MOTHER 2 vs. EarthBound: Dalaam

Or, someone could just translate the Mother 2 portion of Mother 1+2.

Yeah, I don’t care. Just figure it out, you crazy hacker types!

I happily support the site concept.

I would LOVE to see a site like that in the future, Mato!
I’m really interested in version differences in videogames (such as this here M2/EB comparison or other stuff like the graphical censorship in Final Fantasy III/VI or difficulty changes, like how in the Castlevania series you lose more health on enemy contact in the US/PAL version than in the Japanese version).

You know. Stuff like that 🙂

Thanks so much, translation/localization comparisons are really interesting to me.

Hooray! Many happy returns!

This is a pretty fascinating update. It’s interesting to see some examples of both excellent and inconsistent translation in the same area.

… Yeah that makes more sense as a joke. Unless you didn’t call him Poo.

haha it says “poo” and “poopie” in the japanese version

THIS IS DELICIOUS!
YES! YES!

I love this kind of stuff! Thanks for this, Tomato!

I am now pissed! because of this “he’s just as flatulent in MOTHER 2” I had no idea that guy was farting and EB is now ruined for me.

I had no idea that guy was farting, either. Here I thought he was making animal (bird and then something else) noises of some sort – that’s what “preeeeet” and “poooooot” sound like to me.

Glad you decided to go back to working on the M2 vs. EB section. Keep up the good work!

I would love to see a website like that.

However, i would also love to see a re-translation hack of the game implementing much of the changes listed here. I wouldn’t matter much to me if it was the SNES version or the GBA version, i just think it would be fun to play.
I love playing re-translations like that, like what Square did with a lot of their RPGs on the GBA and DS, and also what Mato did with Mother 1.

1. For some reason, the whole “mosquito on the cheek” joke just clicked after looking at your comparision. Funny stuff!

2. I always thought that guy was holding and playing a flute. My view of him will never be the same.

I do love these compares and I’m grateful for them!

YES! I’ve been waiting for an update for quite some time! Thanks!

I never realized the meditating man was farting, either….

Also, the section on the “do do” line was really interesting.

“Why they changed it I can’t say, people just liked it better that way.”
Heh heh, nice “they might be giants” reference.

Also, they might have changed the name from “Ranma” to “Dalaam” because “Ranma 1/2” is the name of a Japanese anime that was later dubbed into English by Viz.

Yay, you updated the comparison site, awesome! I find this kind of information so fascinating.

Why do I have this strange sense of deja vu? Like that I’ve read some of this before…

For the name of Poo’s master, it’s more pronounced like “Eee-sss-chee” with the “sss” having a downward tone. The pronunciation of that character is hard to describe, it’s kind of like hissing but with a voice behind it. If you say “sih”, but without moving the teeth apart at the “ih” sound it’ll sound like what it’s supposed.

Oh, and the other characters have a straight tone.

They probably changed “May you become a powerful force!” because they’d already used so many potty jokes in Dalaam that they really didn’t need any more exploitable lines.

Somewhere, in my dreams, someone will have the time and patience to do a re-translated hack of EB (for the SNES, because we all know that the GBA version is inferior). It would just be nice to play the game without all of NoA’s stupid censorship.

Thanks! This is neat stuff. 🙂

Be sure to change the Battle Stuff page’s “Previous” button to direct to Dalaam… it’s still directing to Summers! Thanks for all of your hard work, Tomato!

I was really curious about the “do do” line of dialogue that was apparantly an interesting word play in Japanese. I typed the Japanese lines into Google Translate and ended up with

“The cheeks of strength in
I was sitting.
Oh mistaken. It was power.”

…That didn’t end up meaning anything. Hmm.

…Looking at it, it almost looks like a bizarre haiku.

I, too, am completely flummoxed to learn that the “preet, poot” guy is supposed to be farting. I’d always misread the line as “preet, pRoot” and assumed it was just some nonsensical phrase.

Yeah, I never realized he was farting either.

I never got the do do guy’s joke either. Maybe a better way of translating the joke would have been to have the character make a spelling mistake and then break the 4th wall to correct himself. I just thought the guy was being silly, I didn’t catch that he basically made a typo.

The “do do” line isn’t about a typo. It’s a legitimate sentence. He just realizes that “do do” sounds like “doodoo”.

ooooohhhhhh

I guess I still didn’t get it! 😛

What was the Japanese joke?

It doesn’t translate, but basically the guy mixes up カ and 力. They look alike at first glance, but they’re actually very different in Japanese.

“As the master finishes his speech, he says in EarthBound, “For all beings, for the earth herself… I pray for growth in the might of the four.”

“The small differences here and there are nothing much, I’m mostly intrigued by their choice to add the prayer to his line.”

Perhaps, maybe it could be some sort of foreshadowing? XD I really hope you knew that. Although it would be funny if that was never there intension at all. Then the joke would be on me.

At last! I’ve been waiting for this for SO LOOOOONG!

Thank you Mato! Thank you…! *cries*

Wow, I’ve been hoping for an update to this for ages. Way to go, Mato. Interesting stuff.

And I dig that idea of a site dedicated to localization and various changes in that realm. Sites like The Cutting Room Floor touch on it some, but it’d be a neat concept to dedicate its own site to.

I always thought the guy was whistling, as one might do when a beautiful woman passes by; like he was sitting there, taking in all the women roaming around, while the women themselves are infatuated with Poo.

Also, thank you for this stuff, and please do more.

I always thought the “preeeet” guy was playing a recorder really badly! Huh, what an imagination!

@YAOMTC

Try hovering the mouse over the Dalaam/Ranma pic.

Thanks for sharing these comparisons! I love reading about the changes that were made.

Wow, am i the only one here who knew it was farting the first time i played the game?

What’s the premise of the joke about カ and 力? Did the guy misuse them up somewhere, or was the joke simply that he couldn’t tell the difference?

Yeah, he says ちから the first time when he meant to say カ (mosquito).

chikara… what does that mean? I’m sure the joke doesn’t translate, but…

Funny, I always read that line at “preeet proooot!” until now. (With an extra R) I thought it was something he was saying in meditation. But this is a whole lot funnier!

I, too, always unconsciously put an extra R in there. “Preet proot” is nonsensical, but I certainly don’t agree that a fart joke is any funnier.

Anonymous: it means strength or power. He says something about how strength landed on his cheek, then he corrects his writing verbally.

“Not much of a difference, but the use of the English word “stoic” here makes me wonder if it’s meant to be a loose connection to what just happened in the game with Ness and friends. Like, maybe eating magic cake from the Stoic Club lady is what made Ness dream of stoic Poo?”

I always thought the transition from the Stoic Club, Poo was supposed to contrast the phony people all staring at a rock, compared to the genuine culture that study Mu Training. One culture it’s a huge cultural spiritual thing (Dalaam) and the other it’s just a way of gaining social status. (Summer.)

Thanks for posting, Tomato!

I know this is late, but I actually picked up a copy of The Unbearable Lightness of Being from a local Chapters. It’s an interesting read. I’m almost halfway through the book.

I’ve found that its contents are tough stuff to deal with, but not as horrific as The Notebook, The Proof and The Third Lie by Agota Kristof. I bought a copy of it Amazon earlier this year, and I hadn’t read something so horrific in quite some time.

But, it is interesting and gives us a better understanding of the inspiration behind the games we love.

**bought a copy from Amazon this year

Comments need an edit feature, lol.