Disclaimers:
I’m an amateur. My advantage over the original translation is that I have no deadline pressure, and I have the modern internet to help me. I’m assuredly wrong about some of my translations.
Translation is hard. When I point out a mistranslation, it’s not a judgment of the original translators. They had a deadline and poor resources.
Please no jokes in the comments about Karen being a Karen. I really hate that trend.
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
テム： 気がつくと ぼくは きみょうな きゅうでんの中に たたずんでいた。 | The next thing he knew, Will was standing in a huge palace. | Tim: When I came to, I was standing in a weird palace. |
パラシュートが 着水してからの きおくが まったくなかった．．． みんなは 無事だろうか。 | Will: I couldn’t remember anything since my water landing… | I couldn’t remember anything after the parachute hit the water. Is everyone ok? |
Is everyone safe? |
There are skeletons walking around, but touching them doesn’t hurt you. If you hit them, they stand still and their bodies blink. When you check the blinking body:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
テム： 何か 変だな。 さわっても ダメージを受ける 気配もないし．．． | Will: That’s odd. Even if I touch it no damage occurs… | Tim: That’s weird. Even if I touch it, there’s no sign of any damage. |
I always thought this line was weird. Shouldn’t it say even if I attack it or something? But no, it says さわっても (sawatte mo - even if touch). You didn’t just “touch” it, Tim, you bonked it with your flute. There’s another meaning of さわる that’s more like interfere with or irritate but I don’t think that fits either.
I guess he could be astonished that the skeleton doesn’t cause any damage to him, since the game normally has contact damage and simply touching an enemy hurts Tim. It’s a possibility. But I think there’s no sign of damage is a weird way to say that. Instead, you’d say something like I don’t get injured. Or, if you’re feeling cheeky, I don’t lose any HP.
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
テム： おや？ 右の部屋から 人の気配がする．．． | Will: What? A sign of life from the right-hand room… | Tim: Oh? I sense someone’s presence in the room on the right. |
That presence turns out to be Karen, but she’s blinking/semi-transparent like the skeleton I hit earlier.
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
カレン： テム．．．． どこ？ どこにいるの．．．？？ | Kara: Will…Where… Where is it…?? | Karen: Tim… where… Where are you? |
That’s right, I kept the ellipses! All but one of Tim’s party that we’ll encounter will be shambling apparitions like this, and I think it’s appropriate for them to be speaking as if they’re dazed or dreaming.
As for where are you vs. where is it, Karen says どこにいる (doko ni iru) which means at/in where is [unspecified subject that must be a living organism]. There are no pronouns included, but she uses the word いる instead of ある. You use one for living organisms, and the other for inanimate objects. She realistically must be saying where are you or where is Tim because that’s the only available option in which it’s clear that she can’t tell Tim is right in front of her. If she were saying where am I, it would seem like she’s interacting with Tim, in which case she could follow him out of here. But she’s stuck and needs to be rescued.
As we progress through this place, we’ll be regularly interrupted. Tim will preface all of these interruptions with this, which I’ll only bother showing once:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
テム： おや？ どこからか かぼそい声が 聞こえる みたいだ．．． | Will: What? I can hear a soft voice from somewhere… | Tim: Huh? I think I can hear a faint voice from somewhere. |
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
不思議な声： ここは キュウケツキの 住む きゅうでん．．． | Strange Voice: This is the Palace of Vampires… | Strange voice: This is the Palace of the Vampires. |
このきゅうでんの 血の泉は まものを 次々と 作り出し．．． | The fountain in this palace produces demons continuously… | The blood fountain in this palace produces monsters one after another. |
血の泉 (chi no izumi): blood fountain. The game censors reference to blood, unsurprisingly. I have never figured out who this voice is supposed to be coming from.
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
テム： おや？ 左の部屋から 人の気配がする．．． | Will: What? A sign of life from the left-hand room… | Tim: Oh? I sense someone's presence in the room on the left. |
In that room we find Erik, who’s also a shambling apparition.
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
エリック： ここは どこ？ くらいよ．．． さみしいよ．．． おかあさん たすけて．．． | Erik: What is this place? Dark and lonely. Mother, save me… | Erik: Where is this? It’s dark… and lonely… mother, help… |
Tim hears another voice:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
不思議な声： きゅうでんの 一番下の階には 血の泉がある．．． | Strange Voice: In the basement of the castle is a strange fountain. | Strange voice: The blood fountain is on the lowest floor of the palace. |
そこに あの石を．．． はやく は．や．．く．．． | The stone is there… Hurry! Hurry! | Use the stone there… hurry… hu..rr…y… |
Lots going on here. First, determiner choice: the voice already told us about the blood fountain, so I used the instead of a. Second, in the JP, the voice is faint and fading. It’s funny that OE chose to keep the ellipses in almost all instances in the game, but here where it actually indicates something relevant, they’ve been removed.
Third, OE tells us something false: that the stone is in the basement of the palace. It’s not. We’ll find it on the way to the fountain. The JP doesn’t have a verb. It says あの石を… (ano ishi o) which means that stone [direct object marker]. If the voice intended to say that stone is there, it would probably say あの石が: that stone [subject marker] . Since the stone is a direct object, and we have foresight that Tim has to put the stone into the fountain, the most likely intended verb is use or put.
