A quick couple of questions as I'm not a huge Nintendo collector and I have had a look for information on these online - does anyone know the original retail price for what the actual physical cartridges were? I know the cartridge fee for certain games was 1000 yen, but I don't know the actual price of the cartridge so far and I'm needing it for information to include regarding one of the first games available via the service being Clock Tower, as I know that with the purchase of the physical cartridge select retailers would also give a bundled magazine called the Nintendo Power Official Play Book Vol.0. I've seen 2000-4000 yen thrown around but I've also seen that referenced for the fee for either the Loppi machine or sending the cartridge in to Nintendo for games to be written onto it. So if anyone could confirm the price for the physical cartridge purchase, that would be fantastic as I know the physical re-release of the same version of Clock Tower that was put out at the same time as the Nintendo Power Cartridge/SF Memory Cassette cost 11400 yen, the Nintendo Power version cost 1000 yen but that's not factoring in the actual cost of the Nintendo Power Cartridge/SF Memory Cassette itself. And are there different catalog numbers/serials for the Nintendo Power Cartridge/SF Memory Cassette or are they all listed as SHVC-MMSA-JPN or SHVC-MMSA-JPN-1?
Yes, there actually is! It was actually one of the first third-party games available via the service as it was made available on 30/09/1997. It was also the first third-party game listed on the cover of the Nintendo Power Official Play Book Vol.0. However, they also did an additional re-release of the full physical game with the serial of SHVC-AJEJ-JPN-2 on the game's manual and an updated box with the copyright of 1995, 1997 whereas the first re-release had SHVC-AJEJ-JPN-1 (I believe it had a misprint of 1995 instead of actually 1996) but the first re-release was also put back out a second time at the start of 1997. The second re-release was to go along with the Nintendo Power version which was also put out after the popularity of Clock Tower ~ The First Fear ~ on the PS1. Sadly the databook I have on video game sales within that time period doesn't include PC, Nintendo Power versions of the games so I am unsure of the amount of SF Memory Cassettes there may be around with the game on it but it is the exact same version as SHVC-AJEJ-JPN-2's full boxed version. The Nintendo Power version cost only 1000 yen compared to the 11400 for the full physical version. Scroll down to see the Nintendo Power Official Play Book Vol.1 Scans, I haven't put up Vol.0's scans as of yet as I'm waiting for it to arrive from Japan at the moment. Though if anyone would like me to - once I get Vol.0, I'm happy to scan in the entire magazines if anyone wants to see them (either make a post or send me a PM and I'll sort it out ^^ ).
Awesome! so basically it was re-released for the reason of the Playstation versions popularity & wanted to make a quick buck on the Super Famicom version but sorta updated it. btw do you have scans of the re-print version of the game? I would love to see it & Thanks for the great info! And also i'll be highly interested in the vol.0 scans as well
That's exactly it! ... Especially given that the PS1 version managed to sell 100,000+ copies in less than a month's time, it makes sense to try and maximize their sales potential with the re-print of the game as well as making a cheaper version of it available via the Nintendo Power service. It's a pity I don't have exact numbers on the SFC versions' sales though. Would be pretty interesting to look at I think. Anyway, you can compare all of the version scans here. I've reused a couple of my scans on the front of the box and the cartridge as they didn't have any changes between the three different versions. (Sorry in advance for all the scrolling, I haven't gotten around to adding in each item on the drop-down menus on the site or adding in back to top of page links or a contents list as of yet as I've been busy updating other parts of the site in the background). As for that, I'll upload all of the Nintendo Power book scans once Vol.0 arrives but I may not get around to scanning them until next week or so as I'm going to be busy providing some information translations for a manga (Drakengard stuff).
It's cool i've checked out the article & learned that just the packaging has a different copyright and stuff lol. If you like i can find the sales to the Super Famicom version to compare with the Playstation version release Also can't wait for that Nintendo Power vol.0 scans soon and Thanks again!
There's that and a couple of slight typos in the manuals were mostly fixed. Nothing major compared to at least one copy I've seen where the pages were in the wrong order but it's looked to have been a one-off (or someone debound and rebound the manual wrong). Nowhere near as bad as the typo in one of the Clock Tower 2 guides labeling Harris as Helen Maxwell. Hahaha. No idea how the hell that got through the layout check. As for the SFC sales, that would be fantastic if you could find out about that or even anything else regarding the SF Memory Cassette sales as so far to me it looks like the series wasn't doing too badly given it was able to stay within a close sales range to Resident Evil and Parasite Eve with releases at similar time periods, the only reason it seems like it sank was bad marketing outside Japan and the lack of a PAL release of Ghost Head/The Struggle Within which sold a lot of copies on release.
