The final word on the pronunciation of "Qix"

[davidbrit2]

I know this comes up every now and then on various sites, but I've found some useful info:

http://www.taito.co.jp/d3/cp/tmemories_pocket/04.html

Taito themselves write the title in Katakana as クイックス, which would be Romanized as "kuikkusu". So there you have it folks, Qix is pronounced as "Quicks".

Yes, I know this is completely pointless.

[Charlesaway]

Makes sense, though I always fashioned that game was called 'kicks' myself.

[Lady Jaye]

Yeah, I always pronounced it like the cereal brand...

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

I have a PS1 import where a voice-over clearly pronounces it "Keex!"

Just thought I'd roll that grenade into the room. LOL

[Jumpman Jr.]

I've always and only pronounced it as Kicks... There's no U in it.
But what do I know.

[KingCobra]

LOL! Always pronounced as "Quicks" myself, though I'm old and started in the arcades.

Old niche names componies used to give to their games hun? Like Sega and the Virtua games.

[snes_collector]

Thats how I've always pronounced it. Kinda like fix, only with a Q

[tholly]

ive always said kicks and i will probably continue to call it that....

[Austin]

Yep, I'd always pronounced it like kicks.

[Ed Oscuro]

Quicks makes sense...always said it that way myself. Thanks davidbrit!

[XianXi]

without the "u" present it is "kicks", another case of lost in translation.

[cyberfluxor]

OH MY GOD! See, I always said "Hey! Check out 'Quix' cause it's a cool game!" and everyone would start saying "No no, it's 'kicks'"... Now I can laugh in their faces Muhahaha.
Just playing, I won't slaughter them for saying I was incorrect all these years but I will notify them of this. Thanks!

[kedawa]

I pronounce it 'Miss World '96 Nude'

j/k, it's always been 'kicks' to me, but my sister calls it 'quicks.'

[drewbrim]

Yeah, I always pronounced it like the cereal brand...


same here

[JPeeples]

Same here, it just seems to fit the name better.

[kevincure]

It is DEFINITELY pronounced "kicks". I think someone mentioned it above, but they actually say it in the voice over on a couple (US) versions of the game.

[Bluteg]

I've always said quicks myself.

[Zilla]

I pronouced it quicks and kicks....depends on my mood or whatnot.

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

...but it's really pronounced "Throat-Warbler Mangrove." :evil:

[diskoboy]

I know this comes up every now and then on various sites, but I've found some useful info:

http://www.taito.co.jp/d3/cp/tmemories_pocket/04.html

Taito themselves write the title in Katakana as クイックス, which would be Romanized as "kuikkusu". So there you have it folks, Qix is pronounced as "Quicks".

Yes, I know this is completely pointless.

Correct. This post is completely pointless. Especially since Taito of AMERICA developed Qix. Sorry folks, Qix has no meaning in Japanese except for whatever they wanna make up. But since were on the topic, I knew somebody who used to think the game was called "Q-9".

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

Correct. This post is completely pointless.
I don't know that I'd go that far. We've gotta get our Qix somehow...

[Charlesaway]

Correct. This post is completely pointless.
I don't know that I'd go that far. We've gotta get our Qix somehow...

That's pretty funny, though one has to wonder if you've been saving that one up for a few years, or if it came off the tip of your tongue. ;)

[diskoboy]

Correct. This post is completely pointless.
I don't know that I'd go that far. We've gotta get our Qix somehow...

Sorry... I meant trying to find a japanese translation for Qix was pointless.

Qix (pronunced 'kicks', I don't give 2 shits what the Japanese think it's called.) and Zoo Keeper were both developed in the United States. Japan didn't always run the video game industry, folks.

[XYXZYZ]

Knowing this, I would still say "kicks" just because when you say "quicks" some guy is going to correct you. I think the safest thing to do is to be trivial, say "...kicks- actually, according to Taito it's 'quicks', but, whatever, you know?" And then the guy would nod his head and say "yeah, I hear you G-money, lets rock us some Quicks."

Actually this reminds me of a thread on some Metroid forum on the pronounciation of Samus, Kraid etc. based on the phonetic Japanese writing on Nintendo Japan's Metroid website. Were arguing about "SAH-moos" vs "Saa-muhs" and "Krayd" vs "Kride". I don't remember how it tuned out...

[GetImOliver]

We could always dig up the guy who first hd the idea and ask them.

Oh no wait you're all wrong! It's pronounced: Cacoma Knight in: Busyland.

[RetroYoungen]

...but it's really pronounced "Throat-Warbler Mangrove." :evil:

...

Mangroove...

...