You could also write it so the English leaves the verb out as well: The stone… hurry…
When you go into another room, there will be a dialogue box that appears and disappears very quickly:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
リリィ： わあっ！！！ | Waaah!! | Eek! |
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
リリィ： もう．．． びっくり させないでよっ！！ | Lilly: Hey… You scared me!! | Lily: Geez. Don’t scare me like that! |
しんぞうが のどから 飛び出したら テムのせいだからねっ！！ | I practically had a heart attack! | You might give me a heart attack! |
She actually says If my heart jumped out of my throat, it would be your fault! But the comparable idiom in English is give me a heart attack.
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
リリィ： さっき 他の部屋で エリックを 見かけたんだけど、 何か変でさ。 | Lilly: I saw Erik in the other room, but something’s strange. | Lily: I saw Erik in the other room, but something’s strange. |
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
体が 半分 とうめいで 向こうがわが すけて見えるし、 | His body is half transparent. I can see through it. | His body is half transparent. I can see right through it. |
それに 話しかけても たましいを ぬきとられたみたいに まるで 意識がないの．．． | And he seems to be unconscious, as if his spirit is lost… | And when I talk to him, he’s unconscious, as if his soul has been sucked out. |
ぬきとる (nukitoru) means to pull out/draw out. It doesn’t say his spirit is lost, but I wonder if this is censorship. Souls being stolen might have triggered the religion alarm in 90s American parents, and we can’t have that.
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
とにかく いっしょに行動しよ。 何がおこるか わからないし。 | Let’s stick together. We don’t know what will happen. | Anyway, let’s stick together. We don’t know what’s going to happen. |
リリィ： テムの ポケットを ちょっと かりるね。 | Lilly: I’ll borrow Will’s pocket for a while. | Lily: I’ll borrow your pocket for a little while, ok? |
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
さ。 行こっ。 | Lilly: Well, let’s go. | Come on, let’s go. |
The faint voice speaks again:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
不思議な声： じょうか石は かんおけの中に．．． | Strange voice: The Purification Stone… in the castle… | Strange voice: The Purification Stone in the coffin… |
We have to check some coffins to get an item necessary for progression. OE doesn’t tell you to do this at all. There’s no way かんおけ (kanoke - coffin) could be mistaken for any JP word for castle, so I imagine it’s a typo. Maybe they were going to type casket and their brain pulled out the wrong second half of the word.
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
テム： かんおけの ふたは 開きそうに ないな．．． | Will: I can’t seem to open the lid… | Tim: I can’t open the lid on the coffin. |
ポケットの中から リリィが 話しかけてきた。 | Lilly speaks from his pocket. | Lily spoke from inside the pocket. |
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
リリィ： ちょっと まって。 この かんおけって 穴があいてる じゃない？ | Lilly: Wait a minute. Isn’t there a hole in the coffin? | Lily: Wait a minute. This coffin has a hole in it, right? |
あたしなら 穴から 中に 入れそうだよね。 見てこよっか？ | I could get in through the hole. I better have a look. | I think I can get in through the hole. Want me to take a look? |
The first coffin is empty.
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
リリィ： 変なの．．． この かんおけって 内側に カギが ついてるよ。 どうりで 開かないわけだよね。 | Lilly: Strange… There’s a key fastened inside this coffin. No wonder it didn’t open. | Lily: That’s weird. This coffin has a lock inside. No wonder it didn’t open. |
The word カギ (kagi) very often means key, but it can also mean lock. By context, it must mean lock in this instance. A key fastened inside wouldn’t prevent it from opening.
The second coffin has different text after Lily gets inside:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
リリィ： かんおけの中で 変な石を 見つけちゃった。 | Lilly: I found a strange stone inside this coffin. | Lily: I found a strange stone in the coffin. |
じょうか石を 手に入れた！ | You’ve found the Purification Stone! | Got the Purification Stone! |
We run into the shambling apparitions of Rob and Neil as well.
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
ニール： うーん うーん。 | Neil: Uhhhn. Uhhhn. | Neil: Uuuuhhhh. |
ロブ： うーん うーん。 | Lance: Uhhhn. Uhhhn. | Rob: Uuuuhhhh. |
OE is a direct translation of the sounds they’re making. I take it to indicate they’re making zombie-like moans. How to capture this in English is a very subjective choice.
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
リリィ： あっ！ 血で できた泉だ．．． | Lilly: What! It’s a strange fountain… | Lily: Oh! It’s a fountain made of blood. |
ここと さっきの石が 何か 関係してるのかな．．．？ | Could there be a connection between this and the rock…? | Is there some connection to the rock we found earlier? |
The OE didn’t just censor mention of the word blood. It censored the blood itself:
In the JP, the liquid in the fountain is red. In the US version, they made it black/gray.
Before using the Purification Stone, here’s the menu description:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
じょうかせき | Purify Stone | Purification Stone |
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
じょうか石を かかげた！ | He raises the Purification Stone. | Raised the Purification Stone! |
石は しだいに かがやきをまし 泉の中へと 消えていった．．． | The stone began to glow, then disappeared into the spring. | The stone gradually grew brighter and disappeared into the fountain. |
After purifying the fountain, a few things happen. All of the skeletons and other monsters in the palace disappear. All of the apparitions of your companions disappear. And the palace becomes populated with a bunch of people. Here’s the first one you run into:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
助かったぜ ぼうずっ！ ありがとよっ！！ | Saved!! Thank you!! | Thanks for saving me, kid! |
おれは フリージアの町から このきゅうでんへ 連れてこられて まものに 変えられてたんだ．．． | I was brought to this palace from Freejia and changed to a demon… | I was brought to this palace from the town of Freesia, and changed into a monster. |
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
リリィが ポケットの中から 話しかけてきた。 | Lilly speaks from his pocket. | Lily spoke from inside the pocket. |
えーっ！ じゃ さっきの まものたちは みんな 人間だったわけ．．．？ | What?! All the demons we saw before were human beings…? | What!? So all of the monsters we saw earlier were human beings? |
The hallways of the palace are small and the text boxes block your view a lot, so you won’t be able to see who I’m talking to in most of these screenshots. I’ll say who they are instead. Next up is a young woman:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
さっき 殺される しゅんかんっていうのを味わったわ。 死ぬことが あれほど おそろしい ものだとは．．． | I know now what it feels like to be close to death. Death is terrifying! | I just got a taste of what it’s like to be killed. Death is so terrifying. |
あなたは 何も 知らなかったん だから 罪は ないけれど 私たちが 食料にしている動物たちも あんな気分を 味わってるのかしら。 | I wonder if the animals we eat feel the same way I felt right before death. | You didn’t know anything, so you’re not guilty, but I wonder if the animals we eat for food experience that kind of feeling. |
Probably, lady!
