Fan Translation (video Gaming)
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In video gaming, a fan translation is an unofficial
translation Translation is the communication of the semantics, meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The English la ...
of a
video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
made by fans. The
fan translation Fan translation (or user-generated translation) refers to the unofficial translation of various forms of written or multimedia products made by fans (fan labor), often into a language in which an official translated version is not yet availabl ...
practice grew with the rise of
video game console A video game console is an electronic device that Input/output, outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can typically be played with a game controller. These may be home video game console, home consoles, which are generally ...
emulation in the late 1990s. A community of people developed that were interested in replaying and modifying the games they played in their youth. The knowledge and tools that came out of this community allowed them to work with translators to localize video game titles that had never been available outside of their original country of origin. Fan translations of video game console games are usually accomplished by modifying a single binary ROM image of the game. Fan translations of PC games, on the other hand, can involve translation of many binary files throughout the game's directory which are packaged and distributed as
fan patch An unofficial patch, sometimes alternatively called a community patch, is a patch for a piece of software, created by a third party such as a user community without the involvement of the original developer. Similar to an ordinary patch, it alle ...
. In dealing with translations of console games, a
console emulator A video game console emulator is a type of emulator that allows a computing device to emulate a video game console's hardware and play its games on the emulating platform. More often than not, emulators carry additional features that surpass ...
is generally utilized to play the final product, although unofficial hardware, hardware mods or software mods can be used to run the translated ROM image on its native hardware.


Purpose

The central focus of the
fan translation Fan translation (or user-generated translation) refers to the unofficial translation of various forms of written or multimedia products made by fans (fan labor), often into a language in which an official translated version is not yet availabl ...
community is historically of Japanese-exclusive computer and video games being made playable in English for the first time, and sometimes of games recently released in Japan that are import-worthy and are unlikely to be officially localized to English-speaking countries. It has since expanded to include other languages as well. Fan translations to English have provided a starting point for translations to many other languages. Fan translations may also be done to titles that have received official localizations that fans perceive as flawed; for example, if the game had controversial content removed (such as ''
Bionic Commando ''Bionic Commando'' is a series of Platformer, platform video games developed and owned by Capcom. Unique from other platformers, the player character is unable to jump, instead using a bionic arm to cross gaps and climb ledges. The player char ...
''), or there were unnecessary changes in plot and character names (such as ''
Phantasy Star is a series of console role-playing video games and other supplementary media created by Sega. The series debuted in 1987 on the Master System with '' Phantasy Star'', and continues into the present with ''Phantasy Star Online 2'' and other ex ...
''). Some already translated RPGs are available on reproduction cartridges to play on the real hardware for some systems like the SNES.


Origins

The earliest English fan translations were done by Oasis, a group formed by Dennis Lardenoye and Ron Bouwland, two Dutch fans of the
MSX MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, the director at ASCII Corpo ...
system.
Konami , commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...
's RPG '' SD Snatcher'' was translated in April 1993, and '' Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes'' was translated in 1995. Their other projects include ''Fray'', ''Rune Master 3'', ''Xak - The Art of Visual Stage'', ''Xak 2'', ''Xak - The Tower of Gazzel'', ''Ys'', ''Ys II: The Final Chapter'' and ''Wanderers From Ys''. In Korea, many fan translations of games made by
ELF Corporation , stylized as élf, was a Japanese eroge studio. One of its most popular games is ''Dōkyūsei (video game), Dōkyūsei'', a pioneering dating sim, which has had a sequel and been turned into adult OVA series. The character design of the main ...
were produced for DOS PCs, starting around 1996. These patches were successful and ELF hired some of the translations teams for official Korean releases later on. These were possible before emulation on PCs became popular (or even adequate enough to play games) because the games were on
floppy disks A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, a diskette, or a disk) is a type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined with a ...
, and were therefore easier to distribute to the users, in comparison to
ROM Rom, or ROM may refer to: Biomechanics and medicine * Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient * Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac * ...
cartridges used by video game consoles (the MSX also used cartridges, but methods were discovered to copy the content onto floppy disks and other media too).


