My PC-98 translation projects

[BabaJeanmel]

Hello people,

just a small thread to advertise my PC-98 translation projects a bit, as I know some of you might be interested

I reformated everything so it's easier to read. For screenshots and project descriptions, just click the name of the game you're interested in.

CURRENT PROJECTS

ORIGINAL TL - Gate of Souls: From Dante's Divine Comedy (40% finished) (All ages)

Awesome puzzle-focused metroidvania sent in Dante's "Inferno". Alpharobo has deciphered the data files and the script is slowly but surely translated and reinserted. There are a lot of hardcoded strings and a few graphics that will require a bit of work here, but it will be worth the effort. The final patch will (obviously) replace the old menu one.

SCRIPT PORT - True Love (Finished) (18+)

One of the very first eroge to come to the west. Not the best game in terms or art or writing, but still a fun little ride into the early 90's. It needed the combined efforts of ikun35, Alpharobo, Kirinn B, Valley Bell and myself to get it done.

Download (v.0.9)

SCRIPT PORT - EVE: Burst Error (85% finished) (18+)

The "other" Kanno masterpiece, released before Yu-No. A nice thriller you get to experience with multiple POVs. Its Windows remake was localized at the time, with the added bonus of shitty edgy jokes (mostly revolving around the Clinton/Lewinsky affair) and dubvious localization, along with the removal of the H-scenes. So it's not only a port, but also a massive clean-up of the original localized script, along with a complete translation of the missing bits. Don't be too impatient for this one, it will likely take a whole year at least.

All previous projects here

 

[Nikokaro]

Hello , and congratulations on the release of the Foxy translation. For some reason this thread had gone unnoticed by me, partly because I was expecting an update to the old thread. I'll take a look at this game, but generally these older pc-98 games are very difficult and repetitive.
I eagerly await news about your other new projects, perhaps a complete translation of one of the Lakers series titles (but I'm afraid I'll be waiting in vain...).

 

[BabaJeanmel]

Thanks ! Fear not, Foxy is not a really hard game. Actually, the IA can be cheated quite easily, especially on the later missions. You can actually finish it in 4-5 hours (less if you enable no wait mode on an emulator). It's a cakewalk compared to later Elf strategy titles.

And you can already watch all the event scences except the ending from the sp disk menu, without having to play though the whole thing

I'll definitly return to Lakers at one point, but in the meantime I'll be working on some less text-heavy games. I've already got two current projects in the works, but won't announce anything before they're in a presentable enough state. I'm quite busy with some irl stuff atm and I don't want to generate some false hope for a fast release on either of them ^^

 

[BabaJeanmel]

Time to unveil one of my next projects, as it's about 75% complete ATM...

Run Run Kyousoukyoku (Warning: Adult Content)

Another early Elf game, first released for the PC-88, then ported on the PC-98. This time, it's an action game, reminiscent of some very primitive version of Deshing Desperadoes. Except you lead a female runner team and there is a bit of strategy and resource-management involved (not to mention pathfinding for the later levels). Notable for being one of the few eroge that can actually be played in competitive 2 player mode.

It's a pretty short game , very light-hearted and silly. It's also kinda sluggish, but can become perfectly enjoyable if you boost the CPU power a bit (say 2x or 4x to make it more of a challenge).

Expect a release quite soon. The testing phase may be longer than the translation itself ^^

BTW, the next project is still in the very early phase and will require a lot more work. But the wait will be worth it

 

[BabaJeanmel]

Run Run Kyousoukyoku is done! Download here.

 

[BabaJeanmel]

Now working on Dragon Knight III. A little proof of concept here :

 

[Nikokaro]

Wow, that's just what a lot of us have been waiting for......So many great memories....
Maybe you could make it less difficult and stressful by increasing the experience points that are awarded. Would you be able to?

 

[BabaJeanmel]

I won't mess with the game data. But it will be easier to grind on emulator by enabling fast foward. Battles are automated in the PC-98 version, so the trick works nicely

 

[Levine91]

WOW! Keep up the great work man, always nice to see translations for hardware that us, "English speakin folk", never got the chance to experience.

 

[BabaJeanmel]

A quick glance at the Lakers 1 full translation I'm working on at the same time :

 

[BabaJeanmel]

Updated first post with my latest progress. Here is a video of the beginning of Lakers as a bonus.

 

[Aristeia]

Always nice to see the PC-98 getting exposure. I'm glad your translation projects are getting a boost too! I know that you post progress actively on discord (Probably the only English PC-98 community on there) but you'll definitely reach more people here.

 

[BabaJeanmel]

Thanks ! I'm planning to do a little website to centralize everything, I'll let you know.
BTW, Lakers is more or less 35-40% done now. After finishing the text insertion, I think I'll send it to QC to a few testers while I work on DK3. I want to make sure the english text is clean enough before publishing it.

 

[BabaJeanmel]

Just FYI I uploaded my finished patches there (oldies-retro/other oldies/games fixes & patches section) . They might be easier to find from outside this way

 

[BabaJeanmel]

I'm actively searching for a graphics editor to work on the title screen. It just needs the english title ("Holy Girl Force Lakers") to be inserted in a similar style than the original. Feel free to contact me if you're interested

EDIT: Done, here it is

 

[BabaJeanmel]

Lakers 1 in testing/proofreading phase. And actually, Lakers 2 has already begun! The same people (Anata and Kirinn B.) are involved on the graphical part and have done an awazing work, so I figured it would be nice to give you a little preview!

Menus are mostly done, all graphics have been edited, but hacking will be a bit more complicated, especially on the animation part. I'll begin to work on the script when these issues are sorted.

EDIT: Intro works! You can check it there:

 

[Stellar]

I love the aesthetic of these pc98 games, the pixel art is beyond gorgeous and I have long since lamented a lack of translation patches for the original ROMs since I much prefer playing visual novels on portable devices.

The Asenheim Project was our best bet until now, but this is much better! I don't know what your long term plans are, but if you can keep porting existing translations to the original pc98 versions that would be incredible

Thank you for all your work so far regardless.

 

[BabaJeanmel]

Thanks!

I'm not planning to do any more script ports ATM. I'm more motivated in doing new stuff from scratch.

As for my future plans, I must first release Lakers 1 (should not be too long from now, tests are going smoothly), then I'll finish Dragon Knight 3 and do Lakers 2. Then we'll see

 

[Segger]

I really wanna play PC-98 but they’re usually the type that I would rather play in bed or when I’m out and about. Anyone have any luck with playing them on a handheld of any sort? Playing the Phoenix Wright trilogy on DS made me this way I guess.

I was actually considering one of those anbernic handhelds specifically for running visual novels but not sure if there’s a PC-98 core available for them, if anyone has one I’d be interested in hearing if these translations run.

Thanks so much for the Yu-No translation port. That will be my first go-to since I’ve wanted to play it for a while but was always annoyed that the Windows version’s graphics are worse in my opinion to the nicely pixel dithered PC-98.

 

[Nikokaro]

Anyone have any luck with playing them on a handheld of any sort?

Of course! You can play it on PSP via Neko Project 2: it has very good compatibility, very fast gameplay and near perfect sound. In contrast with Retroarch PSP, using NP2 core, the games are too slow and unplayable.
Pictured below: Dead of the Brain, a legendary horror-VN recently translated into english, which I highly recommend.

Spoiler: *mod edit* large image

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