Cannon Dancer makes me cry

Anything from run & guns to modern RPGs, what else do you play?
Bassa-Bassa
Posts: 1160
Joined: Tue Mar 12, 2019 5:18 pm

Re: Cannon Dancer makes me cry

Post by Bassa-Bassa »

Not an enthusiast until the developer is revealed.
User avatar
llaoyllakcuf
Posts: 326
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 11:15 am
Location: NJ USA

Re: Cannon Dancer makes me cry

Post by llaoyllakcuf »

Image

official site: https://www.iningames.jp/games/cannon-dancer/

promo video: https://twitter.com/iningames_jp/status ... 0251517952
Spoiler
One of the rarest games in arcade gaming history is finally coming on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4!

Cannon Dancer released in 1996 as an arcade game. Even after a long time, it is a title that boasts a strong popularity that fans have not stopped calling for its revival. In response to these voices, ININ Games decided to release its gem retro game on the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4. This is exactly what it feels like to ascend to heaven!


Story

"Cannon Dancer" is an action game set in the decadent near future of the second half of the 21st century, when the federal government is ruled. One day, Slaver, an evil woman plotting to conquer the world, suddenly appears and plunges people into confusion and terror. Fear fuels the abandonment of economic activity, the corruption of the government, and even undermines the foundations of society itself. Fearing the worst, U.S. Attorney General Jack Rayson summons a thug...

The player controls Kylin the cannon dancer, a warrior of "Teki" who wields extraordinary physical abilities and hand-to-hand karate. Kylin confronts not only slavers and the federal government, but also other warriors of the Wolf, who are his compatriots who plot to stop Kylin from dying for personal reasons...!


Features of the game

First ever released on a home console
A classic retro game with a high sense of speed and sleek character movements
All 6 stages full of features
Three types of power-ups
Numerous enemies and bosses
Stunning scenarios and stunning graphics with a nostalgic retro feel. In particular, the psychedelic use of colors and brightness of the boss battles of each stage are a sight to behold!
Equipped with rewind (rewind) function
Includes save load function

Cannon Dancer will be available in both boxed and downloadable versions. And yes! For all fans who love this title, a collector's edition with exclusive perks is also in preparation. Stay tuned.


Special Pack

The Special Pack includes exclusive treasure items for our fans.

– Special Editions
– Art Book
– Washcloth


Non-Japan releases will be released soon.
edit: new URL for Japanese site
Last edited by llaoyllakcuf on Wed Dec 14, 2022 6:58 am, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
NYN
Posts: 507
Joined: Sun Apr 06, 2014 8:33 am
Location: Akedò

summon the thug!

Post by NYN »

Sweet to behold, but -dang- they don't drop the fake "oriental" title... :evil:
It's nothing to lose really, given the exclusively of the game and the most powerful original name.
As if this piece o' action could be set for mainstream succes. :? "Equipped with rewind (rewind) function."

Right.
"I've transmuted into a super being. I'll proof it by killing you." -NGIII ( words to kill by )
User avatar
llaoyllakcuf
Posts: 326
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 11:15 am
Location: NJ USA

Re: Cannon Dancer makes me cry

Post by llaoyllakcuf »

official english version: https://www.iningames.com/games/cannon-dancer-en
[...] Almost 30 years later, ININ Games has teamed up with two key members of the original development team to finally bring the game to modern home consoles: the game designer Kouichi Yotsui (also known as “Isuke” and famous for his work on “Strider”) and the artist Takashi Kogure (better known as “Utata Kiyoshi”).
For all fans and collectors looking for a physical copy, Strictly Limited Games is preparing limited boxed editions with additional collectible items that cannot be found anywhere else. A regular Limited Edition (physical copy + game manual) and a Collector’s Edition with many additional items will be available for Nintendo Switch, PS4 and PS5. Pre-orders will kick off on Sunday, September 18th, at 12 AM CEST (midnight), only at strictlylimitedgames.com.