I’m not sure what’s up with you didn’t know anything, so you’re not guilty. Is she talking about Tim attacking the monsters in the palace?
We run into several slavers, presumably from Freesia, wandering the palace. This is what the first one says:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
おれたちゃ もと ドレイ商人。 人身売買の罪で つかまって．．． | We were labor traders, arrested for the crime of buying and selling human beings… | We were formerly slave traders, arrested for trafficking humans. |
でも 役人の連中は おれたちを キュウケツキに売りとばしやがった！ もう 何も 信じられねえよ．．． | But the party officials sold us to a vampire! I can’t believe it… | But the government officials had the nerve to sell us off to vampires! I still can’t believe it. |
There’s a man just to the right of the slaver:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
やれやれ．．． 美人の女の さそいに のって ついてきたら このザマだ．．． | Well, well. This is the result of being tempted by a beautiful woman… | Good grief. This is what I get for accepting an invitation from a beautiful woman. |
And the woman just to his right:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
素敵な男が さそいを かけるから ついてきたの．．． もう 男なんて 信じないっ！ | A nice guy asked me, so I followed him… I don’t trust men! | A charming guy enticed me, so I went along with him. I’ll never trust another man again. |
Next to the coffins from before, there’s a slaver hanging about:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
このカンオケで ねおきしてるのは まぎれもなく キュウケツキ。 やつらは とんでもねえことを たくらんでやがる．．． | The man sleeping in this coffin is surely a vampire. They’re plotting something… | The people who sleep in these coffins are obviously vampires. They’re plotting something terrible. |
JP doesn’t specify singular or plural in the first sentence, but it definitely doesn’t say the man. That’s an inference the translator made. The second sentence does specify plural—I assume that implication is supposed to carry back to the first sentence.
In JP it’s clear that he means a person who’s habitually sleeping in the coffin. In English, if you say the person who’s sleeping here, it could mean either that the person is sleeping there right this second, or it could be a shortened way of saying the person who has been sleeping here or the person who sleeps here. Yeesh, our language can be confusing sometimes. OE isn’t wrong to use sleeping, as that’s basically what the JP says, but I changed it due to this possible confusion.
We run into another wandering man in the halls:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
このきゅうでんに 住んでいるのは キュウケツキの 夫婦です。 | A vampire couple lives in the coffins. | A vampire couple lives in this palace. |
いたるところから 人間をつれてきて まものに変え 労働力として 使っているんですよ．．． | They bring people here, turn them into demons, and use them for labor. | They bring humans in from all over, turn them into monsters, and use them for labor. |
OE gets the second sentence spot on, but for some reason mixed up palace and coffin in the first. There’s no way you’d confuse the two words: きゅうでん (kyuuden - palace) vs カンオケ (kanoke - coffin). The translator must’ve had coffins on the brain and brought it over to this sentence.
The game specifically says that they’re a married couple. 夫婦 (fuufu - married couple / husband and wife). But it’s kind of awkward to shoehorn that into English. Who would say a married vampire couple lives in this palace? I and the OE exclude it.
A woman wandering the halls:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
このきゅうでんは まぼろしの土地 ムー大陸へと つながっているの。 キュウケツキの 夫婦は そこで 何かを さがしてるみたい．．． | This palace is connected to the land of Mu. The vampires are looking for something there… | This palace is connected to the legendary continent of Mu. Seems like the vampire couple are searching for something there. |
They’re searching for the Mystery Doll / Mystic Statue, turns out. Dunno what exactly they’d do with it. There’s another slaver up a floor from that woman:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
おれたちゃまものに 変わりかけの ところだったから 助かったが あんたが くるのがあと一歩 おそかったらと思うと．．． | We were almost changed into demons. I’m afraid of what might have happened if you had come later… | We were saved from the brink of being turned into monsters. But what if you had been just a little bit slower? |
There’s another woman nearby:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
キュウケツキの 夫婦の話を 立聞き したんだけど ムー大陸には ミステリードールとかいう 人形が ねむっているらしいわ．．． | I overheard the vampires say something like the Mystic Statue can be found in Mu. | I overheard the vampires saying something like, “There’s a statue called the Mystery Doll sleeping on the continent of Mu.” |
Downstairs from her is the only NPC in the area actually required to progress the story:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
キュウケツキの女から カギを一個 かっぱらったんだ。 もっていきな。 | I stole a key from the vampire woman. Here, take it. | I stole a key off the vampire woman. Here, take it. |
海底きゅうでんのカギを手に入れた！ | You received the key to the Seaside Palace! | Got the Undersea Palace key! |
I always thought it was weird that this place was called the Seaside Palace in OE. It’s not seaside at all. That word means that it’s on land near the shore of the sea. This place is deep underwater. JP uses the word 海底 (kaitei) which means undersea / bottom of the ocean / seabed. Seaside would be 海浜 (kaihen). They look pretty similar and I assume the translator misread.
