Site News
Warning: This wiki contains spoilers. Read at your own risk!

Social media: If you would like, please join our Discord server, and/or follow us on Twitter (X) or Tumblr!

Fan translation

From Fire Emblem Wiki, your source on Fire Emblem information. By fans, for fans.
People hoped for years that Nintendo would deign to release Fire Emblem 6: Fuuin No Tsurugi (FE6) on shores outside of
Japan. They didn't. Since a conveniently long amount of time had passed, it was up to us to take matters into our own hands.

— The "DTN Translation Division"

A fan translation is, in the context of video games, an unofficially translated version of a video game, usually created by a fan or fans of the game in question. Fan translations of console games are almost universally accomplished by modifying a ROM image of the game in question by way of hacking, then creating a patch for a clean ROM image which applies the fan translation. The end result is then played on an emulator program, like a normal ROM image, or for those with the ability to do so, can be transferred into a game copier cartridge to be used on the game's native hardware.

In the Fire Emblem series, fan translations are particularly important, as only six of the thirteen games have so far been given official international releases; combined with the sheer age of the games in question, using ROM images is often the only option. While there are generally numerous patches of various ages available for each game, they vary drastically in quality, and as such there is one translation for each game which is widely considered to be "the" translation to use. As of November 2012, all seven Japan-only games have mostly complete fan translation patches which provide a near-complete translation of the game's script; in some patches, there remain elements (mainly graphical text) which have yet to be translated.

It should be noted that the possession of ROM images of video games is illegal. While prosecution over possessing them is highly unlikely and has never happened before, you do so at your own risk. For this reason, Fire Emblem Wiki will neither host ROM images, nor point in the direction of them; as it stands, they are easy enough to find without assistance. Fire Emblem Wiki encourages readers to support the official releases of these games, should they ever occur in the future.

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light

style="Template:Roundt; border-left:1px solid #b0b0b0; border-right:1px solid #b0b0b0; border-top:1px solid #b0b0b0; background:#222222; font-size: 13px;"| Ss fe01 fan translation.png
Opening of Chapter 17.
colspan="2" align="center" valign="center" style="Template:Roundb; border:1px solid #b0b0b0; background:#222222; border-top:0px;" |
Latest build

1.0
20 February, 2011

Ironically, Ankoku Ryuu was the last of the pre-Blazing Sword games to be given a serious attempt at a fan translation; this was largely because of the existence of Monshou no Nazo and later Shadow Dragon rendering the game obsolete and unnecessary in the eyes of many. For a long time, all that existed were a number of scattered and rudimentary efforts, with none approaching a complete product and plagued with errors. As such, it was not until 2010 that a translation attempt was announced by Quirino[1]. The patch was completed comparatively soon after, in February 2011.

Though the patch is claimed by Quirino to be only 99% complete, the translation is entirely complete and operational. The names used in the translation are the same as those used in the Monshou no Nazo translation, the most common unofficial names for the characters before the release of Shadow Dragon; Quirino has stated, however, that in the next revision of the patch he releases, the names will be changed to be in line with the official names from Shadow Dragon[2].

Fire Emblem Gaiden

style="Template:Roundt; border-left:1px solid #b0b0b0; border-right:1px solid #b0b0b0; border-top:1px solid #b0b0b0; background:#222222; font-size: 13px;"| Ss fe02 fan translation.png
Talking to a maiden in Chapter 3.
colspan="2" align="center" valign="center" style="Template:Roundb; border:1px solid #b0b0b0; background:#222222; border-top:0px;" |
Latest build

V.1.01
14 November, 2009

Like Ankoku Ryuu, Gaiden was one of the more neglected games in terms of fan translation for many years. Though several translation patches existed, none were complete and possessed many other problems. With this in mind, a complete patch was released by Artemis251 in 2009, commenced in September and completed within a month.

Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem

style="Template:Roundt; border-left:1px solid #b0b0b0; border-right:1px solid #b0b0b0; border-top:1px solid #b0b0b0; background:#222222; font-size: 13px;"| Ss fe03 fan translation ch6.png
Cutscene in Chapter 6.
colspan="2" align="center" valign="center" style="Template:Roundb; border:1px solid #b0b0b0; background:#222222; border-top:0px;" |
Latest build

Version 0.98
21 June, 2008

A fan translation for Monshou no Nazo was completed in 2008, translated by VincentASM with hacking by RPGuy96. The patch is far from perfect - the translation is rough, menu text is not translated in numerous places, and there are numerous glitches (for example, attempting to use the Geosphere will crash the game). Though there are numerous problems with the patch, it cannot be updated - VincentASM has stated on several occasions that since RPGuy96 has all but disappeared, so too have the tools to modify the patch, and there's no chance of him being able to update the patch. VincentASM went on to work on the fan translation for this game's remake, Shin Monshou no Nazo.

As of April 2012, a currently anonymous volunteer, who has worked on another translation project, has received permission to update the patch by editing the raw code. Revisions will mostly be text based, as the character names are adjusted to match the official Shadow Dragon names and the fan names used in the unreleased Shin Monshou no Nazo transalation, but will also include a more aesthetically pleasing narrow font. Due to commitments, real work on the revised patch will not start until June 2012 at the earliest.


Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War

style="Template:Roundt; border-left:1px solid #b0b0b0; border-right:1px solid #b0b0b0; border-top:1px solid #b0b0b0; background:#222222; font-size: 13px;"| File:Ss fe04 fan translation final.png
Opening of the Final Chapter.
colspan="2" align="center" valign="center" style="Template:Roundb; border:1px solid #b0b0b0; background:#222222; border-top:0px;" |
Latest build

Reparation 0.87g
6 May, 2012

The earliest prevalent fan translation of Seisen no Keifu was started in 2000[3] by the group j2e Renegade, with its last release under this group being in 2002[4]; however, it was vastly incomplete with many issues, described by the creators as "not to be enjoyed"[5] At some point, the group died and their website (http://fe4trans.freeshell.org/) became defunct; after several years of other efforts to try and fix its problems, DarkTwilkitri picked up the patch and updated it to fix some of its problems, calling his patches "Reparation". The last of these releases was "Reparation 0.87d", in December 2006; afterward he admitted to losing interest in further developing the patch.

On April 6, 2012, years after the release of the previous version, Twilkitri released a new version of the patch, "Reparation 0.87e"[6]. In addition to fixing a number of bugs and errors, its main purpose was to bring the patch into consistency with official English releases of the series - for example, changing "Hero's Sword" to "Brave Sword" and "Social Knight" to "Cavalier". It also made a small number of name changes: Ulster (then "Skasaher") became "Scathach" upon examination of the origin of his name, Oifey became "Aoife" for the same reason (though this was reverted soon after), and Seliph was given his then-little-known preliminary English name, Serlis. Two further revisions have since been released, with the current version being "Reparation 0.87g"[7], and there are talks of further improvements being made such as implementing the epilogue and making the fonts more aesthetically pleasing. As Twilkitri is Australian, the translation script uses Australian English spellings, such as "Armour Knight". In addition, it was established that upon the international releases of Awakening, the patch will be updated to use the names used in the Australian (PAL English) version of the game.