The Collector’s Edition will include the following:
Image
User avatar
Rob
Posts: 8075
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 12:58 am

Re: Cannon Dancer makes me cry

Post by Rob »

Finally a washcloth.
User avatar
Austin
Posts: 1263
Joined: Sun Aug 29, 2010 6:32 pm
Location: Fairfax, VA
Contact:

Re: Cannon Dancer makes me cry

Post by Austin »

Glad to see this one being revived. Looks like it'll be published on Xbox One/Series as well. Guessing there won't be a physical for that one. Curious what the digital pricing will be across platforms.
User avatar
llaoyllakcuf
Posts: 326
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 11:15 am
Location: NJ USA

Re: Cannon Dancer makes me cry

Post by llaoyllakcuf »

SLG preorders are up: https://store.strictlylimitedgames.com/ ... non+Dancer

Gotta have that hand towel/washcloth :lol:

I just hope the PS4 version fares better with the lag than the Switch does...
XtraSmiley
Posts: 622
Joined: Fri Apr 20, 2018 9:22 am
Location: Washigton DC

Re: Cannon Dancer makes me cry

Post by XtraSmiley »

$30 isn't too bad, especially for PS5, but $14 shipping? WTF!
User avatar
Sumez
Posts: 8019
Joined: Fri Feb 18, 2011 10:11 am
Location: Denmarku
Contact:

Re: Cannon Dancer makes me cry

Post by Sumez »

Americans complaining about a $14 shipping cost, when it costs three times as much to import anything from stores like Limited Run Games or Fangamer
Image
XtraSmiley
Posts: 622
Joined: Fri Apr 20, 2018 9:22 am
Location: Washigton DC

Re: Cannon Dancer makes me cry

Post by XtraSmiley »

Sumez wrote:Americans complaining about a $14 shipping cost, when it costs three times as much to import anything from stores like Limited Run Games or Fangamer
Image
Yeah but the benefit of you importing LRGs is that by the time you get it, you'll be so old you won't remember your children's names, let alone what you paid for shipping!

Besides, I think when you guys import things in, it's not the shipping cost, it's your taxes, and well, that's really a completely different point...
User avatar
Sumez
Posts: 8019
Joined: Fri Feb 18, 2011 10:11 am
Location: Denmarku
Contact:

Re: Cannon Dancer makes me cry

Post by Sumez »

It's both. Most US retailers charge at least $30 for shipping, and you need to pay taxes for that as well.
I'm not gonna pay taxes when buying from SLG, but I'll still be an old man when the game gets shipped :P
User avatar
llaoyllakcuf
Posts: 326
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 11:15 am
Location: NJ USA

Re: Cannon Dancer makes me cry

Post by llaoyllakcuf »

The Japanese version is available for preorder now.


Amazon JP: https://www.amazon.co.jp/s?k=%E3%82%AD% ... WT7QDSD3NL

Beep: https://www.beep-shop.com/ec/products/l ... N%E2%80%95

CDJapan: https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/searchuni?q=Cannon+Dancer

Playasia: https://www.play-asia.com/search/Cannon+Dancer

Rakuten Books: https://books.rakuten.co.jp/search?site ... N%E2%80%94


edit: release date has been changed to June 30, 2023 according to Amazon JP.
Last edited by llaoyllakcuf on Thu Jan 19, 2023 9:48 am, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
Sumez
Posts: 8019
Joined: Fri Feb 18, 2011 10:11 am
Location: Denmarku
Contact:

Re: Cannon Dancer makes me cry

Post by Sumez »

llaoyllakcuf wrote: I just hope the PS4 version fares better with the lag than the Switch does...
If these accounts are true, I don't think you should expect more than 1 frame lower on PS4 at best, since I'm sure both versions share pretty much the same codebase.
But I really hope it was just a setup where someone forgot to turn on game mode on the TV. Either way I'm going to refrain from preordering until people have had their hands on this.
XtraSmiley
Posts: 622
Joined: Fri Apr 20, 2018 9:22 am
Location: Washigton DC

Re: Cannon Dancer makes me cry

Post by XtraSmiley »

Sumez wrote:Americans complaining about a $14 shipping cost, when it costs three times as much to import anything from stores like Limited Run Games or Fangamer
Image
It turns out that shipping was supposed to be $6 and they had a glitch. I contacted them and they refunded my extra charge.

US buyers, check your charges and make sure to let them know!

Now, I can be a real US-hole and complain about $6 shipping and $2 tax!!!! :P
User avatar
Lander
Posts: 848
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2022 11:15 pm
Location: Area 1 Mostly

Re: Cannon Dancer makes me cry

Post by Lander »

Picked up the 1CC for this in FinalBurn the other day. I thought people in here were crazy for calling it too easy, but despite the kick-in-the-nuts first impression and extra brutalizing on stage 5, it really does end up being relatively chill until the last gauntlet once you've learned the tricks and figured out a route. Only took a couple of evenings all told.

