Woolseyism/Video Games

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Who? WHO?!

A subset of Woolseyism; named for a video game translator, it's only natural that there'd be a whole lot of examples!


Final Fantasy

  • In Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, the way they handled the name of Cecil's son and Cecil's brother's real name probably counts. Despite what some people think, the name is actually not the same in Japanese--Golbez's is rendered as セオドール, Seodooru, and Ceodore's as セオドア, Seodoa. Neither of these map to the "standard" Japanese rendering of Theodore, which is シオドール, Shiodooru though Golbez's is the closest. Golbez's name was rendered as "Theodor," whereas Ceodore's was "Theodore."
  • Final Fantasy V Advance has a fairly ridiculous English translation, fitting the lighthearted tone of the game (and being a massive improvement of the previous translation, which had such gems as Bartz being "Butz" [1]), with things such as Gilgamesh saying "Inconceivable!" after being defeated, or Bartz commenting that a defeated enemy crab has been served.

- Gilgamesh: "Enough expository banter! Now, we fight like men! And ladies! And ladies who dress like men! For Gilgamesh...It's morphing time!"

  • The most famous example of Woolsey's handiwork is probably Final Fantasy VI, from which the main Woolseyism page takes its image. It's also his most effective example. Unlike the GBA re-releases of Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy V, Square-Enix chose not to redo the English script from the ground up, but rather expand upon Woolsey's work.
    • Terra Branford was originally named "Tina" in the Japanese version. While "Tina" no doubt sounds sufficiently exotic to Japanese speakers, it's not very evocative to English speakers, so Woolsey changed it. The earth connotations of her new name also unintentionally created a parallel between the other heroine, Celes.
    • The game's antagonist, Kefka, was given dozens of new lines, many of which were absolutely hilarious and excellently established Kefka's character as a misanthropic nutcase. Recurring comic relief Ultros got a similar treatment.
    • The Final Fantasy VI Advance remake for the game, released twelve years later, contains an NPC who takes a shot at a Fan Translation of the game which was far more literal -- and not nearly as entertaining. It also changed a lot of Kefka's lines, such as (among others), Kefka's line in the picture on Woolseyism to "son of a sandworm". Both work in the context, but there are no submarines in the game. There's also Kefka's "HATE HATE HATE" speech, which oddly enough, was referenced in the English translation of Dissidia Final Fantasy several years later, since in the Japanese version he says "dammit dammit dammit" instead of "hate hate hate", making the leap pretty easy.
    • Perhaps even more well known than the 'Son of a submariner!' quote was Darryl's grave, in the World of Ruin. Viewed backwards, the headstone read, 'The World Is Square,' which was Square's advertising slogan at the time.
    • The Woolseyisms to Kefka's dialogue made his lines, in addition to more hilarious, also a lot more horrifying and creepy. For instance, in the scene where he kills General Leo, due to obvious restrictions at the time, Kefka remarks that, when reporting to Gestahl about the success, he'll also mention that he merely had to "exterminate a traitor", making the delivery a lot more creepy than simply saying dispose. Similarly, when the Esper reinforcements arrive at Thalmasa shortly thereafter, Kefka remarks when they arrive "I'd say you're all charged up, boys and girls...or whatever... Say, remind me to show you my Magicite collection someday! You might see a few familiar faces!!!", which makes what he does to the rest of the Espers shortly thereafter enter Nightmare Fuel territory, as he's basically telling them that after killing them that he'll show them the other Espers that he also killed. In the original script, as well as the Advanced Remake's script, Kefka merely reacts to their arrival in a similar fashion to a young child's reaction to a surprise birthday party.
    • The name of "Espers" for the summoned beasts was another Woolseyism--in Japanese, they were called genjū (幻獣), which roughly means "phantom beast"[2], a term used in many other games in the series. You wouldn't generally find this word in a Japanese dictionary, even though it is used in several other fantasy/sci-fi contexts; it may have itself been a Woolseyism coined for Jorge Luis Borges' Book of Imaginary Beings. Though the actual reason for the name change was to get around the six-character limit (five for menus), the new name was appreciated for being unique. Later FF localizations have similarly deviated from the Japanese term to great effect on the script (Eidolon in particular) and Final Fantasy XII re-used it as a homage.
    • When attempting to fit spells into the six-character limit the game had, some solutions were inelegant (ANTDOT = Antidote) while others were so well done its hard to believe: "Merton" is "Meltdown."
  • Similar to the Tina/Terra case, there's an urban legend that the two principal characters in Final Fantasy VII were originally named "Kuroudu" and "Arisu" - somewhat incorrect supposed Japanizations of the English names "Claude" and "Alice". As the story goes, the translation team re-Anglicized the Japanese names to arrive at "Cloud" and "Aeris" so they would sound less prosaic in English. Of course, they were meant to be Cloud and Aeris/Aerith all along; the developers wanted to evoke the English words "cloud" and "earth". But the fact that the rumour still survives makes it a strong example of the original Woolseyisms' impact on later games and their fans. In-game, Cloud's ultimate attack was called "Chōkyūbushinhazan" which translates as "Super-Ultimate War God Supreme Slash". This sounds absurd in English and murders the character limit, so it became "Omnislash".
    • Also, the English version added in animation to accompany Safer-Sephiroth's Supernova attack that utilized an equation about the mass of an object and time for it to impact involving a comet that demolishes many of the planets and then sends the Sun into a Supernova. Originally, the attack simply showed the damaging portion of the Supernova attack.
    • Interestingly, "Omnislash" may have been referenced in Dissidia, as before he executes the attack Cloud yells out "Subete o tatsukiru!", literally meaning "Slash through everything!"
  • Jitan to Zidane. The idea is that the names Jitan, Kuja, and Mikoto all mean "life", but the etymologies of Jitan and Kuja are uncertain (Mikoto is Japanese, though). That uncertainty (and the fact that "Jitan" is evocative of nothing in English) may have something to do with how the character ended up sharing his name with a famous French footballer.
    • It was supposed to be Gitan, French for "gypsy" (which fits since his second name is Tribal - as in a tribal gypsy).
    • Incidentally, his name became Djidane in France to avoid the confusion. Probably because djinns are not far from gypsies in the French imagination.
    • The Spanish translation also changed it to "Yitán". If we keep in mind that Zidenin Zidane was playing in Spain during the time the game was released in Europe and that Spanish people are arguably even bigger football nuts, Eduardo López (the game's Spanish translator) probably thought it was better not to distract the players imagination.
  • Tida to Tidus. Tida is Okinawan for "sun", contrasting with Yuna, which means "night" in the same language. But "Tida" doesn't sound masculine to the Western ear, (let's face it, the kid needs all the help he can get,) and the ocean connotations of "Tidus" are hardly inappropriate. The English version had many other changes made to fit the lip-movement of the characters -- thanks to that, "shibito" (corpse -- though in context, more along the lines of "zombie" or "ghoul"; the Siren series uses the word in the same manner) became "unsent" (which is a very good word given the setting of the game), "inorigo" (Child of Prayer) became "fayth" and "shokanju" (summon beasts) became "aeons", among others. The words chosen by the English version were very well accepted though. The lip problem also led to many sentences ending with "You know?" in the english 'dub', among other small line changes. In the game's finale, originally Yuna just thanks Tidus (for protecting her), while in the dub she says she loves him (since "I love you" fits the lip movements for "Arigatou" better than "Thank you").
    • Amusingly, the lip movement for "Thank You" is virtually identical to the Japanese "I love you", Aishiteru.
  • In Final Fantasy XIII, the names for the classes in the Paradigm shift are a described from more of a Gameplay term in Japan. In Japanese, they translate to Attacker, Blaster, Defender, Enhancer, Jammer, and Healer. In English at least, they're translated to appear more like military roles, so they're Commando, Ravager, Sentinel, Synergist, Saboteur, and Medic (respectively). The French version use both literal translation and Woolseyism for the Paradigm : Attaquant(Attacker), Ravageur(Destroyer), Défenseur (Defender), Tacticien (Tactician), Saboteur and Soigneur (Healer). A lot of the character's lines are also Woolseyied in order to make the characters sound closer to each other (dropping a pronoun, using a French pun or expression...). German translators decided to do.... something completely different! You get to choose a 'Brecher' (Breaker), 'Verheerer' (Devastator), 'Verteidiger' (Defender), 'Heiler' (Healer, both close to the original for once), 'Augmentor' (something nobody ever uses, comes from the english "augment", germans love english) and 'Manipulator' (means pretty much what the English word means). Oh and for the record, the thing with Orphan being a... well, orphan? The translators made him Orphanus because germans hate speaking names.
  • Twice now, Square Enix has used the word "éclair", French for lightning, as the name for something. And in both instances it was changed to something that wouldn't bring to mind pastries for the English version. In Kingdom Hearts 358 Days Over 2 it was Larxene's signature knives, changed to Foudre, French for thunder. And in Final Fantasy XIII it was Lightning's real name, changed to Claire. The latter change becomes even better when you consider that, as a Genius Bonus / Bilingual Bonus, the name "Claire" means "light", which Lightning asks the others to call her once she starts growing closer to them. It's a touching, if somewhat subtle, way to emphasise her character growth throughout the storyline, in a story that needs all the growth it can find, while still contributing to the translated script in a positive way.
  • A Kefka-related woolseyism also occurred in Dissidia Final Fantasy. After Zidane beats Kefka and demands to know where Bartz is, he originally states in the Japanese version that "the mouse [Bartz] is in the... [face closeup] PAWS [face zoom back] ...of the enemy!" The dub makes the line a lot more hilarious by having Kefka say "I'm afraid the mouse is [face closeup] SMACK! [face zoom back] ...dab-in-the-middle-of-enemy-territory!"
  • In Final Fantasy 4's initial US release, the Earth fiend was named "Milon." In subsequent releases, his name was returned to its true form, "Scarmiglione." This change is not immediately obvious, but... "scar MI g L i ON e" it actually makes perfect sense.


