Topic: Japanese storyline translations needed

[Tuxedo Mark]

If anyone has access to the Japanese instruction manuals for every game from Rondo onward (except Vampire Killer for Mega Drive, a.k.a. Bloodlines) and can translate the storylines for me into English, I'd really appreciate it. I just recorded episode 9 of my podcast today and covered Belmont's Revenge. The only other one of Help Me's translations that I have left is Bloodlines', but Rondo was released before that, and I need the storyline for next week's episode. Thanks.

[TheouAegis]

Japanese manual's Rondo intro:

"In the good old days, people lived in peace and prosperity. Nobody believed
that in the future a threat would come...

On the underside of peace and prosperity, there is pure evil. Those who resist
prosperity and intend on destroying peace. The disciples of this corrupt world
gathered to resurrect the powers of evil. Smiling in eager expectation, they
awaited the creation of their new world.

One hundred years later, the evil one is resurrected once more. Able to
transform into a bat, wolf, or mist; and preferring to act in the darkness of
night. He who drinks the blood of young maidens, to maintain his eternal life.
The lord of Castlevania, god of malice, Count Dracula was reborn."


Got that from GameFAQs. The first paragraph for sure is correct -- I translated the German for the first paragraph. The Japanese translation appears to be the same or close enough, just looking at the first sentence.

Translation below was provided by Solar Boy and is on the VGmuseum site:

"In the good old days, the people desired only prosperity and peace, and certainly everyone thought that the days of unrest would surely never come… But on the other side of peace and prosperity, there invariably exists evil. Rejecting the peoples' prosperity, they corrupt the peace. Those who sought to restore the powers of evil and remake this corrupt world gathered. Smiles crept across their faces as their expectations for the coming genesis swelled. After one hundred years, a being of evil once again returned. This man could change his form into that of a bat, a wolf, or mist, particularly favoring to act at night. Sucking the blood of young women, he retained eternal life. Master of the Demon Castle, god of the wicked, Count Dracula has returned."

[Tuxedo Mark]

Wow, thanks for that! Would you happen to know the translation of the Dracula XX story (the Super Famicom port)? Whenever multiple games cover the same event, I want to compare them in the same episode (such as when I covered CV1, Vampire Killer, Haunted Castle, SCV4, and Chronicles in the same episode).

[Nagumo]

The country of Transylvania in the Middle Ages-
In the land which gave rise to countless legends of Dracula, a pitch-black evil has once again come…
Hundreds of years have passed since the time of Simon Belmont, the legendary hero said to have sealed away Count Dracula, and the people have grown used to peace, and corrupted it.
Now, once more, the wickedness in the hearts of some men has resurrected the Dark Lord of evil, Count Dracula.
Count Dracula, now revived, plotted revenge against the descendant of the Belmont line that sealed him away, Richter Belmont.
To lure Richter to the Demon Castle, he lead his new servants in an attack on the town, abducting Richter’s lover, Annette, her younger sister, Maria, shutting them up in the Demon Castle.
To rescue Annette and Maria, and to seal away Count Dracula once again, Richter, mourning his fate, took up his ancestral holy whip and headed for the Demon Castle.

Credit goes to Solar Boy.

[Tuxedo Mark]

Thanks!

[Tuxedo Mark]

I just read this in Castlevania Wiki's timeline article:

"During the Middle ages there lived a man who wished to obtain power. In the year 1431, this man made a pact with an evil deity who granted him power to conquer the world. From that moment on, the man became a powerful Demon King known as Dracula. For nineteen years, he terrorised Europe with his army of monsters, conquering one nation after the next. Seventeen year old Sonia Belmont, takes up a magical whip left to her by grandfather, and swears to avenge him after he was killed by Dracula's minions. During her search, she meets and forms a strong bond with her enemy's son, Alucard. After vanquishing the Count, Sonia vows that if Dracula returns after her lifetime, others will take her place and defeat him. Afterwards, she gave birth to a son fathered by Alucard. This child would later defeat Dracula once more."

Just how accurate is all of this? It seems to feature some more specifics than what we got in the U.S. manual.

Would someone please do a translation of the storyline from the Japanese manual and game?

[Nagumo]

You can find a translation at Mr P's site. Check the game page of Legends.

Regarding the "1431" date, that's also from Konami magazine. It's the birth year of Vlad Tepes.

[Tuxedo Mark]

You can find a translation at Mr P's site. Check the game page of Legends.

Wow, my mind has been blown. This entire time, I've been pictured Sonia as a poor peasant girl that's had to endure hardship for her entire life, and going up against Dracula was just the latest.

I had no idea that she's a loaded aristocrat that lives in a freakin' mansion.

Although, I do recall reading somewhere, a few years ago, the bit about her grandfather dying.

