After <a href="http://smashboards.com/blog/2007/12/03/real-men-use-items-sakurai-explains-the-friends-list-on-brawl/">today’s Dojo update</a> was revealed, there was quite the uproar among fans who had eagerly awaited a fantastic update. It wasn’t because Sakurai didn’t deliver on the <a href="http://smashboards.com/blog/2007/10/10/nintendo-press-conference-of-doom-07/">former North American release date</a> for Brawl, nor was it that the update on friend codes was uninteresting and unenlightening. The crazy reactions stemmed from just one screenshot in particular, for a reason having nothing to do with friend codes at all:
<p align="center"><img src="/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/wi-fi03_071203c-l.jpg" height="315" width="400" /></p>
“Real men use items”? Is Sakurai playing with our minds? Does this confirm Item Switch has been removed? (No.) Does he have some massive amount of disdain for tournament players? I suspect not. But to investigate this a bit further, we’ll need to take a trip around the world.
We’ve dabbled before in the process by which the <a href="http://smashboards.com/blog/2007/10/16/a-glimpse-behind-the-dojo-doors-and-brawl-itself/">Dojo is prepared for American audiences</a> from the Japanese incarnation, and further still in how the <a href="http://smashboards.com/blog/2007/08/18/regional-variations-and-the-dojo/">different regional sites still vary sometimes from the Japanese</a>. While most translations are reasonably close to the original text, this isn’t always the case: sometimes, what appears on the English site bears no resemblance to what appears on the Japanese one. Remember when we learned that <a href="http://smashboards.com/blog/2007/11/13/your-ike-is-a-hampster-and-your-samus-smells-of-elderberries/">each character has three taunts</a>, each of which contains its own user-configurable message? Here’s that shot, from the English site:
<p align="center"><img src="/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/technique07_071113k-l.jpg" height="315" width="400" /></p>
And now, the Japanese:
<p align="center"><img src="/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/technique07_071113k-l.jpg" /></p>
I won’t blame you if you can’t translate the Japanese. I can’t either, which is why I asked SamuraiPanda to tell me what everyone’s saying. King Dedede says, “Let’s go with curry,” while Wario says “So what?” and Snake says “Ahahahaha.”
So the Japanese site has different taunts than the English site. Reading what each character says on the English version, this makes some sense: “Right back at ya!” sounds awfully similar to a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirby:_Right_Back_at_Ya!">certain Kirby anime</a> that aired a few years back–and no, it wasn’t called “Let’s go with curry” in Japan, so that is purely an American reference. You may also remember Snake’s exuberant taunt as how <a href="http://smashboards.com/blog/2006/06/01/snake-snake-snaaaaaaake/">Sakurai revealed him on the old Dojo</a>—would he make fun of that so obviously here?
The culprit, so it would seem, would be none other than Nate Bihldorff, of whom <a href="http://smashboards.com/blog/2007/10/16/a-glimpse-behind-the-dojo-doors-and-brawl-itself/">Mic has already written</a>. Did you notice how the name of the player who declares that “real men use items” is also Nate? It’s not a coincidence. It’s the same Nate who’s been doing the translations for the Dojo, and happens to be the same Nate who <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEF_pp022PQ">showed off a demo of Brawl to the press</a> shortly before E for All.
Indeed, taking a look at the Japanese version of today’s update suggests that Nate took some creative liberties on some of the translations. Compare:
<p align="center"><img src="/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/wi-fi03_071203f-l.jpg" height="315" width="400" /><img src="/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/wi-fi03_071203fjp-l.jpg" /></p>
On the Japanese version, the player’s name is Pitamin (says SamuraiPanda, a play off of “vitamin”), and rather than “Me=Win,” he says, roughly, “Nice to meet you!” (anime fans may be familiar with the term “Yoroshiku”). Dedede’s name is “niceguy,” and his comment reads “Finished your homework?” At the bottom, the eggplant’s name is Hamo (not Skrai, as in the English version), and his comment reads “It’s cold, it’s cold I can play ’til 10″. Peach, as you might guess, is not named Nate on the Japanese version—rather, her name is Poema, and her comment reads “I finished the friend registration~ (^ ^)/” in, according to SamuraiPanda, a female tone.
