fan translation

Sega’s Japan exclusive Mega-Drive turn based strategy game The Hybrid Front receives a fan translation

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Sega’s classic cyberpunk turn-based strategy game for Genesis/Mega-Drive, The Hybrid Front (1994), has finally been fan translated.

This translation was 7 years in the making, as the team of fans responsible, Nebulous Translations, had announced this translation back in 2018. Due to some difficulties with packing English text into the game’s visual interface, which was intrinsically designed for kanji-heavy Japanese to be written out vertically, the translation patch took a lot longer to put together in the team’s spare time. After much difficulty, a translation patch is now available for the public to download and try. The Hybrid Front and its surprisingly in depth story and dialogue for its time is now far more accessible to curious English speaking fans.

If your interested in trying it for yourself, strategize your way past the break for the download link.

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Japanese Saturn classic Princess Crown now finally fan translated

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After more than a decade of work from several fan translation teams, Atlus’s beloved Sega Saturn classic RPG Princess Crown (1997) is finally translated into English. The final release of the translation is available to download now and patch into your digital copy of the Saturn game files that you mysteriously obtained.

As reported by Sega Saturn Shiro!, release candidates of the translation were made public at the start of this month of April 2025. On April 18th, the final version of the translation had been completed and put up on the Github page for the project. Before all that, though, a different group consisting of SamIAm and CyberWarriorX had began efforts to translate the game and uploaded an unfinished build in 2014, only to leave their efforts for the current team to eventually pick up and build upon last year, making this a rather special translation in and of itself.

If you love this classic game from the team who would, years later, bring you games like Dragon’s Crown and Unicorn Overlord, then you’ll want to check out this fan translation for sure, so head on in after the break for the download link.

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Mini-Moni. Shakatto Tambourine! da Pyon!, Sega’s one and only PSOne game, gets a fan translation

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No, this ain’t Samba de Amigo, but it’s not that far off. The only PlayStation game Sega has ever developed “Mini-Moni. Shakatto Tambourine! da Pyon! (2002)” has just been fan translated, opening it up to an English speaking audience. Of course, this only goes for written text in the game, and not the lyrics to the songs within. The translation comes courtesy of the team of fan translators at Hilltop Works.

The game is very similar to Samba de Amigo and has tambourine motion-based controllers that you can play it with, which were originally packaged with copies of the game. The game can still be played with a regular DualShock controller, which you’re much more likely to own.

For a link to download the translation patch, as well as a brief background on the game, come on down past the break.

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Sega Rally 2006 fan translation patch now available

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Sega Rally 2006, the first Sega Rally game made exclusively for a console, has just gotten an all new fan translation released. Previously only released in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, this PS2 classic had all of its text in those countries’ respective native languages only, until now, that is. For the first time ever, you can play the game almost entirely in English now.

While graphics featuring text could not be translated, as there is no way to easily change the text in graphics at this time, much of the important text in the game has been completely translated into English, making menus much less of a chore to navigate for the Japanese impaired. The newly translated text consists of:

  • Career Mode intro and profile creation.
  • Career Mode top menus (Calendar, trophies, etc.).
  • Calendar race names, vehicle restrictions, and rewards.
  • Garage and Shop menus, including part and tire names, descriptions, and tuning menu.
  • Pre-race splash screens.
  • Sponsorship contract tutorials and objectives.

For a link to where you can download this patch, have a look past the break.

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Japanese Saturn classic Kingdom Grand Prix discovered to have a hidden English translation setting, now unlocked with patch

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Image curtesy of Sega Shiro

The long lost discoveries in Sega Saturn classics just keep on coming. Usually fans have to translate Japan-exclusive games in English themselves with fan translations, but it seems the cult arcade shooter Kingdom Grandprix, or Shippuu Mahou Daisakusen (1996), already had one prepared and hidden away in the game all along. Thanks to Saturn homebrew enthusiast and fan translator Malenko, who also discovered hidden characters in the Saturn version of NBA Jam Tournament Edition just last year, as well as Bo Bayles, who it turns out is another familiar name behind some recent crazy Saturn discoveries, a previously undiscovered English language script was found deep within this game’s code. Just like with his NBA Jam discovery, Malenko just happened upon this while poking around in the game’s code. He intended on making his own fan translation of Kingdom Grandprix, and he still ended up doing so as the ready made English script was… rough, to say the least, but it was still enough to aid him as a base for his new script.

Race straight on through the break to learn more and to download the English patch to try for yourself.