Revival after emulation

The development of console emulators led to access to foreign video games. A revival began in 1996 when a group calling themselves Kowasu Ku formed under the lead of one "Hazama". The group stated plans to translate ''
Final Fantasy V is a 1992 role-playing video game developed and published by Square (video game company), Square. It is the fifth main installment of the ''Final Fantasy'' series. The game first appeared only in Japan on Nintendo's Super Nintendo Entertainmen ...
'', but their efforts were never publicly released. Later that summer, a user called ''Demi'' announced work on a ''Final Fantasy V'' translation and founded Multiple Demiforce. It was eventually dropped in favor of ''
Final Fantasy II is a 1988 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Family Computer as the second installment of the ''Final Fantasy'' series. Like other ''Final Fantasy'' sequels, the game is set in its own world, and does not follow ...
'' (NES), a more manageable goal at that time. ''Demi'' and ''Som2Freak'' used Pasofami to post four screenshots of their work to Archaic Ruins, an emulation website. Shortly after, the translation stalled and the group disbanded. Derrick Sobodash (Shadow) and David Timko both saw the Archaic Ruins website and contacted Som2Freak expressing interest in translating ''Final Fantasy V''. He provided each with some primitive tools, and for the next few months, Shadow and Timko worked against each other. Both projects generated renewed interest in fan translation. After months of working against each other, Shadow and Timko began cooperating. RPGe, the first major translation group was established on July 8 in the #ff5e
IRC IRC (Internet Relay Chat) is a text-based chat system for instant messaging. IRC is designed for group communication in discussion forums, called '' channels'', but also allows one-on-one communication via private messages as well as chat ...
channel, on the EsperNet IRC network by Shadow, Timko, Hooie and Thermopyle. The start of RPGe sparked many other efforts to unify and within months, Translation Corporation, DeJap Translations and Starsoft Translations had formed. RPGe's translation of ''Final Fantasy V'' was completed October 16, 1997 (version 0.96). Notable fan translations include that of ''
Mother 3 is a 2006 role-playing video game developed by Brownie Brown and HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. It is the third and final entry in the Mother (video game series), ''Mother'' series. The game follows Lucas, a ...
'', ''
Dragon Quest X ''Dragon Quest X: Rise of the Five Tribes Online'', also known as is a 2012 massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) by Square Enix. It is the tenth mainline entry in the ''Dragon Quest'' series. It was originally released for the ...
'', ''
Final Fantasy II is a 1988 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Family Computer as the second installment of the ''Final Fantasy'' series. Like other ''Final Fantasy'' sequels, the game is set in its own world, and does not follow ...
'' through '' VI'', ''
Seiken Densetsu 3 ''Trials of Mana'', also known by its Japanese title is a 1995 action role-playing game developed and published by Square (video game company), Square (now Square Enix) for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Famicom. It is the seq ...
'', '' Bahamut Lagoon'', ''
Takeshi's Challenge , popularly known as ''Takeshi's Challenge'', is a 1986 Japanese action-adventure video game developed by Nova and published by Taito for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Family Computer (known internationally as the Nintendo Entertainment Sys ...
'', '' Clock Tower: The First Fear'', ''
Radical Dreamers ''Radical Dreamers'' is a 1996 text-based visual novel adventure video game developed and published by Square (video game company), Square for the Satellaview, a satellite peripheral for the Super Famicom. It forms part of the Chrono (series), ' ...
'', '' Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon: Another Story'', '' Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor's Gambit'' and '' The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures'', '' Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light'' through '' The Binding Blade'' as well as '' New Mystery of the Emblem'', ''
For the Frog the Bell Tolls , officially translated as ''The Frog For Whom the Bell Tolls'', is an action role-playing video game developed by Nintendo and Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy exclusively in Japan in 1992. The title is a play on ...
'', '' Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc'', ''
Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix ''Kingdom Hearts II'' is a 2005 action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix in collaboration with Disney Interactive Studios, Buena Vista Games for the PlayStation 2 video game console. The game is a sequel to ''Kingdom Hear ...
'', '' Front Mission: Gun Hazard'', ''
Live A Live ''Live A Live'' is a 1994 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Super Famicom. A remake was published by Square Enix in Japan and Nintendo worldwide, releasing first for Nintendo Switch in 2022, and the following year ...
'', '' Ripened Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love'', '' Shining Force III Scenario 2'' and ''Scenario 3'' and '' Policenauts''.