If you speak to the man again, he says:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
きゅうでんの 最上階には ムー大陸へつづく 通路が あるらしいぜ。 | On the top floor of the palace is a passageway leading to Mu. | There’s supposedly a passageway leading to Mu on the top floor of the palace. |
There’s one more slaver wandering around:
But he’s saying the exact same thing as the man previously.
There’s one more man upstairs from that:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
こんな 海のまんなかに おきざりになって おれたちゃ 今後 どうすりゃいいんだ．．． | What will we do now, deserted in the middle of the ocean… | What should we do now that we’re stuck in the middle of the ocean? |
Yeah, these people are screwed, huh? Tim sure isn’t going to help them!
And finally, a woman right next to him:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
みんなで このきゅうでんを のっとって 住んじゃうっていうのは どうかしら？ | Maybe we could seize the palace and live there together… | Maybe we could seize control of this palace and live here? |
Yeah, good luck with that. After 3 weeks of eating nothing but fish, you’re all gonna get scurvy. Assuming you even have a way to catch fish.
Back where Tim first woke up in the palace, there’s a door, and of course we’re supposed to use the key on it. Here’s its menu description first:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
きゅうでんのカギ | Palace Key | Palace Key |
The next part I had to savestate and take several tries to get a screenshot in Japanese. There’s a glitch in the JP version (or at least the ROM I’m using), where the second sentence auto-progresses as soon as it’s fully displayed on screen. The glitch is fixed in the English version.
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
きゅうでんのカギを 使ってみる ことにした。 | He tries using the key to the Seaside Palace. | Tried using the Palace Key. |
カギが 不気味な音をたてて まわった。 | The key turns, making a strange sound. | The key makes a strange sound as it turns. |
I don’t think the game ever calls the key the 海底 (kaitei - undersea) palace key again after you first collect it, so this instance is the translator pulling the previous name forward and replacing the generic Palace Key that the JP uses. Too bad it was translated incorrectly before being used here.
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
ポケットのリリィが 話しかけてきた。 | Lilly spoke from his pocket. | Lily spoke from inside the pocket. |
この先に まぼろしの大陸 ムーが 広がっているんだね。 | The phantom land of Mu lies ahead. | The legendary continent of Mu stretches out ahead of us. |
In every instance I know of where Lily speaks from Tim’s pocket, it uses blue text—except for this one, which is yellow for no reason. They fixed it in the English version.
The game uses the word まぼろし (maboroshi) to describe Mu a couple of times. It can mean phantom or apparition. But it can also mean fabled/mythical/legendary, as I believe it’s supposed to here.
While walking through the passage, Lily pipes up once again:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
ポケットの中から リリィが 話しかけてきた。 | Lilly speaks from his pocket. | Lily spoke from inside the pocket. |
リリィ： 長い通路だよね．．．． これ ほんとに ムー大陸に つづいてるのかな．．． | Lilly: A passageway… I wonder if it goes clear to Mu? | Lily: This passage is long, huh? I wonder if this really goes to Mu? |
Indeed it does! We know because the game handily labels it for us:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
ムー大陸 | Mu | Continent of Mu |
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
テム： ぼくと リリィは ムー大陸へと 足をふみいれた。 | Will: Lilly and I set foot on Mu. | Tim: Lily and I set foot onto Mu. |
数千年のねむりからさめた 大陸は ぼくらを かんげいしてくれる だろうか．．． | They will probably welcome us after waking from a sleep of thousands of years… | Will this continent that’s awakened after thousands of years welcome us? |
Will in the OE seems very sure that they will welcome guests. He’s quickly disabused of this notion, as the only they around are a bunch of monsters who attack on sight.
The thing doing the welcoming in JP is continent that awakened from sleep of thousands of years. It’s not wrong to translate it as they necessarily, but since every actual human on this continent is long dead, it comes off kind of weird. In JP Tim ends with だろうか (darouka) which turns the preceding words into a question, like don’t you think? He’s not so confident.
The difficulty changes made to the US version really come through here on Mu. In JP it’s a slightly-above-average-difficulty dungeon, but didn’t give me any worries. In the US version I had to backtrack to a save point to heal. I don’t know the exact HP values, but the enemies in the US version definitely do more damage per attack. And the boss, oh gosh, I’ll talk about that later. It’s maybe the hardest boss in the game. But only in the US version. It’s a laugh in JP.
This game’s instruction booklet had a guide in it, which calls out the difficulty spike here and in the later dungeon of Angkor Wat:
Anyway, we’ll soon run across a treasure chest:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
中は からっぽだった！ | It is empty! | It’s empty! |
There are two statue heads looking at the treasure chest, which is supposed to be a hint that, when we later find two statue heads staring at a blank spot, it will contain what should have been in this chest:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
いのりの像を 見つけた！ いのりの像・・・ どこかに 何じ名前の部屋が なかっただろうか．．． | You’ve found the Statue of Hope! | Found the Statue of Prayer! Statue of Prayer… Wasn’t there a room somewhere that had the same name? |
The Statue of Hope… Was there a room with the same name…? |
Whether or not you found the statue, when you double back, Lily will give you a hint about how to find it:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
リリィ： ねえ テム。 ちょっと 思ったんだけどさ、 | Lilly: Will. I’ve been thinking… | Lily: Hey, Tim. I’ve been thinking, |
この石像って 何かを 見つめてる ように見えない？ | It appears as if the treasure chest is in the exact spot where | doesn’t it seem like these stone statues are looking at something? |
ほら そこにある たからばこって ２つの石像の 視線が交わるところに あるよね。 | the line of vision between both the statues cross. | Look! The treasure box is exactly where the gaze of the 2 statues intersects. |
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
だったら 他の石像も 何かを 見つめてるんじゃないかと思って。 あたしの 思いすごしなのかな。 | I wonder if this is suppose to mean something? Maybe not? | I wonder if the other statues are looking at something as well. Maybe I’m making too much of it. |
Wait, can Lily see from inside Tim’s pocket? As a dandelion seed? Does it have tiny little eyes? Is it poking its little seed body out all the time to see what’s going on?