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Japanese Only Dreamcast Game “Nakoruru: The Gift She Gave Me” Gets Fan Translated English Patch

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The SEGA Dreamcast is a great console that received a lot of great games, some of these games only got a Japanese release. Thankfully, in the last few years we have had fans go back and translate the games themselves. Nakoruru: The Gift She Gave Me was released back in 2001 on Windows PC and a year later on Dreamcast. This game is an adventure game that’s actually a spin-off of Samurai Shodown from SNK, since Nakoruru is a selectable fighter from the franchise.

Even though the game alludes to you playing as Nakoruru in this game, it seems that isn’t the case. Here is an overview of the game from SNK Fandom Wiki:

“The player is a seven year old girl named Mikato, a villager in Kamui Kotan who looks up to Nakoruru. She watches and idolizes the priestess, trying to help her in anyway that she can. During the time of peace, she spends time acquainting herself with the residents and the beautiful yet sometimes unforgiving environment. Their serene lives are invaded by an evil force, making once tame animals into berserkers and allies into sudden foes.

The basic flow of the game uses traditional elements from the adventure game genre. Players select their answers and proceed along a path that hopefully gets to the good ending of the game. Along the way, they’ll also have to complete a variety of mini-games that test typing and reflexive skills.”

This translation was brought to us by Derek Pascarella who posted his English translated patch on Github. He also points out that there is a bonus disc for the game that features brand-new supplement to the full game including music and a 30-minute OVA with English subtitles.

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Rent-A-Hero No. 1 on Dreamcast gets fan translation, includes bonus content

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Rent-A-Hero No.1 on Dreamcast, a remake to Rent-A Hero on the Mega Drive, which both have been exclusive to Japan, has been translated by fans. The crazy part is, its not just a translation that the team has done, but have also added extra exclusive features, making this the definitive release!

The exclusive features include:

  • Unlockable content
  • 3D models / animations
  • VMU graphics / animations
  • Opening/Ending subs
  • Interface controls
  • Debug menus
  • Secret modes ( One-Punch man fans rejoice! )
  • Developers message board with original team + Rent-A-Modders dev comments
  • Skip logos sequence with START button
  • Bug fixes

Rent-A-Hero No.1 has been one of the games that a lot of Western Dreamcast gamers wanted a translation for. The game even got a port for the Xbox and was revealed via a leaked English prototype in 2017 that there was plans to bring the game West. Now, fans have translated the SEGA Mega Drive original and have translated the Dreamcast version. What a time to be a SEGA retro gaming fan. j

[Via: Romhacking]

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Sakura Wars 2 Receives Fan Translation for SEGA Saturn; Demo Available for Download

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Translated by the same team behind the original Sakura Wars game for the SEGA Saturn, the sequel, Sakura Wars 2: Thous Shalt Not Die, will be receiving a fan translation for the SEGA Saturn. The project was worked on last summer for a year in a half. Not only that the game will be translated, the team has released the special edition demo of the game for everyone to try out.

Sakura Wars 2: Thou Shalt Not Die, is the sequel to the original game developed by Red Company and SEGA for the Sega Saturn and was released in Japan in April 1998 and ported to other systems, including the Dreamcast in September 2000. The game takes place one year after the first game following Ichiro Ogami and the all-female Flower Division of the Imperial Combat Revue as they fight against new supernatural entities in Tokyo as well as hostile political forces led by Keigo Kyogoku.

Not only Sakura Wars 2 is getting a fan translation, the third game in the series is also receiving one as well. It’s only a matter of time that all four main Sakura Wars games will be available to play.

Here is the link to the demo and screenshots to check out to below.

 

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SEGA Saturn classic Bulk Slash gets impressive English fan localization patch

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[Trailer edited by Bofner]

The SEGA fan translation community has been on fire recently with fan translations and they seem to be getting bigger. For example the recently fan localized Sakura Wars GB: Go Forth, Young Cadet! even restored cut content that didn’t make it in the Japanese release. 

Now some of the people that brought you that are back to release their most ambitious localization to date: Bulk Slash, a title praised for its presentation, soundtrack, gameplay, replayability, and its graphics. The localization team not only translated all the text, but also had voice actors come in and dub the game. For a fan localization project, this is pretty major.

Download Bulk Slash English Translation Patch Here

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Yakuza: Black Panther 2 fan translation coming January 7th, 2022

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Back during the height of the Sony PSP, SEGA released two spin-off Yakuza titles starring a totally new and younger protagainst named Tatsuya Ukyo. SEGA called the series “Yakuza: Black Panther” (Kurohyō: Ryū ga Gotoku Shinshō). Of course the games never came out in English and have been exclusive to Japan.

