Titles lost in translation

[Cirrus]

If this topic exists, please direct me. Anyway...

I was thinking about games that their titles get botched when they come over here, or when they lose something special about them. I just want to hear some examples, but I'll add mine.

When I was in Japan, I played a neat game called "Ka" at a mall, and thought it was a slick name. (Ka means mosquito, probably among other things.) It was Mr. Mosquito. Why do they think the American market needs to hear the word "Mr." before the title? Does the American market need that? Mr. Ico? Mr. Ape Escape? Mr.s Mario Brothers?

Another is Gitaroo Man. If I'm not mistaken, it was called Gitaru Man, which only ends with a "U" because the Japanese symbols all end with vowels, and it is usually the vowel chosen. They were going for "guitar." It seems to me that someone barely tried, on that one.

Zettai Zetsumei Toshi, the original name of Disaster Report for PS2. Now, here they totally changed it, because it really was a pretty silly name in the first place. The words basically translate to "absolute destruction of a town." That would have been a much more daring title, don't you think?

The biggest loss would have to be Guerrilla War. This title features two young soldiers taking on a much larger, American looking force. Many of you know this, I'm sure, but I didn't until recently: those guys are Che Guevara and Fidel Castro! The game was originally called "Guevara!". Guess who the bad guys are.

I know there are more, but I can't think of them now. Please add the ones you know.

[FlufflePuff]

Well, Katamari Damacy isn't spelled right. It should be Katamari Damashi. Also, Donkey Kong is kind of a botched analogy. Miyamoto was trying to say stubborn ape and out comes Donkey Kong. That's all I got.

[Cirrus]

So, was Donkey Kong called something different in Japan?

[eightbitonline]

So, was Donkey Kong called something different in Japan?

no, it was called donkey kong because "donkey" kind of meant "stubborn", as in "stubborn as a mule" and the japanese knew that americans associated apes with the word "kong" via the king kong movies.

[alexkidd2000]

So, was Donkey Kong called something different in Japan?

It's been said Donkey Kong was named "Monkey Kong" in Japan but when the name was given over the phone to its State-side manufacturer they heard "Donkey Kong". In truth, the game was, from the outset, called Donkey Kong. Everyone was familiar with "kong" as a name for a giant gorilla and the game designer Miyamoto wanted another name that would imply the creature's stubbornness. Donkey made sense. Sales Reps at Nintendo's New York HQ (Nintendo is in the Seattle area now) thought the name was so stupid gamers would refuse to play the game. They were proven wrong. The game sold 65,000 units (by way of contrast, that was just short of Asteroids' 70,000 units mark).

It's also been said the main character didn't receive the name "Mario" until the release of Donkey Kong Jr. This is partially incorrect. The character was first identified only as "Jumpman". The name Mario appeared later in promotional material for the original game. The name "Mario" came from the name of the landlord of Nintendo's NYC HQ, Mario Segali. He resembled the mustachioed character. The video incarnation of Mario was given a mustache because of the low pixel resolution at the time. Nintendo couldn't make a convincing mouth on the little man but a mustache showed up better. He was given a hat for the same reason. It looked better than blocky hair.

Oddly enough, today Mario's job is given as "plumber" but in the original game he was a carpenter (I suppose to complete the Italian stereotype, he could have been a bricklayer in the beta version). Miyamoto specifically wanted a blue-collar character because he felt the game players would better identify with an everyman sort instead of a super hero.

The game's popularity spawned a lawsuit (of course). Universal Studios, which made the 1929 film version of King Kong, sued Nintendo and Coleco. Although Universal's copyrights had expired a few years previous, Universal felt the game was still damaging to their movie. Maybe expecting a quick, out-of-court settlement, Universal discovered Nintendo was willing and able to go to court. Universal tried to argue its copyright was still valid. A judge dismissed this claim and noted Universal knew full well its rights had expired. The judge viewed the suit as vexatious and ruled in Nintendo's favor. The judge also awarded the video game company $1.8 million for legal expenses

[Lord Contaminous]

what really irks me is about the Mega Man 2-8. Why did Capcom USA drop the untranslated cool subtitles. We could've had these:

Megaman 2: Enigma of Wily

Megaman 3: The End of Wily?!