Critique-ish

Style aside - which I'll get to - my main takeaway is that it's a rad-looking tight game with slightly wacky balance that leans hard on memorization, but despite that is very approachable to learn with savestate checkpointing - a pleasant surprise, since as a rule I'm not a big fan of memo.

The big sprites, melee focus and throw mechanics make it seem brawler-ish at first, but having contact damage means demanding much more positioning and precision than a hack-and-slash or beat 'em up - in that sense, it errs more toward the ninja side of things than it does martial arts, and so is a better Strider game than it is an R2RKMF title.

It would have been cool to see a sequel or arrange refine the system, perhaps switching to power loss on death (or every N hits, or doing away with it entirely) and shifting the focus a bit more toward beating stuff up with the cool moveset, perhaps upping the enemy count / durability and introducing some defensive mechanic besides the slide.

Ultimately, I still hold it in fine regard now I'm a few weeks down the line from my playthrough, and would heartily recommend giving it a shot to anyone who thinks it looks cool.

That STYLE though

No really, that style though. Ye gods, we'd be downright feasting if most games had this degree of creativity.
The whole presentation is just so extra. As soon as you boot up the machine the attract mode is bombarding you with cool and colourful designs, exciting gameplay scenarios, foreshadowing and symbolism. And unlike nine in ten movie trailers, actually pays off on it once it's gotten your credit!

The lore might not be terribly deep, but there's enough in the art alone to have me sat ruminating on what it all meant for a good 20 minutes after seeing the end screen. And - rather happily - it appears to have some pretty robust connective tissue tying all the imagery into the themes and surrounding plot, despite the endearing arcade-style english translation and novel if well-trodden ending premise. There's easily an article-come-essay's worth of material worth picking apart in there. Who knows, perhaps I'll sit down and write it at some point :)

Closing

A closing question-note on tech: That upward-throw-into-combo trick mentioned earlier in the thread is godlike, but seems to trigger inconsistently when fighting Fake. After a bunch of testing, the strongest conclusion I can draw is that it favours precisely tapped up inputs issued just before the throw actually comes out - possibly with some variance based on Fake's velocity and facing when the grab is initiated - in order to actually go up instead of diagonal. Anyone know what the deal is?
User avatar
Ghegs
Posts: 5052
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 6:18 am
Location: Finland
Contact:

Re: Cannon Dancer makes me cry

Post by Ghegs »

Got my Switch copy from SLG just now. Very quick thoughts:

You can play either Osman or Cannon Dancer, and they store their settings separately.

I'm not feeling any lag, feels very responsive.

Pretty sparse menus, but you can re-configure controls, disable the rewind/fast-forward buttons, and set some visual options. Seemed to be a lot of options for the CRT filter.

There's a Standard Mode and a Challenge Mode, the latter disables rewind/fast-forward but still allows you to take in two enhancements.

Speaking of, you can activate additional cheats or enhancements like a double jump, invincibility, no timer, etc. The separation is kind of weird, since "Invincible" is a cheat, but "Invincible Attack", "Invincible Jump", "Invincible Slide" are all considered enhancements.

Only played a credit of both Osman and Cannon Dancer, got wiped out by the first boss both times.
No matter how good a game is, somebody will always hate it. No matter how bad a game is, somebody will always love it.

My videos
User avatar
Marc
Posts: 3408
Joined: Sat Feb 26, 2005 10:27 am
Location: Wigan, England.

Re: Cannon Dancer makes me cry

Post by Marc »

Just had my first go undocked on Swith, feels fine to me.
Fucking hard though.
XBL & Switch: mjparker77 / PSN: BellyFullOfHell
User avatar
llaoyllakcuf
Posts: 326
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 11:15 am
Location: NJ USA

Re: Cannon Dancer makes me cry

Post by llaoyllakcuf »

Good to hear about the control response, that's a relief.

It looks like only the regular Switch version is in stock/shipping right now. I think all those extras for the CE will take a while to produce.


I did receive the art card sometime ago, it's the new artwork in a matte print on a tile of aluminum.

Image Image

Also included was a postcard with a cool illustration of Tianon:

Image
Martinov
Posts: 158
Joined: Thu Jan 18, 2007 3:36 pm
Location: UK

Re: Cannon Dancer makes me cry

Post by Martinov »

Are there any real gameplay differences between Osman and Cannon Dancer?
Steven
Posts: 2870
Joined: Tue May 11, 2021 5:24 am
Location: Tokyo

Re: Cannon Dancer makes me cry

Post by Steven »

Wait this got released?
Martinov
Posts: 158
Joined: Thu Jan 18, 2007 3:36 pm
Location: UK

Re: Cannon Dancer makes me cry

Post by Martinov »

Yep. I just got my copy this morning.