The first PSP game has already been translated into English,  but now thanks to a fan translation group known as TeamK4L, we will be getting the sequel, fully translated on January 7th, 2022. So keep those PSP emulators on standby or keep your PSP’s battery charged till next year!

 

 

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Sakura Wars GB: Go Forth, Young Cadet! English Fan Translation Teaser Trailer Released

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Just in time to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Sakura Wars franchise, the English localization team that is doing Sakura Wars GB: Go Forth, Young Cadet! have released a teaser trailer for their project. Sakura Wars GB was released all the way back in 2000 and remains one of the many Sakura Wars projects that was only released in Japan. Thanks for fans going back and translating these hidden gems, we can now enjoy them in our native tongues.

The translation team for Sakura Wars GB are:

As far as the official release date for the the fan translation, as of right now, is unknown but the project does seem to be coming along nicely. Also people who are working on this did work on the Sakura Wars: Columns 2 English translation project.

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Sakura Wars: Columns 2 English Fan Translation Patch now available to download

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Sakura Wars fans and Dreamcast gamers rejoice as the english fan translation patch for Sakura Wars: Columns 2 launches today! This fan translation of the puzzle game spin-off sequel features every mode, menus, and VMU images translated to english for players to experience one of the few spin-off games of an iconic franchise in english for the first time. The translation team even worked hard on a english cover art and disc of the game for those who are interested in customizing their own Dreamcast cases.

Originally titled Hanagumi Columns 2 in Japan, this title takes place during the events of Sakura Wars 2: Thou Shalt Not Die where the members of the Imperial Assault Force – Flower Division must compete with each other to be casted the main role of Shonen Red through a game of Columns.

The patch for Sakura Wars: Columns can be downloaded through here with instructions attached to the link. For more information on patch notes for the latest version game and VMU images, hit the jump to check them out. For in game screenshots, you can check them out on the previous article.

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Sakura Wars: Columns 2 English Fan Translation Launching May 3rd

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If you’ve been around the SEGA Dreamcast scene, you’ve probably been seeing some past Japanese only games receive English fan translated patches. Now it has been confirmed that the English fan patch for Sakura Wars: Columns 2 will be launching on May 3rd. 

While the gameplay of Sakura Wars: Columns 2 is, well Columns, it also has a story mode with decision making, much like a full scale Sakura Wars title. Its nice to check off another previously Japanese title off the list as getting a English translation.

Keep your Dreamcast ready, Sakura Wars: Columns 2 launches May 3rd, 2021!

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Japanese only Yakuza: Black Panther on PSP gets English fan patch after 6 years of work

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The PSP exclusive Yakuza: Black Panther (also Black Panther: Yakuza New Chapter) or as its known in Japan Kurohyou: Ryu ga Gotoku Shinshou came out way back in September 2010. The franchise got a sequel and even a TV show based on the new, younger leading character. Sadly due to low software sales in the west we never got a localization of this spin-off franchise. There has always been a really good online guide you can use but now you can play it with a fan made patch.

CD Romance patched English ISO

How complete is the patch? Well, its only translated the main story from start to end, but substories haven’t been translated yet. At least this is the feedback I’ve gotten which has made me personally made me want to wait for the full project to be translated. You can check the translation team’s GBA Temp thread.

For those of you that have been waiting for these games to be translated, you can thank: Aegehn, Fshadow, KHHSubs, and FlyingClimber for putting years of hard work getting this released!

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SEGA Game Gear title Eternal Legend gets an English fan translation

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A new English translation has been produced by TheMajinZenki, Supper, and cccmar, for the Game Gear title Eternal Legend. Eternal Legend, originally developed by Japan Art Media (aka “JAM”) and published by SEGA, was one of the earliest JRPGs released for the SEGA Game Gear, even predating Phantasy Star Gaiden. It was originally released back in August 9th, 1991 for Japanese markets only.

In Eternal Legend, you take on the role of Arwyn, a young treasure hunter who accidentally got himself roped up in searching for a long lost city called Millennium. Together with Ryall and Blue Moon, you will go on an adventure across the world fighting monsters and finding secrets, all to solve the mysteries of Millennium and it’s rumored lost treasure and technology. This patch translates the game entirely in English, along with other minor changes such as different fonts.

[Source: ROMhacking.net page]

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