So, Smashers can rest assured that today’s update, while perhaps a disappointment to some, was not meant to spite the Smash community—at least, not by Sakurai. Perhaps Nate was trying to stir up some controversy, but more likely was that he was just making a joke, albeit one that didn’t go over so well around here. (If you are reading this, though, Nate, it would be <em>hilarious</em> to see a player named “Mc128″ some day in a Dojo screenshot.) In any event, it’s just another way that things get twisted around in the localization process.
<p align="center"><img src="/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/wi-fi03_071203c-l.jpg" height="315" width="400" /></p>
“Real men use items”? Is Sakurai playing with our minds? Does this confirm Item Switch has been removed? (No.) Does he have some massive amount of disdain for tournament players? I suspect not. But to investigate this a bit further, we’ll need to take a trip around the world.
We’ve dabbled before in the process by which the <a href="http://smashboards.com/blog/2007/10/16/a-glimpse-behind-the-dojo-doors-and-brawl-itself/">Dojo is prepared for American audiences</a> from the Japanese incarnation, and further still in how the <a href="http://smashboards.com/blog/2007/08/18/regional-variations-and-the-dojo/">different regional sites still vary sometimes from the Japanese</a>. While most translations are reasonably close to the original text, this isn’t always the case: sometimes, what appears on the English site bears no resemblance to what appears on the Japanese one. Remember when we learned that <a href="http://smashboards.com/blog/2007/11/13/your-ike-is-a-hampster-and-your-samus-smells-of-elderberries/">each character has three taunts</a>, each of which contains its own user-configurable message? Here’s that shot, from the English site:
<p align="center"><img src="/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/technique07_071113k-l.jpg" height="315" width="400" /></p>
And now, the Japanese:
<p align="center"><img src="/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/technique07_071113k-l.jpg" /></p>
I won’t blame you if you can’t translate the Japanese. I can’t either, which is why I asked SamuraiPanda to tell me what everyone’s saying. King Dedede says, “Let’s go with curry,” while Wario says “So what?” and Snake says “Ahahahaha.”
So the Japanese site has different taunts than the English site. Reading what each character says on the English version, this makes some sense: “Right back at ya!” sounds awfully similar to a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirby:_Right_Back_at_Ya!">certain Kirby anime</a> that aired a few years back–and no, it wasn’t called “Let’s go with curry” in Japan, so that is purely an American reference. You may also remember Snake’s exuberant taunt as how <a href="http://smashboards.com/blog/2006/06/01/snake-snake-snaaaaaaake/">Sakurai revealed him on the old Dojo</a>—would he make fun of that so obviously here?
The culprit, so it would seem, would be none other than Nate Bihldorff, of whom <a href="http://smashboards.com/blog/2007/10/16/a-glimpse-behind-the-dojo-doors-and-brawl-itself/">Mic has already written</a>. Did you notice how the name of the player who declares that “real men use items” is also Nate? It’s not a coincidence. It’s the same Nate who’s been doing the translations for the Dojo, and happens to be the same Nate who <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEF_pp022PQ">showed off a demo of Brawl to the press</a> shortly before E for All.
Indeed, taking a look at the Japanese version of today’s update suggests that Nate took some creative liberties on some of the translations. Compare:
<p align="center"><img src="/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/wi-fi03_071203f-l.jpg" height="315" width="400" /><img src="/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/wi-fi03_071203fjp-l.jpg" /></p>
On the Japanese version, the player’s name is Pitamin (says SamuraiPanda, a play off of “vitamin”), and rather than “Me=Win,” he says, roughly, “Nice to meet you!” (anime fans may be familiar with the term “Yoroshiku”). Dedede’s name is “niceguy,” and his comment reads “Finished your homework?” At the bottom, the eggplant’s name is Hamo (not Skrai, as in the English version), and his comment reads “It’s cold, it’s cold I can play ’til 10″. Peach, as you might guess, is not named Nate on the Japanese version—rather, her name is Poema, and her comment reads “I finished the friend registration~ (^ ^)/” in, according to SamuraiPanda, a female tone.
So, Smashers can rest assured that today’s update, while perhaps a disappointment to some, was not meant to spite the Smash community—at least, not by Sakurai. Perhaps Nate was trying to stir up some controversy, but more likely was that he was just making a joke, albeit one that didn’t go over so well around here. (If you are reading this, though, Nate, it would be <em>hilarious</em> to see a player named “Mc128″ some day in a Dojo screenshot.) In any event, it’s just another way that things get twisted around in the localization process.
Jk!
