******************************************************************************** * Metal Max * * English Translation Patch * * v1.0 (6 Dec 2018) * * * * Supper -- Hacking * * TheMajinZenki -- Translation * * cccmar -- Editing and Testing * * Xanathis -- Testing * * Filler -- Special Thanks * ******************************************************************************** Metal Max is a 1991 RPG for the Nintendo Famicom, and the first game in the critically acclaimed (and criminally underutilized) Metal Max series. It follows a boy's quest to become a Monster Hunter in a post-apocalyptic world, which mostly means acquiring lots of tanks and blowing up wanted people. Featuring groundbreaking open-world gameplay and masterfully realized vehicle mechanics, it's one of the most innovative and easily one of the best RPGs on the console. This patch fully translates the game into English. **************************************** * Table of Contents * **************************************** I. Patching Instructions II. Authors' Comments III. Known Issues IV. Localization Notes V. Special Party Names **************************************** * I. Patching Instructions * **************************************** You'll first need a headered ROM image of Metal Max. It should match the following specifications: No-Intro filename: Metal Max (Japan).nes CRC32: 334f45bb MD5: 8d029bd9c53d0b49215fa1bf2bf77bbb SHA-1: 6219be1826d51ec5a53aaed2efe5520afcee4ae9 Before trying to apply the patch, make sure the ROM image has an iNES header. If your ROM's filesize is 524,304 bytes, it's headered. If the filesize is 524,288 bytes, it's unheadered (and will not work with this patch!). The patch itself is a standard IPS patch. Use a tool such as Lunar IPS to apply the IPS file to the ROM. The patch will expand the ROM to 768 KB, so don't use any ancient patching utilities that don't support that. **************************************** * II. Known Issues * **************************************** * Users of FCEUX, please note: FCEUX has a bug that causes some of the text on the tank overview screen (Start button) to flicker rapidly. This is an emulator bug that occurs even with the original Japanese game, but not on real hardware or more accurate emulators. If possible, use a less inaccurate emulator, such as Nestopia, to play the game. * In some scenes, very rarely, part of the screen may "flicker" with the wrong graphics for a frame. This is due to a limitation of the MMC3 mapper used by the game; because interrupts must be disabled to switch to the banks containing the new code needed for the translation, mid-frame graphics swaps can occasionally fail to go through. The most viable fix for this (i.e. the one that wouldn't require shuffling enormous amounts of code around) would cause heavy lag throughout the game, and a rare cosmetic issue seemed like a better deal than a constant gameplay impediment. **************************************** * III. Authors' Comments * **************************************** ------------ -- Supper -- ------------ In the darkest recesses of the metaphorically dusty folder containing my LMMS music projects is "RR.mmpz", a very poor recreation of the boss theme from this game. It's dated December 12th, 2009, which is approximately the time that I discovered the game and was very disappointed to find it wasn't translated. What I'm getting at here, other than that I'm a really bad musician, is that I've been waiting a long time for this. Back then I didn't even know how to program and never dreamed I'd end up doing the hacking for a translation, but here we are. Feels good. This project was technically started by Filler, who asked me around the start of the year if I'd be interested in working on the game. I certainly was, so I cobbled together a basic script extractor and inserter in a few days. Filler subsequently dropped out before doing anything due to having too many projects, so I more or less inherited the project. After shelving my work for several months, things eventually resumed with TheMajinZenki and cccmar on board, and Xanathis later joining to help test. So I'm sure the question on many people's minds is "Why translate this game now? Didn't Aeon Genesis already do the remake years ago?" My answer is that this is a different game made at a different time by (somewhat) different people, and also happens to be the one I personally wanted to play. And it has better music, so there. Now you can Bang Bang with your Sensha in English. This was a project near to my heart, so I didn't cut corners and put a lot of effort into adding all the special touches. Party member names have been expanded from 4 to 8 characters, allowing the original random names to be used without alteration. Tank names are 7 letters instead of 6 -- I wanted 8, but the save file was 2 bytes too small. Enemy and item names are doubled to 16 characters, and battle messages correctly respect the plurality of enemy groups (and man, does seeing "Killer Amoebae drew near!" make me feel like it was all worth it). Thanks to the rest of the team