Aeon Genesis Translation vs NICALiS Translation

Surprised no-one decided to do this considering the WiiWare version has been around for almost as long as the Aeon Genesis translation (and Cave Story in general).

I actually prefer the NICALiS version myself.
Let's start at the beginning of the game, where Kazuma messages Sue on some sort of instant messaging service. I'll assume Discord even though Cave Story predates it by ~11 years.
"From somewhere, a transmission.../Someone's transmission..."
First off, I believe all lowercase letters and an occasional lack of punctuation definitely invokes the feel of communicating between other people on the Internet better than correct grammar. Already, point for NICALiS.
Other than that, the lines from just before you start the game don't get changed at all. Let's continue to when you get your first gun.
Oh wait, actually, before that, I just got my first ○Life Capsule○. What's with these unnecessary circles surrounding each item's name in AGTP?

"From somewhere, a transmission.../Someone's transmission..."
Full capitalization and two extra U's in Sue's name show true desperation in Kazuma's "voice", "answer me" sounds much less robotic than "please respond", and adding "or what" to the end of "are you asleep" is just plain funnier. Point for plus. (I'm tired of saying NICALiS, so I'll just call it the plus translation for the rest of this.)
Aaaaand okay. Time to go destroy a door.

"From somewhere, a transmission.../Someone's transmission..."
In plus, Kazuma goes from desperation to impatience. (c'mon Sue!) This makes him much more relatable than AGTP Kazuma who only just now when we exit the First Cave becomes truly desperate. (Suuuuue!) Point for plus.
Once again, plus is funnier with "type somethin' will ya" (a clear reference to Zelda 1) compared to "answer me" and "starving over here" compared to "I'm so hungry". Another two points for plus.

And here we go.
The final lines before Mimiga Village.
The joke...about eating cockroaches.
A hard choice indeed.
A choice between simplicity and detail.
A choice between "lol" and "ha-ha".
A choice between...aw, what the heck. I prefer plus any day of the week here.

I'll do Mimiga Village and Egg Corridor tomorrow.

 

Ehhh, the Nicalis translation feels more machine made (and a bit verbose) than AGTP. Some stuff is more correct than the AGTP translation (Puu Black, yrotS evaC, Colons), but it lacks the character shown in AGTP. It's also up to preference on what stuff sounds better, though I do question some of Nicalis' choices (Huzzah vs Oh Yeah, Bubbler vs Bubbline, Grasstown vs Bushlands, bloodhound vs clever harrier, Sacred Grounds vs Blood Stained Sanctuary, etc). Neither lack the information on story and lore, it's all there in both translations, though it'd be nice if we can get a third translation that uses the best of both translations, though.

 

I like the aeon genesis translation over the nicalis translation because I think huzzah will always be better then oh yeah.

 

Mostly copy-pasting my talking points from the "Why does everyone hate the NICALiS ports?" thread, but basically I like the Aeon Genesis translation much better because it flows much more naturally. The NICALiS translation is awkward, lacks heart and emotion, and sometimes doesn't make much sense. This is a little bit subjective, but most people would agree that the NICALiS translation is dry and flat compared to the fan translation. For example, Booster's dying line "I pray for your victory" was changed to a much less meaningful "Best of... luck...". Or the description of the Iron Bond "Your tie to Curly Brace, the only warrior you would trust your back to. Surely you will meet again one day..." changed to "Your connection to Curly Brace, the only person you trust. You'll see each other again...". Another change that really baffled me was the difference in the way Booster talks when you talk to him if you have the Mimiga mask. His original response "I'm truly sorry for the chaos that has befallen your island. We humans must take the blame." was changed to "I'm sorry. We've ruined your island. We humans are evil." And of course let's not forget Balrog's catchy line "Huzzah" being changed to "Oh Yeah." As far as I'm aware, the NICALiS translation is more accurate and literal, but the fact that it's also so poorly written in terms of often not having believable conversational dialogue makes the gaming experience less enjoyable.

 

The AGTP translation could seriously do with a revision if I am being honest.

 

AGTP could use some tweaking with the inconsistencies in the wording and such, but overall, the general tone of that version left more of an impact on me more than the official translation. Though this is probably because I played the freeware version first...

When I initially saw bits of the Nicalis translation, compared side by side, everything felt awkward, even after resting on it for a while. Character dialogue, especially, like Toroko - in the AGTP, she comes off more like a child than in the Nicalis version, if I recall, where her words are a lot more...older sounding. And yeah, comparing certain quotes or character dialogue side by side, I generally sided with the AGTP version.

I thought that the Nicalis translation would bother me when I got Cave Story+, but it honestly never crossed my mind, the differences between the two translations. Because of this, I can't really say that actually playing with the official translation bothered me in the slightest and even with the AGTP mod patch, it barely made a difference to me.

I guess I'll always hold some sort of attachment to the AGTP, just because it was the one I "grew up" with - it was the one where I could easily recall some quotable lines and parts that made me chuckle. But honestly, if I played the freeware version of Cave Story and someone swapped out its translation with the Nicalis version, I probably wouldn't really care for the most part. Doctor Dumb can go screw himself.

 

The AGTP translation could seriously do with a revision if I am being honest.

What about it?

 

Would it be against the law to make a revised translation that uses the character of the AGTP translation and the correctness of the NICALiS translation? (Like would removing the circles around the items, calling it the 290 counter, the password being yrotS evaC, etc. be like using their 2x sprites)

 

euh.. the circles are part of the original translation... the fact they appear as equals signs in nicalis is the result of a "bug" or laziness when porting it

 

I liked the item circles. don't know why they were removed.

Would it be against the law

probably not unless you tried to sell it without proper licensing

 

calling it the 290 counter, the password being yrotS evaC, etc. be like using their 2x sprites

Funnily enough, while it's completely wrong, I do prefer Nikumaru Counter more, it's like the Keikaku* of the translation -w-

(Translator's note: Keikaku means plan)

 

Doctor Dumb can go screw himself.

Honestly. I prefer AGTP, for funny little pieces of the game like this. That, and how I started off with the Freeware version. I have been quoting AGTP for ages now. It is a part of my lore. (That and a bunch of Kirby & Anime)

 

the fact they appear as equals signs in nicalis is the result of a "bug" or laziness when porting it

They don't appear in any of the Nicalis translations at all.

 

Didnt porting a mod to cs+ make the item circles the equal signs? Maybe thats what he means

 

Didnt porting a mod to cs+ make the item circles the equal signs? Maybe thats what he means

Yeah but they never appeared in the main unmodified game so I wouldn't really fault Nicalis for that.

 

Why equal signs tho?

 

They might have been equals signs in the original wii script idk
Anyway the reason is because cave story has a special case to display a circle when it reads an equals in the script. But they didn't port the behaviour.

 

But they didn't port the behaviour.

And if they purposely made it so the circles don't appear around items then why would they?

 

I'm implying they removed them later because they couldn't get it to work

 

I'm implying they removed them later because they couldn't get it to work

We can never know for sure, but I'm pretty sure they were removed because they looked ugly. I prefer them not be there, but that's just my preference. We can never know why they were removed for sure, but I thought everyone just assumed it was due to looks.