It's...odd that no specific mention is made of Sonia's parents (it says her grandfather raised her). I wonder if they're meant to be deceased.

[Koutei]

A part of Solar Boy's Legends translation has an error.

Not Sonia but Alucard was searching the father.

[X]

I had no idea that she's a loaded aristocrat that lives in a freakin' mansion.

Where exactly in Mr. P's Castlevania realm did you find this? I looked all over that site and didn't see anything like it.

[Ratty]

Where exactly in Mr. P's Castlevania realm did you find this? I looked all over that site and didn't see anything like it.

It's from Solar Boy's translation of the Japanese manual story.
Meanwhile, a young girl with mysterious powers was born to an aristocratic family in the countryside. Surprisingly, the girl had special powers that the townspeople couldn’t understand, that they called supernatural. etc.

Which you can find here http://www.vgmuseum.com/mrp/cvgb3/game-media.htm under the "media" section on the game. Mr. P's old layout seemed to be more intuitive and easy to read/navigate but oh well. It's interesting that this story is MORE in line with the aristocratic lineage set out in Lament of Innocence (the Belmonts may no longer have had official title, but may well have still been wealthy and seen as noble by the peasants) yet IGA still felt it necessary to pull Legends from his version of continuity. Figure that one out.

Personally, if you're going to talk about Sonia though what I find much more interesting is how she's such a direct link to the obvious influence Vampire Hunter D, and particularly the 1985 film adaptation of the first novel, had on the series.
Japanese Vampire Hunter D Trailer
Sonia is, design-wise, a slightly revised version of Doris Lang. The frontier farm dwelling, whip-wielding daughter of a werewolf hunter.

[X]

Thanks for clearing that up Ratty    I also watched Vampire Hunter D and thoroughly enjoyed it. Classic anime that might as well be titled Castlevania. And Doris Lang may as well be Sonia Belmont.

[Tuxedo Mark]

A part of Solar Boy's Legends translation has an error.

Not Sonia but Alucard was searching the father.

Ah, okay. I was wondering about that.

I kept trying to figure out the random mention of Sonia's father. I envisioned him possibly abandoning the family after his wife possibly dies during childbirth. Knowing it was Alucard searching for his father resolves that problem.

But it's still pretty nonsensical. Why would Alucard be searching for his father? Does he not know where he is. Even the end of the story has Sonia turning toward the Demon Castle (the scene from the opening of the game, I suspect).

Anyway, it's weird that Sonia's parents aren't mentioned. They're presumed dead, I suppose, since it says she's raised by her grandfather. Still, I would have liked to have been given a mention of their fates.

[Tuxedo Mark]

It's interesting that this story is MORE in line with the aristocratic lineage set out in Lament of Innocence (the Belmonts may no longer have had official title, but may well have still been wealthy and seen as noble by the peasants)

Yeah. It also fits in with "The Belmont Legacy" comic. I think I recall reading something back around the time that it came out that Konami had canonized the comic, and there was nerd rage over it. Is that true?

yet IGA still felt it necessary to pull Legends from his version of continuity. Figure that one out.

IGA has never given a consistent reason for it. I've read a quote from him that it was due to "women not being warriors back then" or something like that, and I read this quote in Castlevania Wiki's timeline article:

"Because Castlevania Legends was a work that completely ignored Castlevania's look, when I became producer, I removed it from the proper history. I think it would be best to think of it as a story from a different world that used the same look."

Translation: "I removed it, because it didn't look like the other games, so please treat it as an AU story that looks like the other games."

Personally, if you're going to talk about Sonia though what I find much more interesting is how she's such a direct link to the obvious influence Vampire Hunter D, and particularly the 1985 film adaptation of the first novel, had on the series.
Japanese Vampire Hunter D Trailer
Sonia is, design-wise, a slightly revised version of Doris Lang. The frontier farm dwelling, whip-wielding daughter of a werewolf hunter.

Yeah, I remember that trailer. Two items of note:

Doris' outfit is lacking the red from the final film.

The title logo is vastly different (I prefer the "Gothic-looking" film version).

I once read that an early, pre-release cut of the film includes the music and voice-acting but not the sound effects. I'd actually love to see that.

[Tuxedo Mark]

Another thing that I noticed in the Japanese storyline is the chain of events that push Sonia toward her confrontation of Dracula is specifically faster-paced than the American version (whose flow is open to interpretation). Sonia meets up with Alucard, returns home to find that a fight had broken out at her mansion, finds her dying grandfather, takes the whip, and heads off to show Dracula what's up.

Not enough time for Sonia and Alucard to form a deep relationship, bonk, and conceive a love child. I think we can safely say Alucard isn't Trevor's babydaddy.

I'd really be interested in reading a translation of the Japanese in-game text.