Nate Bihldorff. Haven’t heard of him before? Me either, but remember the name. He’s the guy in charge of Translating Nintendo’s masterpieces from the language of Japan (Japanese!) to English. He’s worked on a large number of games, the most recent ones being Links Crossbow Training, Mario Galaxy and good ol’ Smash Bros Brawl. Part of his job with Brawl, also envolves updating the Dojo. During the latest Nintendo event at San Fransisco, <a href="http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1572074/20071016/index.jhtml">MTV</a> had a brief interview with him. Read on for the juicy details!
The start of the interview is Bihldorff talking about the Christmas rush of projects that he and his team are working on, games written in Japanese, then requiring translation for the English speaking audiences, but then swiftly switches to Brawl mode. Below is the excerpt from the Interview, all below about Brawl.
<blockquote>About a month or so ago, Bihldorff explained, he accompanied the voice actors responsible for the main characters in the “Metal Gear Solid” series into a studio to record voices for “Super Smash Brothers Brawl.” “MGS” hero Solid Snake is one of the combatants in the “Smash” fighting game, so it was a smooth transition. Snake’s opponents, aside from Sonic the Hedgehog, represent a who’s who of Nintendo characters. And in fitting with the traditions of Snake’s series, a signature “MGS” codec sequence — an audio briefing — needed to be recorded for each character. Snake’s superiors would, essentially, be briefing Snake on each of the characters. The “Metal Gear” characters, gruff and serious as ever, play it straight, even when the situation calls for the no-nonsense Colonel to warn Snake that enemy combatant Wario has a lethal farting attack.
The scripts for the exchanges were written in Japan, approved, in this case, by Hideo Kojima, creator of “Metal Gear,” and then translated and recorded in English in the U.S. “As [the ‘Smash Brothers’ developers] were writing them, they knew they were going to be very, very funny. And so the actors took it that way. Going through the Wario sequence where it’s the Colonel in this very serious voice telling Snake he’s attacking by farting, the [actor playing the] Colonel was just cracking up. The first three or four takes he just couldn’t do it. Then he got into character and banged it out there.”
Bihldorff said the “Metal Gear” actors were true pros. “They were up for anything,” he said. “There was no, ‘Hey, I wouldn’t be talking to Pikachu like that.’ ” So what do they wind up saying about Sonic? What would Solid Snake say about the blue hedgehog? Bihldorff wouldn’t say but assured GameFile that all the codec sequences would be easy to access in the game. He said Snake reveals a wide range, from “really disliking characters” to, well, in an already-released clip, preparing to flirt with one of them.
Bihldorff is also in charge of the Smash Brothers Dojo, a blog from “Brawl” creator Masahiro Sakurai. That entails Bihldorff getting “chunks” of text bit by bit from Japan, about three or five weeks before they are ready to be published, and then making sure they are translated, written smoothly and passed on for any further translation needed by Nintendo of Europe.
The rest of Bihldorff’s “Smash” duties include confirming the language for the game’s gallery of trophies, rewards that commemorate characters and moments from Nintendo history and the history of the “Metal Gear” and “Sonic” series. (That compels him to play a lot of old games: “It’s a little bit easier in this day and age because of YouTube,” he said. “If I want to see the boss battle for something, I can go find it online. Maybe I’m just masochistic, but part of me likes doing the legwork and actually experiencing those games myself because I know Sakurai-san did too.”
</blockquote>
The interview then goes on to talking about Mario Galaxy and plans in 2008, so if you’re interested in reading more, you can check it out <a href="http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1572074/20071016/index.jhtml">here.</a>
The start of the interview is Bihldorff talking about the Christmas rush of projects that he and his team are working on, games written in Japanese, then requiring translation for the English speaking audiences, but then swiftly switches to Brawl mode. Below is the excerpt from the Interview, all below about Brawl.
<blockquote>About a month or so ago, Bihldorff explained, he accompanied the voice actors responsible for the main characters in the “Metal Gear Solid” series into a studio to record voices for “Super Smash Brothers Brawl.” “MGS” hero Solid Snake is one of the combatants in the “Smash” fighting game, so it was a smooth transition. Snake’s opponents, aside from Sonic the Hedgehog, represent a who’s who of Nintendo characters. And in fitting with the traditions of Snake’s series, a signature “MGS” codec sequence — an audio briefing — needed to be recorded for each character. Snake’s superiors would, essentially, be briefing Snake on each of the characters. The “Metal Gear” characters, gruff and serious as ever, play it straight, even when the situation calls for the no-nonsense Colonel to warn Snake that enemy combatant Wario has a lethal farting attack.
The scripts for the exchanges were written in Japan, approved, in this case, by Hideo Kojima, creator of “Metal Gear,” and then translated and recorded in English in the U.S. “As [the ‘Smash Brothers’ developers] were writing them, they knew they were going to be very, very funny. And so the actors took it that way. Going through the Wario sequence where it’s the Colonel in this very serious voice telling Snake he’s attacking by farting, the [actor playing the] Colonel was just cracking up. The first three or four takes he just couldn’t do it. Then he got into character and banged it out there.”
Bihldorff said the “Metal Gear” actors were true pros. “They were up for anything,” he said. “There was no, ‘Hey, I wouldn’t be talking to Pikachu like that.’ ” So what do they wind up saying about Sonic? What would Solid Snake say about the blue hedgehog? Bihldorff wouldn’t say but assured GameFile that all the codec sequences would be easy to access in the game. He said Snake reveals a wide range, from “really disliking characters” to, well, in an already-released clip, preparing to flirt with one of them.
Bihldorff is also in charge of the Smash Brothers Dojo, a blog from “Brawl” creator Masahiro Sakurai. That entails Bihldorff getting “chunks” of text bit by bit from Japan, about three or five weeks before they are ready to be published, and then making sure they are translated, written smoothly and passed on for any further translation needed by Nintendo of Europe.
The rest of Bihldorff’s “Smash” duties include confirming the language for the game’s gallery of trophies, rewards that commemorate characters and moments from Nintendo history and the history of the “Metal Gear” and “Sonic” series. (That compels him to play a lot of old games: “It’s a little bit easier in this day and age because of YouTube,” he said. “If I want to see the boss battle for something, I can go find it online. Maybe I’m just masochistic, but part of me likes doing the legwork and actually experiencing those games myself because I know Sakurai-san did too.”
</blockquote>
The interview then goes on to talking about Mario Galaxy and plans in 2008, so if you’re interested in reading more, you can check it out <a href="http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1572074/20071016/index.jhtml">here.</a>
