Back in the mid 2000s, the gaming scene saw a whole slew of exclusive games released for portable cellphones, with a wide variety of them running under a build of Java for mobile phones, and in the case of Mega Man, the franchise saw quite a handful of titles exclusive to these now forgotten mobile devices.

The Mega Man franchise saw 8 releases on feature phones, with the titles specifically being Rockman Pinball, Rockman GP, Rockman Panic Fire, Rockman Bug Sweeper, Rockman Dash: Great Adventure on 5 Islands, a trial version of Rockman 1 (Mega Man 1 on NES) with the feature to add as Roll in the game, and lastly, the two titles that we'll be focusing on today, Rockman EXE: Phantom of the Network and Rockman EXE: Legend of the Network, which follow a very similar play style to that of the GBA Battle Network titles, with completely new characters, stories and settings.

These games originally came from a Panasonic P-06C phone, and thanks to a very thorough debug cable technique, these games have been properly preserve for posterity at the end of 2023 by SciLab Secrets, with the games being fully playable through the DoCoMo Java (or DoJa) emulator, with the SquirrelJME emulator being planned to support these titles later on.

Now thanks to the collaborative effort of talented hackers and designers from The Rockman EXE Zone, people outside of Japan can fully experience these long-forgotten titles in the Mega Man franchise with a full English localization, which they didn't only localize the entirety of the games, but also added some extra features, updates and changes:

• Added Buster MAX Mode, similar to Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection.
• Restored the online ranked virus battle mode in Phantom of the Network.
• Restored the animated backgrounds from the EZweb version of Legend of the Network.
• Added in-game methods to obtain BattleChips required to 100% the game, which were previously Chip Trader-exclusive.

Those interested in trying out the English localization for these titles can do so from the blog post released on the Rockman EXE Zone. Be mindful that you are required to obtain the original Japanese i-appli game files for both games in order to do so and to play them through an emulator.

The credits for the full English fan localization are as follows:

• MegaRockEXE: Logo Design
• MidniteW: Editing, Promo Artwork
• Midori Woodley: Translation
• Prof. 9: Programming, Editing

Source

 

[RetroNerdGamer]

Nah but this place will if you share the details to which I won't do.

Besides, even if I were to somehow obtain this game, I don't know if I'll get hooked on it or not. Not saying this for the worst though, cause I have all Battle Network and Starforce games on my Backloggd.

Honestly, I really want to see if someone can do a native port for PC or some other system because I think it'd make it easier to play.

 

[ATKOtter]

Honestly, I really want to see if someone can do a native port for PC or some other system because I think it'd make it easier to play.

Someone was remaking one of them iirc, but Capcom DMCAd it.

 

[RetroNerdGamer]

Someone was remaking one of them iirc, but Capcom DMCAd it.

Wtf? That's rare. Capcom doesn't normally DMCA do they?

Also was it because of BN Legacy Collection orrrrrr......??

 

[ATKOtter]

Wtf? That's rare. Capcom doesn't normally DMCA do they?

Also was it because of BN Legacy Collection orrrrrr......??

That's what people assume, since the DMCA came like right before that was announced.

 

[RetroNerdGamer]

That's what people assume, since the DMCA came like right before that was announced.

But what, it didnt even have that in there!

 

[VartioArtel]

I'm speaking from a place of knowing how the industry actually works rather than blindly believing fear mongering from right winger twitter chuds who do nothing but stir controversy because they have nothing better to do, or thinking that translation between languages is really as simple as copying down words.

Then you'd know that the colloquial for "Localization" has changed somewhere around 20 years ago, and the definitions are distinct and different. Localization became colloquially acknowledged as the process of changing foreign media and changing or removing the culture of Japan in order for it to fit the receiving region's 'local' culture. Case in point: Turning the famous Riceballs of Japan into 'Doughnuts' in Pokemon.

