Topic: I just want them to get the names right

[TheouAegis]

For all the talk from me about wanting a new 2D Classicvania (or 2.5D or side-scrolling 3D classicvania... either way, a Classicvania), probably the one thing I want more than anything else is for overseas releases of the made-in-Japan games is for the translators to get the names right.

For starters, Devil and Cthulhu? Is Cthulhu even copyrighted? Lovecraft has been dead for 75 years. I don't think Arkham Press actually owns the copyright on the Cthulhu Mythos. It's been written about and contributed to by countless authors. It's basically public property now. We're not talking about the Birthday Song. And since Cthulhu, Nyarlothep and Dagon have  been used for many decades overseas (there's a lengthy blog I read this weekend about Lovecraft in Japan), the names of the old clearly don't seem to be copyrighted. Lovecraft's short stories, yes. The mythos, no. So there's no need to call Cthulhu "Devil" when he's clearly Cthulhu. The sprite itself wasn't even a copyrighted design (which El Viento on the Sega Genesis did infringe upon).

Buckbaird and Bugbear. ... *takes a deep breath*
This is a bugbear:

... or this 

The romaji doesn't even say "bugbear"! It clearly says "buckbaird" or some similar-sounding name. The romaji for the "baird" part returns the name Baird on Google (as in Baird Beer). The reason for going with Bugbear is obvious and dubious -- the translators had no idea what a Buckbaird was, so they went with the closest word they could find, which is bugbear. So what is a Buckbaird? Even with my trusty Google Translator, I couldn't find anything definitive, but here is THE Buckbaird:

Look familiar?

But what is Buckbaird? .. I don't really know. In the "GeGeGe No Kitarou" rogue's gallery, he's the ambassador for Western youkai, representing smog, kinda like Hexxus from "Fern Gully". He's a powerful youkai and chairs the world council of youkai (not sure what it's actually called, but you can see him as the head honcho in "GeGeGe No Kitarou: Nippon Bakuretsu"). Buckbaird is so much a part of the Japanese knowledgebase nowadays, he's one of the first things that comes to mind when they see this:

The question is, if Buckbaird is supposed to be a Western youkai, why has no one heard of it? Well, first off, there's a Finnish plant called Buck's Beard. Can you spot the similarities in design? Also, the clue may be in that Buckbaird is a Western youkai. Think about it -- a giant eyeball covered in tendrils that hovers in the sky...


(the latter is close to how Buckbaird was drawn in the SNES games)
Only one of these critters (the bottom two pictures are the same creature) was around in Mizuki Shigeru's time. For all intents, Shigeru's Buckbaird looks like something from the Mythos. It's not such a stretch, because Shigeru wrote a Mythos manga.



So please, Konami, please, just get the names right, even if you don't make another Classicvania for me.

[Arma]

lol bugbear
Perhaps they change the names to avoid confusions thinking fans in other parts of the world don't what's that, a bit unnecessary though. A name its a name, knowing its meaning won't particulary affect the gameplay or story.

[X]

And since Cthulhu, Nyarlothep and Dagon have  been used for many decades overseas (there's a lengthy blog I read this weekend about Lovecraft in Japan), the names of the old clearly don't seem to be copyrighted.

I don't think any of H.P. Lovecraft's creatures are copyright as everybody is incorporating them in some form or another in stories, movies, fanfiction etc. Dagon however is definitely not copyright materiel.

Dagon was originally an Assyro-Babylonian fertility god who evolved into a major northwest Semitic god, reportedly of grain (as symbol of fertility) and fish and/or fishing (as symbol of multiplying). He was worshipped by the early Amorites and by the inhabitants of the cities of Ebla (modern Tell Mardikh, Syria) and Ugarit (modern Ras Shamra, Syria) (which was an ancient city near the Mediterranean containing a large variety of ancient writings and pre-Judeo-Christian shrines). He was also a major member, or perhaps head, of the pantheon of the Biblical Philistines. -Wikipedia

Lovecraft borrowed several old Gods and Goddess names for his works and gave'm a bit of a twist. Although Cthulhu I'll admit is his own original badass 'Old, deep one' to rule above all others.