I can report the PS4 version feels nice and snappy.
User avatar
Lander
Posts: 848
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2022 11:15 pm
Location: Area 1 Mostly

Re: Cannon Dancer makes me cry

Post by Lander »

Martinov wrote:Are there any real gameplay differences between Osman and Cannon Dancer?
I'm only familiar with their MAME incarnations, but there's a bit in NVRAM that dictates whether your silhouettes can deal damage while flying back to you after an attack, and doesn't have a DIP switch associated with it.

If memory serves it's hardcoded to on in the JP version, and off in the US one, but can be hex edited to get the same behaviour in either.

So assuming nothing has changed, Osman will have a bit more artificial difficulty than Cannon Dancer.
User avatar
MJR
Posts: 1561
Joined: Thu Jan 27, 2005 10:53 pm
Location: Finland

Re: Cannon Dancer makes me cry

Post by MJR »

Wow, so this is now out for consoles.

I've been long aware of this game, but the reason I never bothered to get into it - despite Capcom's Strider being one of my favourite arcade games of all time - is that it feels very aged in a bad way.

In a bad way I mean that it reminds me many of the amiga games of the 80's where none of the designs made any sense, world didn't feel coherent and action was nonsensical, it goes even down to how the elements are rendered, strong highlights from all direction breaking any sense of coherent lighting.

As for nonsensical setpieces, that is not necessarily a bad thing at all. There is certainly something to like about those OTT scenarios. It's just that the world and the characters don't feel as well thought out as they do in Strider, it screams "I am 16-bit game" at your direction, you dont feel like you are watching characters fight, you feel like you are watching sprites hassle around.

But again, I am not really sure if I should give this as a criticism. There is certain charm about that amateurish glee this has been put together. At least it's not boring! But I tried to reason why this doesn't appeal to me in a same level that Strider does.
ForeverSublime
Posts: 47
Joined: Fri Nov 06, 2009 7:31 am

Re: Cannon Dancer makes me cry

Post by ForeverSublime »

Hello:

From September 1995 - January 1996, Gamest Magazine ran a several part series on Canon Dancer. Below is a link to the scan of the series in pdf form which includes the articles, concept sketches of levels and character art, as well as screenshots of earlier builds. Enjoy spotting the differences. Each group of pages is separated by a scan of the cover, should you want to locate the original magazines.

It's a google drive link. It does not appear you need a google account to view this link. It should open in your browser.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14kVUyE ... sp=sharing

Here are fan art pieces printed in the magazine. Some people in 1995 had fashionable taste.

Image

Image

In the January 1996 edition, there was a promotional calendar tucked in the magazine. The calendar consists of a packet of cards, a little larger than post cards, and each double sided with various game art. Cannon Dancer was one of the art pieces. You are probably well familiar with the image now. The calendar is modular, in a two-piece plastic sheet (which does not appear well in the scan). You could flip the art to your liking in the top sleeve, and flip the monthly calendar in the bottom sleeve.

Image

Thank you for viewing.
Last edited by ForeverSublime on Tue Dec 26, 2023 12:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
ForeverSublime
Posts: 47
Joined: Fri Nov 06, 2009 7:31 am

Re: Cannon Dancer makes me cry

Post by ForeverSublime »

Lander wrote: Wed Oct 19, 2022 11:44 pm . . .it appears to have some pretty robust connective tissue tying all the imagery into the themes and surrounding plot, despite the endearing arcade-style english translation and novel if well-trodden ending premise. There's easily an article-come-essay's worth of material worth picking apart in there. Who knows, perhaps I'll sit down and write it at some point :)
Agreed. I do not understand much Arabic, but assume Isuke was well versed in Arab culture. There are some touches -

1. The crescent slash of your jump kick and star shape of your special attack.

2. The name Abdulla the Slaver. God has 99 names in Islam. "Abd Allah" means "slave of god".

3. Do not understand much Japanese, either. I am not sure of the translation: "余が 神であるぞ", the final words in the Japanese version. It was changed to "I am the king" in the US version. In Japanese, if anyone is well versed, I would appreciate a proper translation. It probably says "I am God", which is in response to Slaver saying they are. . . maybe just merely "a" god ("わからなくなったのか?余は 神であるぞ"), I believe. However, Google translate translates it as "The rest is God.". In Arabic, there is a saying which translates to "The rest is to God". Maybe as in "it's no longer in your hands". The translations in the game leave the right amount of imagination, so I wondered what the actual translation may be, if it were a play on that saying in the same way Abdulla the Slaver's name is. Certainly, Slaver ended up just that.
Last edited by ForeverSublime on Mon Jan 08, 2024 8:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
scrilla4rella
Posts: 933
Joined: Wed Feb 09, 2005 2:16 am
Location: Berkeley, CA

