A Lamentation on the De-Evolution of Video Game Localization from 1UP.com

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A Lamentation on the De-Evolution of Video Game Localization

Cover Story: Video game localization took years to crawl away from "prooving the justice of our culture," only to slide back to where we began.

hose of us who grew up with crummy game translations tend to look back on the 8-bit era with a warrior's pride. We look at lengthy in-game tutorials and snort, "In my day, we had to figure out for ourselves that 'GRUMBLE GRUMBLE' translated to 'Feed me bait, you lousy elf-kid.'"

We didn't read the stories in 8- and 16-bit games so much as we decoded them--a process that sometimes shepherded us to cliff sides, where we spent hours trying to make Simon Belmont bash his head against the rock simply because a townsperson told us it'd be a cool idea. As a result, some of video games' more infamously botched translations have actually wormed their way into the vernacular of 20- and 30-somethings, including "A winner is you," "All your base are belong to us," and Final Fantasy IV's ever-beloved "You spoony bard!"

But while we reminisce about bad game translations with a nostalgic grin, nobody really wants to purposely retreat back to a time when game progression depended on how well you could decipher a wretched sentence about Dodongos and smoke. However, the success of the independent game market, while wonderful for the overall creative health of the industry, is giving rise to another "dark age" of translation and localization that could potentially stunt games as a storytelling medium.

Clean Up Your Vocabulary, Mister

Translating a game involves directly transcribing its native text to other languages. Localizing a game adds color and flavor to the text, which is sometimes altered so that it suits its target culture. Localization can be a very intensive process that goes beyond a title's story and dialogue. 2006's Elite Beat Agents for the Nintendo DS made major changes to Japan's Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan, and the English-language product bears little resemblance to its inspiration.

During Nintendo's more sanitized days, localization and censorship also went hand-in-hand. One example is Dragon Power, an adaptation of a Dragon Ball game that came to North America long before anyone over here knew Akira Toriyama's name. The translation team for Dragon Power performed some sprite-flipping to turn Bulma's coveted panties into a "sandwich" item, and the main character, Goku, was erased entirely in favor of some kind of weird kung-fu monkey-kid. It was an odd time to be a gamer.

While some 8-bit games actually received thorough localizations (the North American release of Dragon Warrior was carefully translated and even got a graphics upgrade when it left Japan), the majority of the games that came to us from Japan just supplied us with amazing one-liners like Bokosuka Wars' uplifting "WOW! YOU LOSE!"

Stellar localization wasn't top priority in the '80s and early '90s; printing, shipping, and marketing games from Japan was a costly venture to begin with, and the game market was far smaller and more insular than it is today. Cartridge-based games also had storage issues that even made extensive storytelling difficult, since text gobbled up precious memory. Finally, most NES players were youngsters for whom the words "Save the Princess" seemed deep and lyrical. There was no need to get wordy.

Back to Basics, Unfortunately

You still can't say the words "Ted Woolsey" or "Working Designs" on a game forum without sparking a small war about the necessity of flavoring game text.

The generation weaned on 8-bit consoles and computers grew up, and video game stories grew up alongside them. We remember how deeply our favorite game stories moved us, and to this day we revere or revile the localizers who helped prep these stories for a widespread English-speaking audience. You still can't say the words "Ted Woolsey" or "Working Designs" on a game forum without sparking a small war about the necessity of flavoring game text.

But for a long time, the console game creation process was a straight shot from offices in Japan to game systems around the world. Things have changed mightily in the past decade alone thanks to the rise of smartphones and digital marketplaces like the App Store. Almost anyone can make a game--and almost everyone does. Games come from all over the world. They come from Japan, the United States, Canada, Korea, Trinidad, India, the Middle East, all across Europe, China, and Australia. If you spin a globe and stop it at a point, you can almost be assured that at least one game studio exists under your finger (barring the Pacific Ocean or Antarctica).

It is honestly a wonderful era to be into video games because small studios are bringing in ideas and mythologies from all over the world, and that helps keep fresh air circulating through the industry. There is certainly still a corporate element to the pastime, but indies have a voice, and they're using it.

There is, however, a trade-off. Some games, particularly those on the iOS market, have abysmal translations, and localization efforts are non-existent. It can be argued that these games are in even worse shape than the NES titles of old. Whereas our 8-bit favorites put us through a badly-worded scrolling introduction or topped off a brutal boss fight with "CONGRATULATION," some downloadable games dish out whole stories that are worded awkwardly, peppered with spelling mistakes, or don't even have word wrap enabled.

It's not hard to understand why localization is taking a back seat again. Many indie studios are tiny operations that pour every cent into completing the title itself, and in the end there's no money left to go over the in-game text with some sandpaper. Also, now that games are flying to and from every corner of the world, performing tip-top localizations in multiple languages is practically impossible for a small cash-strapped team. That said, it's kind of disappointing when a North American studio that's staffed primarily by English speakers fails to perform even a basic spell check on their script.

