Shikigami no Shiro

[Discoalucard]

www.hardcoregaming101.net/shikigami/shikigami.htm

CJ Iwakura provides a look at Alfa System's series of bullet hell shooters, all three of which have been released in North America, in some form or another. There's also an elaborate plot and several different characters, which are also analyzed.

[sideshow]

For some reason I'll never forget the US Mobile Light Force 2 ripoff cover of Charlie's Angels. What a way to lure people to buy it as the time that movie was popular.

[Strider]

Too many freaks and wierd castles here.

Maybe this town attracts wackos.

- HC

[cj iwakura]

It was the cover of the second game in the series that finally got my attention. It was cheap($10), had interesting character art, and it was a shmup.

It took me many, many tries to finally clear Shikigami 2(and much disbelief at how horrible the voice acting was), but it rapidly made me hooked on the series.

The third going to the Wii in the US sold me on the console, and I wasn't disappointed. 2 is still my favorite, but 3's a close second.

[Discoalucard]

I remember walking into EBGames and said yes, I do in fact want to purchase this awful looking Mobile Light Force 2 game.

It was almost as embarrassing as the time I bought Bubsy 3D.

[Strider]

Hey hey hey, be nice to Castle Shikigami 2's voice acting. Just remember: unintentional comedy is comedy too.

- HC

[sideshow]

"I like girls, but now its about justice!"

The Last Alert voice actors and Castle Shikigami voice actors need to get together and do a movie together. I will laugh my ass off the entire time.

[crithit5000]

However, this is easily one of the worst translations in the history of video gaming.

This is sort of at odds with this sentence, some quotes and a paragraph later-

What might come as surprising is that the dialogue itself is not a bad translation at all.

Edit: "What might come as surprising" sort of sounds like banter from the game! After sounding that phrase out a few times, it sounds a bit wrong. "What might be surprising..." or "What may come as a surprise..." would sound/read better, I'd say.

[cj iwakura]

The former line was added in by Kurt, I believe. It's kind of a hybrid of contributions from us both(and his former write-up on Shiki 2). The original write-ups I did were a bit more cluttered. I think the changes help it more than not.

My personal belief is that they did nothing but LITERALLY translate Shikigami 2, in both the script and the book.



If that's not poor localization, I don't know what is.


Also, someone decided to retranslate Shiki 2, sort of:

shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1113&hilit=Shikigami

As you can see, there's not much difference in the actual dialogue at all. XS just didn't bother to localize it. Or hire competent VAs.

[Smithee]

You did a good job Iwakura (or should I say... Snelgrove!? DUN DUN DUN) . I think I really like Fumiko, she seems like the most awesome witch! I saw the sequel on sale at Loblaw's so I might ask my mom to pick it up next time she goes for groceries.

[ryochan]

"Two years after the first game's release..." is stated at the beginning of game two, yet the date for game 1 is 2002 and the date for game 2 is 2003...

As another poster commented, seems a little odd to say "However, this is easily one of the worst translations in the history of video gaming." and THEN say "What might come as surprising is that the dialogue itself is not a bad translation at all. " You may want to rephrase both sentences to clarify better. Maybe something like "This game has equally the best AND worst translation in video game history, as, although the dialogue in Japanese was just senseless as the American release, the American releases seems far less a comedic choice, as that they did far too literal a translation"

In game 3's character portraits, Mihee Kim link's to the other Kim's screen from game 2. Nagina Ise also connects to G.B's portrait from game 2. Munchausen links to one of Fumiko's pics. Was this intentional?


Anyway, great article. Glad to finally see the finished version. But now, I wonder what Fumiko is charging for rent... *Sweatdrops*

[Haz]

I love these. Especially 3, which is nice enough to point out your hitbox for you.

[mondobelmondo]

Shiki2 points out the hitbox as well, it appears as a shiny dot in the center of your character. I think it only appears when you are close enough to activate the tension shots... correct me if I'm wrong.

[roushimsx]

Oct 11, 2009 15:03:17 GMT -5 cj iwakura said:

My personal belief is that they did nothing but LITERALLY translate Shikigami 2, in both the script and the book.

I think the article should reflect that it's a horrible localization but an extremely accurate translation.

It's been a while since I played it, but how many voice clips were left untranslated? I recall they only popped up when playing in various co-op combinations, but there were times when it'd toggle from awesomely bad english to original japanese track and back to the english that makes the US release so wonderful.

...and I love that they didn't even bother to remove anything from the Gunbird disc, they just hacked around it. All of the original materials are on there (intro, omake, etc) but quickly hacked around so that you never see them unless you pop the disc in your PC. That's so awesomely lazy. IIRC XS Games blamed Four Winds (I think) for the changes in the US release, which I got a kick out of since, you know, two of the characters were named after guys that worked at XS Games.

[Strider]

AFAIK, all the 'story dialog' in 2 was translated and re-recorded, but the "sound effect" dialog wasn't- bosses and characters still occasionally scream in Japanese.

- HC