Megaman 4: A New Ambition

Megaman 5: Protoman's Trap

Megaman 6: The Greatest Battle In History

Megaman 7: The Destined Battle

Megaman 8: Metal Heroes

[Dahne]

The Dragon Quest series is changed to Dragon Warrior for the American version for some reason. Or maybe it's the other way around. I can never remember.

'Knight and Baby' was released in the US as 'Guardian's Crusade'. Yeah, I think I understand that one.

[Sotenga]

Funtime Trivia: Chou Wakusei Senki - Metafight is known in U.S. shores as Blaster Master. The original story was something a bit more plausible than "my mutated frog ran away and now I must find him," but the official storyline eludes me.

[racecar]

If this topic exists, please direct me. Anyway...

I was thinking about games that their titles get botched when they come over here, or when they lose something special about them. I just want to hear some examples, but I'll add mine.

When I was in Japan, I played a neat game called "Ka" at a mall, and thought it was a slick name. (Ka means mosquito, probably among other things.) It was Mr. Mosquito. Why do they think the American market needs to hear the word "Mr." before the title? Does the American market need that? Mr. Ico? Mr. Ape Escape? Mr.s Mario Brothers?

Another is Gitaroo Man. If I'm not mistaken, it was called Gitaru Man, which only ends with a "U" because the Japanese symbols all end with vowels, and it is usually the vowel chosen. They were going for "guitar." It seems to me that someone barely tried, on that one.

Zettai Zetsumei Toshi, the original name of Disaster Report for PS2. Now, here they totally changed it, because it really was a pretty silly name in the first place. The words basically translate to "absolute destruction of a town." That would have been a much more daring title, don't you think?

The biggest loss would have to be Guerrilla War. This title features two young soldiers taking on a much larger, American looking force. Many of you know this, I'm sure, but I didn't until recently: those guys are Che Guevara and Fidel Castro! The game was originally called "Guevara!". Guess who the bad guys are.

I know there are more, but I can't think of them now. Please add the ones you know.

it's the people in marketing...alot of great game's was lost(overlook) by average gamer's ..cause of the TITLE(cover art ) look's unfamiliar/boring...it's all about the packaging :roll:

[Cirrus]

it's the people in marketing...alot of great game's was lost(overlook) by average gamer's ..cause of the TITLE(cover art ) look's unfamiliar/boring...it's all about the packaging :roll:

So how do you explain the butchering of the Ico boxart? :)

[Cirrus]

what really irks me is about the Mega Man 2-8. Why did Capcom USA drop the untranslated cool subtitles. We could've had these:

Megaman 2: Enigma of Wily

Megaman 3: The End of Wily?!

Megaman 4: A New Ambition

Megaman 5: Protoman's Trap

Megaman 6: The Greatest Battle In History

Megaman 7: The Destined Battle

Megaman 8: Metal Heroes

I love those... did the X series have sub-names too?

[whoisKeel]

I may be wrong but I don't believe there's any "Castlevania" in japan, it is rather Akumajou Dracula. I'm assuming it is a mix between Castle and Transilvania, but I like Castlevania as a name so I'm not complaining.

A few of the SF characters names were changed. Balrog was originally M. Bison, but sounded too much like M. Tyson, so they switched a few around (I think Bison is Vega)

[Aussie2B]

Yeah, "Gitaru" definitely should be just "Guitar" in English, unless they had an official English translation in Japan that said otherwise.

Katamari Damacy IS right. That's the official English spelling they use in Japan. "Katamari Damashi" is just a direct romanization.

Castlevania was "Akumajou Dracula" in Japan (which roughly means "Demon Castle Dracula"), but Igarashi, the nutcase who took over the series, decided to officially changed the name to "Castlevania" worldwide. While I do like the name "Castlevania", I also liked "Akumajou Dracula", and I wish he had kept things as is.