[Ridureyu]

I was about to mention Dagon, hah. But I think Cthulhu might be user copyright, as well as other unique Lovecraft creations like Nypyarlathotep.

Also, I believe Buckbaird in GeGeGe was a mistranslation of bugbear (the root for bogeyman, which just means ghost/monster), and since GeGeGe is so culturally significant, it just sort of became official enough in Japan.

[PFG9000]

I don't believe the Cthulhu thing has anything to do with copyright.  SotN was the first appearance of Cthulhu in Castlevania.  And it would have been amazing, seeing as Cthulhu owns your soul and all, but they flip-flopped the names of Cthulhu and Malachi.  I really doubt both the name Cthulhu and the likeness could be in the game if there was any sort of copyright issue, and I doubt that flip-flopping them around would skirt the issue if copyright was the problem.  Nope, they just had an incompetent translation crew.  And for whatever reason, the Malachi label stuck, as every appearance of Cthulhu in CV since SotN has had it named Malachi.

In other news, my wife found Cthulhu lurking in a dark corner of Barnes & Noble one day.  My plushie collection was constantly warring amongst themselves until Cthulhu came to restore peace and order.  And sacrifice.  As you can see, he also owns my remote.

[Puwexil]

they flip-flopped the names of Cthulhu and Malachi. 

Not exactly. The English version's "Ctulhu" monster (in the Marble Gallery etc.) was originally called "Devil" in Japanese. Similarly, the English version's "Malachi" (squid-headed design) went by "Evil".

It's anyone's guess why Blaustein chose to attach the Cthulhu moniker to the former, given the presence of the latter.

[Ridureyu]

My sister almost stole my plush Cthulhu.

[PFG9000]

Not exactly. The English version's "Ctulhu" monster (in the Marble Gallery etc.) was originally called "Devil" in Japanese. Similarly, the English version's "Malachi" (squid-headed design) went by "Evil".

It's anyone's guess why Blaustein chose to attach the Cthulhu moniker to the former, given the presence of the latter.

Huh.  That's very interesting.  I guess I just assumed it was a screw-up, given all the other goofy translation issues.  Thanks for clarifying.

[beingthehero]

To be honest, I always thought Buckbaird and Bugbear were interchangeable. I had no idea they were different monsters.

[TheouAegis]

Mizuki Shigeru doesn't make mistakes like mistransliterating ... I don't know if that's a word; Firefox says not. If Shigeru says it's Buckbaird, then it's Buckbaird (or some similar spelling).

This is bugbear (doubt me? Google it):
バグベア
This is Buckbaird:
バックベアード

Huge difference. I think Shigeru might have altered Cthulhu's name, but that was intentional (or his interpretation of the pronunciation... Japanese are sticklers for that stuff). And Shigeru has brought in ghosts and goblins from other cultures many times: Caroline, the French vampiress; Wolf Man (who's a man of high European education); Dracula IV; Yasha, Tiger Men, and Qi; Kijimuna; Marilyn Monroe (yup!); Frankenstein's Monster; Gremlins; witches; and so on. And after 6 generations of Kitarou, if it was a typo someone would have caught it by now. And if Bandai says it's バックベアード, then it is.  To also refute the bugbear theory, Buckbaird doesn't even come close to being a boogeyman; he doesn't resemble the boogeyman or a bugbear in the least. It's believed Shigeru might have created him of his own mind. I'm partial to the name coming from the plant, myself. As for why it's a giant eye, there's a theory it's related to the Freemasons and Illuminati's Eye of Providence. Although very likely it's possibly based on this old Japanese picture:

[TheouAegis]

Well I finally found a translated copy of Buckbaird's first appearance in the GeGeGe Kitarou anime (not the manga, sadly). Interestingly (for me at least), the fansubber translated his name as Bayard. Personally, I'm too used to "baird" now, but that's just the French spelling. In other countries it's spelled Baiard or similar. A quick google showed that Bayard was not only a surname, but also the name of a legendary magical horse. ... The modern definition is a fearless and chivalrous soldier. As for the Buck part, I can't help but wonder if it was inspired by Buck Rogers, which came out in many years before the GeGeGe Kitarou manga. It could also come from the slang "buck", an old term for a black male (Buckbaird is a giant, black eyeball with frizzy hair, if you look at him with the right mindset). There is also the name Buck Byard, but the last name is pronounced differently, I think. I haven't found anything in the Cthulhu Mythos that comes close to Buckbaird, either.

