Iron Bond - English Version

Well, it's taken much, much longer than I would have liked... but I said I would and today I deliver.

So, for those not in the know, what is Iron Bond?

Simply put, probably one of the most interesting Japanese Cave Story mods. I'll let the original author describe it by copying here part of the readme:

The concept was "Cave Story from Curly's point of view", letting my inner fanboy go full throttle.
The goal when it comes to difficulty is the skill level which can be enjoyed by Booster Maniacs,
or in other words, it is suitable for those who can make it through the original game's Sanctuary in under 3 minutes.
(The Booster is basically not used in this work actually, that's just to give you an idea of the expected level of skill)
However, I think you can enjoy it enough without being at a Sanctuary clear level of skill like that, at least up to the bad end.

To elaborate on the "Cave Story from Curly's point of view" bit, this mod starts out from the moment Curly comes to her senses after the fight with Miakid, years before the beginning of the original game, elaborates on her early adventures from back then (much like the other mod I previously worked on, Curly's Past) and then continues through the events of Cave Story, following however Curly's path instead of Quote's.

To make a couple of simple examples, we see how Curly was thrown into the Labyrinth to then be found by Quote, and we don't fight Monster X there because that's something he did on his own.

I believe that's enough information so on to the screenshots:

Spoiler

And finally the download links.

The game:
Iron Bond V3 EngV1.2

And a special save:
'Bonus' Nikkumaru 3HP Profile
This save file came with the Japanese mod and allows people to attempt a time attack against the final boss with level 1 weapons, no equipment and only 3HP (this last feature is what makes the save special, everything else can be triggered by unlocking bonus mode in the game).
I decided against including the save in the same archive as the mod but rather to keep it as a separate download, so that people won't be too tempted to try it out before getting to the final boss normally.

In closing some credits and additional information:

Spoiler

This translation has been done by Duke Serkol (text insertion, formatting and playtesting) and David (the actual translating from Japanese to English).

Because this mod features scenes from the original Cave Story, whenever Curly crosses paths with Quote, any text in those scenes as well as signs and computer screens that were also in the original, have been given the translation from Aeon Genesis that most fans are accustomed to. We also used the Aeon Genesis translation to quickly deal with any dummied out text (having decided not to leave it in Japanese just in case it turned out that it was not actually dummied out).
Conversely whenever we, while playing, encountered text that was seemingly from the original game, but was not on a sign or computer screen nor was it witnessed by Quote, we chose to instead translate it anew (in the interest of not making it seem like people are just repeating to Curly the exact same words spoken to Quote).

The config exe, original readme file and manual are also those translated by Aeon Genesis.

If any bugs are found, particularly ones pertaining to the translation (such as lines going out of the text box, or so close to the edge that the last letter is partially non-displayed), please let me know and I'll be sure to correct them.
And of course, if there are any questions about any aspect of the mod, I'll answer them to the best of my ability.

 

Spoiler

I'll comment more on the mod later... (nice work on the translation!)

...Right now I'm stuck. Did I break the mod? Or am I missing something?
(My choices so far were basically common sense I think: decide to leave Quote, always choose the Mimiga's side, choose not to remember when asked by Jenka (was that a mistake?), beat Balrog and leave the Colons in the room; I took the cure-all immediately; didn't search the Core room when Quote started drowning, just went directly to him. Not sure what else...)

Anyway, I made it through Last Cave and back again with machine gun. Ran down the outer wall and flew into the Little House discovering info on the time room... Restarted that section again and went into the time room on the way down...

At this point I went back to the Littles and found out about the Nemesis from Igor and got it. But now I'm stuck... I found the whimsical star, extra booster parts, a broken sprinkler... I only have 30 life...
No signs of the Koron/Colon kids, Jack, another misery, or balrog. Gave the Iron Bond to Quote...

Nobody says anything new, and the Last Cave is now sealed even though Booster and the Dog tell me to go again...
You mentioned another outer wall in the readme, but I can't find anything like that...

What went wrong/where do I need to go? Help!

 

New version up
Iron Bond V3 EngV1.2
X-Calibar found a nasty bug I caused near the end, so I reccomend for everyone to download this and overwrite the previous version with it.

Spoiler

Right, first off: you haven't translated the title bar, the items on the menu at the top in Windowed 640x480, or the Studio Pixel dialogue.

Yeah, I didn't know how to do those... so I didn't.
The config file is also the one that came with the Aeon Genesis translation of the game. I have now made mention of it in the notes/credits.

Second: I recommend deleting Readme.txt, Manual.html, and the "Manual" folder, as they are all un-necessary.

That may be true, but they take very little space anyway. The readme in particular has to stay because the mod's ending actually makes a reference to it.
That said, I also meant to just put the ones translated by AG in the archive and then forgot to do so. Thanks for the incidental reminder!

When facing down and to the left the top of Curly's head gets cut off.