No Hope for Spoony Bards?

If video game localizations are indeed slipping back into a primordial state, it certainly isn't the worst thing that can happen to gaming. After all, the original Final Fantasy has a lackluster localization, but it's still one of the most beloved RPGs of all time. But the problem is that video games have massive potential as storytellers, and rampant spelling mistakes make it harder to give in-game text the attention it demands. Even games with poorly relayed stories have moments of intense emotion--but bad grammar shoots those moments back down to the ground.

Console games gradually received better localizations as the NES and SNES gained momentum. Will we see the same happen with games from independent studios? Maybe, perhaps, when small teams have time to grow a little extra cash for such frivolities?

Alexander O. Smith, a veteran localizer who worked on the text for Vagrant Story, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, and Crimson Shroud doesn't believe studios are going to habitually lay down cash for decent localizations, as the demand generally isn't there.

"A lot of [indie] games are going after a youth market, which tends to be less picky about prose," Smith said. "Their main selling points are the gambling mechanic you see in 'trading card' games or leveraging social networks, neither of which rely much on story to sell the product."

"That isn't to say there aren't exceptions," he added. "Of the Japanese social game companies, I know DeNA and Gree are courting good localizers. And there are clearly games, such as Bastion and in a very different way, Swords & Sworcery, that owe a lot to the strength of their script. Hopefully similar games coming from non-English devs will get the attention they deserve."

Rise Up, Fandom

It might be a while before newborn game studios have the resources and drive to pitch a lot of effort into their game localizations. In the meantime, what if fans picked up the slack? It's not an impossible idea, and nobody knows that better than Clyde "Tomato" Mandelin, the main man behind the Mother 3 localization project.

"I think when indie devs gain enough traction to be able to afford localizations they'll do so," Mandelin said. "Another thing I see being possible is niche indie games being given unofficial localizations that are later adopted by the developers as official."

"Developers [might] ask fans to localize the games themselves into their native languages," Mandelin continued. "I've seen this in other contexts, a big the big one that comes to mind is the [Angry Video Game Nerd] asking fans to translate his videos into their native languages.

I can see this sort of thing happening with video games more and more as time progresses. It's already begun happening with some retro games that were never released outside of Japan but were translated by fans years later -- XSEED's localization of Y's: The Oath in Felghana is one example."

Watch Your Speeling

Mandelin's vision for the future of indie game localization is an attractive one. The line between creators and consumers is rapidly blurring thanks to the advent of the Internet, and encouraging fans to help localize projects is one way to ensure that games continue to tell great stories. It's also a great way to make games more accessible in an industry that attracts fans and developers from every inch of the planet.

Many trends in the games industry are cyclical; sprite graphics and chiptunes fade from existence, then come rushing back as the nostalgia bug bites developers and gamers alike. Hopefully, the state of localizations will likewise experience another upswing and then stay anchored in place. With some luck--and maybe with the help of some eager fans--we'll begin to see consistently competent localization efforts from indies and large studios alike.

Author

Nadia Oxford

Nadia Oxford knows that the secret is in the easternmost peninsula, but she just can't muster up the energy to get going. You can follow her on Twitter in the meantime.

ORIGINALLY INTENDED FOR

Rethinking Japan

Comments (22)

Indie games
Posted: userComment.createdDate by kirin64

Although it's not really 'localisation' as such, I think the point about poor writing in indie games is very salient. It's tremendously distracting when a game that promotes itself as having an engaging story has dialogue that wouldn't fly in a high school English classroom. Lili on iOS is very guilty of this – beautiful graphics and a serviceable story, let down by dialogue that seemed to have been banged out on a deadline and never checked.

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Haha
Posted: userComment.createdDate by chrono_fragger

I like how this article presupposes that Japanese game development is still relevant to today's market and poses any kind of threat to the medium's potential for storytelling. Oh well. Thumbs up for the Mother 3 argument.

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hmm
Posted: userComment.createdDate by vandwedge

could you possibly give examples of bad modern localizations? that's all that's missing from the discussion.

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"PROOVING the justice of our culture,"
Posted: userComment.createdDate by CuteIgor2

"Watch Your SPEELING", indeed.

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- Ghostbusters
  Posted: 01/11/2013 by woekitten
  
  It's a direct quote from the ending for Ghostbusters NES. ;)
  
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The premise that localisations are reverting is faulty
Posted: userComment.createdDate by VeryMadMage

Localisations are better than ever today, and the examples of todays bad localisations are games that either couldn't exist (smartphone games) back when localisations were bad, or never would have been translated and released here to begin with back then. They are not indicitve of where localisations as a whole are headed.

Also, Elite Beat Agents is not a localisation of Ouendan. It's a brand new game that uses the same engine. I mean, come on. All the truth bending to support a shakey premise reminds me of a high school essay.