But anyway, I can say more about who Buckbaird was. According to the original anime (1968), Buckbaird was head of the monsters in the West (Europe), presiding over the likes of Dracula's descendants, a witch, and the Wolfman. He has the power to make people stupid. He turns London police into blubbering idiots. Later he numbs Ratman's brain so he'll tell the truth.

When London police had the monsters' party hall (because Western monsters love to party) demolished after an incident with Buckbaird one night, the monsters waged war against humans. Sick of being surrounded by humans, Buckbaird vows to travel to Japan and turn the entire island into a haven for monsters to party. They establish their base of operations on Kikai Island ("Demon Realm Island", yes it's a real island off of Japan). To counter them and save Japan, Kitarou tasks Ratman with gathering numerous youkai (including a monster from Mizuki's "Akuma-kun"), then Kitarou weeds out the weak-hearted and is left with those GeGeGe Kitarou fans know as his best friends (Ittan Momen, Nurakabe, Sunakake Baba, and Konaki Jiji). Ittan Momen tries to take out the witch, who was sent to scout for trespassers, but she stabs a nail through his heart then kidnaps Ratman. Kitarou goes after the monsters alone to save Ratman, but Ratman betrays him to them. A small scuffle ensues between the monsters and the youkai, resulting in Nurikabe's defeat. Kitarou returns and the youkai take up camp with the remaining humans on the island in a cave. Buckbaird and Ratman invade the cave but Kitarou fends Buckbaird off with his Hair Needle attack, although he faints from overexertion. Sunakake Baba and Konaki Jiji waylay the monsters and defeat Dracula's underlings, but then Dracula sucks Konaki Jiji's blood and his surviving underlings suck Sunakake Baba's blood. Buckbaird decides to use Kitarou as his Japanese ambassador and sends Dracula to go lure Kitarou out of the cave. While everyone's distracted, Kitarou's dad steals the witch's broom, which Ratman used as a clothesline for Kitarou's vest, and flies back to the cave on the broom; the witch gets her broom back but Kitarou's dad manages to escape with the vest. Back at the cave, Kitarou tricks Dracula into turning his back on him and strangles him. When Buckbaird learns the humans went into hiding, he orders the witch and Ratman to guard the only source of fresh water on the island. While Kitarou is on his way to fetch water for the humans, he finds his dad and gets his vest back, but right then Buckbaird finds him and uses his powers on Kitarou to brainwash him. Under Buckbaird's control, Kitarou betrays the humans' hiding spot to the witch and Ratman, but Kitarou's dad uses Kitarou's vest to get to the humans; the vest wraps itself around the witch's head and suffocates her, forcing Ratman to flee. When a storm approaches the island, the lighthouse keeper and his son head to the lighthouse to ignite the flame, but they're spotted by Buckbaird's remaining underlings; the dad leads the vampires on a goose chase while the son makes his way to the lighthouse. A small fishing boat approaches the island and is hijacked by Buckbaird and Kitarou. As Kitarou's dad tries to return the vest to Kitarou and snap him out of Buckbaird's spell, the lighthouse light shines in Buckbaird's eye and blinds him, thus freeing Kitarou from the spell. Buckbaird tries to regain control of Kitarou but the lighthouse blinds him again on the next rotation. Ktarou kicks Buckbaird square in the eye, defeating him. He then takes care of Buckbaird's underlings, but unfortunately is unable to reach the lighthouse keeper in time to save him from the last of Buckbaird's minions. On their way back home, Kitarou mourns the deaths of the youkai that joined him in the Great Youkai War.