In May 2013, as Twilkitri has not yet updated the patch to reflect the Awakening international release, a fork revision of the patch was produced by Serenes Forest user Gharnef, taking the "Reparation 0.87g" release and updating it to use the Awakening name changes and to revert other names to the Nintendo of Japan official Romanizations.[8]

Fire Emblem: Thracia 776

style="Template:Roundt; border-left:1px solid #b0b0b0; border-right:1px solid #b0b0b0; border-top:1px solid #b0b0b0; background:#222222; font-size: 13px;"| Ss fe05 fan translation ch14.png
Opening of Chapter 14.
colspan="2" align="center" valign="center" style="Template:Roundb; border:1px solid #b0b0b0; background:#222222; border-top:0px;" |
Latest build

0006
02 March, 2008

There are two patches of note for Thracia 776, each with a different focus. The first and lesser-known one is a menu patch by Luxifer Angel, last updated in 2003, which translates only the menu text and leaves the dialogue untouched[9]. The other, later and primary patch was the work of Shaya; this patch is something of the opposite to the Luxifer Angel patch, in that it fully translates the game's script, but some of the menus are left untranslated and in a questionable state. It was last updated in 2008, with Shaya claiming no intent to do so again because of the interference of life.

In recent times, the Shaya translation has been criticised for its lacklustre and often erroneous script, gratuitous and out-of-place memetic references (for example, Kempf spontaneously declaring "IN AMERICA!" in Chapter 11), the poor quality of its menu translations (such as referring to swords only by their construction, like "Iron"), and for the bugs of various degrees of severity caused by the above errors. In response, Serenes Forest member General Banzai proposed starting work on revising the patch in 2012, and revised the scripts in preparation for such a new patch; however, his efforts were criticised for the name changes he employed and other dubious points in his translation[10]. Though there have been talks by prominent hackers about looking into the technical side of a new patch, and though Banzai has offered allowing others to modify and fix his work for a patch, as of May 2012 nothing has come of these efforts.


Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade

style="Template:Roundt; border-left:1px solid #b0b0b0; border-right:1px solid #b0b0b0; border-top:1px solid #b0b0b0; background:#222222; font-size: 13px;"| Ss fe06 fan translation alen roy support.png
A Roy and Alan support.
colspan="2" align="center" valign="center" style="Template:Roundb; border:1px solid #b0b0b0; background:#222222; border-top:0px;" |
Latest build

Version 2.1
17 July, 2006

At the time, coming off the heels of the attention garnered by Roy's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Melee and the international release of Blazing Sword, it was assumed and hoped by some that an official translation of Fuuin no Tsurugi would soon follow. When such a release failed to eventuate, a fan translation project began, developed by DarkTwilkitri's "DTN Translation Division". As Blazing Sword was built on the same engine as Fuuin no Tsurugi, many portions of the translation were simple matters of porting over English-language assets and infrastructure. The patch was first released in 2005, with development continuing until 2007 and the last stable release being distributed in 2006; progress ended in 2007 when the members of the team found less and less time to work on the project.

The translation was largely complete in its last release; some patches of graphical text were not replaced, and there exist some inconsistencies in the script, such as Lugh variously being referred to as both "Lugh" and "Lou". Owing to these inconsistencies, in 2012, Popo of the Serenes Forest forums initiated work on revising the fan translation and smoothing its rough patches, having obtained permission from members of the original fan translation team[11].

Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem

style="Template:Roundt; border-left:1px solid #b0b0b0; border-right:1px solid #b0b0b0; border-top:1px solid #b0b0b0; background:#222222; font-size: 13px;"| Ss fe12 fan translation athena support.png
In-progress screenshot of an Athena/Kris support
colspan="2" align="center" valign="center" style="Template:Roundb; border:1px solid #b0b0b0; background:#222222; border-top:0px;" |
Latest build

Fire Emblem 12 Translation Patch v2.01
December 7th, 2012

Shin Monshou no Nazo is the first game since international releases of the series began to not be released internationally. While it was initially expected that it would be, this expectation was not met, and so one year following the Japanese release, prominent Fire Emblem hacker Blazer convened a team of translators, editors and hackers to do a fan translation, calling themselves the "Heroes of Shadow"; the team was later led by VincentASM as Blazer had to leave to contend with real-life issues. The team's goal with the patch was to create a complete and highly polished translation and localization on par with the official Shadow Dragon release. A preliminary menu patch was released on July 15th, 2011, near-completely translating menus, names and while leaving dialogue untouched, and no further releases were issued until the translation was 100% complete, bug-tested and polished[12], with the first "complete" release occurring on November 21st, 2012[13].