Legal issues

It is unusual for copyright holders to object to fan translations. This is probably largely because the electronic games in question are generally not considered commercially viable in the target language, so the translation is rarely seen as a source of lost revenue. In 1999, one well-known incident in which copyright holders took action involved the translation of a Windows game maker called '' RPG Maker 95''. The Japanese company
ASCII ASCII ( ), an acronym for American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for representing a particular set of 95 (English language focused) printable character, printable and 33 control character, control c ...
had their
lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...
s send a cease and desist e-mail to the translation group KanjiHack Translations, but unlike most translation groups, KanjiHack was caught linking to a site to illegally download the entire then-recently released RPG Maker 95 software (including a copy-protection crack). The group shut down immediately but others eventually finished the project. Titles from the ''
RPG Maker ''RPG Maker'', known in Japan as , is a series of programs for the development of role-playing video games (RPGs) with genre-driven varieties as well as machinima, originally created by the Japanese group ASCII. The Japanese name, ''Tsukūru'', ...
'' series were eventually localized and officially released in the US for the
PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...
and
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...
. In 2014, publisher
Square Enix is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational holding company, video game publisher and entertainment conglomerate. It releases role-playing video game, role-playing game franchises, such as ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', and '' ...
issued a cease and desist order to Sky, a romhacker who had completed a highly anticipated fan translation of the PSP game '' Final Fantasy Type 0'', soon after they announced an HD version of the game for
PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...
and
Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...
. This forced him to remove all posts and pages pertaining to the project (which were eventually restored months later). Sky claimed that Square Enix had made "threats and false accusations". According to
Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. History ...
, Sky had released the translation early against the team's wishes, possibly to preempt any legal action following a localization announcement at E3, and Square Enix may have been forced to announce the HD version prematurely as a reaction to the patch's release. In September 2022, translation group ZeroField, responsible for English translation spreadsheet and overlays for ''
Trails A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or a small paved road (though it can also be a route along a navigable waterways) generally not intended for usage by motorized vehicles, usually passing through a natural area. Ho ...
'' games, received a
cease and desist A cease and desist letter is a document sent by one party, often a business, to warn another party that they believe the other party is committing an unlawful act, such as copyright infringement, and that they will take legal action if the oth ...
order from
NIS America is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. The company was founded in 1991 and has developed several role-playing video games, most notably the ''Disgaea'' and '' Marl Kingdom'' series. Its mascot is the penguin-like ''Disgaea'' charact ...
. A popular belief in the fan translation community is that distributing only a binary patch, which must be applied to the full, original game, is legal. The reasoning is that the patch only contains the new data and directives for where it is to be placed, and does not have the original copyrighted material included in any form, and therefore it is useless unless the user applies it to a (copyrighted) ROM, the acquisition and legality of which they are left completely accountable for. This belief is untested in court. Regardless, the patch must still contain a translated script that is derived from the copyrighted script of the original, but this anti-
software piracy Online piracy or software piracy is the practice of downloading and distributing copyrighted works digitally without permission, such as music, movies or software. History Nathan Fisk traces the origins of modern online piracy back to similar ...
attitude by the fan translation community may have convinced copyright holders to, by and large,
turn a blind eye Turning a blind eye is an idiom describing the ignoring of undesirable information. The Oxford English Dictionary records usage of the phrase in 1698. The phrase ''to turn a blind eye'' is often associated with Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson at ...
. There have never been any legal cases involving fan translation issues, and such projects have been relatively widespread over the Internet for years. In recent years, anime
fansub A fansub (short for fan-subtitled) is a version of a foreign film or foreign television program, typically anime or dorama which has been translated by fans (as opposed to an officially licensed translation done by paid professionals) and subti ...
bers have started to attract the attention of some American anime distributors; as of 2004 one manga scanlator has been handed a cease and desist by a Japanese company, but most of this attention has been restricted to polite entreaties asking fan translators to refrain from dealing with licensed material. As with the fansub and scanlation scenes, most sites devoted to translation hacks will not acknowledge projects that compete with commercially available localizations, and respected groups will generally attempt to steer clear of projects that may see localization. An article of Helbraun law firm remarks in the context of fan translations that redistributing complete games with adaptions most likely does not fall under
fair use Fair use is a Legal doctrine, doctrine in United States law that permits limited use of copyrighted material without having to first acquire permission from the copyright holder. Fair use is one of the limitations to copyright intended to bal ...
, while in patch form it might fall under fair use, but this was never tested in court.