As for Street Fighter 2, they just didn't want to get sued in America by Mike Tyson. :P They can get away with it in Japan, but in the US you can get in trouble making references to real people without getting their permission.

[Richter]

I may be wrong but I don't believe there's any "Castlevania" in japan, it is rather Akumajou Dracula. I'm assuming it is a mix between Castle and Transilvania, but I like Castlevania as a name so I'm not complaining.
i belive "vania" is durch for 'woods' or 'forest'

[Cirrus]

I may be wrong but I don't believe there's any "Castlevania" in japan, it is rather Akumajou Dracula. I'm assuming it is a mix between Castle and Transilvania, but I like Castlevania as a name so I'm not complaining.

A few of the SF characters names were changed. Balrog was originally M. Bison, but sounded too much like M. Tyson, so they switched a few around (I think Bison is Vega)

Yeah, M. Bison = The boxer, Vega = the Caped General, and Balrog = Masked Slashy hands. Good example!

Any other titles that were changed?

[Kamino]

What happen?
Zero wing very messed up in translation!
Move every 'zig' for great grammar justice!!!

[GaijinPunch]

They were going for "guitar." It seems to me that someone barely tried, on that one.

I'd have to see how the kana was written, but guitar in Japanese comes out "gitaa" -- with a long "a" sound, denoting -er,-ar, etc.


Katamari Damashi

Actually Katamari Damashii if you're really anal. Tamashii is actually a 4 syllable kanji.

My nominations:
Puzzle Bobble vs. Bust a Move WTF?!
Bust a Move vs Bust a Groove or whatever the hell they did with it.
Jet Set Radio (perfectly fine) vs Jet Grind Radio :/
Tales of Eternia vs Tales of Destiny 2
Dragonquest vs Dragon Warrior (I think the west has spammed the word 'warrior' for far too long)

[Cirrus]

What happen?
Zero wing very messed up in translation!
Move every 'zig' for great grammar justice!!!

What! What you say?

Basically, that's just a bad translation, but a good example of one. I'm wondering if there are any more titles are character names, that sort of thing, that lost something good in the translation. I really wish Guerilla War was called Guevara!. I even kind of like "Demon Castle Dracula." The missing names behind the Mega Man games are too bad, as well.

edit: Puzzle Bobble, what a great example. Bust a Move?! What! :)

[GaijinPunch]

Oh, yeah -- I did a thread on this at Japanese Gaming (http://dynamic5.gamespy.com/~japangaming/forum/viewtopic.php?t=370&highlight=castlevania) a while back. Got some good ammo for ya in there.

[Aussie2B]

They were going for "guitar." It seems to me that someone barely tried, on that one.

I'd have to see how the kana was written, but guitar in Japanese comes out "gitaa" -- with a long "a" sound, denoting -er,-ar, etc.

Technically, yes, but katakana for English words isn't always consistent. I swear, I've seen "steel" spelled in katakana a million different ways. :P

[Lemmy Kilmister]

Jet Set Radio (perfectly fine) vs Jet Grind Radio :/


Sega actually didn't have much of a choice on this one. I don't know the whole story, but i've heard that sega was forced to change the name because Jet Set Radio was indeed a real radio station in the states.

[Push Upstairs]

Zettai Zetsumei Toshi, the original name of Disaster Report for PS2. Now, here they totally changed it, because it really was a pretty silly name in the first place. The words basically translate to "absolute destruction of a town." That would have been a much more daring title, don't you think?

I'd say they should have called it "Total Destruction" or "Total Devastation" but those sound like very generic names too. :/

[Aussie2B]

Oh, speaking of Tales of Eternia/Tales of Destiny 2, we probably have that name change to thank for one of the reasons we didn't get the REAL Tales of Destiny 2. :/ I mean, what the heck would they have called it in the US? If they changed it to an entirely different title, no one would know that it's a direct sequel to Tales of Destiny, and if they kept the real name, no one would be able to tell apart the PSX and PS2 games apart by title. O_o What a stupid mess. I loved Namco, but Namco of America really screwed up on that one.

