JUST BREED ENGLISH TRANSLATION VERSION 1.00 RELEASED 01-10-04 BY STEALTH TRANSLATIONS http://stealth.romhack.net/ Contents: 1. About Just Breed 2. Credits 3. What's Done 4. Known Issues 5. Recommended Emulators 6. How to Apply the Patch 7. How to Play 8. Notes from Shih Tzu 9. Contact Info 10. Special Thanks ------------------- 1. About Just Breed ------------------- Just Breed is a strategy-RPG for the Famicom that was released by Enix on December 15, 1992, making it one of the last RPG-ish games ever released for the Famicom, or so I've been told. It had some pretty advanced features for the time, such as B-button dash, extra sound channels, and a large font (the Japanese script even has a smattering of kanji, generally unheard of on the Famicom). Also, the characters were designed by Yuzo Takada, author of the manga 3x3 Eyes, though it's not like you'd be able to tell from the 16x16 character sprites. The game plays much like Fire Emblem or Shining Force, with the gimmick here (called the "Team Spirits" system) being that your units are grouped into armies and must take all their actions together as one army, as well as stay close to their respective commanding officers. Between battles you get to explore a rather large number of towns, which provide entertaining and occasionally odd story events as well as a welcome respite from the monotony of that blasted overworld music. ---------- 2. Credits ---------- Bongo` - Reprogramming, Utility coder Shih Tzu - translation, editing, testing, advice toma - font All the beta testers -------------- 3. What's Done -------------- Version 1.00 - First and hopefully only release! Menu's - So far, 100% completed Dialogue - The text was dumped, translated, edited , and re-inserted back into the game. Should be 100% completed --------------- 4. Known Issues --------------- The items, and some other menu text were limited to 7 or 8 letter names. But that should not take away the cool gaming experience. =] ------------------------ 5. Recommended Emulators ------------------------ FCEUltra - Sometimes seems to have sound problems. Most Emu's used will not utilize the games save feature. Use Savestates! ------------------------- 6. How to Apply the Patch ------------------------- Put the patch (the IPS file) in the same directory as an unpatched Japanese Just Breed ROM. Use your favorite IPS patcher, such as IPS.EXE or SNESTOOL.EXE, to unite the two in feverish ecstasy. If you know what you're doing, you don't need these instructions, and if you don't know what you're doing, these instructions probably don't help, so then go to the excellent patching FAQ at The Whirlpool (http://donut.parodius.com/). -------------- 7. How to Play -------------- Exploration: The town-exploration segments are basically identical to town exploration in any other RPG you can think of. In general, the A-button accepts and the B-button cancels. Of note is the fact that you can dash by holding down the B-button while walking. Combat: In combat, again, the A-button accepts and the B-button cancels. You can also use the B-button to cycle between your generals or, if a team has been activated, between units in that army. Press the A-button with the cursor on an empty square to access a command menu where you can view your current status, end the turn (for all teams), or suspend the game (it's like a savestate you can feel good about). Press the A-button with the cursor over an allied or enemy unit to view that unit's status. Pressing the A-button with the cursor over one of your generals will activate that army, and the screen will lock centered on that general. You may then select any unit within the army and order them as you please. Note, however, that the units in that army must stay on the same screen as their general, and that once one unit takes an action, you cannot switch to a unit from another army until all units in the currently active team have taken an action or forfeited their turn. While an army is active, you can press the A-button on an empty square to access a command menu where you can view your status, tell the army to go on auto-pilot (generally unwise except when you just want units to keep up with their general), or end the army's actions for that turn. Once all your armies have taken their actions for that turn, or once you end the turn voluntarily through the command menu, the enemy units will all take their individual actions (the enemies are not grouped into armies), and then the neverending cycle of violence will begin anew. ---------------------- 8. Notes from Shih Tzu ---------------------- Hello all! Shih Tzu here. I read the Japanese text in the game and then pretended to understand it so I could get my name in here--I mean, I was the Japanese-to-English translator for this game. Umm......so what's Just Breed, you say? It's a strategy-RPG from Enix released on December 15, 1992, one of the last RPG-ish games ever released for the Famicom. Thus, unsurprisingly, it has a freakishly huge script for a Famicom game, not least after I was done with it. This is my first large-scale translation project, and I hope it hasn't wound up too bad. I signed on to do the translation in March 2002, I believe, and I got the bulk of the rough draft done over summer of that year. I got busy with college graduation and other duties that fall, but my subsequent unemployment in spring 2003 left me enough time to take care of the editing and formatting as well. Many thanks to Bongo` for his patience the whole time! So, uh, if you're reading this, I guess it's complete. Woohoo! It was generally fun to do, because the game can get pretty crazy. There's a fair amount of hidden stuff...I hope you can find it all! I'd like to acknowledge those who actually made this possible, so heaps of praise and adulation are due to: - Bongo`, of course, for doing all the actual wonderful coding work on the translation so I could come in and do the fun part (???). Seriously, I'm like "So how much will I have to cut this thing down?" and he's like "Oh, no, it's cool, I already wrote my own text compression routine and it's tons better than what they had," and I'm like "But won't I have to--" and he's all "Naahh, knock yourself out." To a translator, that is _fantastic_ news. Thanks also to mudd zero and anyone else who helped with the translation, though at this point I have no idea if there's anyone else involved, because I am clueless. - The Hayashis, my second host family in Kyoto, not least for putting up with my constant questions about this translation throughout the summer we spent together. Minna, honma ni honma ni arigatou! Kore kara mo genki de ite ne! - Rikuki-sama and everyone else at Sapphire Matsuri, which during its brief existence was the premier source of Just Breed info on the net and a boon to my research several times. Here's hoping she brings it back one of these days... (Rikuki-sama grew busy with work, apparently, and months later the site vanished.) - The developers and the staff at Random House and Enix, of course, for creating and publishing this whole game so we could come in years later and do legally iffy things to it. No, seriously, they're the reason there's a game at all. - Everyone at MO's Translation Board, because they rock a whole bunch and then some. - Spinner 8 and TUTBASTM,TCFP,BINAERI, for lending me the game before I bought it. *cough* - Mathonwy, for hosting my web site and writing a wicked update of Missile Commander (playable at www.flammie.net/flash/). - glenn rosenthal, for JWPce, a freeware Japanese word processor/dictionary front-end that I have honestly used almost daily for over two years now. - www.celticgrove.com, whose Internet radio station not only provided much welcome accompaniment as I translated but also made me a Dervish fan. - You, for playing this translation! Wow! How could you make up a dance like that! Shih Tzu - http://www.flammie.net/vse/ --------------- 9. Contact Info --------------- Stealth Translations (Bongo`) - http://stealth.romhack.net/ Video Smash Excellent (Shih Tzu) - http://www.flammie.net/vse/ ------------------ 10. Special Thanks ------------------ Shih Tzu - Great guyt who offered his time and life to complete a project that he was not getting money for. Thanks a million! InVerse - A great guy and a tough character too! Too bad I didn't get the webpage from him in time for the rerlease of this project! Mudd Zero - Sparked a fire under my arse and got my interest in the game again. Helped and figured out some things in the game. He wanted to do more but some personal things came up! Great to see he's back in action again! =] Thanks and enjoy the game!