Hey, now that I think of it, how is she talking? Does she speak through telepathy? Does she have a teensy little mouth on the dandelion seed? If so, how loud do you think the voice is? Whatever tiny little lungs are stuffed in that seed couldn’t hold much air.
Backtracking to the prayer room and checking out the item:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
いのりの部屋 | Room of hope | Room of Prayer |
いのりのぞう | Statue of Hope | Statue of Prayer |
It says the statue is こめられた (komerareta) with the prayers. This can mean loaded or charged, and while that’s not the definition I chose, I like to imagine this thing is loaded up with prayers, like a prayer gun. Or a prayer battery. Anyway, you have to put the statue on the altar:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
いのりの石像を ささげた！ | He raises the Statue of Hope. | Offered the Statue of Prayer! |
どこからか 低く 不気味な声が きこえてきた．．． | A strange whisper is heard from somewhere… | A strange whisper is heard from somewhere. |
The screen will go black and 4 ghost-looking things will appear. These things show up as regular enemies in Mu, but here I guess they’re supposed to be good ghosts? Or something?
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
太陽のカミよ．．． ラ・ムーよ．．． | The Sun god… Rama… | Oh sun god, Ra Mu: |
大いなる 海に 力を あたえたまえ．．． | The ocean holds a power… | Bestow your power upon the great ocean. |
A couple things are mixed up here in OE. First, Rama is not a sun god. That’s Ra. The Japanese says Ra Mu because it’s drawing on Mu lore created by James Churchward1. He claimed that the king of Mu was named Ra Mu, and that this is the origin of the Egyptian sun god Ra. I’d guess most players aren’t familiar with Churchward, or with the lore surrounding the mythical continent of Mu, so it’s fair to translate this as Ra instead of Ra Mu. But I can’t get on board with Rama.
Second, あたえたまえ (ataetamae) is an imperative form of a word that means to bestow (esp. of a god). And it says to bestow power 海に (umi ni - at/in/on/to ocean). So it’s a supplication to Ra Mu, rather than a statement about what the ocean holds. Presumably this is the prayer of the Mu people that was in the statue. Placing these statues causes the water in Mu to recede.
In Japanese, everything makes sense. There’s a prayer room where you offer a prayer statue. The statue contains a prayer to the king/god of Mu, named Ra Mu. The prayer asks Ra Mu to use his power on the water. And when you leave the room, the water has moved.
In the OE, this is all cryptic babbling about Rama and the ocean and power, all having nothing to do with anything.
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
リリィ： あっ！ さっきより 水が少なくなってるっ！ | Lilly: Ah! There’s less water than before! | Lily: Oh! There’s less water than there was before! |
どこからか 下の段へ おりられ そうだねっ！！ | It looks like we can now explore new areas. | Now you can get down to the lower tier! |
When you explore the next tier, you’ll run into a Dark Space allowing you to change into Freedan. Gaia has some more advice there:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
ムー大陸は そなたが 旅をはじめる と 同時に 海面へ ふじょうした。 | When you started this journey, Mu began to rise from the sea. | You started your journey in Mu at the same time it had just risen from the ocean. |
しかし 大陸の 多くの部分には まだ 海水がたまっている。 | Sea water still covers land in many places on the continent. | There’s still seawater covering many places on the continent. |
OE makes it sound like Mu popped out of the ocean when Tim left South Cape, or something. No, it’s risen very recently, presumably after the plane crash.
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
この水が すべて なくなったとき そなたは ムー大陸の王 ラ・ムーの ねむる場所へ たどりつくだろう。 | When the water is gone you will discover the location of Rama, King of Mu. | When the water has completely subsided, you’ll finally be able to reach the resting place of Ra Mu, the king of Mu. |
In the next Dark Space, we’re forced to turn back into Tim so we can get his most useful move, the Psycho Slider. Gaia explains it first:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
テムの力 サイコスライダーは 高さが低く せまい通路を とおりぬけることができる。 | Will’s power is the Psycho Slider. Pass through narrow corridors using this power. | Tim’s Pyscho Slider power allows you to pass low through narrow pathways. |
とおれる 岩のすきまを 見落さないように あたりに 気をくばって歩くがいい。 | Be careful not to overlook the cracks in the cliff. | Pay attention so you don’t overlook passageways in the crevices of rocks. |
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
ヤミの力 サイコスライダーが 使えるようになった！ | Psycho Slider can now be used! | Gained the dark power Psycho Slider! |
サイコスライダーは 少年テムだけが 使うことのできる ちから。 | Only young Will can use the Psycho Slider. | Only young Tim is able to use the Psycho Slider. |
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
スライディングこうげきが できる ようになる。 また せまい通路も通れるであろう。 | You can now use the Sliding Attack to pass through small passageways. | You can now perform a sliding attack. You can also use it to traverse narrow passages. |
走っている最中に こうげきボタンを おすがよい．．． | Push the Attack Button when running. | Press the Attack Button while dashing. |
The Psycho Slider will become my primary form of attacking as Tim. It has four really nice benefits. First, it gives you a ton of invincibility frames. Second, it does about twice the damage of a normal flute attack. Third, if you time it correctly, you can use the knockback to hit enemies a second time in the same sliding animation. Fourth, unlike Tim and Freedan’s other special attacks, this one doesn’t require a charging period. You just need a little bit of space to dash. It’s a game changer.