[Cirrus]

Oh, yeah -- I did a thread on this at Japanese Gaming (http://dynamic5.gamespy.com/~japangaming/forum/viewtopic.php?t=370&highlight=castlevania) a while back. Got some good ammo for ya in there.

Good thread: I'll post the bulk of stuff here. The basic format is JPN NAME/ENG NAME/ SYSTEM/ WINNER

Top Secret | Bionic Command | Famicom | ENG
Kunoichi | Nightshade | PS2 | JPN (landslide)
Jet Set Radio | Jet Grind Radio | DC | JPN (just b/c it has the word "grind" doesn't make it cool)
Tatakai no Banka | Trojan | FC | JPN (no Trojan's in the game, duh)
Biohazard | Resident Evil | Various | JPN (although not really Capcom's fault, I never liked the RE title)
Assault Suit Valken | Cybernator | SFC | JPN (big time)
Langrisser/Warsong/Genesis/first one just sounds cooler
Lennus/7th Saga/Snes/equal in my book
Downtown Nettetsu Monotagari/River City Ransom/NES, PC Engine, X68000, GBA/JPN
Garou Densetsu/Fatal Fury/Neo Geo, various ports/JPN sounds better
Tetsujin/truxton/MEgadrive/JPN
Battlemania/Trouble Shooter/Megadrive/equal
Crest of Wolf/Riot Zone/PC Engine/equal
Ninja Ryuyuken/Ninja gaiden/variosu systems/JPN
Daimakaimura/Ghouls and Ghost/Megadrive, Super Grafx/JPN
Gunhed/Blazing Lasers/PC Engine/equal
PC Genjin/Bonk/PC Engine/JPN
Assualt Suit Leynos/Target Earth/Megadrive/JPN
Bare Knuckle/Streets of Rage/Megadrive/equal

[NeoSNightmarE]

this is a really good topic. and looking at the post above me. i remember that i was talking to someone about the Bare Knuckle/Streets of Rage thing the other day. if i had chat logs i would post the convo, but it was pretty good.

[Daria]

The Dragon Quest series is changed to Dragon Warrior for the American version for some reason. Or maybe it's the other way around. I can never remember.

'Knight and Baby' was released in the US as 'Guardian's Crusade'. Yeah, I think I understand that one.

It's been cited by many Dragon Warrior sites that TSR's board game "Dragon Quest" was the reason for the conflicting copyright issue. Only as far as I can tell "Dragon Quest" was released by TSR in 1992 and "Dragon Warrior" was released in 1989. But prehaps they'd been designing the game for 3 years.

Edit: And by searching the US trademark database I can see that TSR registered the name three times in 1992, once for the sale of "Metal figurines", "fantasy adventure books". and "t-shirts" (Squre now owns the trademark for shirts). Maybe the database just doesn't go as far as the 80's, because it seems odd they'd register these specific items in 1992 to coincide with the release of the board game and yet not file a trademark for the board game it's self.

Edit number 2: Nevermind. Searched again and found TSR did register a trademark for "fantasy role-playing games and board games, and game accessories; namely, booklets containing role-playing game scenarios" under the name "Dragon Quest" in October of 1992. Umm... still 3 years after "Dragon Warrior" came out in the states. So now I'm just confused.

Edit number 3 and 4: Found the answer finally. in 1980 SPI released a roleplaying game called Dragon Quest, (the second edition was printed in 1981) they went bankrupt in 1982, and were bought out by TSR. TSR held onto the trademark for 5 years, at which point in '87 they released Dragon Quest as a supplement for D&D. And again in '92 as it's own seperate board game. There I feel better having figured that out. XD

It also seems weird that the board game version of Dragon Quest would conflict with Enix's release of the video game because board games and computer games all have their own seperate entries. But maybe that distinction didn't exist 20 years ago? Or maybe TRS sent a nasty letter to Enix/Nintendo and they simply didn't want to press their legal luck?

