blazing star Engrish-free mod

[Galdor]

hi all,

After playing blazing star for some time, my eyes ended up bleeding because of reading too much Engrish… However, I still wanted to play the game so I figured out I'd just have to change the text strings in the ROM so that the game would be properly translated. I'm not quite sure whether somebody else did that already or not, still that made an interesting week-end project. So there it is :

file = blazstarMod.zip
http://dl.free.fr/qjzipB1iE

Of course, when launching this ROM, mame will give you a warning telling you it believes the ROM files have been tampered since the checksums do not match. This is perfectly normal, since changing the in-game text means changing the ROM content itself.
Most of the "awfullness" has been corrected, but it is very possible there is still some work to do, so feel free to post your patches.
Also, I haven't checked with a Japanese version of the game (provided it exists), so a few translations are actually just guesses or even improvisations, especially in cases where the original text simply doesn't make any sense.

As there are many strings in the ROM, locating them and changing them one by one would have been a huge amount of work. Therefore, I developed a program for this purpose (that was the fun part (^.^) ). This program may work for other ROMs, or it may not ; it runs twinspri all right without tweaking but not bgaregga, so I assume all neo geo ROMs should be fine. If you wish to modify it, go ahead, there should be enough comments in the code for you to understand it quite easily, especially since there are not that many lines of code.
You will find the binary and source code of the program here :

file = alterRomTxt.zip
http://dl.free.fr/kIqBEt6pc

please note this bin has been compiled on and for Linux and will most probably not work on Windows. I don't know about Mac users : perhaps it may work on OS X since unix-like systems are supposed to be quite similar to each other.

For those of you who would like to help with the translation but do not want to deal with my program, you will find below a list of text strings as contained in the ROMs:

file = txtStringExports.zip
http://dl.free.fr/ixP6IwAjh

one of the file has been generated from the original game, the other is my modified version.

Also, I want to make clear that I didn't know this game was related to the "fail" meme when I started working on it, so I hope I won't get into too much trouble with angry 4chan's Anonymous (^o^)

With datalove,

GeeZGaW

[nasty_wolverine]

So you thought engrish was bad? You havent played enough japanese games have you?

PS: I am actually putting in engrish text in my game to make it more japanese!!!

[shmuppyLove]

Next can you change the "BOWNASS" to something else?

I play for score like a real man so I collect a ton of these items, and it tends to grate after a while.

I would like this sound instead okplsthx!

[emphatic]

A very cool tool!

[Galdor]

> So you thought engrish was bad? You havent played enough japanese games have you?

lol

Next can you change the "BOWNASS" to something else?

Well I can see what I can do, but changing sounds won't be as easy as changing text and will require more work.

I would like this sound instead okplsthx!

You mean the "Nya" sound ? I fear it might be as annoying as the original sound… But still, why not.

[zakk]

game ruined. you're worse than trap

[Galdor]

game ruined. you're worse than trap

No ROM has been hurt in the making of this mod (or perhaps not)
Seriously, what do you mean ?

[shmuppyLove]

You mean the "Nya" sound ? I fear it might be as annoying as the original sound… But still, why not.

Yeah! I was kidding actually, obviously changing sound data would be far more difficult.

This reminds me of back in the old days, using a hex editor to modify data files and change a character's name in a game to something stupid, like Hugh Jass or Ben Dover lolol

Yes we were 12, and it was funny dammit.

[Lord Satori]

Hugh Jass

Oh man, that's win right there.

[Nana]

Next can you change the "BOWNASS" to something else?

I play for score like a real man so I collect a ton of these items, and it tends to grate after a while.

I would like this sound instead okplsthx!

Why not go for a full mixdown and release Blazing Star with the Dangan Feveron announcer instead? And vice versa. That shit would be so cash.

Either way, while I can't see the appeal of REMOVING engrish, I would totally play it in nyaaaamode if given the opportunity. Might kill myself, though.

[Herr Schatten]

But the funny Engrish is the one redeeming feature of Blazing Star.

[shmuppyLove]

Ok the last one wasn't Blazing Star, but it's still hilarious.

[Galdor]

@shmuppyLove
quite some nice screens, indeed…