/ˌləʊkələˈzeɪʃn/ (British English also localisation) [uncountable] (business) the process of adapting a product or service to make it suitable for a new area. The company does all of its own localization.

trans·la·tion
/tranzˈlāSH(ə)n,tran(t)sˈlāSH(ə)n/
noun
1.
the process of translating words or text from one language into another.


"Well, adapting includes translation", You may respond.

Includes. Even if we go by your definition, that states that it is not the only thing that occurs. Include is a term applying to situations where something is a part of a whole. All Trees are Plants, not all plants are trees. (All plants include trees. But not all trees include plants). And even then, a translation isn't even guaranteed within the same language (a British show could be changed in context in America). So saying that Localization is Translation falls on its face for a plethora of reasons.

When it was discovered by the community at large that the company that prided itself not on 'Translation' but 'Localization', 4Kids, was changing content drastically, the use of the term "localization" which already had its weak points of being a 'translation' became associated with the flanderization and bastardization of foreign media because they believed American Audiences were too 'young' or 'dumb' for them.

Were this Translation - Localization split something recent, you'd probably have a point about 'chuds' having a role in this. But that's disingenuous gaslighting as the split has existed for nigh on 2 decades now. Localization has become a term used in the colloquial as such to refer to Foreign media in general being twisted and no longer anything that can be described as a 'translation'.

Case in point, in Fire Emblem Fates, can you, in good faith, call the Saizo-Beruka C-Rank conversation as a "translation"?

For reference, here is a translation done by fans, due to how atrocious it was, put next to the 'localization' - .

It's not like that's the only recorded fan 'translation' of the text either -

How is it the 'official' one ended up so differently? How does the official English version end up with... 0 things correct beyond at best some . . . copied without any of the accompanying text?

If you honestly believe that translation and localization are one and the same, I got a bridge to sell you.*

TL/N: The Bridge is a string nailed between two cliffs.

 

[RetroNerdGamer]

Then you'd know that the colloquial for "Localization" has changed somewhere around 20 years ago, and the definitions are distinct and different. Localization became colloquially acknowledged as the process of changing foreign media and changing or removing the culture of Japan in order for it to fit the receiving region's 'local' culture. Case in point: Turning the famous Riceballs of Japan into 'Doughnuts' in Pokemon.

/ˌləʊkələˈzeɪʃn/ (British English also localisation) [uncountable] (business) the process of adapting a product or service to make it suitable for a new area. The company does all of its own localization.

trans·la·tion
/tranzˈlāSH(ə)n,tran(t)sˈlāSH(ə)n/
noun
1.
the process of translating words or text from one language into another.


"Well, adapting includes translation", You may respond.

Includes. Even if we go by your definition, that states that it is not the only thing that occurs. Include is a term applying to situations where something is a part of a whole. All Trees are Plants, not all plants are trees. (All plants include trees. But not all trees include plants). And even then, a translation isn't even guaranteed within the same language (a British show could be changed in context in America). So saying that Localization is Translation falls on its face for a plethora of reasons.

When it was discovered by the community at large that the company that prided itself not on 'Translation' but 'Localization', 4Kids, was changing content drastically, the use of the term "localization" which already had its weak points of being a 'translation' became associated with the flanderization and bastardization of foreign media because they believed American Audiences were too 'young' or 'dumb' for them.

Were this Translation - Localization split something recent, you'd probably have a point about 'chuds' having a role in this. But that's disingenuous gaslighting as the split has existed for nigh on 2 decades now. Localization has become a term used in the colloquial as such to refer to Foreign media in general being twisted and no longer anything that can be described as a 'translation'.

Case in point, in Fire Emblem Fates, can you, in good faith, call the Saizo-Beruka C-Rank conversation as a "translation"?

For reference, here is a translation done by fans, due to how atrocious it was, put next to the 'localization' - .

It's not like that's the only recorded fan 'translation' of the text either -

How is it the 'official' one ended up so differently? How does the official English version end up with... 0 things correct beyond at best some . . . copied without any of the accompanying text?

If you honestly believe that translation and localization are one and the same, I got a bridge to sell you.*

TL/N: The Bridge is a string nailed between two cliffs.