We find another statue and lower the water level again. The dialogue is the same as the last time. Next we find two Ra Mu statues:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
ラ・ムーの像を 見つけた！ | You found Rama’s Statue! | Found a Ra Mu Statue! |
Here it is in the inventory. They’re both identical:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
ラムーのぞう | Rama Statue | Ra Mu Statue |
After using the two statues on the two altars, Tim will teleport:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
そこは ムーの人々の 墓場の ようだった．．． | This looks like an ancient burial ground for the people of Mu. | This looks like a cemetery of the people of Mu. |
There’s a statue near the top of the cemetery that looks different from the others. Apparently it’s Ra Mu, or channels Ra Mu, or something:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
私は ムー大陸の王 ラ・ムー。 肉体は はるかむかしに なくしたが 精神だけは 生きつづけている。 | I am Rama, King of Mu. My body passed on long ago, but my spirit lives on. | I am Ra Mu, the king of Mu. I lost my body long ago; only my spirit lives on. |
さあ よく 目をこらしてみなさい。 さまよえる たましいたちが 見えるはずだ。 | If you look closely, You can probably see wandering spirits. | Look carefully. You should be able to see wandering spirits. |
If you talk to him again before you talk to the spirits:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
ねむりからさめた たましいたちの 言葉を聞いてくるがよい。 | Hear the words of spirits awakened. | Hear the words of spirits awakened. |
I really like the OE’s translation here. It’s perfect, I’m sticking with it.
The room is now full of spirits to talk to.
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
あるとき 天空から ひとすじの光が さしこんだ。 我々は 神の光だと思いひれふした。 | Once a single ray of light came from the sky. People thought it was the light of the spirits. | Once, a single ray of light shone down from the sky. We thought it was the light of god and prostrated ourselves. |
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
神の光を見た日から 一年がすぎ 我々の体に 変化が起こりはじめた。 | One year after that our bodies began to change. | One year after witnessing the light of god, our bodies began to change. |
ある者は やせほそり ある者は 岩のようになり また あるものは 水のように 体が とけていったのだ．．． | One got very thin, one turned to stone, one’s body melted like water… | One person withered away, one’s body became hard as rock, and yet another’s melted like water. |
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
家族や 友人が 目前で 化け物の 姿に 変化し おそいかかってくる。 我々は なみだを流しながら 武器をふるう．．． | Family and friends turned to monsters before our eyes. We fought back the tears… | Family and friends turned into monsters before our very eyes and attacked us. Our tears poured forth as we struck them down. |
Yeesh, the JP is way darker on this one. I don’t know if it was censored, or if they cut it down because it was too many words, but yikes.
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
おそろしさに たえきれず ここから にげ出そうと 考える者も 少なくない。 | Some couldn’t take it, and thought we should flee from here. | Many couldn’t bear the horror, and thought of escaping from here. |
しかし ムー大陸は 大海原の島。 生きて 他の場所へ たどりつける 保障は どこにもない．．． | But Mu is an island. We didn’t know if we’d find another place to live… | However, Mu is an oceanic island. There was no guarantee of reaching another place alive. |
OE makes it sound like the people of Mu were unsure if other lands existed. I’m reading it more as the people of Mu being so far away from any other continent that there was no way they could have made it alive.
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
この島には 船の材料がないのだ。 石で組み立てても すぐに しずんで しまう．．． | There were no materials for a boat. It would sink if made of stone… | There were no materials for boats on this island. It would sink right away if it were made of stone. |
These people are long dead and their tragedy has already played out. So let’s not tell them about concrete ships, eh?
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
こんなことが 続くなら 生きていることに いったい 何の 意味があろう．．． | Many saw no point in living if this thing continued… | Many wondered what the point was of going on, if things continued like this. |
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
人々は 海底トンネルをほり始めた。 何百年 いや 何千年かかるか わからない計画に のぞみをたくして ひたすら ほり続ける．．． | They started building an undersea tunnel. They dug on, not knowing how long it would take… | People started digging an undersea tunnel. They kept digging, placing all their hopes in the plan, not knowing whether it would take hundreds or even thousands of years. |
After speaking to those spirits, Ra Mu will have new lines:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
人々が ほり進んだ 海底トンネルは この おくにある。 | The underwater tunnel dug by man is inside. | The underwater tunnel that the people dug is inside. |
そして この ミステリードールを もっていきなさい。 | Please take this Mystic Statue. | And finally, please take this Mystery Doll. |
We get the third Mystery Doll / Mystic Statue and continue through a passage that Ra Mu opened up.
Inside is… this:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
エリック： うわああああああん．．． だれか 助けてえっ！！ | Erik: Heeeeelp!! Someone save me! ! | Erik: Waaaaaaaaah! Somebody help! |
Oh, Erik has been tied to a cartoon bomb. This seems like a reasonable thing for a vampire to have done. Speaking of, the vampire couple will descend from the top of the screen.
