Square translation mistakes

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These are just the ones I could remember easily...  I'm sure there are many more.  I've never played the remaining Woolsey game, Legend of the Holy Sword 2 / Secret of Mana.

Final Fantasy 4


  • Gilbert -> Edward
  • Fusuya -> Fusoya
  • Lydia -> Rydia
  • Cain -> Kain
  • Golbeza -> Golbez
  • Gil Turtle -> Gilgamesh (GBA)

Final Fantasy 5 - willing to ignore PSX version =)


  • Butz -> Bartz

Final Fantasy 6 - Woolsey


  • Tina -> Terra
  • Cayenne -> Cyan
  • Mash -> Sabin ("Matthew" is another possible interpretation)
  • Stragos -> Strago
  • Mog* moogles -> Ku*
  • Biggs (Darklighter) -> Vicks (fixed GBA, PSX)
  • Ultima Weapon -> Atma Weapon (fixed GBA)
  • Midgarsorm -> Terrato
  • Cait Sith -> Stray
  • Melton -> Merton
  • Jeff -> Gerad
  • Rest in Peace -> The World is Square

Final Fantasy 7


  • Aerith -> Aeris (indistinguishable in Japanese, but pre-existing documents have "Aerith" in Roman letters)
  • Midgarsorm -> Midgar Zolom
  • Cockatrice -> Kokatolis

Final Fantasy 9


  • Enkidu -> Enkido (Excalibur II dialog)

Breath of Fire - Woolsey


  • Myria -> Tyr
  • Dank -> Karn
  • Giliam -> Bo
  • Builder -> Ox
  • Manillo -> Gobi
  • Deece -> Bleu (3's Deis was itself a mistake, probably misreading ディース as デイース)
  • Judas -> Jade (censorship?)
  • Zorgon -> Zog
  • Windia -> Winlan
  • Dragnier -> Drogen

Chrono Trigger - Woolsey


  • Evil king -> Magus (not Woolsey's fault)
  • Vinegar -> Ozzie
  • Soy Sauce -> Slash
  • Mayonnaise -> Flea
  • Biggs (Darklighter) -> Vicks (fixed PSX)

Super Mario RPG - Woolsey


  • Koopa Shell -> Noknok Shell (nokonoko = "Koopa Troopa")
  • Crystaller -> Culex
 
Chrono Trigger


  • Jackie -> Janus
  • Sara -> Schala
  • Gasch -> Melchior
  • Hash -> Gaspar
  • Bosch -> Belthasar
  • Grand Lion -> Masamune
 
In Final Fantasy 7 during the escape from Shinra FMV the truck has Midgal instead of Midgar written on the side
Haha! Score one for me lol
 
Is there a conclusive list of translation disputes anywhere on the internet for Final Fantasy VII? I'd like to correct what I can using Loveless.
Speaking of which, "Shinra" and "Shin-Ra". Which is it? Right now I'm using Shin-Ra since that's how it's depicted in graphics, but is that even a proper way to write that?
Also, did the censoring happen after the script was completed? I always picture Barret saying "Shit" a lot, while Cid spammed the F-word like a retired sailor, and have edited my personal version to reflect that. On the other hand, I can see where "%^@$#" was an intentional thing, meant to be funny kinda like Q-Bert.

In a Kernel2 patch here, Heaven's Cloud is changed to Excalibur. Is there any evidence that this is correct, or was it just a judgment call by the author of the patch?

Is "Ultima Weapon" an ongoing mistake Square does on purpose, which should have originally been "Ultimate Weapon", or was "Ultima" the intended word?
 
In Japanese FF7, Shinra was the 2-ideograph word　神羅.  "Shin" here obviously means "god", but I don't know what ç¾… means.  A Chinese dictionary had: http://www.mandarintools.com/cgi-bin/wordlook.pl?word=羅&searchtype=chinese&where=whole&audio=on  I don't know Japanese so I have no clue.

Ultima was アルテマ (arutema).  "Ultimate" would've been written differently.

The PlayStation version didn't censor "shit".  If the PlayStation version had symbols, it was worse than that, like "The !@#$ Room" in Honeybee Manor. =)

No idea about Heaven's Cloud.
 
Now that I think about it, "shit" wasn't censored really, but yeah you get what I mean. Thanks for clearing most of that up.

Off course!  :lol:
 
Square doesn't need to directly translate anything from Japanese to English.
They like Nintendo decide to change things to suit the Western Market.
 
Like Skillster pointed out, many of these seem to be localizations, rather than mistakes.
 
Square doesn't need to directly translate anything from Japanese to English.
They like Nintendo decide to change things to suit the Western Market.
Click to expand...
The problem with changing arbitrarily is that later games are often translated by different people, even companies, than the previous games.  Many of the references across games are lost because the translators don't keep lists of their changes, and it's easier to do this when there aren't any.  American players don't know that Cait Sith was a summoned monster/esper in FF6.

It's a definitely a difficult line to draw.  When do you translate, keep the original, or change the name?  I don't think anyone would say "Zapsqueak" is better than "Pikachu", or that "Nokonoko" is better than "Koopa Troopa".
 