Metal Gear Series

  • The manual for the NES version of Metal Gear calls the Big Bad Colonel Vermon Cataffy (a Take That at Moammar Gadaffi), and the wind-cheating suit is called the "Bomb Blast Suit".
    • Of course, most people were quite put off with it, along with most of the other stuff about changing most of the story. For instance, the Commanding Officer for Snake was called Commander South (presumably as a Shout-Out to Oliver North), among other things.
    • You can thank Konami USA's localization team for that. As noted under They Just Didn't Care, whoever was in charge of punching up instruction manual copies for all of Konami's NES titles thought himself much funnier than he actually was.
  • In Metal Gear Solid, Mei Ling, a character responsible for saving the game, would read out a Chinese proverb, and then read out the same characters with a coherent Japanese reading to relate to Snake's current situation. Since it was completely untranslatable, the localiser Jeremy Blaustein rewrote Mei Ling's dialogue from whole cloth, with the result that her sphere broadened--she now quoted Western literature and various thinkers as well as Chinese proverbs.
    • Another change was that of Psycho Mantis's dying words: "It feels very nostalgic." Since the nostalgia could only be explained by a thought process Hideo Kojima would have to explain in supplemental material which would be very unlikely to be released in the West, Blaustein changed it to the more internally consistent "It feels kind of nice," which gave the character a Psychopathic Manchild feel, making him more sympathetic. This change was reverted in the Video Game Remake, and even after explanation, few fans regarded it as an improvement.
    • Revolver Ocelot merely says "Hiding won't help you!" in the original script for Metal Gear Solid. He follows it up with the added line, "I understand the bullets, you see...I make them go where I want to!" in reference to his uncanny talent with ricochets.
    • The Fan Translation of Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, while being of rather dubious quality, had a Czech speaker in the translation team. This meant they were able to turn Kio Marv's dialogue from Foreign Sounding Gibberish which was vaguely intelligible with some knowledge of Russian into completely new dialogue in real Czech, giving a Bilingual Bonus.
    • There's a Double Entendre one during the Kaz date in Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker, which is a Gay Option with a character who's supposed to be a massive Casanova towards women. When interrogating him in the Japanese version, he'll say something along the lines of "I'm not hiding anything!" - but in the English version, he says "No skeletons in my... closet." Tee hee.
      • Similarly, because of the various Real Life products being removed for copyright issues in the North American versions, most of the model viewer descriptions were changed, with Narc Soda and the Les Enfants Terribles children making cameos as a result, and it also added in that Curry was Kazuhira Miller's favorite dish, and it also referred to Drebin's drink in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (as they gave Pepsi Nex's replacement, zero-calorie soda, the design of Narc Soda).
    • In Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Rose recalls mistakenly saying that the building that King Kong climbed was the Twin Towers, mixing it up with The Towering Inferno. The game was mastered literally days after 9/11, so in the English translation it was changed to the Chrysler Building, mixing it up with the building in the American Godzilla. This is somewhat more appropriate, first because Gozilla and King Kong are both giant monster movies (rather than a giant monster movie and a disaster movie like in the original), and secondly because Hideo Kojima compared Raiden and Snake to King Kong (a romantic monster who came from nature and gets to return there) and Godzilla (a noble monster created by humans) respectively in Word of God.


Chrono Trigger Series

  • The Goldfish Poop Gang in Chrono Trigger were named after condiments (Vinegar, Soy Sauce, and Mayonnaise) in the original Japanese. This was not very intimidating, so they were changed to rock stars (Ozzie, Slash, and Flea) instead. However, the name scheme is quite common to the character's creator, Akira Toriyama, who apparently finds naming characters after objects and/or foods to be absolutely hilarious, and whose work was still obscure in the U.S. at the time; fans argue over whether this was actually a good change or whether the names would have been left alone had Dragon Ball been more popular at the time.
    • This created something of a problem when the Japanese version of Chrono Cross actually included a main character named Slash that was supposed to be a rock star, which could have been handwaved if they hadn't also included an optional boss fight with the aforementioned Goldfish Poop Gang in the same game. This led to his name being changed Nikki, a reference to Nikki Sixx, in the English version.
  • Gaspar's message is simple: "talk to your party members for sidequest clues." But for some reason, this appears in the English version as, "One of you is close to someone who needs help...Find this person...fast." Consequently, American gamers searched high and low for some sort of lead, many of them assuming that the person in question was Princess Schala. This confusion probably contributed to Square adding a new quest explaining Schala's fate to the DS remake.
  • The Chrono Cross team deserves a medal for how well they handled translating some incredibly long names in the face of space constraints. "Snakebone Master Jakotu", for one example, was changed to the similar "Lord Viper" (just "Viper" on the character menu).
  • Chrono Cross gets another medal for making an on-the-fly accent and dialect generator. Instead of writing generic dialog seven times, they wrote it once and ran it through the generator.
  • The gurus in Chrono Trigger were originally named Bash, Mash, and Gash. Woolsey changed them to the biblically influenced Belthasar, Melchior, and Gaspar, much more appropriate for three old wise men. Plus, they start with the same letters!
  • The way Frog speaketh. In the original, he spoke in normal Japanese, and in a rather blunt manner. In the DS version, he lost his accent, but remained quite polite. It was quite baffling that no one else in 600A.D. talked like this, and that he used to speak normally before his transformation. However, many old school fans mourned the loss of the accent.
  • The DS version corrects one of the less enjoyable "Woolseyisms" - the conversion of "Kamaitachi" to "Slash", mucking up the solution to the Puzzle Boss Masamune/Granleon (the move interrupts its charge, because it's the wind, whoosh!). This was quietly retranslated to "Wind Slash".
  • "Masamune," indeed. Which brings up the peculiar notion of a famous Japanese swordsmith crafting a distinctly European broadsword. The change of the sword's name from "Grandleon" mystifies to this day.
    • The sequel establishes that the Masamune is such a powerful weapon of destiny that it's in fact a Swiss Army Weapon that adepts itself to the style of its chosen user, hence why the "Mastermune" is such a radically different kind of weapon from the original Masamune/Grandleon.
  • According to Chrono Cross translator Richard Honeywood, several lines of expository dialogue in Japanese created plot holes (not entirely surprising for a game with an insanely complicated plot and tons of dialogue), and so were changed for the English version with direct input from writer/director Masato Kato.


