Chanpon

When movies are brought between countries, subtitles or dubbed vocals are added - requiring textual translation. When video games are brought between countries, not on the words of the script must be translated, but also the video game commands. Do gamers in one nation favor different buttons on their controller? Do they understand movement on the screen differently?

Often because games can involve dozens of hours of play, there are specific moments of content that must be excised or altered for different national markets. Videogame translation or "localization" is a fascinating way to examine regional differences in gameplay.

Game Informer is running an interview with Bill Trinen, a Localization Producer for Nintendo. Besides translating game materials, he also translates speeches for famed Mario/Zelda game designer Miyamoto Shigeru. I saw a speech he translated for Miyamoto in 2001 - the picture running with this piece is a picture I took that day. The interview provides some insight into the localization process and the day-to-day work of being a media translator. Obviously, Japanese puns present a challenge.

Trinen explains that the Nintedo game that my American friends talked about in the last year, Animal Crossing, was designed as a "very Japan-centric game" (there's tanuki, extensive gift-giving, lots of turnips, a special emphasis on the passing of seasons). It was completely rewritten to be more accessible to the American audience. There's some fascinating material lost and created in the gap between "Japanese" and "foreign" when translating a game as complex as Animal Crossing. There are probably graduate theses existing or imminent exploring that game chanponizing; sadly this article just touches upon it.