TSR also had the name "Mystara" copyrighted, which I believe is a kingdom or country in the D&D universe. Anyway thats also why the Saturn game
"MystarIA" was rereleased in the US as "Blazing Heroes".

[Tron 2.0]

SamuraiSpirit/Samurai Shodown

ASO II/Alpha Misson II

Sonic Wings/Aero Fighters

Raguy/Blue Journey

Enternal Arcadia/Skies of Arcadia

Rockman/MegaMan

VampireHunter/Darkstalkers
:hmm:

[GaijinPunch]

Technically, yes, but katakana for English words isn't always consistent. I swear, I've seen "steel" spelled in katakana a million different ways. :P

oh contrare. Katakan for English (or whatever) words is very consistent. There is a right way and a wrong way to spell things. They even pop up on the Japanese National tests, and can be very tricky.

[SamuraiSmurfette]

The whole changeover from Rockman to Megaman.
Rockman made so much more sense, considering his sister was Roll,
and then we had characters like Bass and Treble

Apparently, the creator of Megaman was furious apon seeing the American boxart for Megaman 1, saying "If that's what you have to do to it to sell in in America, I'm not interested!"

[Cirrus]

The whole changeover from Rockman to Megaman.
Rockman made so much more sense, considering his sister was Roll,
and then we had characters like Bass and Treble

Apparently, the creator of Megaman was furious apon seeing the American boxart for Megaman 1, saying "If that's what you have to do to it to sell in in America, I'm not interested!"

To illustrate:
http://www.deeko.com/images/articles/Worstpic1.jpg

I mean, sure, some things can be said about Americans, but still... some of the changes actually make the localizers look like the real idiots. The name Mega Man is nearly as questionable as the boxart, really. Sister Roll, pal Blues, etc... I can't believe I forgot about the change from Rock to Mega. I guess they chose Mega because they already used Super and Ultra.

What about Giga or Peta? Where's Petaman?!!

[kainemaxwell]

Apparently, the creator of Megaman was furious apon seeing the American boxart for Megaman 1, saying "If that's what you have to do to it to sell in in America, I'm not interested!"
Can you seriously blame the guy for being pissed?

[Lord Contaminous]

what really irks me is about the Mega Man 2-8. Why did Capcom USA drop the untranslated cool subtitles. We could've had these:

Megaman 2: Enigma of Wily

Megaman 3: The End of Wily?!

Megaman 4: A New Ambition

Megaman 5: Protoman's Trap

Megaman 6: The Greatest Battle In History

Megaman 7: The Destined Battle

Megaman 8: Metal Heroes

I love those... did the X series have sub-names too?

Well the only Megaman X game to have a subtitle is the Japanese version of Megaman X-treme 2 for Game Boy Color (Rockman X2: Soul Eraser, apparently named after one of Morrigan's super moves.)

Geez if the internet was a household element back in 1987, we wouldn't be so naive to like their games to tell these Americans how retarded they are with their stupid "this game won't sell cause yadda yadda yadda".

[Lady Jaye]

Yeah, the boxart for the first Megaman in the US is simply horrendous. Ugh.

It's like the way that Akira Toriyama's charadesign for Dragon Quest/Warrior wasn't acknowledged here until Dragon Ball became a hit and suddenly it was cool to show his anime-style design. *sigh*

Getting back into the name game: Among upcoming games (although it could still be changed), there's Daigasso! Band Bros for the DS, which is supposed to be localized as Jam with the Band. Daigasso! Band Bros just sounds cooler (especially if you pronounce the word Brothers like a Japanese)...

Animal Forest became Animal Crossing in North America and Europe.

[Push Upstairs]

Apparently, the creator of Megaman was furious apon seeing the American boxart for Megaman 1

And i'd say to him "Welcome to the club!"

Name someone who doesn't hate that boxart.

[GaijinPunch]

Dudes... A Rockman was a term used in the 80's for someone that sold rocks (crack). No way were they going to use that name.

[CRV]

Dudes... A Rockman was a term used in the 80's for someone that sold rocks (crack). No way were they going to use that name.