LOL

I pronounce it like "kicks" myself because of the lack of the "u." But it really doesn't matter to me, I just play it and enjoy it.

[davidbrit2]

I shall thwart all of your foolish logic by restating that Taito has it written as "quicks" on their own web site. Wa ha ha.

[rbudrick]

I shall thwart all of your foolish logic by restating that Taito has it written as "quicks" on their own web site. Wa ha ha.

Well, it's not totally thwarted. If the US versions pronounce it "keeks" and the Japanese say it kuikkusu, then it's not totally at rest. It was mentioned that it was a US developed game. Also, maybe the game just has different names depending on the country?

-Rob

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

I hear that some of the Eastern European countries pronounce it "Waldo."

[davidbrit2]

I hear that some of the Eastern European countries pronounce it "Waldo."

Osnap, three +1s in a single thread. :O

But yes, "quicks" to the day I die, mutha fuckas.

[allsport11]

I'm another "quicks" person and it will always be that to me. :D

[Vroomfunkel]

Well .. I first encountered it on the BBC Micro, where it was released by Superior Software under the title "Kix"

No prizes for guessing how I pronounce it!

Vroomfunkel

[rbudrick]

Well .. I first encountered it on the BBC Micro, where it was released by Superior Software under the title "Kix"

Yes, but the rare Hungarian/East German version was called Kwix. (remember, w=v).

LOL

I'm fucking hilarious, in case you didn't know.

-Rob

[idrougge]

Qix (pronunced 'kicks', I don't give 2 shits what the Japanese think it's called.) and Zoo Keeper were both developed in the United States. Japan didn't always run the video game industry, folks.

Source please.

[CRV]

Qix (pronunced 'kicks', I don't give 2 shits what the Japanese think it's called.) and Zoo Keeper were both developed in the United States. Japan didn't always run the video game industry, folks.

Source please.

Taito Legends

[The Manimal]

Thats how I've always pronounced it. Kinda like fix, only with a Q

[kevincure]

Actually, my first Qix was called Sqix, I believe, for the C-64. I had a teacher in the 4th grade who was really into videogames; you could find him playing Space Station or Sqix during our recess. A couple of us beat Zork and Hitchhiker's during a long month!

I'm pretty sure we said "Squicks" for Sqix, since there's not really any way to say Skwix, right? :-)

[Jason One]

-----

[idrougge]

Taito Legends

Do you have to buy the game to find out? Is it a good compilation?

[Mayhem]

Something was bugging me from the start here, so I got out my Japanese copy of Taito Memories. The katakana as mentioned in the first post is correct; however the romanised version isn't quite correct.

It literally translates into ku-i-tsu-ku-su which is pronounced (to my knowledge) KOO-EE-TSOO-KOO-SOO. But yeah, it still heads towards KWIKS rather than KICKS.

[rbudrick]

The tsu is a little tsu, not the full size one. This is not pronounced, but rather doubles the following consonant.

-Rob

[davidbrit2]

Yup, Rob's correct about that. That's one of the things that kind of threw me off before I started actually taking Japanese classes. Heh.

[Mayhem]

I'll have to remember that as I don't recall seeing the TSU in much more than one size in usage before. It isn't that common a character in my experience.

[slapdash]

I'll have to remember that as I don't recall seeing the TSU in much more than one size in usage before. It isn't that common a character in my experience.

You'll need to look out for other "small" characters on occasion too... For instance, sometimes "yo" is small after a "ri" (I think) to indicate the pronunciation is actually "ryo". Sometimes "i" or "u" or written small after "ta" (again, I think) to indicate a pronunciation of "ti" and "tu" rather than the "chi" and "tsu" pronunciations in the "t-row" (ta, chi, tsu, te, to in Japanese). There are others too, like to indicate sounds like "va" which normally don't exist in Japanese, but I'm blanking out on any further ones, or how they're spelled...

[scooterb23]

I always called it that f8#&($& piece of s&$( game that makes me swear a lot.

Now where's my next f&$*%+E$ G*$ D&#@ quarter??

[davidbrit2]

Yeah, if you see a small YA, YU, or YO following another syllable that's of the I vowel series, then it's pronounced as a single syllable (NI-ya = NYA, GI-yo = GYO, etc.) These are known as "glides".

Then there's the small TSU thing, where you double the following consonant (though in songs, it's usually pronounced as lengthening the preceding vowel sound, since it sounds less forced).

Katakana has even more weird combinations, like TE-i = TI, CHI-e = CHE, etc. Usually you can guess what those are if you know the syllabary well enough. The V sounds are kind of unintuitive, since they're written as U with voiced marks ("nigori"), which doesn't make a whole hell of a lot of sense.

