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Fan translation

A fan translation is an unofficial translation of a computer game or video game into a language that it was never marketed in. This is usually accomplished by modifying the binary ROM image of the game, and utilizing an emulator to play it if it is a console game. It is sometimes an option for releasing a game outside its homeland. For fan translations of computer and video games, Japanese is usually the source language, and English is usually the target language, and fan translation is an answer to a Japanese company's regional decision to keep a game exclusive to Japan. Most fan translators translate computer and video games into their native tongue.

Fan translation is perceived as having a number of advantages; in particular, it allows gamers to play, and understand, games that were never released in their native language. Many video games, as well as animes, are marketed exclusively in Japan, for example; the text encoded in the ROM images of these Japan-only games can be translated to English or another language, for the enjoyment of English-speaking players and players who speak neither Japanese nor English. Not only is the practice of fan translation considered by many video game players to be a reaction to a disappointing regional decision, or the answer to a Japanese's company's decision to keep a game exclusive to Japan, but it is also considered a sign of a demand for companies to start translating games into languages that they never bothered to translate into. Another reason for fan translation is that the English release is considered inferior to the Japanese release as to gameplay or script content or if the Japan-only game is an enhanced remake of a game that was released outside Japan or that has an original version that was already fan-translated into English.

Some of the Japan-only games that have been translated into English through emulation include Dragon Quest V (Super Famicom), Dragon Quest I & II Reprise (SFC), Cosmo Police Galivan (Famicom), Adventure Island 4 (FC), Tales of Phantasia (SFC), Final Fantasy II (FC, remade for Final Fantasy Origins), Final Fantasy III (FC), Final Fantasy V (SFC), Seiken Densetsu 3 (SFC), Live-A-Live (SFC), Bahamut Lagoon (SFC), and Radical Dreamers (SFC). In addition to English, other fan translations have also been translations into other languages such as French, Spanish, Italian, Greek, Portuguese, Latin, Norwegian, German, Dutch, Russian, Chinese, and Serbian. American subsidiaries of Japanese video game companies usually translate their games only into English. They do not bother to translate into Spanish, although Spanish is a widely spoken language in the United States. European video game companies seldom bother to translate their games into languages other than Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish.

The legality of such translations has yet to be determined. It is an area of controversy, because copyright law is unclear on the issue. While the translations themselves - which are distributed without the games - are probably legal, in order to use them, you must possess a ROM of the game, and run the game on an emulator. Most video game companies, especially Nintendo, consider ROMs and emulators illegal (see ROMs), but that illegality consideration is controversial in the "old school" gamers' perspective. Many video game players, hence "old school" gamers, are responsible for the popularity of console emulation, because those video game players think that the abandonware video games are more amusing than the video games that are still on the market.

If a Famicom game gets fan-translated from Japanese to English, it gets respectfully dubbed a NES game. The same goes for Super Famicom games.

Reviews and patches of most fan translations are available at (external link).

Fan Translators (External Links)

• J2E Translations

See Also

• console emulator
• Japanese language
• list of Famicom games
• list of Super Famicom games
• regional converter
• regional lockout
• regional record
• ROM image
• translation
• video game
• video game publisher

List of Fan-Translated Japan-only Video Games

This is a partial list of Japan only games that have been translated into English through console emulation.

YoJR = Year of Japanese Release.
YoFTR = Year of Fan Translation Release.

