Got a fan translation double-whammy for you today. One is a Derek Pascarella joint, and the other is an interesting retranslation of a game that already exists in English on the Sega Dreamcast. Don't worry, I'll explain further.
Castle of Shikigami II (Shikigami no Shiro 2)
This beloved vertical-scrolling shoot 'em up from Alfa System started life as a NAOMI arcade title in 2003, before finding its way onto Dreamcast exclusively in Japan in 2004. Those who thought Dreamcast releases stopped in 2002 will be scratching their heads right now (just wait 'till you hear about the indie scene). Sadly, this game would not see an official English release on Dreamcast, although if the 2004 PlayStation 2 Western release with its woeful "Engrish" translation was anything to go by, perhaps that was a blessing in disguise. Anyway, over two decades later, here is a much better English Dreamcast version courtesy of Derek et al.
The English translation used in Derek's translation patch is mostly taken from a Steam re-release of the game from 2021 (later released on Switch in 2023) which was a full, much improved re-translation of the game's dialogue over the aforementioned 2004 Western release. This localisation then received some further fixes and improvements for this patch by translator Walnut, who has also translated any additional dialogue found in the Dreamcast version that was absent from the later re-release.
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| Guess your standards slip when you've been waiting that long. |
As is standard fare for Derek's patches, there are plenty of cool extras. He's programmed in an invincibility mode (for noobs like me, clearly) as well as analog stick support. A hidden character, Chibi Fumiko, who was previously accessible only through a hidden button combination, has also received a dedicated slot on the character-select screen, complete with a new name banner. There's loads of stuff, so if you want to know about everything that's been implemented, check out the "what's changed" section of the readme.
Head over to the GitHub repository to download the patch. Instructions can be found in there on how to patch an existing GDI of the game using Derek's Universal Dreamcast Patcher.
Maken X: Director's Cut
The only game Atlus released for the Dreamcast outside of Japan, Maken X is a unique entry in the developer's renowned catalogue of dark, envelope-pushing games. It's a 3D first-person action game in which you run around hacking enemies to pieces with a big sword (the titular "maken"). In the Japanese version you instead slice up nazis with said big sword. They took all that out in the English releases.
Anyway, AspenVesper has released a retranslation patch for the game that looks to create a "definitive" English edition. Someone had actually previously made an "undub" patch for Maken X, replacing the hammy English voice acting (we love it though) with the original Japanese voices. AspenVesper's patch does this but goes even further. They've completely retranslated the game, improving it over the original English localisation, and restored a wealth of cut content (including the compendium, an encyclopaedia-like feature that was removed from the Western releases). They have also reverted anything that was censored for the West, such as religious symbols, nudity, blood, booze, and of course, nazis. I hate these guys.
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| It's raining blood now. Slayer would lose their shit if they knew. |
To get this "Director's Cut" patch, head over to this page on Game Banana. You will need Derek's Universal Dreamcast Patcher for this one too. Once patched, it'll be time to slice down some nazis with your maken in a way BJ Blazkowicz would be proud of, all in a language their supreme leader couldn't speak.
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Anyway, there's two brand new fan translations that you can go and enjoy today. Due to the proliferation of generative AI bullshit, I have to include a mandatory disclaimer to clarify that all translation in both of these projects was done entirely by humans (remember when that didn't have to be a selling point for a fan translation?), although the creator of the Maken X patch did use some AI assistance to reverse-engineer the game.
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