ヴァ　ヴィ　ヴ　ヴェ　ヴォ (VA VI VU VE VO)

In conclusion, Japanese is weird. :-)

[SlayerOfFurbies]

a Q with no u has a k sound.....


so then it is Kicks

[diskoboy]

Qix (pronunced 'kicks', I don't give 2 shits what the Japanese think it's called.) and Zoo Keeper were both developed in the United States. Japan didn't always run the video game industry, folks.

Source please.

My source was The Ultimate History of Video Games by Steve Kent. That and the copyright notice on the games attract mode says "Copyright 1981 Taito America Corp."

Taito of America designed - Qix (1 and 2: Tournament), Zoo Keeper, KRAM, The Electric Yo-Yo, Space Dungeon, and Complex X

[Iron Draggon]

Oh no wait you're all wrong! It's pronounced: Cacoma Knight in: Busyland.

ROFLMAO! Best answer yet!

But how do we know it isn't pronounced KIKES?

Maybe it's an anti-semitic game!

[davidbrit2]

Heh. You have no idea how many days I've been resisting the "kikes" joke.

[CRV]

Taito Legends

Do you have to buy the game to find out? Is it a good compilation?

No, you don't. It says in the history that both were developed in the US. I believe it also says it's pronounced 'kicks,' but I'll have to check.

And yes, it is a good compilation.

[CRV]

My source was The Ultimate History of Video Games by Steve Kent. That and the copyright notice on the games attract mode says "Copyright 1981 Taito America Corp."

Taito of America designed - Qix (1 and 2: Tournament), Zoo Keeper, KRAM, The Electric Yo-Yo, Space Dungeon, and Complex X

They didn't do Colony 7? Would have thought they did that...

[Mayhem]

You'll need to look out for other "small" characters on occasion too... For instance, sometimes "yo" is small after a "ri" (I think) to indicate the pronunciation is actually "ryo". Sometimes "i" or "u" or written small after "ta" (again, I think) to indicate a pronunciation of "ti" and "tu" rather than the "chi" and "tsu" pronunciations in the "t-row" (ta, chi, tsu, te, to in Japanese). There are others too, like to indicate sounds like "va" which normally don't exist in Japanese, but I'm blanking out on any further ones, or how they're spelled...

Heh... I've never had Japanese lessons, I've just taught myself to recognise the katakana and try to read it properly. Now I know about the "-" elongating the vowel sounds, and the changing of certain syllables by having two characters together (as you point out with yo and ri) and so on.

But for TSU, I guess I'd taken the slightly differing way of writing them as just being person traits rather than putting it in the same box as the rest of them. Now I've had a good look, the difference between small and large versions is clearer to me; the "pips" part (the two dashes) go at different angles on the line depending on whether it is small version or large.

I had a good scope through the Taito Memories booklet for the symbol. It turns up every so often, almost always as a small version, which is probably where my oversight has come. Only a couple of times was it the big version.

[davidbrit2]

But for TSU, I guess I'd taken the slightly differing way of writing them as just being person traits rather than putting it in the same box as the rest of them. Now I've had a good look, the difference between small and large versions is clearer to me; the "pips" part (the two dashes) go at different angles on the line depending on whether it is small version or large.

Careful, they should be technically written the same, except for the size. The tricky difference to watch out for is TSU vs. SHI.

ツ　ッ (TSU tsu)
シ (SHI)

TSU uses more downward strokes, whereas the strokes in SHI are nearer to left-to-right.

[Mayhem]

Yeah... duh... I don't think I'm awake today :roll:

Anyhow, based on that that, and having another trip through the booklet, I don't think there's ANY large TSU present at all... it's all little ones. The large ones are indeed SHI (having translated the words in question with them in).

[davidbrit2]

Yeah, TSU probably isn't quite as common in Katakana, since it's mostly used for foreign words. I can only think of one example at the moment:

ツインビー (TSU-I-N-BI-I / Twinbee)

In Hiragana (and mixed with Kanji), TSU is reasonably common, but since it looks quite different from SHI, it's pretty easy to deal with. :-)

つ　っ (TSU tsu)
し (SHI)

Man, I just love jacking my own threads. :D

[Mayhem]

Yeah, sometimes I do much prefer the hiragana symbols for examples such as that, but they don't seem to get used as much. Well not in the Japanese games I've got.

[DeliverMessiah]

I'll have to remember that as I don't recall seeing the TSU in much more than one size in usage before. It isn't that common a character in my experience.