Pokemon

  • The translator of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, Nob Ogasawara (a member of the Something Awful forums), edited much of the the NPC speech in the game to include Internet slang. The player character is repeatedly called a "noob" by other trainers, "for the win" is used at least once, one Galactic Grunt threatens to hit the player's weak point for massive damage, and a clown even exclaims "a winner is you!". This is appropriate, as D/P was the first game to use Nintendo's Wi-Fi Service, and most friend codes are traded via the Internet. They also have a few Shout Outs to the Something Awful forums ("My Pokemon is fight!").
    • And a Shout-Out to a Something Awful forum member as well. A goon did a Let's Play of Pokémon Crystal, starring a character named Roxy, whose main Pokémon was a Wooper. On Thursdays, you can go to the TV station and fight an interviewer/cameraman pair in a double battle. The interviewer uses a Wooper, and the interviewer's name is Roxy. It kind of helps that both the interviewer and the female PC from Crystal both have blue hair.
      • Ironically, half the memes that made it into the games will probably get you probated or banned if you actually attempt to use them on the forums themselves.
      • The same bloke, in a Let's Horribly Break Pokémon Blue thread, said that translating mori no yōkan [3] to "Old Chateau"/"Old Gateau" was his doing, and, that if he was localizing Gold/Silver/Crystal, he'd call the RageCandyBar (literal translation) "Cake of Rage" (the latter being mentioned after about half a page of making fun of said item, calling it the "angersnack").
    • In Pokémon Red and Blue, it is possible to purchase medicines for your Pokémon to improve their stats. In the Japanese version, the medicines were compounds like taurine (an antioxidant used in treating blood pressure disorders) and bromhexine (a chemical used in some cough medicines to dispel mucus). These names had no relationship to the statistical benefits of using the medicines (for instance, how would taking indometacin, an anti-inflammatory medicine, improve your monster's Speed?). In the English version, the translator decided to change them to vitamin and mineral supplements, which, as they permanently increase stats, seems more sensible. It also meant the medicines could be renamed to things that made sense with what their effect on the Pokémon was, even if only in terms of association - Protein (which builds muscle) for Attack, Iron (which is a strong-sounding metal used in protein synthesis) for Defense, Calcium (which is needed to build strong bones and teeth) for Special Attack, Zinc (used in homeostasis) for Special Defense, and Carbos ("carbohydrates", energy-giving compounds) for Speed.
    • And again with Diamond/Pearl/Platinum, there is the case of Fantina/Melissa. Once again, like the Final Fantasy VI example above, is a textbook case of Appeal Dissonance (Westerner's names sounding exotic to Easterner's ears). It's stated that Fantina is not from the Sinnoh region, or for that matter, whatever country the Pokémon games are set in. So, in the original Japanese, she's given a Western sounding name: Melissa, and uses Gratuitous English in her speech. When localized, they kept the "foreigner" aspect of her personality, but changed it so that she now drops French phrases and expressions in her speech (e.g. "Très bien!" and "___ how you say, "___").
    • Heck, the names of about 3/4 the Pokémon themselves are Woolseyisms, translated to all sorts of punny names in every language that the games are released in. The exceptions are most legendaries (who the creators try to fit as many languages as possible), and other Pokémon with multilingual puns (such as Pikachu). Another good example is Rhydon, who was named Saidon in Japan: "sai" means rhinoceros, and "don" is a suffix for most dinosaurs. Therefore, the translators could make a name with the same vowel sounds and pun.
      • The best examples are the legendary birds. Their Japanese names are rather boring English words: Fire, Thunder, and Freezer (they clearly didn't do the research on that last one). The English version gives them a coherent and slightly cooler set of names: Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres.
        • Which is also a kind of Bilingual Bonus, which most don't even realize until years later. Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres.
        • Articuno and Zapdos' French names are "Artikodin" and "Electhor", as in, the Norse gods, and Moltres' is "Sulfura" as in the Egyptian god; the other part of their names referring more obviously to their element.
      • As of Pokémon Black and White, there is a similar example - the Dark/Dragon line of Pokémon are called Deino, Zweilous, and Hydreigon, this time counting in German.
    • There's also the case of Looker's name. In the original Japanese, his name is the English word, "Handsome". In the English versions, his name still keeps the meaning of Handsome, but also has to do with the fact that he's a detective.
    • In Pokémon Black and White, the Pokemon Audino is derived from "audio" (it uses its earlobes as stethoscopes) as well as "I dunno". This is pretty much the same thing in its Japanese name, Tabunne -- "Tabun ne" means "maybe", but is also derived from "tabun", meaning "many are heard" (or "mimitabu", meaning "earlobe"). Other translations use similar wordplay, based on an expression along the lines of "maybe" (or in German, "Oh, yes!"; in French, "no but yes", a common expression too) while containing a hearing-related pun.
    • A couple more examples: Ononokusu became Haxorus in the English version, which retains ax- and dinosaur-related puns while inserting Leet Lingo. And in the French version, Desumasu/Yamask was translated as "Tutafeh", which not only contains "Tut-" as in Tutankhamun but is also a play on "tout à fait", which means "indeed". Its evolution, "Tutankafer" (Cofagrigus), managed to keep the same syllables and add another pun: Tutankhamun + "tant qu'à faire", a colloquial expression meaning something along the lines of "might as well".
    • Another example from Pokémon Black and White: while the names for most trainers in Nimbasa's sports grounds seem rather random in Japanese and English, German players can encounter Smashers Steffi and Serena, as well as Strikers Mehmet, Mesut and Lothar.
    • And the reference to the hilarious Canadian soap opera/téléroman Le Cœur a ses raisons: all the nurses and the doctors in the French "Pokémon Black and White" are named after characters from this show: Infirmière Ashley, Infirmière Drucilla, Docteur Brett... As most of the names are usually random, this is particularly enjoyable, and may have been a nod to French-Canadian fans due to Black and White being the second-ever set of French Pokémon games released in Quebec as well as France.
    • The Japanese version of Black and White and their sequels has a female character named ベル. While the European Spanish, German, and Italian releases translate her name literally as variations of Bel, the English and French versions change it to Bianca, which is more obviously a name and happens to have the same meaning (Bel is Slavic for "white", Bianca is feminine Italian for the same).


