Translation [Release] Spice and Wolf: My Year with Holo English Patch

[Illidanz]

Released in 2008, My Year with Holo follows the adventures of the player, an uncanny look-alike for series’ protagonist Kraft Lawrence, on his travels with harvest deity-cum-giant wolf Holo, as they travel around seeking clues to the whereabouts of Holo's long lost hometown.

The first of two Japan-exclusive games for the console, it's finally available in English for the first time! Part business simulator, part dating game, it features an interesting mix of trading and romance mechanics alongside a non-linear story with 11 possible endings.

Take the reins to explore the charms of a pseudo-Medieval world, with Wisewolf Holo as your travel guide!

Download:
Patch Download
Usage Guide

Known Bugs:
The Special Message, unlocked after completing all 11 endings and accessible via the Options/Endings menu, may cause the game to freeze up if using a flashcart. It can however be viewed via emulator, or, in the case of playing on a DSi/2/3DS, by loading the game directly from the SD card using custom firmware.

Looking for more?
Did you know this game had a spiritual successor called The Wind that Spans the Sea? While the story is unrelated, the second DS game expands on many of the mechanics, even adding the possibility of a new second companion. You can find the thread for it here!

Tool:
If you’re interested in knowing more about the hacking specifics or translating the game into another language, the source code & compiled program covering both text and image extraction/repacking for this and The Wind that Spans the Sea can be found on Github.

Want to get in touch?
Join our discord server to send us your questions, check out our other projects or even lend a hand in our mission to bring more anime games to the English-speaking fandom!

Credits:
Hacking
Illidan

Translation
Phantom, rottenpantsu, jbondsr, Morgas, StargazerOntan, casadillaa, Moaku, nanjigen

Proofreading
emcintosh, NowlasWolf, PockyChan, GanjiMEX

Special Thanks
Suruz, Remilia, Masa

 

[PhantomGhost]

A small update: We were able to get in touch with Adamer and AdanK85 about their work on GDrive, but unfortunately, neither of them have a more recent copy of the translations, so we are back to starting from the 2015 translation dump, which is certainly nothing to snub!

However, we are still very much in need of interested translators! If you're currently sat around in lockdown, this could be an excellent project to help take your mind of things, and get lost in a charming fantasy world! Please don't hesitate to get in touch!

(And to clarify on the second game, whilst it's not exactly the same, it uses the same formats as the first so is still entirely feasible.)

 

[violisto]

Not sure if you were aware of this, but it seems someone released a complete script translation on their Youtube channel a while back (though I myself only recently found it and I haven't looked at all of it to avoid spoilers). I can't post links, but here's the watch code to the first part: /watch?v=bB-aTWmhHu4

If it turns out that you can't use their translation or still need translators, I'd be willing to help out a bit.

 

[PhantomGhost]

@violisto Thank you for thinking of us! We have already spoken to RottenPantsu and got their permission to modify the text. It's not strictly a complete script as the game is quite non-linear with 11 different endings, but thanks to that, the translations we inherited from suruz's team, and the hard work of our own, overall translation progress has now reached 87%!

We're hoping to be able to move into the first pass of proofreading soon.

 

[violisto]

@PhantomGhost That's great to hear! In that case, I'll be patiently looking forward to future updates about the patch.

 

[PhantomGhost]

We're back with some exciting news, the translation has reached 100%! Here are some more recent screenshots to celebrate;

In an effort to release the full patch in a timely manner, we are now on the lookout for help with proofreading.

Ideally, we’re after someone who’s confident in their English abilities, and able to commit a large amount of time. This would be the first pass of proofreading, which means that the text has been translated and may or may not have been roughly glanced over, but it has not been inserted into the game and played through properly yet. So as well as the usual looking out for typos/flow etc, you’ll also be doing things like correcting text overflow by separating/shortening lines, and reporting any bugs that may show up.

No experience needed, just an emulator and a legal copy of the game! We'll give you full instructions on how to use the tool written by Illidan so you can see your changes update in the game in real time, and help us make sure Holo's wise words land just right

 

[siglapian]

Considering that I have just completed the S&W manga and all 21 light novels, I still can’t get enough of S&W and now that I have some free time to spare I am very interested to help.
How do you I PM you? Let’s exchange emails to discuss further.