Re: Cannon Dancer makes me cry

Post by scrilla4rella »

ForeverSublime wrote: Fri Dec 22, 2023 7:09 am Hello:

From September 1995 - January 1996, Gamest Magazine ran a several part series on Canon Dancer. Below is a link to the scan of the series in pdf form which includes the articles, concept sketches of levels and character art, as well as screenshots of earlier builds.
My man! Thanks for the up. I'm looking forward to giving this a read. Gamest mag was the bestet,
User avatar
Sengoku Strider
Posts: 2203
Joined: Wed Aug 05, 2020 6:21 am

Re: Cannon Dancer makes me cry

Post by Sengoku Strider »

ForeverSublime wrote: 3. Do not understand much Japanese, either. I am not sure of the translation: "余が 神であるぞ", the final words in the Japanese version. It was changed to "I am the king" in the US version. In Japanese, if anyone is well versed, I would appreciate a proper translation. It probably says "I am God", which is in response to Slaver saying they are. . . maybe just merely "a" god ("わからなくなったのか?余は 神であるぞ"), I believe. However, Google translate translates it as "The rest is God.". In Arabic, there is a saying which translates to "The rest is to God". Maybe as in "it's no longer in your hands". The translations in the game leave the right amount of imagination, so I wondered what the actual translation may be, if it were a play on that saying in the same way Abdulla the Slaver's name is. Certainly, Slaver ended up just that.
The word 'rest' in there is just Google Translate getting crossed up by the kanji 余. In modern usage it often does indicate 'remainder' or 'rest,' as in 'I ate the rest of the cake.' But here it's a very high-flown old fashioned way of referring to oneself. The character is an ancient one which was used by the kings of the Shang Dynasty in China (the oldest dynasty we have any genuine records from) to refer to themselves. Kind of like the 'royal We' in English. As the Shang kings were the divine intercessionaries between Heaven and Earth, it's a suitable pronoun for a deity.

So 「わからなくなったのか?余は 神であるぞ」could be rendered as "Do you no longer understand ? I am (a) god." Because of how articles (don't) work in Japanese, it's not clear that it's specifically referring to the capital G Abrahamic God.
ForeverSublime
Posts: 47
Joined: Fri Nov 06, 2009 7:31 am

Re: Cannon Dancer makes me cry

Post by ForeverSublime »

Sengoku Strider wrote: Sat Jan 13, 2024 12:20 am The word 'rest' in there is just Google Translate getting crossed up by the kanji 余. In modern usage it often does indicate 'remainder' or 'rest,' as in 'I ate the rest of the cake.' But here it's a very high-flown old fashioned way of referring to oneself. The character is an ancient one which was used by the kings of the Shang Dynasty in China (the oldest dynasty we have any genuine records from) to refer to themselves. Kind of like the 'royal We' in English. As the Shang kings were the divine intercessionaries between Heaven and Earth, it's a suitable pronoun for a deity.

So 「わからなくなったのか?余は 神であるぞ」could be rendered as "Do you no longer understand ? I am (a) god." Because of how articles (don't) work in Japanese, it's not clear that it's specifically referring to the capital G Abrahamic God.
Incredible response! Thank you!
scrilla4rella wrote: Sun Dec 31, 2023 6:42 am My man! Thanks for the up. I'm looking forward to giving this a read. Gamest mag was the bestet,
Very welcome! I will put it in mind to upload some interviews with the pixel artist, if it's of interest. Utata Kiyoshi also worked on Metal Storm. There was a book or two of interviews, referenced earlier in this thread.
User avatar
Lander
Posts: 848
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2022 11:15 pm
Location: Area 1 Mostly

The throne room becom's a prison, and all that remains, is a parent's love for its child.

Post by Lander »

Man, the crescent and star didn't even occur to me :) sat here thinking hold up, isn't the pentagram pagan imagery? without stepping back to look at the composite.
Those scans are great, by the way - I can't read a lick of Japanese, but it's still really interesting to get a glimpse into the magazines of the time.

Anyway, I suppose it's about time to write that literary analysis!