Game company acknowledgments

In July 2007, RPGamer released an interview they did with Koichiro Sakamoto, a game producer from Square Enix, acknowledging fan translations: "On a similar note, we told Mr. Sakamoto that a fan translation had been done some years ago for '' Front Mission 1'', and asked how he felt about such efforts. The producer replied that he actually found them very encouraging – it's something the developers should be doing, but because they're not, the fans are doing it instead. He stated that he'd like to be able to give something back to the fans, and would like to thank personally each of the fans that worked on the translation". Clyde Mandelin, a professional localizer and lead of the ''Mother 3'' fan translation project, received letters of thanks from employees of major game development companies for his translation work. In 2010, publisher
Xseed Games Marvelous USA Inc., (formerly Xseed Games), is an American video game company founded in 2004 by former members of Square Enix USA with the goal to localize Japanese games for American market. Xseed Games later became a subsidiary of Japanese ...
licensed and paid for the use of a fan translation of '' Ys: The Oath in Felghana'' (PC) in the
PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PA ...
port in order to offset the localization costs of such a "niche" game. Shortly after publishing it, Xseed Games went on to purchase three more fan-translated scripts. ''Ys I'' and ''Ys II'' for the PlayStation Portable release of Ys I & II Chronicles, and '' Ys Origin'' for Windows. In 2010,
Rising Star Games Rising Star Games Limited is a British video game publisher based in Hitchin. History Rising Star Games was founded on 10 July 2004 by Martin Defries as a joint venture between Bergsala Holding and Japanese publisher Marvelous Entertainment ...
teamed up with Spanish fans of '' Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon'' to translate the game's script. In 2011,
adult An adult is an animal that has reached full growth. The biological definition of the word means an animal reaching sexual maturity and thus capable of reproduction. In the human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social an ...
visual novel A visual novel (VN) is a form of digital interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with static or animated illustratio ...
publisher
0verflow (stylized 0verflow) is the adult game brand of Japanese video game company known for its '' School Days franchise.'' Stack's headquarters are located in the in Kanda, Chiyoda, Tokyo. Overflow's ''PureMail'' video game was adapted into a ...
acknowledged the fan translation group (which later established itself as a publisher)
Sekai Project Sekai Project is an American video game publisher. They are best known for licensing and translating Japanese visual novels into English, but they have also published manga and other non-visual novel video games. History Sekai Project originat ...
and its efforts to localize '' School Days''. Eventually, American bishoujo game publisher
JAST USA JAST USA is a publisher of English language, English-language versions of Video gaming in Japan, Japanese video games, specifically bishōjo games, dating sims, visual novels and History of Eastern role-playing video games, Japanese RPGs. It wa ...
licensed the game and paid for the use of Sekai Project's work in their release, offsetting the localization costs in a similar manner. JAST USA also licensed Xuse's ''Aselia the Eternal'' and paid the fan translation group Dakkodango Translations for use of their translation. In 2010, the Japanese game company Minori sent two
cease and desist A cease and desist letter is a document sent by one party, often a business, to warn another party that they believe the other party is committing an unlawful act, such as copyright infringement, and that they will take legal action if the oth ...
emails to No Name Losers, a fan group that worked on an unauthorized translation patch of their game '' Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two'', but a partnership between Minori, No Name Losers, and American game publisher
MangaGamer MangaGamer is a video game publisher specializing in the English localization and distribution of Japanese eroge and visual novels. It is run by Japanese-based company Japan Animation Contents. History MangaGamer was originally envisioned as a c ...
was later negotiated to allow the official release of Minori's games in English. In 2021, NIS America reached an agreement with the fan translation group Geofront to use the latter's translations of '' The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero'' and '' The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure'' as a basis for official releases. In 2024, Refint/games reached out to the fan translation group Geofront and licensed the latter’s translation for '' Ys vs. Trails in the Sky'' to bring the game outside Japan and into western shores officially.


Gaming culture and learning

While many studies covering fan translation examine the more technical aspects of extracting the text and manipulating it to translate it, some others focus on the literacy and language related practices gamers develop through their engagement in the fan translation of games. They adopt many roles, acquire and put into practice not only IT skills but also linguistic and sociocultural skills, and maintain interesting conversations online with fellow gamers that lead to meaningful and situated metalinguistic discussions on language chunks and translation strategies.


See also

*
Fan labor Fan labor, also called fan works, are the creative activities engaged in by fan (person), fans, primarily those of various media properties or musical groups. These activities can include creation of written works (fiction, fan fiction and revie ...
*
Reverse engineering Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompl ...
*
Undubbing Undubbing is a type of video game hacking that restores the original language audio content of a game that has been localized for export while retaining the translated text of the language into which it has been localized. A typical candidate fo ...


References

{{Reflist, 30em Fan labor Video games Free culture movement Unofficial adaptations Video game fandom Video game localization Video game modding