  • Jackie -> Janus
- probably because it sounds better

  • Sara -> Schala
- probably because it sounds better

  • Gasch -> Melchior
  • Hash -> Gaspar
  • Bosch -> Belthasar
    - These three may be of mythical origin in japan... research?


  • Grand Lion -> Masamune
- but things the average American audience couldn't pronounce are fun. Really.

[/list]

Final Fantasy 4


  • Gilbert -> Edward
  • Fusuya -> Fusoya
  • Lydia -> Rydia
- isn't this close enough?


  • Cain -> Kain
- isn't this close enough?


  • Golbeza -> Golbez
- you get the idea from above...


  • Gil Turtle -> Gilgamesh (GBA)

Final Fantasy 5 - willing to ignore PSX version =)


  • Butz -> Bartz
- jokes for the original name... too plentiful

[/list]

Final Fantasy 6 - Woolsey


  • Tina -> Terra
- perhaps the American audience was perceived to like an exotic-ish name?


  • Cayenne -> Cyan
- text space constraints


  • Mash -> Sabin ("Matthew" is another possible interpretation)
- just had no idea what to do with it/space constraints for the latter


  • Stragos -> Strago
- original sounds like a plural?


  • Mog* moogles -> Ku*
  • Biggs (Darklighter) -> Vicks (fixed GBA, PSX)
  • Ultima Weapon -> Atma Weapon (fixed GBA)
  • Midgarsorm -> Terrato
- likely should be translated as Midgar's Worm or Serpent, space constraints. Terrato is earth-related.


  • Cait Sith -> Stray
- come FF7, i had to research what a Cait Sith is. Stray cat is pretty easy.


  • Melton -> Merton
- close enough.


  • Jeff -> Gerad
boredom?


  • Rest in Peace -> The World is Square
- Square can be too full of themselves

[/list]

Final Fantasy 7


  • Aerith -> Aeris (indistinguishable in Japanese, but pre-existing documents have "Aerith" in Roman letters)
  • Midgarsorm -> Midgar Zolom
- Stated above, should have been Midgar's Worm or Serpent


  • Cockatrice -> Kokatolis
- Pronounce with me... Koh-Kah-Toh-Rees. Cockatrice.

[/list]

Final Fantasy 9


  • Enkidu -> Enkido (Excalibur II dialog)
- Oddly off. Not the end of the world, is it?

[/list]

Breath of Fire - Woolsey

Chrono Trigger - Woolsey


  • Evil king -> Magus (not Woolsey's fault)
- Shorter/easier/better sounding than "Demon King".


  • Vinegar -> Ozzie
  • Soy Sauce -> Slash
  • Mayonnaise -> Flea
    - you really think characters named after condiments would have flown here?


  • Biggs (Darklighter) -> Vicks (fixed PSX)

Super Mario RPG - Woolsey


  • Koopa Shell -> Noknok Shell (nokonoko = "Koopa Troopa")
  • Crystaller -> Culex
- these two were probably both space constraints

[/list]

[/quote]
 

  • Cain -> Kain
- isn't this close enough?
Click to expand...
Not when it's a reference to Bible mythology.  Consider "Abel's Lance" in GBA FF4.

  • Midgarsorm -> Terrato
- likely should be translated as Midgar's Worm or Serpent, space constraints. Terrato is earth-related.
Click to expand...
"Midgarsorm" is a mythological name.

  • Melton -> Merton
- close enough.
Click to expand...
Consider what the spell does...

  • Enkidu -> Enkido (Excalibur II dialog)
- Oddly off. Not the end of the world, is it?
Click to expand...
Mythological reference with an established spelling.

  • Vinegar -> Ozzie
  • Soy Sauce -> Slash
  • Mayonnaise -> Flea
    - you really think characters named after condiments would have flown here?
Click to expand...
It wouldn't be the quirkiest thing in Chrono Trigger.

  • Koopa Shell -> Noknok Shell (nokonoko = "Koopa Troopa")
  • Crystaller -> Culex
- these two were probably both space constraints
Click to expand...
"Koopa" is 5 letters and "Noknok" is 6.  Nintendo itself has made this type of mistake, like with "Jugem's Cloud" and "Kuribo's Shoe".  Nintendo changing those names is another issue, but consistency is important or you miss references.

"Crystaller" fits within the game's monster name limit.
 
  • Cain -> Kain
- isn't this close enough?
Click to expand...
Not when it's a reference to Bible mythology.  Consider "Abel's Lance" in GBA FF4.
Click to expand...
Shouldn't it be Qayin, then?

Seriously, considering that the Bible wasn't originally written in English, I wouldn't get my panties in a twist over that.


  • Midgarsorm -> Terrato
- likely should be translated as Midgar's Worm or Serpent, space constraints. Terrato is earth-related.
Click to expand...
"Midgarsorm" is a mythological name.
Click to expand...
With 663 hits on Google?


...

Spiro, is that you? :-D
 
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