Well, that explains everything. Thank you...

[Jorpho]

Wasn't there a Genesis game named Gley Lancer?


(I suppose to complete the Italian stereotype, he could have been a bricklayer in the beta version)

Beta version? Are you serious?


what really irks me is about the Mega Man 2-8. Why did Capcom USA drop the untranslated cool subtitles. We could've had these:

Megaman 5: Protoman's Trap

And of course they cut out the clever musical references in the names. (That is, the game was Blue's Trap, not Protoman's.)

[whoisKeel]

Rush 'n Attack = Green Beret

[Iron Draggon]

Puck Man = Pac Man

Because P is easily changed to F and vandals love to play with 4 letter words!

P.S.: I win! 8-)

[Snapple]

I think those Megaman subtitles are horrible, personally.

I mean, come on. "The Destined Battle"? How more generic can you get? Why not "Megaman: Super Explosion Extreme!"

And how can someone say the JP name is better than "Bonk"? I love the name Bonk. It's simple, memorable, to the point, and he's a character named after onomatopia. Gotta love that.


I honestly don't have a problem with the name Dragon Warrior either. Sounds just as good as Dragon Quest to me. Although, I usually say Dragon Quest because there is no "Dragon Warrior 5" or "Dragon Warrior 6." I like to be able to talk about the whole series without having to switch my names back and forth.

[Dahne]

It's been cited by many Dragon Warrior sites that TSR's board game "Dragon Quest" was the reason for the conflicting copyright issue. Only as far as I can tell "Dragon Quest" was released by TSR in 1992 and "Dragon Warrior" was released in 1989. But prehaps they'd been designing the game for 3 years.

Edit: And by searching the US trademark database I can see that TSR registered the name three times in 1992, once for the sale of "Metal figurines", "fantasy adventure books". and "t-shirts" (Squre now owns the trademark for shirts). Maybe the database just doesn't go as far as the 80's, because it seems odd they'd register these specific items in 1992 to coincide with the release of the board game and yet not file a trademark for the board game it's self.

Edit number 2: Nevermind. Searched again and found TSR did register a trademark for "fantasy role-playing games and board games, and game accessories; namely, booklets containing role-playing game scenarios" under the name "Dragon Quest" in October of 1992. Umm... still 3 years after "Dragon Warrior" came out in the states. So now I'm just confused.

Edit number 3: Found the answer finally. in 1981 SPI released a roleplaying game called Dragon Quest, they went bankrupt in 1982, and were bought out by TSR. TSR held onto the trademark for 5 years, at which point in '87 they released Dragon Quest as a supplement for D&D. And again in '92 as it's own seperate board game. There I feel better having figured that out. XD

It also seems weird that the board game version of Dragon Quest would conflict with Enix's release of the video game because board games and computer games all have their own seperate entries. But maybe that distinction didn't exist 20 years ago? Or maybe TRS sent a nasty letter to Enix/Nintendo and they simply didn't want to press their legal luck?

Ah, thank you. I'd been wondering about that for quite a while.

[rbudrick]

I saw this thread and I was just waiting for someone to take the Bill Murray movie and photosghop it into a PS2 box or something. LOL
--Rob

[Nature Boy]

I love hearing good reasons for all the name changes that fanboys have been livid about for as far back as I can remember.

(Lawsuits, profanity, drug references - wow...)

[Lady Jaye]

Another couple of name changes:

Star Fox became Starwing in Europe because of copyright problems (there already was a game called Star Fox).

Mother 2 becoming Earthbound.

[Daria]

Ah, thank you. I'd been wondering about that for quite a while.

Glad someone found it interesting. (:

[Cyan]

The basic format is JPN NAME/ENG NAME/ SYSTEM/ WINNER

Lennus/7th Saga/Snes/equal in my book


Just for the record, "Lennus" was actually released here as "Paladin's Quest" which is perhaps the worst botching of a video game title that I've ever seen. The main character has nothing to do with paladins as we typically think of them. The hero only becomes a 'paladin' in the same sense that every other character from any other RPG must become a 'paladin' by achieving some high level.. or something.