Others

  • In Super Mario Bros. games since the 1980s (notably with the exception of the Super Mario Bros Super Show and the Super Mario Bros Movie), the original 大魔王 クッパ Daimaō Kuppa ("great demon king Koopa") has been rendered Bowser in most Western localizations of Mario games, while Kuppa or a variation on the name has been kept as Bowser's only name in Japan and Korea. Whereas Kuppa is the Japanese word for 국밥 gukbap (a Korean soup with rice--Shigeru Miyamoto wanted specifically to name him after a Korean dish), the name Bowser (which doesn't really mean anything in common English) has no real relation to kuppa or gukbap in sound or meaning. (Interestingly, Bowser's only name in Korean isn't the original Gukbap, but 쿠파 Kupa, a phonetic round-trip translation from Japanese.) Kuppa isn't abandoned though, as it has been refashioned as the name of the Koopa race and as Bowser's surname Koopa. Though Bowser is never used in Japanese, it has become unthinkable that Bowser's name in English should be anything less than Bowser, making this one of the most enduring (and endearing) Woolseyisms in video games.
    • In fact, every name coined by translators has been retained once Nintendo started paying more attention to what their Western branches were doing, with the exception of Princess Toadstool, whose name was changed back to Peach in Yoshi's Safari.
      • Even in Peach's case, they tied the issue up neatly. In Super Mario 64, they had her sign her letter formally as "Princess Toadstool" and familiarly as "Peach".
    • "Bowser" has been given a nod once in the Japanese games: in Mario Kart Wii, one of the motorcycles, shaped like Bowser's head, is called the Super Bowser (changed to Bowser Bike or Flame Runner for other regions).
    • At end of Super Mario Bros 3 English translation Princess Peach says "Thank you, but our princess is in another castle! ... Just kidding!", an obvious reference to Toad's infamous line from the first game. In the Japanese version and later ports of the game she has a more typical line. Nintendo of America also gave Koopalings names based on U.S. popular culture, though they weren't even named in Japan.
  • Secret of Mana is rarely mentioned as a case against Woolsey's overall quality, but it was a pretty bad job. Not even the Sprite's gender was kept straight.
    • Even so, if The Other Wiki is to be trusted, it's hard not to love meeting a robotic enemy named "Kilroy".
      • To be fair, this was more due to lack of hardware space. In Woolsey's words, "that game nearly killed me."
  • The Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi games frequently use Woolseyisms, to the point of tossing out large portions of the original script. (The pianta yakuza gang in The Thousand-Year Door becoming Goodfellas-style mobsters, for example.) Despite this (or perhaps because of it), the games have some of the best localizations out there.
    • And who could forget the hilarious Internet speak employed by the mind-controlled Hammer Brothers in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time? After you free them from spouting off phrases like "PREPARE 4 TOTAL PWNAGE. WOOT! WOOT! WOOT! WOOT!", one of them wonders who talks like that. (In case you were wondering, they were speaking just in katakana in the Japanese version, which definitely originated nowhere near the Internet.)
      • Though, it is worth noting that katakana are often used in Japanese for spelling out foreign words and Japanese words spoken in a foreign accent; also, early computers used katakana exclusively due to memory limitations, so there is a certain degree of similarity.
    • Unsurprisingly, Super Mario RPG was translated by Ted Woolsey himself.
    • Another notable example is Fawful from Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, whose speech is a deliberate spoof of poorly translated games. As he himself says, "I have fury!". In the Japanese version, he simply ends occasional words with a string of "rurururu" sounds, and also laughs in the same way.
    • In Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, there is a character called Broque Monsieur (whose name is a pun on "block monster" and "croque monsieur", a type of French grilled sandwich) who speaks with a strong French accent and uses lots of Gratuitous French. In the Japanese version, his name was Brirock (a combination of "brick" and "rock") and he spoke Gratuitous English (with lines such as "Oh my dog! What's happen?")
      • In the same game, the Japanese names of Hemogurobin, Enajī and Shinapun (Hemoglobin, Energy and a play on Shinapusu (Synapse) respectively) were changed to the much more clever-sounding Emoglobin, PEP and Napse. Changing "Metakoro Byou" (literally "Very Rolling Disease") to "The Blorbs" is a good example too... okay, let's just say there are millions of examples in this game and be done with it.
    • The parrot underneath Creepy Steeple in TTYD says "Good morning, good morning", "Good day, good day", and "Go away, go away!" in Japanese. In English, it says "Good day! Good day!", "Pretty bird! Pretty bird!", and "Shine get! Shine get!".
    • Super Paper Mario gives us "Thou art toast!"
    • It's very acceptable that these games where changed. Much of the dialogue is comedy. Jokes that are funny in Japan likely would have been lost in translation.
  • The characters in the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney series all had their names Americanized in the localization, but the writers took great care to retain the subtle wordplay and puns of the original. "Kamen Mask", for example, was translated as "Mask* DeMasque", since kamen is Japanese for mask. The English version's references to pop culture and Internet memes also easily replace similar jokes in the Japanese script while endearing the games to the fanbase.
    • The main character's name needs to be mentioned too. In Japanese, his surname is Naruhodō, a pun on the phrase "naruhodo", meaning "I see" (as in "I understand"). In the English version, his surname is Wright, which sounds like "right".
    • In a truly mind-bending example from the third-game, the Judge protests that he's "no spoony bard." This may be the first example of a recursive Woolseyism.
    • And many, many points for renaming the Big Bad of Ace Attorney Investigations to something less Obviously Evil. I mean, seriously, Carnage Onred? You couldn't get much more villainous without dressing like an Evil Overlord. In addition to not screaming "BAD GUY!" into a megaphone, his English name (Quercus Alba) has the advantage of furthering Theme Naming.
      • It is possible, however, that the Japanese name was intended to be a play on the term Red Carnation.
    • On the other hand, the translators' ambitions to disguise the distinctly Japanese setting as "Los Angeles" were doomed from the very beginning and became especially blatant with Kurain village, which is about as Japanese as you can get. Obviously Japanese live-action shows like the Steel Samurai franchise and the existence of a Japanese war-veteran as a witness are just the icing on the cake: In fact, even the juristic system in the games resembles the Japanese law a whole lot more than the American (Although it has some Rule of Fun based deviations from either that Japanese fans tend to write off as being influenced by the American justice system, and American fans as being based on the Japanese justice system) and thus causes a lot of need for the MST3K Mantra for everyone who knows anything about law. Fandom eventually started referring to the setting as "Japanifornia" because of this.
    • Steel Samurai might actually be explainable as a fad, though. Given that in western culture the samurai is considered one of the top tier of... "older" solider types, being overshadowed only by the ninja in Asian warrior popularity in the U.S., it's very possible that the Steel Samurai and the female followup were born of a stroke of sudden inspiration, and because the idea was so catchy, and possibly pretty original for what one can do with "good guy has great morals and beats the bad guys with bad morals" in terms of American television, the producers agreed and decided to let it go on.
      • Speaking of, Steel Samurai got a pretty good one himself. His Japanese name, Tonosaman, is a "hero-fied" version of tonosama, which means, roughly, "feudal lord." Combining his affluence with his metallic appearance gave a genuinely awesome sounding name for Western Audiences.
    • Changing Franziska von Karma (Karuma Mei in the Japanese version) from being American to being German might count as this too.
  • Opinions on the translations of the late Working Designs are split -- fans of the company insist their changes are Woolseyisms, but others consider them Macekres.
    • While we're on the topic of Working Designs, their work with Thunder Force V involved taking the on-screen boss descriptions, which were already in Gratuitous English in the Japanese version, and rewriting them to read more smoothly. The boss of Stage 2, Iron Maiden, for instance:

Japanese version: "It was dead, but alive at the same time."

North American version: "Alive but dead, it fears nothing and decimates all." (Your ship's computer still reads the Japanese version text, however.)

