Found in Fanslation

John had a once-in-a-lifetime adventure across Japan conducting 80 interviews in 90 days with the most heralded (and unfairly less heralded) names in Japanese videogame-development history! John and I have been a bit of mutual admirers and pen pals for years now, so hearing his first-hand account of a never-before-attempted whirlwind trip through Japan to talk to industry legends was amazing. I'm supremely glad to share his story of his career in videogames journalism and his epic adventure writing multiple books of Japanese videogame development. His books are an undispensible, one-of-a-kind treasure trove of game history, knowledge and anecdotes, and are absolute must-owns for any videogame historian or lover of '80s and '90s Japanese videogames.

Learning Japanese the old-school way -- books, in the '90s! -- The Price of Reason's SamShoRPG fan translation was 16 years in the making, Regarded as one of the Holy Grails of English fanslation, Jeff made fans' around the world dreams a reality with his recent (and incredibly polished) release. He joins Chris to talk about his official translation work for XSEED on Ys and Trails of; surviving hard drive failures and more setbacks on 16 years of solo work on SamShoRPG; the stories and characters of SNK; and whether all fandoms are poison!

What's even more vintage-weird SEGA than a Japanese strategy-RPG + visual-novel period piece? How about that (Sakura Wars) mixed with its own proprietary puzzle game (Columns)? Much more than a Sakura Wars skin of a Columns game, Sakura Wars Columns 2 has tons of content (60-75% of a full-blown Sakura Wars title). All 12 selectable characters have a full, unique story script to play through, plus there's a variety of other modes, puzzles and bonus content. Thanks to a dedicated core team and a myriad of knowledgeable long-time fan-subbers, the English team went above and beyond the "normal" (and already exhausting) fan translation to bring you a wholly professional localization effort. Part 1 focuses on the translation/localization: -- Adding English not just to text boxes but to compressed images (English hogs so much space!) -- Creative solutions to localizing Japanese puns and wordplay -- How fan translators juggle completely different interpretations of the universe (including diverging official sources!) -- How an effective, diverse team makes fan translations better (and easier on everyone!) Staff (with @Twitter -- they'd love to hear from you!): Project Manager/Programming Lead: Derek (aka ateam) - @DerekPascarella [https://twitter.com/DerekPascarella] Translation/Localization: Burntends - @burntends2 [https://twitter.com/burntends2] Danthrax - @Danbo_4 [https://twitter.com/Danbo_4] Natsume38 - @blaster_mania [https://twitter.com/blaster_mania] Found in Fanslation hosted by Chris Hatala "GhaleonUnlimited" (@Ghaleon [https://twitter.com/GhaleonU]), and as always, let me know what you think or what you'd like to hear more about! FiF Homepage & Phantasy Star IV retranslation project + PS resources [https://gamesdonelegit.com/phantasy-star-iv-generation-4-psiv-romhack-relocalization/]

Part 2 -- Listen to Part 1 first, please! We had a ton of fun, so rather than cut a bunch, I made it 2 episodes! I hope you enjoy this, but more importantly, enjoy the game! :)

Part 1 or 2 -- Napple Tale is an amazing Dreamcast game full of literary references and a NiGHTS-esque, dreamlike realm. Working off and on for 6 years, Cargodin (translation) and EsperKnight (programming) -- both veterans of many successful fan-translation projects -- at last released an English-language patch for Napple. Filled with creative, mysterious characters (many of which are modeled after Alice in Wonderland and other Lewis C. Carroll books/characters), It's a unique Action RPG experience and a must-play for every SEGA retrogame fan. And it's thanks to them we're about to! We were having so much fun that instead of trimming down the episode to an hour, I split it into two.  Hope you enjoy it! -- Chris "GhaleonUnlimited" Hatala