Japan-Exclusive Dreamcast Title "Boku Doraemon" Gets English Fan Translation

Doraemon is an absolutely legendary series in its native land of Japan. The titular Doraemon is a blue robot cat who is sent back in time to tell a ten-year-old to get his shit together, otherwise his future great-great-grandkids won't lead good lives. No pressure, or anything. Naturally, plenty of classic anime hijinks ensue.

Although the series is primarily aimed at children, it's also caught the attention of a certain crowd of adult men because of one Japan-exclusive Sega Dreamcast game based on it, called Boku Doraemon ("I Am Doraemon"), which is an intriguing entry in the Dreamcast library due to its appealing visual style (a combination of 3D environments with 2D sprites) and quirky mini-games. Junkyarder Aaron wrote a great round-up of it back in 2015, and friend of the Junkyard, Dreamcast Enjoyer, made a great video about it too.

Doraemon should've hit up the Dreamcast instead.

Anyway, for those who have been looking to experience this title in English, an individual who goes by "cpc" has translated the game into both English as well as Catalan. As far as I'm aware, this makes Boku Doraemon the first ever Catalan translation of a Dreamcast game, as I don't think even retail releases for the console were available in that language - so that's cool.

Check out some footage below of Jaz playing the English translation.

Playing through the patch, the English translation leaves a lot to be desired, with some missing punctuation and odd quirks with the in-game font to boot. In one section, for example, the text ran off the edge of the screen. Still, it's manageable for anyone who wants to get an idea of what's going on plot-wise. 

The AI chatbot Claude is listed as a "contributor" in the GitHub repo, but honestly, the translation here feels too inconsistent to have been generated by AI. So, I'm thinking Claude was more likely used in the hacking process. Regardless, what is currently here could definitely do with a few more goes over. Hopefully it's improved with subsequent patch updates.

Anyway, if you want to give it a go, head over to the GitHub repo and download the patch. Then use Universal Dreamcast Patcher to apply it to an existing GDI of the game.

Evangelion typing tutor Translation Complete! Taxi 2 and Doraemon Next?

A little over ten days ago, I posted a write up on the Junkyard about a very exciting English translation patch for the rather niché but very cool Neon Genesis Evangelion typing tutor Neon Genesis Evangelion -Typing E Keikaku-. In my post I explained how the earlier stages of the game were fully playable to non-Japanese speaking players, while levels 5 and 6, along with the game's bonus stage, were not. Translator Derek Pascarella had explained translating these particular stages would be a pretty daunting task to undertake. Well, it only took him nine days to crack! This means the game is now completely playable in English!

If you would like to read Derek's detailed explanation of how he did it, check out his patch notes here. As for grabbing yourself the completed patch, you can do so at the GitHub Repository here. So grab your DC keyboard, and make sure read the Patch Notes before you patch it/play it!

With one completed project under his belt, Derek definitely has a bright Dreamcast translation career ahead of him! And he's not slowing down anytime soon. He seems to already be on the lookout for his next translation project. One of the games he's been looking into is the Japanese-excusive Boku Doraemon, a delightfully colourful little game featuring the well-known blue robot cat that sees players exploring a really nice-looking 3D world and playing mini games. DCJY writer The Gagaman wrote a good piece about it many moons ago, so if you want to learn more, check that out. Anyway, below is some proof of concept footage that Derek put up on his YouTube channel. He did stress to me, however, that this translation is still early doors, and that there are some technical hurdles that still present themselves that could pose the risk of putting a halt to the project.

The other game in Derek's sights, is the rather infamous french-exclusive Taxi 2 - Le Jeu. Based on a movie that you might have seen if you're French, this game is notorious for being really expensive, and really crap. While a language barrier is the least of this game's problems, it's still cool to see any Dreamcast game translated. Derek let me know that this project is more likely than Doraemon at this moment in time. Check out the work in progress footage below.

If you're wondering why Derek has chosen such obscure games to translate as his first few projects, he addressed this in a comment on his Doraemon video: "part of translating a game is feasibility. While I do have a development background, there are many unique things about working on Dreamcast and Saturn translations. As a result, I'm starting with proof of concepts and also "cracking" games that are easier to understand from a technical perspective. I only just started getting into doing these translations". If you'd like to follow Derek in his translation journey, you can find his Twitter here.

Are you excited for these Dreamcast translation projects? Have you ever experienced the direness that is Taxi 2: the game? Sound off in the comments below!

Boku Doraemon: Bored Robot Cat Simulator 2001

Hello there, the Gagaman here! With the arrival of my copy of The Dreamcast Ultimate Collectors Book and due to having some spare time, I have for the last few days been playing a lot of Dreamcast games; namely ones I feel I haven't played enough of. With this in mind I want to get back to writing articles here as its been far too long, so I may as well start by talking about what I was playing last night - a Japanese exclusive that is not very well documented, based on a famous long running children's anime: Boku Doraemon. More after the jump...