  • One excellent Woolseyism occurs in the first two Shadow Hearts games, where, for the US and EU releases, the Half-Japanese, Half-Russian male lead's name is changed from pseudo-Russian Foreign Sounding Gibberish to "Yuri", a name that's authentically both Russian and Japanese...even if it's normally used for differing genders in the countries (male in Russia, female in Japan).
    • For the record, Yuri's original name was the awkward-as-hell Urmnauf. Yeah.
  • Planet names in the European version of Meteos were heavily Woolseyised compared to their American counterparts (often straight transliterations from the Japanese planet names), giving them a more Greek or Latin feel. Example substitutions include "Gigantis" for "Yooj", "Aetheria" for "Brabbit" and "Insomnis" for "Dawndus".
  • An early, minor Woolseyism took place in the translation of Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, as the main character "Ralph C. Belmondo" became "Trevor Belmont". Curse of Darkness gives the impression that the Japanese adapted the name "Trevor" in the Japanese canon when one chooses to hear the Japanese voice track. In truth, he is still called Ralph in Japan. They simply rerecorded the Japanese dialogue so that the Japanese actor says Trevor instead of Ralph (confusing, isn't it).
    • The name Castlevania itself is a Woolseyism; the series is called Akumajou Dracula (literally "Demon Castle Dracula") in Japan.
    • In the Sorrow games, native Japanese student "Souma Kurusu" became a foreign transfer student named "Soma Cruz".
    • "Johnny Morris" from Castlevania Bloodlines had his name changed to the non-diminutive form "John Morris" in the English versions.
    • Many enemy names have this treatment in later Castlevania titles. For example: A skeleton enemy that kicks its own head around as an attack, introduced in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, is given the incredibly unimaginative name "Soccer Boy" in the original Japanese game, while in the English translation is instead cleverly called "Yorick".
    • One of the few aversions until recently was with the whip-using skeleton, whose Japanese name was a pun of Simon Belmont's first name. It's English name went from the Blind Idiot Translation of "Gates of Death" in Castlevania III to the much more suitable localization of "Hellmont" in Castlevania: Harmony of Despair.
  • Despite the terrible translations of Mega Man Battle Network 4 and 5, there were some gems in the first few games. In the first game, shopkeepers and at least one boss used basic AIM-speak. Many of the new names were also more obvious puns in English or simply more recognizable (the puns in the Japanese version are just as blatant). And at least one pun was made on the proper French pronunciation of a character's name (Eugene Chaud), which was more respect than Mega Man NT Warrior gave him (they pronounced it "Chodd").
  • A Woolseyism appears in the Mega Man Zero series with the name Dr. Weil. In Japan, he is known as Dr. Vile, which is awfully close to the name of another character, so they changed it to Weil. If pronounced using German phoenetics, it would be heard as 'vile.' In addition, his name also referred to Dr. Ray Kurzweil, a futurist who, besides giving the idea of Singularity, also talked about cybernetics a lot. Considering what Dr. Weil turned out to be by Mega Man Zero 4 (as well as implied to be the case in Mega Man Zero 3), the name actually fits.
    • Note that in the Japanese version of Mega Man X, Vile is called VAVA, making Dr. Vile not a violation of the One Steve Limit.
  • Mega Man 7 included a Woolseyism in its ending: When Mega Man defeated Dr. Wily, he mentions that he intends to kill Dr. Wily as he has had enough of his trying to beg for mercy and tricking him. Wily attempts to remind Mega Man that he is a robot and robots aren't supposed to kill humans. Mega Man then tells Wily that he's "far more than a robot." before Bass saves Dr. Wily. Actually, Mega Man saying that he was "far more than a robot" was only in the English version. In the Japanese version, Mega Man didn't respond to Wily's comment at all. It also as a result gave a What the Hell, Hero? moment for Mega Man to english players, as it made it seem as though Mega Man was actually going to go through with killing Wily in cold blood, when in the original Japanese version, he had an internal debate as to whether he should kill Wily or not.
  • Several Woolseyisms in Valkyrie Profile. Most notable was the change of "Ahly"'s name to "Hrist", as the latter is a valkyrie in Norse mythology.
    • Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume actually translated the original, modern Japanese into dated English. The result was that the localized version had a very great deal more immersion and atmosphere than the original.
    • Some of the Woolseyisms in Valkyrie Profile were actually correcting a few mistakes. Such as switching Freya and Frey around (Even though Frey was based off of Freyr and was obviously male but no way to fix that) and changing a few enemies names. Such as Azuratosa to Akhetamen, which sounds a little more Egyptian, and Jdwallace to Genevieve, the latter of which actually means something.
      • For those who are curious, Genevieve is the patron saint of Paris in Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Still not quite...accurate (Genevieve is a vampire seductress in the game) But it at least beats Jdwallace.
  • The head of the Mother 3 Fan Translation, Clyde "Tomato" Mandelin, has a position at FUNimation, so it only figures that said fan translation would have a few examples of Woolseyisms. For just one example, at one point in the original Japanese, a sunbaked pig says that the name of a famous Japanese ham company came to him in a dream; in the translation, he says that the words "Oscar" and "Mayer" appeared instead.
    • A lot of the enemy names were made into puns, in keeping with the comedic feel of the Mother series. A short list: Einswine (a brain-augmented pig), Navy SQUEAL (an aquatic Pigmask), and the Squawking Boomstick (an exploding chicken head on a stick)
    • As well, his choice to change Yokuba, a rather major villain figure in the game, to Fassad, is considered by many to be a Woolseyism. Yokuba came from yokubari, meaning greed, something most players wouldn't get. Fassad comes from facade and fits remarkably well with the character.
  • In the US version of the SNES ports of Final Fight and Street Fighter Alpha 2, the character Sodom has his name changed to Katana. Considering that his character is a Japan-ophile, the As Long as It Sounds Foreign sword certainly seems more appropriate than the Biblical reference. As well, in the same port of Final Fight, the metalhead thug Damnd has his name changed to Thrasher, which many fans felt was more appropriate. These changes were most likely made due to Nintendo of America's policies regarding religious references and offensive material in games, rather than any sort of desire to punch up the translation, however.
    • Woolseyism could also be seen as the reason for the boss name shift in the Street Fighter II games. The names Balrog, Vega and M. Bison were shifted around (what with the whole "Mike Tyson might sue us!" mentality at the time) so that the boxer was named Balrog, the claw-wielder was named Vega, and the final boss/"dictator" became M. Bison.
      • There is a subtle touch here: Vega the character is Spanish, and 'Vega' is a common Spanish surname.
  • The Advance Wars series has had a long history of doing this: For instance, the villain of the first two games was called "Herr Böse" -- meaning "Mr. Evil/Angry/Nasty" in German -- in the Japanese game. While undoubtedly exotic to the Japanese ear, it was slightly less impressive to the American/European markets and the villain was renamed "Sturm" (meaning "storm/tempest" in German) in the English script. Many of the other CO names were similarly reworked.
    • The biggest difference between COs happened in Dual Strike. In Japan, the main character is John, a no-nonsense do-gooder who's always wearing huge headphones for communication purposes. He's pretty heroic, but also pretty bland. The translation process turned him into Jake, a Totally Radical everyman who really likes his music and his hip young-people lingo, culminating in a scene where he gives a heartfelt motivational speech, then mutters "...word" at the end. Considering the tone of the rest of the game, this version of the character fits in much better with the rest of the cast. "Get the plates, 'cuz you just got served!" indeed.
