Translating JPN exclusive Saturn fighting games that had other English versions?

So, most people are probably going to think this sounds silly, but maybe someone with more technical know-how will also be interested.

I'll use X-Men vs Street Fighter as an example. The Saturn version is an absolutely fantastic port of the arcade game, but it's Japanese only. That doesn't get in the way of the gameplay, but I like to be able to read the after battle messages and endings.

I'm a technical guy, but I've never done any console software hacking before. I don't know what file(s) on the disc contain the in-game text. I also have no idea if maybe the language files are structured like the inferior PS1 port where you could do some easy copy/pasting (and properly editing the disc image when doing so) to translate the Saturn port.

If anyone has some insight please let me know, or if you're a techincal wiz that whip this up in a lazy Sunday afternoon then even better .

(truemaster1 converting JPN Code Veronica X on DC to English was my inspiration to ask about this here )

 

The original arcade version of X-Men Vs Street Fighter and Marvel Vs Street Fighter actually contain both the English and Japanese text in the same build/program. It's possible the Saturn version actually contains the English strings already.

In the arcade program a memory location is loaded to retrieve the desired region and that then affects various things including if the language is Japanese or English. When the game was ported it might still have this design.

If you want to do this you'd want to learn about the SH-2 the Saturn uses as well as look into any emulators with useful debugging features. It's possible with the right knowledge and a useful debugging emulator you could find the previously mentioned language switch or find the things you need to replace the Japanese strings and characters with English.

 

I would like to know as well for games like grandia. If there was a way to take the translation from the psx ver. And use it on the Saturn. Lunar would be another great candidate.

 

Quackshot might be an easy one. We know the Saturn version contains English inside the game's rom file.

 

Not exactly a fighting game, but Policenauts for Saturn just got an English patch. Maybe it warrants its own thread, I'm fairly new here so dunno. See more at their YouTube video:

 

Would love to see more Japanese Rpg's converted t o English

 

Yabause is the way to go with Grandia, but it has a bug that doesn't let you get past the intro screen. If you can find the point where you can jump past it, then it would open the gates to translating Grandia.

CyberWarriorX I believe has tried, but maybe hasn't spent too much time on it. I'm not sure.