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- EBA
  Posted: 01/11/2013 by woekitten
  
  Elite Beat Agents isn't a direct localization of Ouendan, no, but it's an example of localization nonetheless. It's the same premise, but rebuilt with content (and music) that'd be more widely understood by a Western audience.
  
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Interesting
Posted: userComment.createdDate by evil_keebler_elf

Though surprised there wasn't any comment from any of the former 1UPers at 8-4 Studios on the difficulty to pitch the need for translation to smaller studios

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You spoony bard!
Posted: userComment.createdDate by CaptainScurvy

Is it really a botched translation? I always thought it was a hilarious line, but Edward definitely fits the definition of spoony. Any idea what the original japanese said?

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- it's not really a miss translation
  Posted: 01/11/2013 by V4Viewtiful
  
  rather a funny sounding direct(ish) translation to an old phrase
  
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- Tellah's original line is a more direct insult.
  Posted: 01/11/2013 by Sabrewing
  
  Basically the equivalent of "You bastard!"
  
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- FF IV
  Posted: 01/11/2013 by woekitten
  
  For a really in-depth and awesome look at FF II/IV's localization, check out Clyde's Legends of Localization.
  
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Distantization
Posted: userComment.createdDate by kentdoggydog

We often hear about localization from the American perspective of Japanese made game translated for us. I wonder if any American made games have have been translated to Japanese that are infamous for their rediculousness. I just gave you your next Feature pitch Nadia. I EXPECT A CREDIT. Also, where does Ghostbusters fit into all of this?

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- Ghostbusters
  Posted: 01/11/2013 by woekitten
  
  The ending for Ghostbusters NES was kind of a thing.
  
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cave story
Posted: userComment.createdDate by Blues_de_Hadal

is a good example of fans translating a current indie game. I guess that's possible especially if the game is free. But Its hard to imagine it becoming a big trend. Well if its a download, especially on the pc, people can just jam in the translation right into the game.

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- Huzzah
  Posted: 01/11/2013 by woekitten
  
  I've played Nicalis' re-translation so much, I almost forgot the original fan translation exsisted. It was, and still is, amazing.
  
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Guter Artikel!
Posted: userComment.createdDate by DJ_Caesar

I've actually thought about the whole localization aspect of games quite a few times before. I'm studying German in college, and while I don't know if that language has a high demand in the field, it'd be nice to think that I could somehow use that skill, either here or abroad. (insert shameless self-promotion for career opportunities here)
Localization, as both an art and a game "process," though, seems like something that can only be so invested in certain games. Spelling checks, grammar, syntax, etc., are all necessary for a game going to market, because those are easy fixes and not doing those makes a product look kind of cheap and rushed. But localizing a game - filling it with linguistic/regional vernacular, cultural jokes and references and so on - is a kind of special aspect of the translation process, and should only be stressed for certain games. Capcom wouldn't have to spend much time localizing Resident Evil 4, because it doesn't rely heavily on text or dialogue (shooting things is a pretty universal concept). But the Ace Attorney series wouldn't have worked (or been nearly as great) had they stuck to a mostly straight translation of the game.
Oh, and I had plans to make Antarctica a gaming development powerhouse. Way to freezingly rain on my parade.

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- Pengooins
  Posted: 01/11/2013 by woekitten
  
  I don't think an antarctic game studio would be any good, anyway. You'd have to staff it with penguins, and they're not great coders. They're mostly all about sliding on their tummies.
  
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On the flip side
Posted: userComment.createdDate by MikkiSaturn

Localization cost is routinely used as an excuse not to release a game at all. Look at Bravely Default. It now looks like this game won't be coming out here because apparently Square never factored localization into their budget and the game is not a big enough hit in Japan to justify the added cost. That sort of thing was all too common in the 8/16-bit days but with the Playstation and PS2 it looked the trend was towards localizing almost everything - certainly every major Square RPG. But sad to say that trend seems to be reversing. I often find myself wishing that companies felt more free to just translate essential text and not bother with a full localization, if that's the difference between being able to play the game at all.

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- Localization
  Posted: 01/10/2013 by woekitten
  
  Good point. I still pine for an official localization of Seikden Densetsu 3...
  
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- It's not?
  Posted: 01/12/2013 by SMunn
  
  I was assuming that Square-Enix's filing of the "All the Bravest" trademark was a sign that Bravely Default was coming to the west.
  And yes Nadia... so do I. I'd love to see them work that one over for 3DS the way they did Chrono Trigger for DS. I played some of the fan translation when that came out but emulation on a computer is not the same as a handheld port.
  
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- Bravely staying at home
  Posted: 01/13/2013 by zappi
  
  Bravely Default actually did pretty good in Japan, it's their most successful new IP in 8 years. Sluggish 3rd party sales in the West are a more likely reason for its non-localization so far.
  
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