Cool! then i'll check it out asap when i get the chance, btw did you know there was a chinese translation of Clock Tower - The First Fear PSX version? Here's Proof
I didn't know about that. Though honestly put - I'm already working on an English translation patch of The First Fear. (I already have all of the translation done, the new .tim images all made up and am just trying to sort out the .str video to play within the game properly and once the person programming it has a chance to send me the font table so I can make up a nicer looking font, we'll probably be finished up with it) as the initial font is rather plain. (My friend that is handling the actual patch programming is doing it as a challenge to himself, and he's having a bit of fun with mucking around with the in-game text). Though we may also have French translation lined up to include with the patcher (so we aren't distributing the full game), but we'll wait and see how we go. There were a couple of funny hiccups so far, like the text being drawn the wrong way.
That's some awesome looking translation man!! (*^ω^*) Um do you happen to had a thread at romhacking.net forums about this english translation before? I was also on planing to add this patch (once finished) onto the Japanese PSN PS3 version of this game and try running it on my PS3 soon
I didn't make that thread but instead, my friend that's handling the programming of the patch itself did. We're aiming for making a patcher so we can also include other language translations with it as well but given that I have included the original puzzle hints and the like in my translation of it, any additional language translations would have to be based off mine for it. Like reading the books in the library on the Demon Idol path originally had in there "The Demon statue is guarded. A tree in the woods, a person in a crowd, a statue among statues" which I have rewritten to "'The Demon Idol is carefully guarded. A tree within a forest, a person within a crowd, a statue among statues'" restoring the hint back to what it originally was compared to other translations outright saying "The Demon Idol is hidden in a statue." which kind of takes away the point of it being an adventure/horror game. Though once we're done with the translation patch, I did already talk with him about patching the PC version so we may do that one after and if we can find a suitable way to edit the sprites (and how the background sprites are handled) I may also do a texture overhaul on them at a later point in time but that's only if my friend is feeling up to it and he's not too busy with his studies. ^^; We've just been mainly keeping it within the CT community until it's ready to go at the moment.
Ahh that's cool! So it was your friend that made the thread i see. And now your doing the PC version translation as well which is also great news for PC Players. And you said the patch is almost done but not ready for release yet right? I mean the PSX version is near complete but needs a few tweaks correct?
So far the PS1 patch is mostly complete so when there's time and after a couple of things we'll be able to put it out sometime soon. When it is complete, I'll be hosting it on my site. The PC one isn't confirmed - like I said, it's down to whether or not my friend feels like he might want to patch ANOTHER version of the same game. If he does, then sure - I'm down for working on another patch and if stuff could be ported or be corrected so I can do a major update to it, then that would be even better but for now, it's just an idea. General rundown of it so far: Japanese to English translation: Complete Other language translations: Not currently confirmed/started Proofreading & Editing: Near complete Game Opening .TIMs: Complete - translated, edited and converted Game Ending .TIMs: Complete - translated, edited and converted Game Credits .TIMs: Complete - translated, edited and converted Font: Currently waiting on the font table image so I can make a new font to the same size, spacing so nothing extra will need to be changed. Text: Drawing correctly (no longer mirrored), has been remapped to use a font table image in contrast to using a modified BIOS to draw it from. Gameplay: Stable, no crashes. Videos: Raw videos made, possibly complete? Read below. Rebuilder for patch: Complete as far as I'm aware Regarding the proof and edits: minor corrections to make it flow better, no major script changes as I have discussed with the person doing the proof and editing from my translation as I read the first proofed edit off my translation and had to explain a few things to make sure we didn't have any character bias (namely in regard to how Mary is addressed by the girls) and making sure that no words have been switched out with others which would detract the actual original script which is how I've also made sure that the puzzles and everything has remained intact. Videos: I've made the raw videos for the .STR videos to be used in game for "Walter's Letter" scene but I'm trying to cut down the video size whilst maintaining the quality but all of the Sony tools and unofficial tools have been giving me a headache as I need my friend to actually insert the video file into it so the game can be recompiled as not all of the .STR Players are actually playing the remade video but the same players have issues playing the ripped unconverted original .STR video so I can't actually test the quality unless I convert it back from .STR which is redundant until we can see it in-game. I've been making different test .STR videos to see if I can get audio, video together as well as the different frame limits per sector but the Sony tools keep giving me all sorts of errors. 1. The frame is too large error on a video with 100 frames as a test 2. Error during video, audio combine and results in a broken video that has audio correctly playing but the video has been sped up and freezes halfway through at the incorrect video playtime. 