 

[PockyChan]

Hello

I have bought a copy of the game for Nintendo DS, and i will receive it within 10 days.
I want to take part of this project as a game tester. I'm really happy to help anything spice and wolf related.

 

[PhantomGhost]

I apologize for the late response to these messages! I didn't receive any email notifications, which I was rather expecting to

I've sent you both a PM now!

 

[emcintosh]

We're back with some exciting news, the translation has reached 100%! In an effort to release the full patch in a timely manner, we are now on the lookout for help with proofreading.

I am a native speaker of [British] English and have some time. I have just ordered the game (and its sequel) from eBay. So I now OWN a copy, but don't have it physically yet. I will PM you for details of how to proceed.

 

[siglapian]

Hi PhantomGhost, I have sent you an email. I still can’t PM here as I do not have enough posts.

Just in case it may have ended up in your junk folder - my email address is similar to my nick.

 

[NowlasWolf]

I can't believe this is actually here. I had gotten a copy of this game about year and a half ago for collecting purposes and was disappointed there was no patch for it. Is there any chance I can get in on testing?

 

[Hitokiri_Ace]

Fellas, I can't thank you enough for taking up this project. I've been dreaming of this for a long time now.
I don't know if I can dedicate as much time as needed.. but I own the limited editions of both games (am a collector).
If you need the help, give me a holler. Probably best to find me on reddit. My username is the same everywhere.
Thanks again. <3

 

[lordkronox]

Oh my god, I was waiting for this for sooo long, can't thank you guys enough for this.

I would like to contribute, if possible. I can help with proofreading, and maybe even with some fixes if needed (I'm a full stack Java/JS developer with 7 years of experience xD).

I'm new to GBATemp so I can't PM you PhantomGhost. How should I contact you?

 

[Douglas_Trumbull]

Awesome! I spent the pandemic learning Japanese, would love to help. To be clear, I am nowhere near fluent, but I can read Hiragana and will be pleased to help in anyway.

No job too menial or too small! Please contact me (I'm new here) or let me know how to join the effort.

 

[Douglas_Trumbull]

Let me add an FYI to my above post: I own a copy of Boku to Holo and I just bought a copy of Umi wo Wataru on eBay, should be here soon enough.

I am a native English speaker and (FWIW) I also speak Spanish.

 

[PhantomGhost]

@Douglas_Trumbull That's awesome stuff I think you might have already seen it now but if not, could you please check your PMs (the envelope icon to the left handside of the top bar), for more information on what we do and how to join us. If you're having any problems accessing the Discord or would prefer not to use it, you can also contact me at phantomghosttranslations (@) gmail.com!

 

[Le_Vieux_Renard]

This is really amazing, I wasn't expecting at all that they were some people who still wanted to continue this project, I am really impressed. Too bad that I don't own these games but I truly admire all the work that has been done.
However, I will gratefully help if I am allowed and also, I'm not too bad at English and if the applying the translation is not too much complicated, I could surely make a french translation of the game when the time will come and in this way help even more people to enjoy this game in a language that they will easily manage.
But for now I hope you to find the courage to finish this project and I wish to all of you a happy new year !

 

[GanjiMEX]

Nice! Spice & Wolf is one of my favorite animes ever and I'm willing to help! I could make a Spanish Patch since it's my native language, but eh, it depends.

 

[PhantomGhost]

@GanjiMEX Thank you for your message! I said something similar to Le_Vieux_Renard in a PM, but about translating it into other languages, we'd be only too pleased to help! Right now the ROM hacking tool for the game that Illidan made is private as there's every chance that we might still need or be able to improve it, but once the English patch is out, it will be made public for everyone.

That said, we'd still be happy to share it with you/walk you through how to use it now, and even once it's made public, will continue to make updates on it if you find that there are things you need specific to Spanish etc. However, I wouldn't feel right if I didn't first warn you that this game has a large amount of text (about 254k characters in Japanese). In our team, we have multiple translators, and a significant portion of the work had already been translated and just needed reviewing. I don't want to discourage you by any means, but I would think that it would be quite challenging for a single person to translate. I would definitetly encourage you to give it some thought, and maybe even consider trying to find some other translators to start a team with first.

Please have a think and let me know what you'd like to do If you'd like to try using the tool now, just to let you know, you'll need to make a Github account as well!