Topic: Legends of Localization looks at the differences between Simon's Quest Japan&USA

[Ratty]

Forgive me if this has been posted, I'm not sure how old it is. But I came across it and thought it was interesting, and knew some here might think so as well.

http://legendsoflocalization.com/avgn/castlevania-ii/

[X]

Never seen that website before. Interesting find Ratty 

[Nagumo]

It appears to me the Japanese version is quite beatable since the hints are actually understandable. Of course you would have to write everything down systematically, but that was part of the experience back in the day. It's a bit sad the English localization basically crippled the game. Also, FDS load times are indeed pretty tedious, lol.

[beingthehero]

Not sure if the website mentioned it (i'll read it here in a bit), but I know there was that Finnish guy who was doing a Finnish translation and also posted on his website the correct English translation. From what I could tell the Japanese version still had stupidly vague clues (albeit better than the NA version).

Naggermo-sama, didn't you say that the Japanese manual says the villagers may lie because Simon was now a pariah because they blame him for the curse on the land?

Also what was cool was that the Finnish guy mentioned that the text in the Japanese version was actually quite fast and conversational instead of the stiffly-worded-and-paced English translation, due to the Japanese characters being used vs. the Roman alphabet.

Now that I read some of it:

The disk format meant that the player’s progress could be saved, and it also allowed for some more advanced sound and music

The japanese version's music sounded less advanced and more tinny than the NES version in my humble opinion...

[X]

Don't know if anybody else picked up on this but... When watching the videos and when they started up at the same time the music from the Jp version and the Na version seems to blend in rather well with each other. Maybe someone here with music experience should try to combined them so we can give 'm a listen 

[Nagumo]

Naggermo-sama, didn't you say that the Japanese manual says the villagers may lie because Simon was now a pariah because they blame him for the curse on the land?

Nah, I don't know anything about that. They don't really lie to Simon in the Japanese version, I think.

[EisaKrieger]

I got and beat this game when I was about 8 years old.  I had that Nintendo Power issue to help me a bit though.  I always liked this game despite the goofy translation.  Loved the music.

If you apply the moody color patch and then Redaction on top of that it's pretty awesome.

[Koutei]

Not sure if the website mentioned it (i'll read it here in a bit), but I know there was that Finnish guy who was doing a Finnish translation and also posted on his website the correct English translation. From what I could tell the Japanese version still had stupidly vague clues (albeit better than the NA version).

This.
http://bisqwit.iki.fi/cv2fin/diff
It is a roughly correct translation though some look strange.

Japanese manual says the villagers may lie because Simon was now a pariah because they blame him for the curse on the land?

Nah, I don't know anything about that. They don't really lie to Simon in the Japanese version, I think.

Nope. Also in Japanese version, The villager tells lie. The reason is not clear. Probably, it will be the speculation from the Doina's villager.

[DoctaMario]

I think I remember the manual in the Na version saying that not all the villagers could be trusted. I disagree with the idea that the NA version was poorly translated and that that's why the game reads as it does. I really think a lot of it was on purpose and that the game's hints were vague in part to extend the play time of it.