for making this a reality. It's a big game for 1991 and took a lot of work on everyone's part, but I think we've done it justice. Hope someone out there's as happy to have it in English as I am. ------------------- -- TheMajinZenki -- ------------------- Metal Max was more challenging to translate than I thought, mostly due to the variety of locations (and thus npcs) present in the game, more than I'm used to (I don't usually translate rpgs), the variety of shops (each with different reactions for using their services), and the unique items that have different effects, all things that I cannot see while translating. Difficulties aside, the game is definitely interesting. I know this its SNES remake was already translated, but I think it's worth showing off that the NES was capable of having such an ambitious game in its catalog. I hope you enjoy this little gem. ------------ -- cccmar -- ------------ I had played through the remake of Metal Max, Metal Max Returns, a while ago. It added some new 'Wanted' missions, a couple of NPCs here and there, and also the interface was somewhat changed, to be a bit more intuitive. The FC version in my opinion has better sound, for the most part, and it's also quite charming in its own right. Script editing for this one had some challenges too, mostly related to informal language this time around. Overall, this is probably one of the most ambitious RPGs for the Famicom, with various minigames and lots of side missions that you can do for fun. I really enjoyed working on this game, and I hope you - the players - will enjoy it too! **************************************** * IV. Localization Notes * **************************************** This is a pretty Westernized game to begin with, so we didn't have to change much to get it into sensible English. These are the main differences: * Guorilla Clan -- Originally "Salmonella Gang" (サルモネラいっか). This is a pun on the Japanese pronounciation of "salmonella" (sarumonera) with "saru" (monkey). * Malone -- Originally "Warugeryo" (ワルゲリョ). The Japanese name is vaguely Spanish-sounding, like many other names in the game, and includes the word "waru" (bad). The English name was chosen on the basis of including "malo" ("bad" or "evil" in Spanish). * Foo-G -- One of the engines, this was originally "Chiyonofu" (チヨノフ), an oblique reference to Fuji Engines ("chiyo no fu" = "ancient Fu[ji]"). * Dr. Mortem -- Originally "Dr. Minchi" (ドクターミンチ), which is literally "Dr. Mince[meat]". The English name comes from the official English translation of Metal Saga. * Dudette -- One of the possible random names for the Soldier, this was originally "Machoko" (マチョコ), which literally means "macho girl". While not exactly localization changes, this patch also fixes a couple of bugs in the original game because they were easy to encounter and caused major issues: * In the original game, putting 9 or more items in the Trunk Room, opening the Trunk Room summary from the Start menu, pressing A, and then scrolling the list would severely corrupt the display. This can crash the game, so fixing it was a must. * It's possible to run from the Bionic Pooch battle where Red Wolf first shows up. That isn't changed in the patch, but in the original game, successfully running on the first turn of the battle, before Wolf enters, would change your second party member's name to "0000". This won't happen in the translation. There are various other bugs not fixed in the patch, since they're half the fun of an RPG anyway. **************************************** * V. Special Party Names * **************************************** Metal Max has a lot of obscure secrets, but the most relevant to the translation are the "special" party configurations: giving the hero certain names causes the other party members to get predetermined names instead of the usual random ones. Here's a list of these special names: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Hero | Mechanic | Soldier | Notes | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Hanta | Tamper | Anne | Also the default party if no name | | | | | is entered. | | | | | "Hanta" because it sounds like | | | | | "Hunter", especially in Japanese. | | | | | "Tamper" because he's a mechanic. | | | | | "Anne" because... uh, something. | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | A | B | C | The original Japanese game only | | AA | BB | CC | recognizes "AAAA" (ああああ). | | AAA | BBB | CCC | "Naming your character AAAA" is | | ... | ... | ... | an established joke in Japan but | | AAAAAAAA | BBBBBBBB | CCCCCCCC | not so much outside of it, so | | | | | the translation expands on this | | | | | a bit so you're more likely to | | | | | see it. | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Tom | Haman | Cecil | Some developer in-joke? Japanese | | | | | fans have no idea either. | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Sylph | Niobium | Selenium | Niobium and selenium are | | | | | elements. Apparently this fact | | | | | was significant to someone. | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------