3. Error during video, audio combine where it refuses to combine audio. 4. Unofficial .STR Converter conversion works, haven't been able to get audio with that one so far as I can't see any text on the windows but the resulting video comes out in sections when played with jPSXdec - not sure if that's supposed to happen with how the sectors are handled. But I've tried doing the different .STR video tests with the following settings: 14.95, 14.98, 15.00 frames per second 320x240 pixel window size Raw video/uncompressed video Uncompressed PCM audio Stereo, mono audio channels 8, 16 bitrate 18,900 hertz, 37,800 hertz Have also converted the uncompressed audio into XA format properly as well. Going off the top of my head on what versions I've tried using so far: MovCon v1.98 MovCon v2.02 MovCon v3.02 STR Conv I've also tried using ffmpeg, VirtualDub for cutting down the video size as well. I normally use Sony Vegas Pro for my video work in general. For playing the videos, I've been mainly using PSmplay, jPSXdec and STR Conv. *Shrugs* Not sure what else to do, may probably need to ask over at Romhackers about it because it's been 50/50 as to whether or not I can get a working .str file or if the players will actually play them or not and when I have gotten my initial remake of Walter's Scene - when I reduced made the .STR file there were artifacts left all around the text that's shown in the video which I need to be kept clear but at a smaller file size instead of anything over 100mb. Just driving me a little nuts at the moment... Well, that and given I can't talk to anyone at the moment because I've just gotten laryngitis as well. DX Other language translations: Had another Clock Tower collector going to assist with a French translation but as I haven't heard anything for months, we will be looking at another possible translator. Currently no other language translations so far but before other languages are proposed - I need to get the .str files down and once they are down, I have my original files to remake Walter's Letter scene in other languages as well as redoing the logo (where it scrolls across the screen) video. I had already redone the logo video to make it fall in line with the other versions of the game but also included the correct logo font and can have it with or without the sound effects like both the SFC and PC versions have. But other languages are possible with the rebuilder he's made, but if we are to have them complete the .STR videos have to be sorted out properly in the first place once (though this is to be done AFTER I've made the new font for use in-game).
About the .STR conversation video i may know a very great video/subtitle editor to use for the scene. And it's called Aegisub & you can get it here: http://www.aegisub.org/
It's not that I need to use subtitles or anything else for it (I actually all have it all set up and timed perfectly in my project files for Sony Vegas) but I will keep Aegisub in mind for when I get around to organizing the translations of the four Clock Tower Drama CDs, the Making of DVDs and a couple of songs I have got the confirmed lyrics to that need to be subtitled as nobody seems to be able to hear them properly. It's the actual conversion to .STR that's giving me issues but I mainly need to see if the videos are working or not but that has to wait until Arcraith has some time to compile stuff.
I've been working on a few things, the CT TFF PS1 translation patch is just one of my projects! I'm okay with translating the in-game text and the novels as the text isn't too difficult compared to say... The Drag-on Dragoon novels as there's too much kanji used in them and I've been trying to transcribe and translate the four drama CDs and the making of DVDs slowly because it's a bit hard to hear and understand some of the dialogue as parts of it were rushed on the drama CDs as some of them were aired on the radio and had particular time blocks for the chapter parts to fit. >_<; But hey, at least working on the CT stuff isn't overly hard and I am more familiar with the game text and the like than most people are so it made sense for me to work on a translation patch for it at some point. Though I am also helping out with a Drag-on Dragoon/Drakengard manga as the initial translator for it wasn't familiar with the proper terms and information so I'm currently writing up additional info pages for that at the moment and have been working on translating one of the older, short Drakengard manga too by myself. At least I'm trying to learn kanji and the like and trying to translate stuff has been helpful with that too - can't expect to get everything translated for me, so it was best to try learning and also having someone that has officially translated/localized video games (namely RPGs) before giving me minor corrections when I've hit sections I've gotten stuck on too.
I just bought a random nintendo power cart and it is in fact clock tower, I just bought it to use as a flash cart but if it's valuable I'll let it go and buy another derby stallion instead.
> use as a flash cart If you know how to do that, go ahead and overwrite Clock Tower with Derby Stallion. Be aware that this also works the other way around. Then, with that knowledge, try to guess the value of your cart.
I bought one of Sanni's cart readers, they can rewrite sf memory carts. You still have to have an original cart to dump if you want to put the genuine rom onto another nintendo power cart, nobody has archived roms which include the menu system, which this game has got. True, I can make as many clock tower carts as I want now that I've dumped it, but I'm happy to make that known at the time of sale, I like to be honest. The one I'll be selling is the one I got off ebay with clock tower on it already, I have not reprogrammed it. Also with value, yes it's not likely to make me hundreds if theyre rewritable, I know that.