You'll need to look out for other "small" characters on occasion too... For instance, sometimes "yo" is small after a "ri" (I think) to indicate the pronunciation is actually "ryo". Sometimes "i" or "u" or written small after "ta" (again, I think) to indicate a pronunciation of "ti" and "tu" rather than the "chi" and "tsu" pronunciations in the "t-row" (ta, chi, tsu, te, to in Japanese). There are others too, like to indicate sounds like "va" which normally don't exist in Japanese, but I'm blanking out on any further ones, or how they're spelled...

Well actually many characters are combined with smaller ones to change the pronunciation. I will give you all the examples to kill the curiosity.

ｷ+ﾔ=ｷｬ
ki+ya=kya
ｷ+ﾕ=ｷｳ
ki+yu=kyu
ｷ+ﾖ=ｷｮ
ki+yo+kyo
ｷﾞ+ﾔ=ｷﾞｬ
gi+ya=gya
ｷﾞ+ﾕ=ｷﾞｭ
gi+yu=gyu
ｷﾞ+ﾖ=ｷﾞｮ
gi+yo=gyo
ｼ+ﾔ=ｼｬ
shi+ya=shya
ｼ+ﾕ=ｼｭ
shi+yu=shu
ｼ+ﾖ=ｼｮ
shi+yo=sho
ｼﾞ+ﾔ=ｼﾞｬ
ji+ya=jya
ｼﾞ+ﾕ=ｼﾞｭ
ji+yu=jyu
ｼﾞ+ﾖ=ｼﾞｮ
ji+yo=jyo
ﾁ+ﾔ=ﾁｬ
chi+ya=cha
ﾁ+ﾕ=ﾁｭ
chi+yu=chu
ﾁ+ﾖ=ﾁｮ
chi+yo=cho
ﾁ"+ﾔ=ﾁ"ｬ
ji+ya=jya
ﾁ"+ﾕ=ﾁ"ｭ
ji+yu=jyu
ﾁ"+ﾖ=ﾁ"ｮ
ji+yo+jyo
ﾆ+ﾔ=ﾆｬ
ni+ya=nya
ﾆ+ﾕ=ﾆｭ
ni+yu=nyu
ﾆ+ﾖ=ﾆｮ
ni+yo+nyo
ﾋ+ﾔ=ﾋｬ
hi+ya=hya
ﾋ+ﾕ=ﾋｭ
hi+yu=hyu
ﾋ+ﾖ=ﾋｮ
hi+yo=hyo
ﾋﾞ+ﾔ=ﾋﾞｬ
bi+ya=bya
ﾋﾞ+ﾕ=ﾋﾞｭ
bi+yu=byu
ﾋﾞ+ﾖ=ﾋﾞｮ
bi+yo=byo
ﾋﾟ+ﾔ=ﾋﾟｬ
pi+ya=pya
ﾋﾟ+ﾕ=ﾋﾟｭ
pi+yu=pyu
ﾋﾟ+ﾖ=ﾋﾟｮ
pi+yo=pyo
ﾐ+ﾔ=ﾐｬ
mi+ya=mya
ﾐ+ﾕ=ﾐｭ
mi+yu=myu
ﾐ+ﾖ=ﾐｮ
mi+yo=myo
ﾘ+ﾔ=ﾘｬ
ri+ya=rya
ﾘ+ﾕ=ﾘｭ
ri+yu=ryu
ﾘ+ﾖ=ﾘｮ
ri+yo=ryo

Phew.... And you're correct about the small tsu.... it simply doubles the consent.. making a longer sound.

And... Regardless or the way the Japanese pronounce words doesnt mean it is the same pronunciation in English... and vice versa.. both languages have words in common but the pronunciation varies.

Example:
English word "love" is pronounced "rabu" like (rubu)
English word "carpet" is pronounced "kapeto"
English word "radio" is pronounced "rajio"
English word "restaurant" is pronounced "resutoran"
and so on...
We use Japanese words in English such as Tsunami, Sushi, Tofu, sake, daikon.... in Japanese these words are pronounced very sharply and each character has the same length of sound ... making it very rythmic with NO INTONATION.. in english we always use intonation blending the sounds...
Anyway the point is that they vary..

Along with video games.... titles vary on movies as well..
Legally Blonde = Cutie Blonde (in Japanese) for example...

Honestly I dont really see what the big deal is.. and why it should matter how we say it. Is there such thing as a "right way" anyway?!

[Mayhem]

The combinations I know... well just about trying to get there learning them to memory heh. Btw I think the second one you listed (kyu) has the wrong symbol on the end.

I have seen the odd time people not making them small, which can throw you slightly, but I guess that's just their way of doing things. The more you read, the better you get.