    • The latest installment in the series was translated independently by Nintendo of America and Nintendo of Europe, creating two translations -- the American Days of Ruin and the European Dark Conflict. While the European version is more true to the original Japanese script, including the names, the American one contained a good deal of woolseyisms, including making Lin into more of a Deadpan Snarker and giving Ax Crazy Creepy Child Penny (Lili in Dark Conflict) some extremely hilarious dialogue involving her stuffed bear.
      • And that's not even counting that whacked-out IDS agent in mission 24. In Dark Conflict, IDS Agent = Boring and Bland. In Days of Ruin: well, it can be summed up with "Screw this, I'm getting a parachute."
  • Through the magic of the Woolseyism, a decidedly average Famicom platformer titled Magic John became a hilarious sendup of '80s surfer dudes called Totally Rad. Check out all the gnarly differences, dude! Oddly enough, this example also involves a boring, generic John becoming a Totally Radical Jake.
  • So many American and European Sonic the Hedgehog fans still prefer "Robotnik" over the Japanese "Eggman", even after the name Eggman got transplanted into the Western continuity in Sonic Adventure (just look around the site!). So many of them don't bother. It doesn't help that the first name was extremely well established because of the spin-off media--it would be like renaming "Mega Man" back to "Rockman" after 10 years.
    • So much so that as of Sonic Adventure 2, Robotnik is his official name worldwide (though he's still only referred to as Eggman).
      • In most games, he is now refered to as Dr. Eggman, but there are a few references here and there. In Sonic Adventure, he refers to himself as Robotnik, but gets called Eggman by everyone else, same thing happens in Sonic Chronicles. Also in Sonic Adventure 2, while he's delivering his speech, the name Dr Robotnik can be seen on the scrolling text on the screen along with Dr Eggman. Furthermore to this, his grandfather, and cousin were called Gerald Robotnik and Maria Robotnik respectively, so while nobody ever refers to him as Dr. Robotnik, instead choosing to adopt the moniker Dr. Eggman. In addition to all this, the manufacturing company Eggman uses in Sonic Riders is Robotnik Corp. Due to all this, the bad doc is now known officially as Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik, Ivo Robotnik is his legal name, and Dr. Eggman is his pseudonym that he and everyone else calls him. This is eventually given another nod in Sonic Generations.
      • Yuji Naka himself explained it all. Real name is Robotnik, pseudonym is Eggman.
    • Also in Sonic the Hedgehog, Fang the Sniper's name was toned down to Nack the Weasal in America and Europe.
  • In Persona 3: FES, the two game modes, called "Episode Yourself" and "Episode Aegis" was changed respectively to "The Journey" and "The Answer" in the localized version. Considering the theme of the story, this a much welcomed change compared to the rather Engrish names the original version used. Furthermore, the ultimate Persona, Orpheus Kai, which means "Reborn" or "Custom", was changed to Orpheus Telos. Telos is the Greek word for "goal" or "purpose." Similarly, Lucifel, the Angelic form of the demon Lucifer, had his name changed to "Helel" (the Hebrew name of the fallen angel) out of necessity to differentiate it from the demonic form of Lucifer.
    • Additionally, in the original game, the period of time during which the team fought the Shadows was originally called "Shadow Time" in the Japanese release. The American localization changed this to the much more ominous-sounding "Dark Hour."
    • One of the social links is related to playing an MMO. In the Japanese version, the MMO was based off the original two Megami Tensei games for the Famicom, which were never released outside Japan. In the English version, all of these references were changed to refer to the earlier Persona games (or in one case, Nocturne), all but one of which were released in America.
    • The soft drinks in vending machines. What was a Japanese-only drink turns into Starvicks (An unusual blend of coffee and cough syrup), 1up, Fountain Dew (an unusually yellow drink), Dr. Salt, Etc.
      • Don't forget the BauerBar, which lets you keep going for 24 hours!
    • The archaic words used in the Arc Words "Nanji wa ware, ware wa nanji" gets changed into the similarly archaic "Thou art I, and I am thou"
  • Alexander O. Smith's work on Vagrant Story, the first Phoenix Wright game, Final Fantasy X, and Final Fantasy XII (alongside Joseph Reeder) is rarely passed over in reviews of said games, usually being held up as hugely successful Japanese-to-English translations (at least when they're not being criticized for Purple Prose pretension).
    • Apparently this sentiment is echoed in Japan as well--he was asked to provide the English lyrics for the two vocal songs on The Skies Above, the second album by Nobuo Uematsu's band The Black Mages.
  • A special case for Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan: an entire sequel was made that transplanted the gameplay concepts to a setting (and soundtrack) that could be appreciated outside of Japan while still retaining the quirky appeal of the game that spawned it.
    • And interestingly, the result was also a success in Japan.
  • The English translation patch of La-Mulana renames a few MSX ROMs (not the ones you download, the ones you collect in-game). Vampire Killer, which has officially been released under only one other name, Akumajou Dracula, gets renamed to Castlevania, Uranai Sensation gets renamed to Diviner Sensation, and Hai no Majutsushi gets renamed to Mahjong Wizard.
  • The World Ends With You probably has way more than these few examples, but these are the obvious ones--all the characters use modern American teenage slang properly (i.e. "Totally Radical" is avoided except in one intentional case); Beat goes even farther with a stereotypical "gangsta" speaking style, whereas in Japanese his speech is simply rather rough and impolite.
    • Impolite speech in Japanese is very hard to translate into English, because the polite and impolite versions literally mean the same thing; however, using the impolite version in an appropriate setting connotes familiarity or intimate friendship (depending on how impolite you go), while in an inappropriate setting, it connotes disrespect, disgust, or hatred. Thus, "gangsta" speech is actually a really good analogue.
    • The entire game was saturated with slang, which may or may not be a good thing for you. Even a certain button labeled simply "run from battle" in Japanese was edited to say "Gotta bounce!"
  • Speaking of Square Enix, Xion's attack the ends of Kingdom Hearts 358 Days Over 2 had one line which relied on Japanese Pronouns. In the Japanese version, Xion, despite looking like Sora, uses "Atashi" confirming that she thought of herself as female. In the English version, the line was restructured into the third person "Now it's time for this puppet to play her part.", not only keeping the gender implications but indicating the isolation she felt from what she wanted to what role she had to play.
    • And speaking of Kingdom Hearts, the original Japanese version of the first game had the battle with Chernabog set to the same music all the other heartless boss battles were set to. In the West? Take a wild guess.
  • As the creator of Katamari Damacy decided to leave the project when Me and My Katamari was being made, the Japanese script was therefore very dry and empty. The American translator was given the task to ghost-write the script entirely from scratch, and did so brilliantly. The King's dialogue was full of obscure literary and cultural allusions and his campness was played up to new, hilarious heights.
  • In Super Robot Wars Original Generation, one of the original character, Giado Verendi, was originally supposed to be Italian. When translating the game, Atlus took one look at his portrait, a dark-skinned man with dreadlocks, and took the obvious route, mon.

