy. I say just get a Famicom. They're cool as hell and a nice piece for a collector. I don't have one yet but I have a few original Famicom carts (mother, FF II, FF III) that I'm going to have translated (original cart, english words, much excite) and I'm probably going to get a Famicom to play them on.

Famicom games like Castlevania III that have expanded mappers won't function too well on an NES with an adaptor though.

Aaarg what game is that with the badass knight and the guys skin melting off? It looks rad.

[executioneer]

that's sweet home, the only survival horror RPG for the nes/famicom

[Aaarg]

also an average haunted house movie released at the same time and they both feature that dude's skin melting off!

fun fact: resident evil was originally planned as a reimagining of sweet home