Technos Samurai: Downtown Special! v1.0 9/03/98 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ROM Hacker: Jim Price Translator: Faraday Editor: Wildbill Additional Wildbill Translations: Nick What's been done: Text replaced Pointers recalculated Item icons created A couple of color palettes changed What's not done: Nothing, as far as I know. Of course, there may be some bugs that we didn't catch. If you find any, please let me know. _______________________ Applying the patch- I recommend using Snestool. Just select "Use IPS" and follow the instructions. _______________________ Hey! Someone want to make a faq for this game? Even I didn't manage to find all of the hidden shops... Thank you, again to Faraday for translating the text and to Wildbill for the excellent job editing the script and beta testing. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From the editor: Greetings Players! First off, I think the entire gaming world owes Jim Price a word of gratitude for creating this English patch for Technos Samurai - Downtown Special, and making it available to the whole universe. For pure Japanese culture afficionados, however, Jim's creation departs from a perfectly literal translation. To those jaded individuals out there who are pedantic in outlook, I would say that someone so enamored with Japanese culture should also know the language quite fluently, and thus, not need an English patch. Otherwise, anyone dissatisfied with this outstanding addition to the English repertoire of classic games, should procure the ROM and create a "proper" translation (whatever that is) with our blessing! That said, I will explain our rationale for interpreting the funky spirit and humor in this game. But before I do, I wish to say that nothing would have been remotely possible without Faraday's excellent work, as always, not only in performing the raw translation, but enlightening us about the "Old Tokyo" back-street ambiance" that characterizes the theme of this game. In Faraday's own words, Downtown Special is rather "cheesy": "This game is supposed to be a comedy. As you know, a lot of (corny lines) appear while you're actually in action, while beating the hell out of your enemy. And they are rather hard to read to begin with, but once you get use to it, you will begin to read all the text and laugh, while you're kicking your opponent's ass. Well, that's what happens in (J)apa anyway. It was intended to be more of a laugh, rather than a serious 'complete levels', 'complete the game'. "I hope to recreate that, and I've done my best to adopt the "mood" rather than literal translation of the words.... And we've got to sort out the names.... They must be read quickly. (J)apa names aren't good for that, if we're going to deal with (E)nglish speakers. [Note: We shortened most of the names...ed.] "And an extra note: I found it VERY difficult to translate the dump towards the end. This is because they are mixture of modern (J)apa, old (J)apa gag (like Shakespearian wit) and finally a typical poetic-style (p)eriod play style text. It all sounds silly and odd in (J)apa, but that's the object of the game. So I've translated the 'cheesiness', but changed the actual text i.e. literally very little is translated in the last few lines of end sequence." Thus, Jim and I took the spirit of Faraday's words, and after further consultations with him (and with his blessing), we decided to take one more step in the transcription and adapt a Western street-gang lingo, while still trying to preserve the uniquely Japanese flavor and backdrops. I know this sounds paradoxical (even to us), but we wanted to end up with a game that would "play well in Peoria". Working Designs takes this approach all the time, so, who are we to question its legitimacy? Therefore, we took a little license with the plot, changing it from the roundabout, poetic, Japanese method, to the harder-hitting, in-your-face, tell-it-like-it-is, right-up-front western style of action storytelling. Our resulting prologue now offers a direct introduction of the characters' missions, conflicts, and romantic woes, delivering a clear message that the hero's girl has apparently been stolen by some asshole who's seems to be also working for the "Beeg" boss-man. But first, our intrepid hero must find an ellusive remedy for his stricken boss, and while searching around almost aimlessly in this very non-linear game, he and his companion(s) enounter all sorts of zany characters who either give them vague information, or engage them in goofy battles reminiscent of The Three Stooges. There is a "Map Cursor" item at a secret shop in Hizen. I would suggest that you find it, then warp around the map and fight those people wearing the more brightly-colored clothing. Characters will join you, abandon you, give you items, and fight you; and soon, you'll have no idea who's supposed to be doing what to whom! That's the way the game seems to be intended to be. Indeed, it has more twists and turns than the Snake River, but its sidesplitting humor overrides all of the head-scratching Machiavellian plotting. Just remember that "the butler didn't do it", and that the game is intended to be an absolute frolic for the Japanese player, sort of like, "Laurel-and-Hardy-meets-the- Jesse-James-gang". I hope you, the public, will enjoy this little creation. I would place it right up there with Mario-I, for its period. Remember, Jim was not required to share his work. It is both a privilege and a pleasure to receive this patch, but not an absolute right. I can attest to how hard Jim has worried on it. It shows...so, enjoy! -Wildbill -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please direct all bug reports, questions, comments, suggestions etc. to Tsamurai@hotmail.com