Paladin's Quest probably has one of the most literal (and thus, dry) translations out there. (I, however, enjoyed the game immensely.)

Its sequel, Lennus II, was never released here despite being very popular in Japan. The soundtrack was popular enough as to earn itself two spots on the popular "Orchestral Game Concert" CD's, which featured actual orchestral arrangements of various pieces.

The fan translation group 'Magic Destiny' has been working on translating this for years, but has been stalled for a long time, now. The translation is complete, they're just having difficulty re-inserting the translated script into the ROM. Compound this with localization problems (making the script make sense) and we just may never see this translated. More info here:
http://www.magic-destiny.com/lennus-2.shtml

[Cyan]

The basic format is JPN NAME/ENG NAME/ SYSTEM/ WINNER

Lennus/7th Saga/Snes/equal in my book


Just for the record, "Lennus" was actually released here as "Paladin's Quest" which is perhaps the worst botching of a video game title that I've ever seen. The main character has nothing to do with paladins as we typically think of them. The hero only becomes a 'paladin' in the same sense that every other character from any other RPG must become a 'paladin' by achieving some high level.. or something.

Paladin's Quest probably has one of the most literal (and thus, dry) translations out there. (I, however, enjoyed the game immensely.)

Its sequel, Lennus II, was never released here despite being very popular in Japan. The soundtrack was popular enough as to earn itself two spots on the popular "Orchestral Game Concert" CD's, which featured actual orchestral arrangements of various pieces.

The fan translation group 'Magic Destiny' has been working on translating this for years, but has been stalled for a long time, now. The translation is complete, they're just having difficulty re-inserting the translated script into the ROM. Compound this with localization problems (making the script make sense) and we just may never see this translated. More info here:
http://www.magic-destiny.com/lennus-2.shtml

[Damaramu]

Not really a title lost in translation (or is it?), but who was the genius that came up with the box art on Phalanx for the SNES??? LOL, my friends and I always laughed at this, but loved the game!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v163/Damaramu/1512_c.jpg

[Lord Contaminous]

I saw several people bring up Guevara/Guerilla War and ranted that they shouldn't have changed it. In this point I'd have to disagree on that one. Some games based a actual historical event where one nationality was the bad side is a touchy issue.

In this case I think it was necessary to change a few things. Personally if they still left it as when they localized the game, I'd say alot of Cuban-Americans would be offended as they play through the game.

Think about the case where the people from [wherever it was in Africa where that one incident took place] were offended by the movie Black Hawk Down and tried to protest releasing it in theatres.

[Cirrus]

Some games based a actual historical event where one nationality was the bad side is a touchy issue.


Perhaps you mean games where the US is the "bad side," because there are hundreds of games where Germany, (Wolfenstein, Brothers in Arms), Japan, China, and many other countries are the bad guys. There are just very few where we are. (The US).

I think it's an interesting idea to make a game from a Cuban perspective, with an evil US Army, even if it is outrageous that Che Geuvara and Fidel Castro would go it alone and defeat them. However, I don't really care that they changed the title.

[Jorpho]

Its sequel, Lennus II, was never released here despite being very popular in Japan. The soundtrack was popular enough as to earn itself two spots on the popular "Orchestral Game Concert" CD's, which featured actual orchestral arrangements of various pieces.

Eh?

... Oh, I see. It's Romanized as Renasu in the version I have on hand.

[Mark III]

Only ones I can think of offhand were a few arcade games:

Powered Gear ----> Armored Warriors
Musclebomber ----> Saturday Night Slam Masters
Black Dragon -----> Black Tiger
Last Soldier -----> Last Blade (I may be wrong on this one)
Death Brade ----> Mutant Fighter
Dadandarn ------> Monster Maulers
Crude Buster ----> Two Crude Dudes
Bloody Wolf -----> Battle Rangers

I also remember seeing a japanese ad for Final Fight where it was called Street Fighter '89.

There was a bunch more but i can't recal them at the moment.