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
キュウケツキ男： よく ミステリードールを 見つけ出してくれた！ | Vampire: You’ve found the Mystic Statue! | Male vampire: Great job finding the Mystery Doll! |
変なヤツが きゅうでんにやってきた と 思っていたが．．． ふっ。 およがせておいて 正解だったよ。 | I thought that guy who came to the palace was strange….We were right to let him go. | I was thinking that a weirdo had turned up at the palace, but… hah. I was right to leave you alone. |
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
キュウケツキ女： なによ。 あんたは えものが やってきたとか よだれを たらしてたくせにっ！ | Vampiress: What are you saying? You were drooling when he was here! | Female vampire: Ha! Despite the fact that you were slobbering as if some prey animal had shown up. |
ちょっと 若い子が くれば これだものっ！ あんたは 食べることしか 考えて ないのっ？ | You’re always like that when young ones come! All you ever think about is food! | You’re always like that when someone even a little bit young turns up! Do you think about anything but food? |
I like that OE differentiates her as the vampiress. I also like that these vampires are basically the Lockhorns.
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
キュウケツキ男： そういう お前だって！！ | Vampire: So do you!! | Male vampire: You’re no different! |
まあ まて。 今は ふうふげんかを してる場合 じゃない。 | Wait. This is not the time or place for an argument. | Hey, wait. Now’s not the time for a marital spat. |
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
まずは その ミステリードールを いただくとしよう。 そこの お前！ かくごしろっ！！！ | First, let’s get that Mystic Statue! Get ready!!! | First, let’s get that Mystery Doll. You there! Prepare yourself! |
Ah, the vampires. These two are assholes.
A bunch of things make this arguably the hardest boss in the game in the US version.
You’re very likely to be fighting this as Tim. You can get here as Freedan, but you effectively have to backtrack to the beginning of Mu to do so, then run all the way back. If it’s your first time through the game, you should probably do this, boring though it may be.
In the JP version, herbs heal you to full. In the US version, they only restore 8 HP, which is paltry at this point in the game.
The US vampires are much more aggressive than the JP vampires. For example, one of the vampires has an attack like Bomberman’s bombs, exploding outward in 4 directions. In the JP version he leaves a cute little skull bomb, giving you plenty of time to get away. In the US version, he uses it instantly, and you’ll only dodge it if you’re lucky or if you’re taking advantage of invincibility frames. They move faster, they attack faster, they attack more… it’s hilarious.
As you fight them, a timer over the bomb ticks down. If it reaches 0 before the vampires are defeated, Tim dies. (After they’re defeated is a different story.) It’s not a huge deal, but adding a time limit on top of everything is funny.
It took me 2 herbs in the US version, fighting as Tim. I still have several, but after this I only want to use herbs in the optional dungeon and the Tower of Babel.
I also had to do the fight twice in each version, because there’s different dialogue depending on which vampire you kill first.
If you kill the female vampire first:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
キュウケツキ男： きさまっ！ よくも わが妻をっ！！ ゆるさんっ！！！！ | Vampire: You! You did that to my wife! I’ll never forgive you!! | Male vampire: You bastard! How could you do that to my wife!? I won’t let you get away with this! |
Ooh, he calls you きさま (kisama). This is a very rude way to address someone. It doesn’t literally mean bastard, it’s just a mean thing to say. I’ve seen it translated as you bastard frequently, but for localizations that wanted to be more family friendly, I’ve even seen it translated as buster. I’m imagining that here: Hey buster, you killed my wife! Darn you to heck! The OE is stilted, but maybe we’re lucky it wasn’t worse.
He does literally say I won’t forgive you, but this tends to be overused in JP→Eng translation and localizers will often punch it up to something similar.
And if you kill the male vampire first:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
キュウケツキ女： ふんっ。 あんな男 死んで せいせいしたわっ さあ 次は お前の番っ！！ かくご おしっ！！ | Vampiress: I’m glad he’s gone. It’s your turn next!! Get ready! | Female vampire: Hmph. I’m relieved for him to die. Now you’ll be the next! Prepare yourself! |
Oh wow. These vampires appear to have VERY different feelings about each other.
Once the vampires are down, it’s a race against the clock to defuse the bomb!
…By which I mean I’m going to sit here and let it count down to zero.
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
．．．．．．．．．．．． | ……….. | ……… |
不発だったんだ．．． 助かった．．． | It was a dud. I’m saved… | It was a dud. We’re saved. |
Even if you let the timer run out, the game continues to pretend as if there’s some kind of emergency. Erik will say the same thing before or after the countdown has ended:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
まずは ばくだんを とめてよおっ！ はやく はやくっ！！ | First, defuse the bomb! Hurry! Hurry! | Take care of the bomb first! Hurry, hurry! |
And you’ll have to defuse the bomb even if it’s a known dud.
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
ばくだんからは 赤い線と 青い線が ２本 出ているようだ．．． | There’s a red wire and a blue wire sticking out of the bomb… | There are 2 wires sticking out from the bomb: a red and a blue one. |
どっちを 切りますか？ | Cut which one? | Cut which one? |
Ooooh, tough choice. I’ll choose the red.
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
赤い線を 引きちぎった！ | The red wire is cut! | The red wire is cut! |
Wait, no, I changed my mind. Load state! Cut the blue wire instead!
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
青い線を 引きちぎった！ | The blue wire is cut! | The blue wire is cut! |
Was that the right choice? Oh, I sure hope so…
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
テム： どうやら ばくだんは 止まった みたいだった．．． | Will: The bomb has been defused… | Tim: Seems like the bomb has been defused. |
Huzzah! Good thing I made a save state before making that decision! Otherwise I’d have had to fight the vampires all over again.