To be fair, Fates was made better by the bad translation. It was never good to begin with and the gameplay is the best part.

 

[VartioArtel]

To be fair, Fates was made better by the bad translation. It was never good to begin with and the gameplay is the best part.

[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]

Is better than two assassins querrying and respecting each other carefully?

May be a microchosm, and some bits definitely are played up and make a char DEBATABLY more badass, yet others where the serious mood is completely thrown out the window in favor of random humor like needing to Walk a cat.

 

[RetroNerdGamer]

[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]

Is better than two assassins querrying and respecting each other carefully?

May be a microchosm, and some bits definitely are played up and make a char DEBATABLY more badass, yet others where the serious mood is completely thrown out the window in favor of random humor like needing to Walk a cat.

View attachment 439755

I didnt say i agree with the issues it has, but again overall it was a fun game so...

 

[Gamemaster1379]

Can the AI translate like a human would?

Japanese to English is drastically different and that's why we don't see it happening too often for old games, sometimes it takes year till someone picks it up.

Example... Dragon Ball Kai: Ultimate Butōden.

AI actually could do a decent job if given proper context. I've actually wanted to experiment in this space, but haven't found many opportunities to do so.

 

[gaga941021]

Hmm, nice, I've played the exe and ryuusei games in japanese, maybe I'll check these versions when I want to play them again.

Why are you sharing your thoughts as comments?

 

[ZeroFX]

/ˌləʊkələˈzeɪʃn/ (British English also localisation) [uncountable] (business) the process of adapting a product or service to make it suitable for a new area. The company does all of its own localization.

trans·la·tion
/tranzˈlāSH(ə)n,tran(t)sˈlāSH(ə)n/
noun
1.
the process of translating words or text from one language into another.

I'm having trouble writing this because can't stop applauding you, I almost wrote something like that with examples but I can't deal too much with the dishonest. Fates and FE in general are a good example of how localization companies butches japanese games to tailor the narrative to their beliefs. It's a total disrespect with the story and the product.

AI actually could do a decent job if given proper context. I've actually wanted to experiment in this space, but haven't found many opportunities to do so.

Yes, I've seen code example of people I know that plays with this stuff, and you can add context depending on the speaker and some words detected on the japanese text to guide the LLM on the translation, I was asked to proof read some sentences and it got most of them just right, it has difficulty on getting the sex of the subject if the name is not a very feminine or masculine one or if it's just a pronoun mention (giving context for known characters usually fixes most of this), with how it will write the onomatopoeias in english and etc. I would totally take a gpt 3.5 or gpt 4 translation over an xseed or fe fates one for example any day.

 

[VartioArtel]

I'm having trouble writing this because can't stop applauding you, I almost wrote something like that with examples but I can't deal too much with the dishonest. Fates and FE in general are a good example of how localization companies butches japanese games to tailor the narrative to their beliefs. It's a total disrespect with the story and the product.

I could also go to the Dragon Maid scenario where people make up context, but that's an anime.

Some localizations work (if I remember Spoony Bard ROUGHLY fits the context of the famous scene? I need to recheck), some absolutely fail.

There's a scene in Loser Ranger (and its anime) that's going to be IMPOSSIBLE to localize without losing the ENTIRE context of the scene. At some point people need to realize that instead of 'localization', TEACHING people about a foreign culture would be far more valuable as it has the bonus of actual inclusivity of different cultures.


It's why on Twitter I post constantly about MIME "Translations", even pinning a post about MIME.

Meaning
Intent
Mood
Emotions

OKAY! Us fans get it, not all of Japanese is easy to translate because it's context based and all that. But long as the rough meaning, the rough intent that they're speaking with, the mood of the scene, and the emotions they're conveying are intact, us fans could give less a fuck.

That's what localization should be, but instead it's become a soapbox to change scripts and characters arbitrarily.

 

[rqkaiju2]

i honestly really hope that the other mega man phone games also get localizations too. at least we have one.