------------------------- Honey in the Sky (HuCARD) ========================= English Translation Patch Version 1.0 --------------- About the Patch =============== The game is fully playable in English. It also includes added support for 3-button controllers. Counter-clockwise rotation is mapped to the SELECT button. This patch has been made available for PERSONAL USE ONLY. COMMERCIAL USE IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN. That includes "repros." This patch may not be redistributed in any form, partially or wholly, without written permission. ------------------ Applying the Patch ================== Just apply the included IPS patch to your ROM. If your ROM has a header, you can use the "HEADER" version patch. Use your favorite IPS patching tool. I recommend the very simple Lunar IPS program for Windows users. It is available here: http://www.romhacking.net/utilities/240/ -------------- Filler's Notes ============== Around September 5th of 2020 I took a stab at decoding the custom text encoding and dumping a script for Honey in the Sky as part of an effort to dump scripts for PC Engine HuCard games with no official or unofficial English language translation. By the 23rd of Sept. I'd posted the raw script to the PC Engine Software Bible's forum and moved on to other projects. Around a year later, on Dec. 12th 2021, Cabbage reached out to me asking if anyone was working on Honey in the Sky. I said no, and that I might be interested in translating the small script. After a little back and forth, I translated the script and passed a draft to Cabbage on Jan, 31st of 2022. Regarding the name of the game I went back and forth a lot. Cabbage approached me originally with "Honey" which I somewhat dismissed out of hand as the character is clearly based on a haniwa figure, and there is a precedent for anthropomorphized haniwa figurines in other games who are nicknamed "Hanny". Not to mention the sequel game romanizes the name as "Hany" in its on-screen display. However, the companion character in that very same game is named "Lemon". Honey and Lemon perhaps? The "honey/hanny/hany" pun comes up further in an in-game song title appearing in the credits as "Welcome Home Honey", and a television advertisement where a housewife repeats the same "Welcome home honey!" line, and the haniwa character replies "My name is Honey/Hanny/Hany!" Further research turned up 70s song from a Canadian band called "Cat" titled "Honey in the Sky". Could this musical reference have been an influence on the title of the game? Who knows! Considering the above however, I decided to advocate for "Honey" as I feel it will sit the best with an English speaking audience to whom the haniwa pun is less obvious. With the hacking coming together and the naming issue finally settled, 4lorn made some title screen graphics around March 13th and Cabbage had a beta together with the title screen inserted, and a hack to add the ability to rotate Honey's weapon counter-clockwise in addition to the original clockwise rotation. I'm very pleased to see this project come together. Major thanks to Cabbage for approaching me about completing the project, and his excellent tools/hacking work. Thanks to 4lorn for the very nice title screen graphic. Thanks also to 4lorn, David Shadoff, and KingMike for input on the level names. I hope that more folks are able to enjoy this title thanks to our unofficial English language/game-play patch. ------------- 4lorn's Notes ============= I joined the Honey in the Sky project late in its development. At this point, cabbage and filler had done the bulk of the technical and translation work, and I volunteered to handle the title screen while the translation went into playtesting. Hopefully it does justice to the original title art! Cabbage, filler and me hope everyone enjoys this English translation of Honey in the Sky. Viva NEC! --------------- cabbage's Notes =============== This project came to be in a rather strange way. I had always been curious about Honey in the Sky, but the one-way rotation kept me away. I finally decided to dig in and see about adding bidirectional rotation. That turned out to be trivial and significantly heightened my enjoyment of the game. At that point, I figured I might as well work on a translation patch as well. I originally expected that this would be a quick and easy project; it's just a little shooting game, after all. Unfortunately, it turned out to be quite complicated. I guess I am satisfied with the results--or, at least, satisfied enough to release a patch and be done with it. There's a lot more to the game than you might think, and I hope some people give it a chance. It's pretty interesting and there is certainly a bit of fun to be had for those that are willing to spend some time with it. Big thanks to Filler for translating the script and 4lorn for drawing the nice, new title graphic. It was fun working with both of you! -- cabbage http://cabbage.cx Twitter @HuCABBAGE -------------------------------- !!! POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD !!! ================================ Scroll down for some information about how to play Honey in the Sky. If you would rather go in completely blind, you might want to stop reading here. Personally, I think it will help you enjoy the game, but the choice is yours. (It's dangerous to go alone! Take this.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To open the menu system where you can buy/equip stuff and warp to previously visited levels, push the RUN button to pause and then push I. The menu system is a bit clunky but it works and you will get used to it. There is also a password system, but it is not enabled by default. (How strange.) At the title screen (where it says "START"), push the following buttons to unlock the password system: I, II, R, L, I, II, R, L, I, I, L, L, II, II, R, R When done correctly, "DECREE" will appear. Pushing the I button then enters the password entry screen. Pushing RUN starts the game from the beginning. While playing with the password system enabled, the current password is shown at the bottom of the dialog box that pops up when you push RUN. (It's a very strange system indeed.) There are also some hard-coded passwords that serve as cheat codes making the game easier or enabling some strange graphical effects. Unfortunately, those original Japanese passwords were all haiku, so translating them faithfully was basically impossible. Below is Filler's explanation of the originals and what we changed them to. ----------------------- Passwords (aka Decrees) ======================= Below are the original Japanese passwords and approximate English translations. おねがいだ かみさまおかね くださいな Please God. Give me money. (Start With $300,000) くさまくら たびにでたくて みことのり An overnight stay. I wish to travel. Decree. (Unlock all stages.) ぼくんちの てれびはいまも しろくろだ My TV at home is still black and white. (Black & White Mode) これだけは いれてはいけぬ みごどのる Enter not only this. It is decreed. (Unlock all stages and most weapons.) みにくいよ いろがなんだか へんですよ Hard to see. The colors are a bit off. (Negative Colors Mode) あかきつね めんもうまいし ぐもうまい Red fox. The noodles and ingredients are good. (Note: This is a reference to a popular brand of instant ramen)) (Thin Screen View) ふえいすの　はにいいんざす　かいはよい Face's Honey in the Sky is good. (Unlock all stages and most weapons and some items.) We changed them to "CABBAGE", "FILLER", "HONEY", "BLACKANDWHITEMODE", "INVERTEDCOLORMODE", and "SPECIALSCREENMODE" According to Cabbage he wasn't able to find the final password translated as "Face's Honey in the Sky is good." in the game's code and it's currently believed to be unused. I found this reference on a Japanese gaming site. https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Hanii_in_the_Sky/Secrets ------------------ See you next time? ==================