…Oh, wait, I’m getting word that it makes no difference which wire you cut and this scene is thrown in here just to add a silly cliche. The game clearly didn’t have enough of those.
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
エリック： たすかったあ．．． | Erik: Saved… | Erik: We’re saved. |
Lily pipes up from Tim’s pocket once more:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
リリィ： ごめんね テム．．． あたし いっしょにいたのに 何にも できなかった．．． | Lilly: Sorry, Will… There was nothing I could do… | Lily: I’m sorry, Tim. I was with you, but I couldn’t do anything. |
足がすくんで ぜんぜん 動けないし 声も出ないし．．． テムは やっぱり 男の子だよね。 | My legs gave out from fear. I couldn’t move or make a sound. | I was frozen with fear; I couldn’t even speak. And in the end, you’re the boy. |
JP says テムは やっぱり 男の子だよね (temu wa yappari otokonoko dayone) which literally means as for Tim, is boy/man as expected, right? I think she’s trying to say that while she was frozen with fear, she told herself that Tim would take care of it, being a Big Strong Man and her being Weak Seed Girl. I’m not sure how else to interpret it.
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
いままで 自分をしっかりしてるって 思ってたけど いざとなると これだもん．．． | Up to now I thought I was strong, but in a crisis……… | Until now I thought I was tough stuff, but when push comes to shove, I guess I’m not. |
．．．．．．．．．。 ごめん もう しばらく ポケットの 中に いさせて。 | ……..Sorry for staying in your pocket for so long. | Sorry for staying in your pocket for so long. |
She’s sorry, but she doesn’t now take the time to get the hell out of my pocket.
You can talk to Erik again:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
エリック： また テムに たすけられちゃった なあ．．．． | Erik: Once again Will has saved me. | Erik: You saved me once again, huh. |
When you finally try to leave by heading back towards Ra Mu, some friends show up:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
ニール： テムっ！ 無事かっ？！ | Neil: Will! Are you OK?! | Neil: Tim! Are you ok!? |
ロブ： テムっ！ リリィの姿が 見あたらないけど リリィは どうしたっ？！ | Lance: Will! I don’t see Lilly. Has something happened? | Rob: Tim! There’s no sign of Lily. What happened to her? |
リリィ： ここに いるよっ。 | Lilly: I’m here. | Lily: I’m right here. |
Rob is really concerned about Lily, huh? Good on him. Lily fiiiiinally comes out of Tim’s pocket.
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
リリィ： 心配 させてごめんね。 でも テムが 守ってくれたから あたしは 平気っ。 | Lilly: Sorry I worried you. Will was protecting me, so I was OK. | Lily: Sorry for worrying you. But Tim protected me, so I’m fine. |
ニール： へえ。 テムも なかなか 男らしいところが 出てきたじゃないか。 | Neil: Well, Will seems to have really grown up. | Neil: Oh yeah? Tim’s masculine side emerged, huh? |
All this talk about Tim being manly and protecting Lily makes Karen jealous, and she changes the subject:
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
カレン： そんなの どうでも いいじゃない！ | Kara: It doesn’t matter! | Karen: What does that matter!? |
それより ムー大陸から どうやって 出るかを 考えましょっ！ | Let’s think about how to leave Mu! | More importantly, let’s think about how we get out of Mu! |
I don’t think her jealousy came through correctly in the OE at all. Maybe not in my translation either.
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
リリィ： それなら だいじょうぶ。 さっき ラ・ムーとか いう人から いいこと 聞いちゃったもの。 | Lilly: That’s good. We heard some things from someone called Rama. | Lily: Sure, fine. We heard something good a little while ago from someone named Ra Mu. |
テムは ムー大陸のことや 海底トンネルを わたった人々の ことを みんなに 話した．．． | Will told everyone about Mu and the people who had come through the underwater tunnel… | Tim told everyone about Mu and the people who crossed through an underwater tunnel. |
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
カレン： 悲しい話ね．．． | Kara: It’s such a sad story… | Karen: What a sad story. |
いっしょに くらしてた人たちが はなればなれになって しかも 片方は 海の底なんて．．． | separated from those with whom they lived. | People who were living together were separated from each other. And moreover, to think that one side ended up at the bottom of the ocean. |
Others remaining under water… |
I thought this line was pretty weird as a kid. Why’s she describing people building an undersea tunnel as under water? But she’s talking about those who got left behind, when Mu sank into the ocean.
Japanese | Original English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
ニール： とにかく その 海底トンネルを 通っていけば 近くの大陸へ 出られるってわけか。 | Neil: If we go through the tunnel, maybe we can reach the mainland. | Neil: Anyway, if we go through the tunnel, maybe we can get out at the nearby continent. |
ロブ： よしっ！ そうと決まれば さっそく出発だっ！ | Lance: Good idea! Let’s get out of here!! | Rob: All right! If it’s settled, let’s set off right away. |
How do you suppose the people of Mu knew they were under a continent before they started to dig up? Seems like the entire effort would be ruined if you dug up and were still under the ocean. The water would flood the tunnel and you’d all die, right?
And what if, y’know, the ocean changed depths? You could still be on the continental shelf, and going straight would run you right into the ocean. How would you know?
Well, the game’s not going to answer such questions. In the next entry, we encounter an old friend! Sort of.
1 Churchward thought he was discovering the lore, rather than inventing it. He was… let’s say that he was not very good at deducing the most likely explanation for things. Anyway, we know it’s all false because plate tectonics.