Zelda – Windwaker: Is the “Hero’s New Clothes” a reference to “The Emperor’s New Clothes?” [JPN vs ENG]

My friends over at Source Gaming are doing a special Zelda week (February 22^nd through March 1^st) to celebrate the upcoming release of Breath of the Wild on the Switch.

They have made plenty of Zelda-themed content for the week, such as various facts about the first game of the series, and a piece on defending Skyward Sword  from backlash.

So, today, on my end, I look at a great example of localization found within Windwaker. The localization team behind the game managed to place a fitting cultural reference to an old story in an appropriately humorous moment in the game.

Zelda – Ocarina of Time: How does Ruto refer to Sheik in Japanese? [JPN vs ENG]

My friends over at Source Gaming are doing a special Zelda week (February 22^nd through March 1^st) to celebrate the upcoming release of Breath of the Wild on the Switch.

They have written various articles already, from interviews with known Zelda speedrunners to discussing what new Zelda characters could be added to Hyrule Warriors.

So, today I decided to take a look at a hotly debated topic: Sheik’s gender!

But! I am not looking at the debate as a whole. Rather, I am simply looking at two lines of dialogue that are often referred to that caused said debate.

I do not explain the debate in great detail or all the arguments, nor do I really take any sides on it. I am simply looking at two bits of dialogue that are often cited when talking about it.

Zelda Windwaker: What are the island names in Japanese? [JPN vs ENG]

My friends over at Source Gaming are doing a special Zelda week (February 22^nd through March 1^st) to celebrate the upcoming release of Breath of the Wild on the Switch.

They have written various articles already, from interviews with known Zelda speedrunners to discussing what new Zelda content should be in a hypothetical Smash Bros Switch game.

As such, I decided to spend today on a Zelda related comparison: the islands of Windwaker! We’ll take a look at how the localization team (for the North American version) tackled island names, and what they were originally in Japanese. I suggest some alternate names for them based on the literal translation, or on other factors of the island along with the translation, but by no means claim them to be superior to the official localization in anyway. It is purely for educational purposes, and is not intended to demean the hard work in anyway.

Legends of Localization Book 1 Out Now! (Happy Thanksgiving!)

This is just an FYI! For anyone who follows this blog, you will know I am an aspiring translator/localizer. If you share a similar interest (or are just a curious mind in seeing Japanese to English comparisons) AND are a fan of the Legend of Zelda series, then this book is for you.

Legends of Localization’s first book has been released, with plenty of goodies for those who place early orders. You can place an order for it yourself here. I highly recommend getting this book to help Clyde (the author) produce more works of similar sorts in the future.

This will be a Happy Thanksgiving indeed! Thanks Clyde!

Legend of Zelda: Tri-Force Heroes NoA VS NoE Localization (1)

There has been a lot of buzz about Tri-Force Hereos’ localization in North America versus that in Europe. A notable example was a meme included in the NoA version that was non existent in the Japanese and NoE versions. This split people down whether it is wise to include a meme into a game and risk losing the “timeless” factor. You can read a great article on Legends of Localization about that.

For me, I’m just looking at other smaller things that still stand out in odd ways. One of my friends is playing through the NoE localized version, and did me a favor and found the same part of the game in NoA. Look at the differences:

Zelda – (Fan Made) “I love you Zelda” Reaction Page Translations

Today’s translation is just a curiosity one. A friend sent a page of various Zelda’s throughout the Legend of Zelda series and their predicted responses to (presumably Link) saying “I love you” to them.

It is fan done, and is just meant to be in good fun I assume rather than anything serious. You can see the translation below. If anybody knows the source of the original (also provided), please be sure to tell me so I may add it to this post!

UPDATE: Here is the source!

Zelda – Skyward Sword: Groose’s Name Origin

I was really busy today, but came across a brief article on NintendoEverything which discusses very interesting localization trivia being Groose’s name from Skyward Sword! So I summarize the points below.

In Japanese, his name is Bado バド which is straightforwardly “Bird” in English and fits the Skyward Sword theme of the sky/birds (but can also be “bad”). So, former Nintendo Treehouse member Mike Drucker did the following:

During a naming meeting, Drucker was told that Groose was a jock and sort of a jerk. Nintendo was also trying to stick with a bird theme with Skyward Sword. With that information, he went from “Bruce” to “Goose” to “Groose”.

That’s as straightforward as fans predicted, but still nice to know!

Read the full article (and hear the podcast featuring Mike Drucker) here at NintendoEverything.

Zelda: Majora’s Mask – Comparing Cremia and Romani’s “Adulthood” Dialogue [JPN/ENG]

In the Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, the innocent Romani is excited to try Chateau Romani for the first time without fully understanding the circumstances as to why her older sister Cremia is suddenly allowing her to try it. I got curious to see what the conversation was like in Japanese, so decided to look into it.

Zelda: Windwaker – Comparing Ganon’s “Wind” Speech [JPN/ENG]

In the Legend of Zelda: Windwaker, Ganon makes a rather somber speech at the start of the final confrontation. I remembered it from years ago, but came across a lovely fan comic that illustrated the speech itself on tumblr It made me curious as to whether what he said in Japanese was as poetic or in-depth.

So, here it is:

Majora’s Mask 3DS Famitsu Scans (11/12) (All) [RAW]

I have been busy lately, but decided to upload the raw Majora’s Mask Famitsu scans from the November 12th issue. I hope to translate them, but if I do not, I wanted to provide the raw scans for any others seeking the originals to translate.