04/26/2010

Subject: Email response
Title: Chrono Trigger and Ads

Received Email

Subject:

(no subject)

Message:

Hi!

I noticed your blog post about the ads. To tell you the truth it probably would have taken me a while to notice the ads. So I am not offended or anything.

Since I am writing you an E-mail I might as well ask you, how is Chrono Trigger going?

I used to play the hell out of that game back on my SNES. For me the re-translation of it irks me a bit. While I may not be able to remember the old line exactly most of the time I can tell it isn't what it used to be.

Anyway, thanks for reading my E-mail and I look forward to reading more of your stories and your other stuff.

-Micheal

PS: when I said I played the hell out of Chrono Trigger. One time I heard someone playing it in a room next to mine. I could tell they were at the End of Time, it was their first time there, and it was a new game + just from the sound alone. No joke that actually happened.


Wahahaahaha!

Yes I know exactly what you're talking about (at the end of that email). Becoming so familiar with a game that you recognize specific scenes on the sounds alone. When I was a young kid, I played the original Pokemon Red so often that I could tell what attacks a character was using just by the chiptune sound effects. This is both pathetic and awesome.

Anyway, the DS version of Chrono Trigger is absolutely awesome. It's superior to the SNES version in every way that I care about. And yes, that does include the different translation.

The DS version of Chrono Trigger was re-translated to something that is much truer to the Japanese original, where the SNES version first released in the USA was translated by a Nintendo employee named Ted Woolsey. I utterly hate the work that Woolsey did on the games he translated. This isn't his fault, though. He's the product of Nintendo's corporate culture at the time, which was a reflection of the value that, "Video games are for kids!! You need it to be bright and campy and accessible, and there can be NO SEX OR SWEARING, YOU SON OF A SUBMARINER!"

The new translation of Chrono Trigger is a big reason why I like the DS version better. There are no more retarded Americanized puns like Jurassic Pork and the game is unafraid to say what the characters were meant to say in the first place.

Also, good to hear the ads don't bug you. I've not gotten a thousand emails telling me to die in the few hours they've been up, so that's probably a good sign. :D



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