2021 has been an incredible year for fan translations

The language barrier has been, historically, one of the elements that have given the players from the beginning of time. It is not surprising, considering how powerful it is Japan within the industry: a country with a culture and a language radically different from those of the West, and an extensive video game production with many public niches. This means that, necessarily, many relevant and even pivotal titles for their respective genres have been left within the country's borders, and in the rest of the world they have not been able to enjoy.

In recent years, many publishers have realized the growing interest of the West such as the RPG or the visual novel, and they have sent us into account titles, on some occasions, decades out of range. The Silver Case, the debut game of Suda51 that came out in PlayStation in 1999, was not playable in the West until 2016; The great popularity on the Internet of the Saga Danganronpa (PSP, 2010) made Spike Consort take charge of his translation into English in his version of PlayStation Vita and subsequent sequela in 2014. The Ecology AMISOM Detective Club was one of The first visual novels that were published in console, in the NEW, but although it was launched in 1988, in the West we could not play it until last year 2021, with the renewed version of Nintendo Switch that came out last May. These games came, yes, in English. But there are also more recent examples and, in fact, quite remarkable within the Spanish sphere: Shin Mega mi Tense 3: Nocturne, developed by Atlas and published by Nintendo, was the first installment of this series of role-playing games to arrive in Spain Spanish, and a few months later I would follow him Shin Mega mi Tense V. Something similar happened with Judgment, Lost Judgment and Yakuza: Like a dragon, titles with which, after the growing popularity of the saga, the study BYU Ga Gook proved luck Locating on the Spanish.

But there are many, many other games that have been lost along the way; Titles that we have not been able to ever enjoy accessible due to the absence of translation. When large companies fail to locate these games, on many occasions, they are the fans who come to the rescue. And the last two years, specifically, it has been an excellent year for translations, with many very relevant titles that we can, for the first time, experiment in this way.

Perhaps the most relevant fan translation in this sense has been that of the Common Saga. Based on the Japanese mythological hero of the same name, a kind of Robin Hood that stole the rich to help the poor, the Gabbier Common Saga is one of INAMI's flagship ships in Japan, but practically unknown to the rest of the world. To date, it had only been possible to play five of its around forty games in English. Although Gabbier Common: Yukihime Kyushu Make, the first title of the Saga for Super Nintendo, did publish in Europe and North America in 1994 — under the title The Legend of the Mystical Ninja —, its three sequels for the same console never They had been published outside the Japanese country. However, last year the DDS Translation group ended its work of locating the five Super Nintendo games of the Saga — Common 2, 3, 4 and the Puzzles spin-off —, including a retranslation of the first title that improves the text original. In this way, it is the first time that the original titles of the saga can be fully enjoyed outside Japan.

There are other sagas that, although they are not so unknown in Europe and America as Common, they have been losing some deliveries along the way for Western fans. We reminded, in a remarkable way, the case of Fire Emblem: Thracian 776, one of the deliveries of the Nintendo saga that, by its extremely complex code, had given headaccomers to the amateur translators for decades, and that finally was launched in 2019. Similarly to what happens with the Saga Fire Emblem, today the publication of Shin Mega mi Tense games in the West are relatively common, but there is many games of the nineties and principles of the two thousand that have not yet reached our consoles. Now, the hole is a little less spacious with the SHIN MEGA MI TENSE fan translation: Devil Children: Kurt No Who, a title originally launched for the Game Boy in the year 2000 and that it was translated for the first time last July. The Spin-off Devil Children was the response of Atlas to the popularity of the Pokémon saga, and is designed to make the series to children and young people more accessible. Of his four deliveries, only the third, for Game Boy Advance, had been published in North America. This translation covers the first version — Black Book, in Castilian — of the first game.

The 2021 was also the turn of the F-Zero series. Specifically, F-Zero Climax, sixth game of the F-Zero series and third of the platform Game Boy Advance, and also the only one that failed to be translated into English or Castilian in its launch in 2004. The team posttranslational explained they wanted to bring the latest installment of the saga to fans of all countries, so they could enjoy it.

Sometimes, there are titles that do not translate to be part of not so popular sagas in the West, or being spin-off or deliveries under most prolific series. There are other times, however, where the games end up not reach because of their characteristics, being considered too niche for the public. In the case of Mizzen Falls, who also earned his first complete translation to English in March 2021. Mizzen Falls is one of the first games open world of the story came out in 1998 in Japan for the first PlayStation, and we move to a fictional location in the mountains of Colorado. A Twin Peaks style, we have a mystery to solve involving killings and disappearances, and seven days in-Game to discover all the secrets of the city and reach one of its ends.

The community of Spain and Spanish America might find similarly interesting translation to the Castilian Baroque: roguelike an RPG with dyes and a very particular aesthetic that came out for Sega Saturn in 1988 only in Japan, and in 1999 for PlayStation. Later, he would have localized versions in English in his remake of 2007 for PlayStation 2. The original version of PlayStation, however, never left their country of origin, and last October 2021 user Mr. Nobody published the complete translation into the Castilian of this edition. Due to restrictions of the code of the game itself, no accents or special punctuation — like ñ or interrogation opening — but it is the first time that the entire game can be played in a language other than English.

Other games that often fall by the wayside and never made the leap outside Japan are those based on anime licenses. One of the big surprises of 2021 was the creator HilltopWorks announced in March that he was working on the patch to the English game for PlayStation Dr. Slump. Dr. Slump is the series in which Akira Oriya, creator of Dragon Ball, worked before the success story of Roku and company. The patch ended up throwing only months later, in May, and was the first successful attempt to locate this 1999 title.

Something similar happened with Full metal Renkinjutsushi — Mode no Sonata or how surely will sound better in our country, Full metal Alchemist: Sonata of Memories. This game for the Game Boy Advance shows us some exclusive locations, and others taken directly from the series itself. On the other hand, Heart 1 for Game Boy, which is part of the saga known in the West as Megabits, has also received its first translation, twenty years after its release.

On the other hand, one of the most notable cases in recent months was the translation into English of Bahamas Lagoon. An RPG Square for the Super Nintendo, involving Motor Oriya (Final Fantasy X) and Kazushige Nokia (Final Fantasy VII, VIII and X, among others), and that had never been republished beyond its original release in 1999. Near one of the most important voices in the digital preservation of SNES games, published his personal translation of the title, an effort that had begun — and failed — to perform five times. The final version of the game is therefore not just a piece of history relevantísima within role-playing game, but an act of genuine love by joining a fan title virtually unknown to most.

We must clarify, however, that is not the intention of this article to defend translations fan — altruistic acts and full of love, yes, but in the vast majority of cases are not paid — as a viable alternative to the official translations, or professional translators. But it is undeniable that play an important role in the preservation of certain video games, especially in cases where it is technologically outdated consoles titles or economically unviable sagas. We could mention many other cases of translations fan relevant this year: Berwick Saga (PlayStation 2, 2005), Shire the Wanderer 2 (Nintendo 64, 2000), delivering Gamete Super Robot Wars (2004), Galaxy Fräulein Yuan (PC Engine, 1992), Mobile Golf (Game Boy Color, 2001) or Tomato Adventure (Game Boy Advance, 2002).