Vigagi: What the hell was that? And what does "Episode 30" mean!?

  • In Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, the Black Knight's survival replaces a Phlebotinum Breakdown Hand Wave with Ike being allowed to win for reasons that mesh well with the existing story. In the original, the Black Knight's warp powder malfunctions, teleporting only his spirit and leaving his body behind, meaning he was weakened in his fight with Ike, and he regains his true power when his spirit returns after the defeat. In the English version, during the climactic battle, Ike reveals that his father's sword arm was crippled years before (this detail always existed), a fact that the Black Knight didn't know. Since the Black Knight's true goal was to surpass his teacher (Ike's father, Greil), this revelation makes the Black Knight realize that his victory was hollow -- he was fighting a weakened man, and never got to experience Greil's true ability. He allows Ike to win in the hope that Ike will someday become as powerful and skilled as his father, and become a substitute he can test his skills against.
    • Also in Fire Emblem, many names are completely changed in translation, the fandom is mixed on these, but the one that is generally accepted is Maji and Saji to Cord and Bord.
  • Persona 4 continues the tradition of P3's translation by retaining important Japanese honorifics and certain cultural concepts (though the manual includes a handy glossary), while taking their own spin on certain other things that aren't as essential to plot or characterization, such as:
    • Again, the soft drinks are all reminiscent of American beverages, though there's less variety this time around. Sadly, "Cylon tea" didn't return.
    • The cartoony mascot bear character was called "Kuma" ("bear") in the original. The English translation changed his name to "Teddie," as befitting a cute, cuddly bear. In addition, he originally had a Verbal Tic of ending his sentences with "-kuma," while in the translation, he resorts to un-"bear"-able puns, to the same effect.
      • "Sensei! That was senseitional!"
    • Mr. Morooka, the hated homeroom teacher, is known to his students as "King Moron." Apparently, the nickname he bore in the original Japanese was "Morokin", a play on his full name, Kinshiro Morooka.
    • Finally, your character can benefit from some Woolsefying of his own when he takes a part-time job as a translator. Occasionally, you'll be given a choice when you run into something culture-specific, like children's dialogue or humor, and have the choice of creatively fudging the translation to retain the intended effect, or just do a Blind Idiot Translation. You get a chance to be paid much, much better if you do the former...though there's also a random chance of failing and getting paid nothing.
    • A sidequest of reading novels added a Take That to Twilight.
  • In another Atlus example, the Japanese version of Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army, set in the 1920s, had most of the characters speaking modern Japanese (aside from some characters, like Raidou's ancestors, who used very archaic language). The English translation, however, has them using slang appropriate to the time period. Of course, it's English slang. Try not to think about it too hard.
  • Disgaea has a few. Most obvious to are their handling of the terms "Makai" and "Tenkai." Their literal translations are the awkward-sounding "Demon World" and "Heavenly World" and they don't have very good equivalents in English -- Hell and Heaven aren't quite the same thing. So they translated Makai as "The Netherworld" -- although not even close to a literal translation, this does a good job of evoking the appropriate imagery. Similarly, they made up the term Celestia for Tenkai, for the same reason.
    • Another example is translating Maou as Overlord. Overlord is much closer to the connotations carried by Maou than the literal translation, "Demon King", and is a much more familiar and less awkward term in English.
    • The battle cries used during certain attacks. The best example is probably Laharl shouting "Bite the dust!" before finishing his "Overlord's Wrath" attack.
    • Also, Champloo becoming essentially Emeril in the dub, or the Mexican Orcs.
    • How could you forget the Prinnies, dood? The original version had them ending the last word of each sentence with a "su" sound, but for some reason Atlus decided that mispelling "dude" would be funnier. NISA tried a similar stunt when they changed Yukimaru's "desu" to "zam" in the sequel, but it never really caught on.
      • Weirdly enough 'desu' would probably do better around the west due to 4Chan's less than pleasant take on Rozen Maiden desu.
  • The second Art of Fighting game had a very peculiar English translation. All of the endings were altered in some way, resulting often in comical twists that are arguably more fun to watch/read than both the originals and the more faithful translations to other languages.
  • In Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon, if you've lost so many units that you don't have enough left to deploy for the next map, you'll be given generic units. In the PAL version, they have normal names. However, in the NTSC version, their names are insulting puns directed at the player.
    • To be fair, only about a third fo them had names like Owend, Lucer, and Auffle. Some of them had numerically inspired names (Unil, Dua, Trim), and the rest had vaguely Roman sounding names, like Augustus, Antony, and Julius.
    • IIRC, the "insulting" ones only arrive if you run through enough of the numerical ones. Of course, if you want the secret characters, you have to keep your unit count low, so it's a tough balance.
  • Jeremy Blaustein's localisation of Snatcher tightened up some of the more egregious plot-holes, and contained the most delicious Woolseyism ever - Neo Kobe Pizza. A comedy sequence in the game involved Gillian attempting to buy a dumpling-based food from a vendor, but Blaustein changed it to a dish consisting of a pizza dropped into soup. Fans, naturally, tried doing this with their own pizza, to universally tasty results. A recipe even got onto Kotaku.
  • The "form" Wii Remote poses in Wario Ware: Smooth Moves get changed into more familiar-sounding names, similar to what Nintendo also did with Elite Beat Agents. For example, the "Tengu" pose which involves holding the remote up to your nose is changed to "The Elephant". Since one of the first games using this pose involves helping an elephant gather apples, this works well. The pictures and dialogue during the narrator's speeches are changed accordingly. They're hilarious.
  • The Japanese-exclusive original release of Tales of Phantasia for the SNES got a fan translation by the group DeJap. If you want an accurate translation of the game, play the localized Gameboy Advance port; except for one glaring spell-check-failed (apparently "ragnarok" = "kangaroo") moment, the translation is quite true to the original.
    • The absurdity that comes from the De Jap translation is that they proclaimed it to be 'totally accurate in every way', which led a lot of people who played it to despise the GBA port's translation for the perception (due to the rather poor De Jap translation) that it severely censored the dialogue. Also, De Jap's translation was a result of the people working on it not knowing enough Japanese to do an accurate translation, so they just fudged what they could with innuendo and jokes. Your Mileage May Vary whether it's worth it.
    • It also should be mentioned that DeJap never bothered trying to Woolsey the names, instead taking them directly from Japanese materials, leading to a maddening amount of base-breaking Spell My Name with an "S" fandom kerfluffles. These are noticably more prevalent with Phantasia than with other Tales games where name changes happened during localization (which is to say, you'll hear a lot more people claiming that "Klarth" is Claus' "correct" name than those who'll insist you call the white mage of Tales of Symphonia "Refill").
    • In the case of Refill's name, however, only the most hardcore purists would use it. Refirru might work in Japanese, but Refill is a verb in English. Raine, on the other hand, credibly sounds like a person's name in the language.
  • The The Wonderful Wizard of Oz RPG for the DS, RIZ-ZOAWD, was recently licensed by XSEED under the much more pronouncable The Wizard of Oz: Beyond The Yellow Brick Road.
  • Brave Fencer Musashi has several moments of this, especially any time Steward Ribson talks. Many of his lines have added voiceovers, so you actually get to listen to him say things like "Thou art beeth correcteth!"
  • In Ristar, one of the bosses was changed from a cat into a snowman thing. In Japan, a nekojita (猫舌, lit. cat tongue) is someone who can't eat hot or spicy foods. This would be lost on the average American, who wouldn't quite understand why a (blue, somewhat robotic) cat needs to be fed spicy stuff to be defeated, so they changed him into an ice creature to convey that same logic overseas.
  • Syphon Filter: The manual spells Anton Girdeux's last name "Girdeaux".
  • Dragon Quest VIII has quite a number of lovely Woolseyisms, arguably the most memorable of which taking the form of guffaw-inducing puns and innuendos. For instance, there is a type of enemy called the "One Knight Stand" and a bar in one town entitled the "Cock and Bull".
    • Hero's boomerang skill increased! Hero is now a baby boomer!
    • The DS translation of Dragon Quest V featured this in spades, with such monster gems as the spear wielding "Pokesperson," the genie "High Djinnks," the goat demon "Moosifer," and the similar boss "Bjorn the Behemoose."
    • Way back in Dragon Quest I, in Japan, after the Dragon Lord falls, his pet dragon pulls a Giant Space Flea From Nowhere. In America, the Dragon Lord instead transforms into his true self. This went over so well that later appearances by the Dragon Lord in the series have him transform.
  • An in-universe example can be found in EVE Online, in the backstory of the voice of the ship's computer, which is the voice of a poet who adapted a wholly religious poem for a wholly secular society so perfectly that the original writer declared that anyone who tried to censor her version was trying to censor the poem itself.
  • At one point in Okami, you have to sneak into the Emperor's palace by using the Lucky Mallet to shrink yourself to Mouse World size. They translated the "Are you sure you want to do this?" warning as "Ready to get hammered?"
  • A non-script example. Here's the original intro to Wild ARMs 2. Unfortunately the lyrics were notoriously hard to translate without butchering either the meter or language. Solution? Axe the lyrics altogether and use an absolutely kickass trumpet and acoustic guitar instead.
  • In Gradius IV, the series' name is pronounced "grad-ius", but in V, it's pronounced "gray-dius", as most fans pronounce it. The title itself is a Japanization of "gladius".
    • Yu-Gi-Oh! had a card for Gradius, and was pronounced "Gray-dius" in the Anime.
    • Many sources refer to the Giant Spider boss (Shadow Gear) as "Club", a mistransliteration of "Crab" Doesn't look like a Giant Enemy Crab, though.
  • The box and manual of Adventure Island name the Damsel in Distress as Princess Leilani, but the A Winner Is You screen says "You have saved your lovely Tina". The second game's manual says that Tina is the Princess's sister.
  • In Riviera: The Promised Land, a number of character and item names were changed by Atlus to reflect the game's overarching Norse influences; for example, main character "Ecthel" was changed to "Ein", and his sword "Excellion" was changed to "Einherjar".
  • Cave Story: It's probably too early to declare either of translation objectively better, but there is a vocal portion of the fanbase that prefers AGTP's Fan Translation over the more literal translation from Nicalis (which had Studio Pixel's approval) for the Wiiware version. In particular, AGTP's translation of Balrog's Battle Cry ("Doryaa!") as "Huzzah!" gained memetic status; Nicalis' translation of the line as "Oh yeah!" drew cries of They Changed It, Now It Sucks.
  • In-universe example with Free Space; when first-contact between terrans and vasudans leads to war, the terrans classify vasudan ships with an Egyptian theme. Later, after hostilities cool, the vasudans decide that being compared to Ancient Egypt is flattering and officially adopt the Egyptian names for their gear as the proper-noun equivilents when translated. Some Vasudans even adopt Egyptian names for themselves, including the Emperor!
  • The same thing happens in Mass Effect, where translators are constantly kept updated to reflect changing linguistic patterns and many languages are impossible for some species to actually speak unassisted. The obvious example are the Spectres, which functions as an acronym that makes perfect sense in English, which would mean someone working on the translations put effort into figuring out a proper equivalent based on the meaning the actual, alien word carries in its own culture.
    • Another example is Omega: It's mentioned that every species calls it by a name that reflects their cultural attitude towards the place: the asari name for it translates as "the heart of evil", the salarian name as "the place of secrets", the turian name as "the world without law", and the krogan name it as the "land of opportunity". The human name is of course no different--Omega is essentially "the end", which accurately describes how most humans view it.
    • While we're on the subject of Mass Effect, the Russian version calls medi-gel "panatselin", a portmanteau of "penicillin" and "panacea" that invokes the Russian verb "tselit'", an archaic word for "to heal".
  • Another in-universe example with Iji, where the scientists tried not to translate the names of Tasen and Komato weapons, but gave them names so that Iji could get the gist of them. It's not perfect, but it largely works. Sometimes, with weapons that don't have an Earth equivalent, they gave the guns menacing-sounding names; one of the BFGs, a fusion-powered coilgun that fires thousands of rounds per second, is called the "Velocithor".
  • The English versions of BlazBlue are filled with references to memes.