The spectral horse that Kirin uses to travel through the attract mode is an interesting element; indeed, it seems to be his namesake - the Qilin of chinese legend - which is said to herald the arrival or passing of a sage or great ruler.
Both, in this case! Quite incisive for a visual element that's given ~5 seconds of screen time and not elaborated on at all.

And of course, there's the sword it turns into; a fairly straightforward bit of mythic warrior imagery, but also a handy foreshadowing of Slaver's first couple of earthly appearances.
Those speak volumes; if you look carefully, the spectral form that appears over the ocean and ultimately skewers Jack is visibly cracked about the midriff. At surface level this could be taken as a simple statuesque rendering, but - coupled with a bit of later imagery - I think it foreshadows something deeper.

Projecting from the subtle tear behind the Kirin / Jack faceoff in the intro, I conjecture that Slaver is cracked both in figurative and literal, and the consequences of a spent god are what put the world in the chaotic state we see in-game.
Something has to give, and thus the clash between two potential 'great rulers' - Jack with his power and authority, and Kirin's raw martial strength - begins the process of bursting the bubble and resetting back to equilibrium through the rise of a successor.

Her first line - What are you doing here, cast away like a rag? Do you want to kill? Go ahead. I want to see the world destroyed. - initially paints her as a base and bloodthirsty war god, but I think it's illustrating the tail end of a degeneration.
Perhaps spoken in frustration at the violent humans she presides over, or secretly indicative of a desire to break the destructive cycle and have it all done with.

On some level she knows; either that what she's become is wrong, or that the balance will forcibly correct itself by removing her. And thus the tear's meaning can be seen as dual; regret at an imminent end, but also long-desired relief.
The smile also - it seems uncanny, as if being forced through pain for the sake of maintaining appearance.

The final stage dialogue - Come here, Osman. My beautiful killer machine. Come, come here. I am your matron. - implies acceptance. And perhaps that was the case from the get-go; after all, her world, her violence, is what created Kirin.
Shit's fucked up, but on some level what's happening is the natural order of things if survival of the strongest is rule #1.

The stage itself is obviously a mythical final trial - Ifrits, ghosts of past foes, overcoming of the self, etcetera.
There's probably something to read into the feminine figure near the mirror, but I've not thought extensively on that just yet.

The ending is what strikes me most about that sequence. Looping back to the later imagery I mentioned earlier, it shows Slaver's visage visibly crack before the tear falls and mends the red earth, definitively bringing her to an end and starting the cycle afresh.

Brilliant stuff, and that's without digging into extended subjects like Inverted Girl Looking Down and the other minibosses. Dragon's Dogma and The Dark Tower are the only fiction I can think of that's touched on similar ideas, both of them excellent in their way.
One wonders how Kirin will do in the wake of his victory; heavy is the head that wears the crown, after all.

I'd be interested to know if the original japanese script is much different, particularly for those bits of Slaver dialogue. The game is crammed with such rich imagery and subtext, yet maintains an effective show-don't-tell to the point where any extra scrap of insight into the writer's minds would be fascinating.
ForeverSublime
Posts: 47
Joined: Fri Nov 06, 2009 7:31 am

Re: Cannon Dancer makes me cry

Post by ForeverSublime »

Fantastic. Thanks for the wiki links. I have missed a lot of context of old fantasy games that used some of these characters, and it has opened my eyes.

Just had a thought about the line "Hey you, what are you doing here? Cast away like a rag? . . ."

In the Japanese version, the previous line, spoken by the pirates, is, "追っ手だッ!洗濯物をたたんどけ! 撃て撃てッ!なンでもいいから撃て"

The underlined text was taken out of the US translation, and it's a little funny. They say, "Fold the laundry!" before saying "shoot! shoot!" You of course see the pirate's laundry on the clothesline of their ship.

So, "cast away like a rag" would seem to call back to the pirate's laundry. One may infer from this she is watching over everything, knowing what people are saying, and did not just show up out of nowhere.

Slaver's line about the rag is not what is said in the Japanese version as far as I understand, but such odd words for an action game ("laundry" "rag"), with so few words, and to be spoken one after the other.

Slaver's line in Japanese: "これ人間、そこで何をしておる。 捨てられたのか?殺したいのだな?ぞんぶんに命を奪うがよい。余は滅びを望んでおる

I believe, she merely says "have you been discarded" without the fabric metaphor. Forgive me if the connection to laundry and the pirates is obvious. I had always viewed Slaver's line in isolation.
Post Reply