From even before it became evident that a fan translation would be necessary, the patch's development progress was profiled on the Heroes of Shadow blog. For a time, in addition to the blog, the patch's progress was also maintained in a thread on Serenes Forest, allowing for ease of discussion on the matter; however, eventually the thread was closed as it was dominated by an endless argument about name changes, mainly "Belf" to "Vergil" and "Malliesia" to "Malicia"[14]. The controversy surrounding the "Vergil" name has been extensively mocked and parodied by members of the Serenes Forest community, and the act of satirically suggesting changing a name to "Vergil" in fan translation has evolved memetically and regularly appears in the efforts to clean up the Seisen no Keifu, Thracia 776 and Fuuin no Tsurugi translations.

References

  1. YouTube: Fire Emblem NES Translation Announcement (retrieved 22 May 2012)
  2. Serenes Forest Forums: Improving the Genealogy Translation Patch (retrieved 23 May 2012)
  3. Romhacking.net: Translations - Fire Emblem: Genealogy of Holy War (retrieved 22 May 2012)
  4. Romhacking.net: Translations - Fire Emblem: Genealogy of Holy War (retrieved 22 May 2012)
  5. Dark Twilkitri Net: "Fire Emblem 4 Translation Homepage" (retrieved 21 May 2012)
  6. Serenes Forest Forums: "Improving the Genealogy Translation Patch" (retrieved 21 May 2012)
  7. Serenes Forest Forums: "Improving the Genealogy Translation Patch - Page 9" (retrieved 21 May 2012)
  8. Serenes Forest Forums: "Gharnef's Improved FE4 Translation Patch"
  9. Romhacking.net: Translations - Fire Emblem: Thrakia 776 (sic) (retrieved 22 May 2012)
  10. Serenes Forest Forums: [http://www.serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=31481 Remaking the Thracia Translation Patch] (retrieved 22 May 2012)
  11. Serenes Forest Forums: Editing the FE6 Patch (retrieved 31 May, 2012)
  12. Fire Emblem 12 Translation [HoS]: FAQ (retrieved May 22nd, 2012)
  13. Fire Emblem 12 Translation [HoS]: Complete translation patch released! (retrieved January 29th, 2013)
  14. Serenes Forest Forums: Fire Emblem 12 ~Heroes~ Translation Project (retrieved 22 May 2012)
Fire Emblem series
Main series Shadow Dragon & the Blade of LightGaidenMystery of the EmblemGenealogy of the Holy WarThracia 776The Binding BladeThe Blazing BladeThe Sacred StonesPath of RadianceRadiant DawnShadow DragonNew Mystery of the EmblemAwakeningFatesEchoes: Shadows of ValentiaThree HousesEngage
Spin-offs Archanea SagaTokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FEHeroesWarriorsWarriors: Three Hopes
Crossover games Super Smash Bros. (MeleeBrawlfor Nintendo 3DS and Wii UUltimate) • Club Nintendo Picross+Code Name: S.T.E.A.M.Project X Zone 2WarioWareDragalia Lost
Unreleased games and prototypes Fire Emblem 64The Blazing Blade pre-release build 0206The Blazing Blade pre-release build 0219The Sacred Stones prototypeFire Emblem Wii
TearRing Saga series Yutona Heroes War ChroniclesBerwick Saga
Vestaria Saga series War of the ScionsThe Sacred Sword of SilvanisterLucca GaidenChronicles of the Norden Civil War
Related titles Mario Kart: Double Dash!! bonus discLINENintendo Badge Arcade
Versions and releases List of version differencesLocalization of the Fire Emblem seriesVirtual Console
Other References in other mediaReferences to other media