Japanese vowel pronounciation is the same as Spanish actually, so it's not that hard to pickup and remember.

A = ah
E = eh
I = ee
O = oh
U = oo

for the most part...

Maybe we should run a Japanese 101 topic here at DP LOL

[Zing]

This discussion ended on page one: "Kicks".

[DeliverMessiah]

The combinations I know... well just about trying to get there learning them to memory heh. Btw I think the second one you listed (kyu) has the wrong symbol on the end.


Mayhem,

Thanks for catching that!! I posted at about 5AM..(I'm in Tokkyo now) and I think I was in zombie mode! LOL

So you're right kyu=キュ

You're right it just takes practice reading.. Katakana can be difficult because some of the characters look similar as mentioned before shi (シ） and tsu　（ツ）　.. ke 　（ケ）and ku　（ク）　are similar as well as fu　（フ） and wa　（ワ）. The differences are slight but its a matter or practice to differenciate them.

If you're trying to learn Japanese, just keep up the practice!!!!

[rbudrick]

The idea that the little tsu is uncommon I'm not sure I follow. I usually can't run into a paragraph of Japanese without seeing it at least once. Pretty darn common, if you ask me. It's not hard to tell the difference in print, but handwriting and bubbly cartoony characters can make it a bit tougher. You can't miss it in print, though.

-Rob

[DeliverMessiah]

The idea that the little tsu is uncommon I'm not sure I follow. I usually can't run into a paragraph of Japanese without seeing it at least once. Pretty darn common, if you ask me. It's not hard to tell the difference in print, but handwriting and bubbly cartoony characters can make it a bit tougher. You can't miss it in print, though.

-Rob

The small "tsu" is very common in the japanese language... it gets easy to spot with practice. And after you start learning more vocabulary you can catch the words without even thinking of the small "tsu".

[BenJahrvi]

It's pronounced "Kix" like the cereal.

[idrougge]

Katakana has even more weird combinations, like TE-i = TI, CHI-e = CHE, etc. Usually you can guess what those are if you know the syllabary well enough. The V sounds are kind of unintuitive, since they're written as U with voiced marks ("nigori"), which doesn't make a whole hell of a lot of sense.

I wovldn't say that. Any literate Roman will tell yov that V is U is 5.

[slapdash]

The idea that the little tsu is uncommon I'm not sure I follow. I usually can't run into a paragraph of Japanese without seeing it at least once. Pretty darn common, if you ask me. It's not hard to tell the difference in print, but handwriting and bubbly cartoony characters can make it a bit tougher. You can't miss it in print, though.

-Rob

The small "tsu" is very common in the japanese language... it gets easy to spot with practice. And after you start learning more vocabulary you can catch the words without even thinking of the small "tsu".

Actually, I think Rob was referring to David Britten's post above, and David meant that the BIG "tsu" symbol wasn't very common in videogame names. Not sure about the language in general...

But yeah, the small is pretty common, especially in hiragana.

[davidbrit2]

Yup, I was mostly just referring to imported (Katakana) words. Amongst the entire language, TSU is not the least bit uncommon.

[Nature Boy]

Why not make this into a poll, it'd be fun to see how many vote on each side.

(I don't care what anyone tells me, I'm pronouncing it Kicks)

[rbudrick]

Can you add a poll to an already existing thread? It would kind of stink to have to make a new one...

-Rob

[eightbitonline]

http://www.eightbitonline.com/graphics/qix013600.jpg

sorry to thread-surrect, but i took this shot for my on-line beard growing contest today, and i remembered the thread and had to post this.

... "beard contest?" you say? go here: www.whiskerino2005.com

[keiblerfan69]

Qix is pronounced as "Quicks".


I really don't see how anyone could think it was anything else.

[DeputyMoniker]

Am I the only person who after reading all these responses has forgotten how they pronounce it? :/

[Nature Boy]

Qix is pronounced as "Quicks".


I really don't see how anyone could think it was anything else.

If it was spelt Quix you wouldn't have an argument from me. But of course it's not spelt that way so it's therefore pronounced kicks :)


Am I the only person who after reading all these responses has forgotten how they pronounce it?

Probably :)

[rbudrick]

http://www.eightbitonline.com/graphics/qix013600.jpg

HA HA HA! LOL LOL

Awesome pic, dude...that made my day!

-Rob

[slapdash]

Qix is pronounced as "Quicks".


I really don't see how anyone could think it was anything else.

If it was spelt Quix you wouldn't have an argument from me. But of course it's not spelt that way so it's therefore pronounced kicks :)


I think, since the 'Q' never really appears alone in English, that we should pronounce it Klingon style.