Taokaka: "Get in mah belly!"
Kokonoe: "I love the smell of explosions in the morning!"

Jubei: "The 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi. You will never find a more Wretched Hive of scum and villainy."

Arakune: That is relevent to my interests!

Hazama: "Protip" "Why so serious?" "Heeeeeere's Terumi!"

  • The infamous "Touch Fuzzy, Get Dizzy" level from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island was re-named "Lustiges Sporen Drama" ("Silly Spore Drama") in the German version.
  • Ganondorf and Ganon's full names in the A Link To The Past Manual, Ganondorf Dragmire and Mandrag Ganon, were actually added into the english translation: In the original Japanese version, he was identified simply as Ganondorf and Ganon.
    • In the game itself, the contents of the Book of Mudora were itself the result of Woolseyism (in the Japanese version, it was treated more like an instruction booklet than a book containing various lore).
    • A minor example, but one that stirred a bit of discussion in the fandom over the characters involved: in the English version of Twilight Princess, Midna's dialogue to Link right before she breaks the Mirror of Twilight is "Link, I...see you later." Some translations of the Japanese imply that the drifting "I..." wasn't in the original version. Considering that a lot of fans have interpreted the evocative statement to mean she was going to say or confess something very emotional and heartwarming (the most obvious being "I love you" or something similar), it can mildly alter a player's view of Midna and her relationship to Link. With or without the change, the scene is one of the most emotionally charged in the game, though.
      • There's another layer to this: In Japanese, Midna just says "bye" before breaking the mirror. In English, it's turned into a Meaningful Echo of her Catch Phrase.
  • Recettear became a surprise hit and sold over a hundred thousand copies in America (the translators were expecting ten thousand at best) partially due to the high quality of the translation, which was filled to the brim with shout outs while still keeping original game's feel -- cute but not cloying -- intact.
    • This is pretty much Carpe Fulgur's MO, according to their FAQ. They aim to work closely with the creators to capture the feeling and humor of the games.
  • In the manual for Iron Tank, the boss tanks are called "Think Tanks". Maybe because they're autonomous robotic tanks? Or maybe it's just due to Blind Idiot Translation.
  • The Hungarian Fan Translation of Unreal Tournament is very liberal when it comes to taunts. Example:

Original: "You like that?"
Translation: "Guess the rubber doll doesn't shoot back, huh?!"

  • The NES version of Double Dragon III underwent a complete script rewrite from its Japanese Famicom counterpart. The MacGuffins of the game, the Rosetta Stones, were renamed into the Sacred Stones (since the real life Rosetta Stone was something else entirely) and the plot now involves saving Marian (err Marion) again, giving the Lee brothers some incentive for helping out Hiruko search for the Sacred Stones (as opposed to helping her out for the hell of it). Moreover, the sub-plot with Machine Gun Willy's brother Jim (the first stage's boss) as the new leader of the Black Warriors was left out completely, as it was quickly forgotten after the first stage, and the identity of Brett's murderer was changed into someone else (namely Hiruko). The identity of the final boss is changed from a revived Cleopatra to Queen Noiram, who is really Marion possessed by an evil spirit. Unfortunately, the localization team made no changes to the game's presentation and Marion is mysteriously absent after the final boss battle, even though the ending assures us she's fine. Here's a script comparison between the Famicom and NES versions.
  • In Shockman for the TurboGrafx-16, the dialogue calls both Arnold and Sonya the game title. Wouldn't the latter be "Shockgirl"?
  • The Fan Translations of the Touhou games toss a few out here and there. Most notably, in Imperishable Night's Extra Stage, a lot of wordplay is based on two Japanese terms meaning "liver" and "test of courage", which sound similar. The translation kept most of it by referring to the "test of courage" as "Trial of Guts". They even threw in some Breaking the Fourth Wall in Perfect Cherry Blossom, where Reimu refers to Chen as "just a Stage 2 boss."
  • In Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, the villains have Theme Naming based on playing cards (Spade, Heart, and Ace) in the Japanese version. In Western translations, this didn't seem foreign enough, so the villains are instead named after the Tarot (Blade, Chalice, and the Arcana). This caused a second set of renames, as one of the heroes was named "Crown" in the Japanese version, and had to be renamed to avoid confusion, since Crowns are a name for the Tarot suit of Coins.
  • The Japanese version of Yggdra Union has a female character named Emilio. While most Japanese players wouldn't know any better, the name sounds very masculine to the average Western audience. To avoid any unnecessary raised eyebrows, Atlus opted to change her name to the similar yet much more feminine "Emilia" when they translated the game into English.
  • Not as much of a change, but the main character of Space Channel 5 is named "Ulala". It is the official pronunciation for the name "Urara", which is a common name in Japan, but in English, most characters pronounce it as "Ooh-La-La"...which is often what people say about attractive women. Conveniently enough, that's quite a part of the game, too! Fridge Brilliance on the part of the developers?
  • In later Dynasty Warriors games as well as the Samurai Warriors games, upon defeating enemy officers characters will say something unique and specific rather than simply saying "Enemy Officer Defeated".
  1. ↑ true, this is his name in the Japanese version, but it sounds ridiculous to foreign audiences
  2. ↑ ("phantom" as in "imaginary" or "a figment")
  3. ↑ yōkan is a jellied dessert, and also a homophone for the Japanese word for "Manor"
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