Complete Translations

Game Title	Platform	Game Publisher	Fan Translator	YoJR	YoFTR	Reason for Japan-onlyness
Alcahest	Super Famicom	Squaresoft	F.H.	1994	2002	Reason unknown
Bahamut Lagoon	Super Famicom	Squaresoft	DeJap Translations	1995	2002	Reason unknown
Cosmo Police Galivan	Famicom	Nihon Bussan	Jair	1988	1998	No localization office or rights
Cyber Knight	Super Famicom	Tonkinhouse	Aeon Genesis Translation Proclamation	1993	2002	No localization office or rights.
Dragon Quest I&II	Super Famicom	Enix	RPG-One Translations	1993	2002	No localization office. Enix America Corporation was closed.
Dragon Quest III	Super Famicom	Enix	DeJap Translations and RPG-One Translations	1996	2003	No localization office. Enix America Corporation was closed.
Dragon Quest V	Super Famicom	Enix	DeJap Translations	1992	2002	A translation was attempted, but the English script was too long to fit into the largest cartridge ROM size available at the time. PlayStation 2 remake may get localized to North America.
Dragon Quest VI	Super Famicom	Enix	DeJap Translations and NoPrgress	1994	2001	No localization office. Enix America Corporation was closed
Final Fantasy II	Famicom	Squaresoft	NeoDemiforce	1988	1998	Preliminary translation was completed and a full English prototype exists, but work was abandoned in favour of Final Fantasy IV for the SNES. PlayStation version was released in the United States and Europe under Final Fantasy Origins.
Final Fantasy III	Famicom	Squaresoft	Neill Corlett and Alex W. Jackson	1990	1999	Squaresoft did not have the resources to translate the game and the Super Famicom was released around the same time.
Final Fantasy V	Super Famicom	Squaresoft	RPGe	1992	1997	Squaresoft opted for Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest and did not have the resources to translate Final Fantasy V. A PlayStation port of Final Fantasy V was released in the United States under the name Final Fantasy Anthology. Final Fantasy V was the first game with a large amount of text to be translated by fans. The primary innovation of its fan translation was the incorporation of reverse engineering in the translation process. It proved to the fan translation community that such large-scale translations were indeed possible, and soon many other games followed in the reverse engineering model.
Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu	Super Famicom	Nintendo	J2E and others	1996	2004	Nintendo was not kind enough to localize this game to North America. Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken for Gameboy Advance is the first Fire Emblem game to be localized to North America.
Front Mission	Super Famicom	Squaresoft	F.H.	1995	2000	The developer decided that it would be denied a North American release.
Front Mission: Gun Hazard	Super Famicom	Squaresoft	Aeon Genesis Translation Proclamation	1996	2004	Most likely, localization was not done because Front Mission was not localized.
Mother (Earthbound Zero)	Famicom	Nintendo	NeoDemiforce	1990	1998	Localisation was completed under the name Earthbound. A prototype was obtained by Neo Demiforce, who hacked the ROM image to remove copy protection and allow it to be played in emulators. This hacked ROM was released with the title Earthbound Zero, because its sequel came to be known as Earthbound in the United States.
Radical Dreamers	Super Famicom	Squaresoft	NeoDemiforce	1998	2003	Square USA stopped localizing and publishing SNES games in 1998
Rockman & Forte (Megaman & Bass)	Super Famicom	Capcom	Aeon Genesis Translation Proclamation	1998	2002	Capcom USA stopped localizing and publishing SNES in 1998. The Super Famicom version was translated into English before the Gameboy Advance version was released in the United States.
Rudora no Hihou	Super Famicom	Squaresoft	Aeon Genesis Translation Proclamation	1996	2003	Squaresoft had localization problems at the time, and the director of the game was probably fired from the company. Rudora no Hihou came out late in the life of the Super Famicom.
Seiken Densetsu 3	Super Famicom	Squaresoft	Neill Corlett and others	1995	2000	Squaresoft cancelled localization in favor of Secret of Evermore.
Shin Nekketsu Kouha: Kunio tachi no Banka	Super Famicom	Technos Japan Corporation	Aeon Genesis Translation Proclamation	1994	2003	American Technos did not have the resources to translate the game.
Star Ocean	Super Famicom	Enix	DeJap Translations	1996	2004	No localization office. Enix America corporation was closed. Graphics pack, released by fan translator, is required to play the game through emulation.
Tales of Phantasia	Super Famicom	Namco	DeJap Translations	1994	2001	Namco intentionally kept the game Japan-only (and continued to do so for the subsequent PlayStation and Game Boy Advance ports)
Ys IV: Mask of the Sun	Super Famicom	Nihon Falcom	Aeon Genesis Translation Proclamation	1993	2000	No localization office or rights.

List of Retranslated Video Games

This is a list of games that were retranslated through emulation although they were previously localized to North America.

Japanese Game Title	U.S. Game Title	Platform	Original Localizer	Retranslator	Reason for Retranslation
Akumajou Densetsu	Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse	NES	Konami	Vice Translations	The US version was censored due to religious themes, and the original version used a custom chip that enhanced the game's music and graphics.
Assault Suits Valken	Cybernator	Super NES	Konami	Aeon Genesis Translation Proclamation	Konami deleted too much dialogue and deleted cutscenes.
Final Fantasy IV	Final Fantasy II	Super NES	Squaresoft	J2E Translations	Too many items, too much dialogue, and some abilities were dummied out of the first American version of Final Fantasy IV. Many things were censored also. Also, the fan translator believed that Squaresoft's old Final Fantasy IV was bad.
Final Fantasy VI	Final Fantasy III	Super NES	Squaresoft	RPG-One Translations	Some members of the fan community believe that Squaresoft's translation (by Ted Woolsey) was poor; they especially complained that the names of characters were changed extensively from their original Japanese names (Tina to Terra, Cait Sith to Stray, etc.). The US-version also featured instances of censorship, see Censorship and localisation in the Final Fantasy VI article.