The Video Game Critic

After playing bionic commando some this morning, I couldnt help but laugh at some of the jap-to-eng translation errors.  Do yall have any favorites?  Does this still happen today?

I always laugh at "I feel asleep".......

[QUOTE=voor]After playing bionic commando some this morning, I couldnt help but laugh at some of the jap-to-eng translation errors.  Do yall have any favorites?  Does this still happen today?[/QUOTE]

Sure does.  Dead or Alive 4 (360), for instance, has Ayane asking her fallen adversary "It that it?"  I also noticed a couple of text translation issues in Ar Tonelico (PS2), released back in Februrary.  And one of my favorite recent ones had to be from Sonic Heroes, when Tails states, "Look at all those Eggman's robots!"

As far as classic examples of translation glitches, "all your base are belong to us" (Zero Wing, Genesis) and "People will hate you Steve, if you're too stingee!" (Last Alert, TG-16) are the usual suspects (and rightfully so), so I'll go with some of the unsung heroes of bad translation.

One would be Harvest Moon for the SNES, where in the dates of each each season (for example, 8th of Spring), the "th" remains, making for some hilarious dates, including the 1th, 2th, 3th, 21th, 22th, and 23th (for the record, I personally announce these days of each month in this way now).

And although not so much bad translation, I just love the hilarious vocal delivery of the following line from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS1/360): "What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets! But enought talk; have at you!"

I'm not sure this is a translation issue per se, but Zelda II has the infamous "I am Error" dude in one of the towns.

Somebody Set Us Up The Bomb is another famous one. Don't quote me on this, but I think the game from which that quote came from is called Zero Wing?

Generally, if you see crappy grammar or spelling in a Japanese game these days, you can blame good ol' native english speakers. Most developers either have a localization department in America or they hire it out.

-Rob

The entire series of Gradius has a permanent translation error: the name. Gradius was supposed to be "Gladius" but there's always a problem with Ls and Rs in that language; just to support it, in the manga One Piece, Monkey D Loofy is sometimes referred to as Monkey D Roofy in some of the comics under separate publishers.

Donkey Kong is probably the most interesting. The entire name "Donkey Kong" sounds weird... but 2 letters were switched from a name that made perfect sense, "Monkey King". M>D I>O. Apparently there were some issues... but still the new (wrong) name held up and now it's a trademark. I guess it gives the series more character, you know?

[QUOTE=Atarifever]

[QUOTE=feilong80]I'm not sure this is a translation issue per se, but Zelda II has the infamous "I am Error" dude in one of the towns.

[/QUOTE]

I remember someone pointing out one time that that was because one of the other characters in a similar position in another village was supposed to be called "Bug" or is called "Bug" (I don't know the whole story).  I don't remember the specifics, but it's an intentional bit of programing geekery by someone.

[/QUOTE]

Yeah, the character "Bagu" is really supposed to be "Bug". In Saria, you are told to talk to Error about Bug's whereabouts, and if you return to Error after getting this message, he'll give you Bug's location. Talk to Bug, and youll get the letter needed to pass the bridge in Saria. The "I am Error" line is not a mistake, he's simply telling you his name.

[QUOTE=IronKnux]The entire series of Gradius has a permanent translation error: the name. Gradius was supposed to be "Gladius" but there's always a problem with Ls and Rs in that language; just to support it, in the manga One Piece, Monkey D Loofy is sometimes referred to as Monkey D Roofy in some of the comics under separate publishers.[/quote]

Do you have an [i]actual [/i]source, because I find it odd they would name a shmup after the latin name for 'sword'.

[quote]Donkey Kong is probably the most interesting. The entire name "Donkey Kong" sounds weird... but 2 letters were switched from a name that made perfect sense, "Monkey King". M>D I>O. Apparently there were some issues... but still the new (wrong) name held up and now it's a trademark. I guess it gives the series more character, you know? [/QUOTE]

No, no, no! Miyamoto himself has said the name was intended to be 'Donkey Kong'. He viewed 'kong' as a synonym for monkey, and 'donkey' was supposed to show that he was stubborn.

Also a BIIIG flaw in that idea is that O/I and D/M are [i]not the same[/i].

[QUOTE=IronKnux]Donkey Kong is probably the most interesting. The entire name "Donkey Kong" sounds weird... but 2 letters were switched from a name that made perfect sense, "Monkey King". M>D I>O. Apparently there were some issues... but still the new (wrong) name held up and now it's a trademark. I guess it gives the series more character, you know? [/QUOTE]

I read an interview with Miyamoto and he said that Donkey [I]Kong[/I] comes from King [I]Kong[/I] and a bad translation of "stubborn" - the dictionary defintion of the Japanese word for stubborn included Donkey! He liked it and it stayed.

Sounds more believable than swapping random letters to get to Monkey King.

Well, the arcade Donkey Kong does indeed have a translation error that just doesn't sound right; "How High Can You Get?"