Ha! It did sometimes seem to me like her head was too squared, but I figured it must have been just an impression. She was also missing her foot when looking up. Guess the original author didn't pay much attention when copy pasting her sprite. Anyway, fixed.

Typo:

"Egg" really shouldn't be capitalised here

Done!

I've played this mod in the past, but I couldn't get past the Egg Corridor without being able to understand the text. Thanks for translating it to make it more accessible.

Glad to hear it, have fun!

nice work on the translation!

Thanks!

...Right now I'm stuck. Did I break the mod? Or am I missing something?

Ah crud! That is my fault.

Spoiler

I made it through Last Cave and back again with machine gun. Ran down the outer wall and flew into the Little House discovering info on the time room... Restarted that section again and went into the time room on the way down...

...

Nobody says anything new, and the Last Cave is now sealed even though Booster and the Dog tell me to go again...

On the third and final playtest, I discovered a game breaking bug: it was possible after making it to Plantation, back through the Other Last Cave, to enter the same door again... but this would send you back to the regular Last Cave and upon getting to the end of it a force field would prevent you from continuing (thus easily getting you stuck on the save right before switching to Other Last Cave).
So I added a flag to prevent the door in Plantation from opening once the island starts falling, but forgot to remove that flag in the Clock Room when being sent back in time.

This is fixed in the new version I just uploaded, but it won't help you since you've already gone back in time. So to resolve your problem please download this file and put it under data/stage
cent.tsc
This will remove the flag jump, allowing the door to Last Cave to open. (After you do get back in there and save, I'd reccomend overwriting this file with the regular one)

My apologies, and congrats on going through the game so quickly
(I'm assuming you did get the Bad Ending before going back in time, right?)

 

Right, first off: you haven't translated the title bar, the items on the menu at the top in Windowed 640x480, or the Studio Pixel dialogue.

Yeah, I didn't know how to do those... so I didn't.

It's surprisingly easy to edit these! It's entirely up to you if you want to though, and you will have to add a few tools to the belt.

Spoiler

First off, there are 3 locations where it has the "Studio" in studio pixel still in Japanese, and all of these require different methods of changing them...
The easiest is this one:

which is actually just the title of map 72 (also sometimes known as "kings") displayed via <MNA.
Earlier versions of the Aeon Genesis translation had it like this, which explains why it shows up partially translated.

For the title bar, there are many tools that can edit this. If you are using Cave Editor or one of the newer version's of Booster's Lab you can find it in the menu like so:

Though if you had to use Sue's Workshop, you're better off using a hex editor. Any random one should do, HxDen works for example.
Simply copy the letters from the mod that you want to replace, open the mod in the editor, use the search/find tool to jump to where those are stored, and replace with the english text.
This is also the only way to find the second untranslated "studio", which can be seen in the about menu here:

For the menu buttons and the studio pixel graphic that appears on the title menu, there is a neat tool called Resource Hacker.
(NOTE: If Sue's Workshop is used for editing, than resource hacker will likely just break the game from being edited any further, due to some faults in the editor. You can still change these without issue but opening it back in SW itself will break the game.)
We have some tutorials on it, you would basically follow this tutorial except instead of replacing .ORG files you would replace the last .BMP file.
One could open an Aeon Genesis translated game in ResHack, save the BMP it has, and then use it to replace the one in the mod.
For the menu buttons, you would find them here in the resources:

Hex editing and Resource Hacking are both super easy to do and if you fiddle around you could rename files and have custom icons and stuff, but that of course wouldn't be needed for this translation project.

Though, if you want me to fix all of these in the newest version it would only take me 2 minutes. Feel free to hit me up.

 

is actually just the title of map 72 (also sometimes known as "kings") displayed via <MNA.

That's it? Uh...
So should I write the translation in "Caption" under "Map properties"? Odd though, I opened the original Cave Story in CE and it too just has an "u" there, yet the text is displayed correctly when booting up the game.

For the title bar, there are many tools that can edit this. If you are using Cave Editor or one of the newer version's of Booster's Lab you can find it in the menu like so

Mh, just tried this one in CE but it didn't work (the text I entered still appears saved when opening it in CE, but not on the title bar of the windowed game, that still displays Japanese).

For the records, I started out using Cave Editor, then because it sometimes wouldn't save changes unless we translated more of the tsc we were editing (in order to have better context we translated the game as we played it, not by doing tsc after tsc), I tried using Booster's Lab... unfortunately BL couldn't display the Japanese correctly and after opening the game in it (with the consequent auto-conversion of file types and autosave), Cave Editor wouldn't open it at all...
So for the rest of the way we stuck with CE.

HxDen works for example.
Simply copy the letters from the mod that you want to replace, open the mod in the editor, use the search/find tool to jump to where those are stored, and replace with the english text.
This is also the only way to find the second untranslated "studio", which can be seen in the about menu here:

For the menu buttons and the studio pixel graphic that appears on the title menu, there is a neat tool called Resource Hacker.
(NOTE: If Sue's Workshop is used for editing, than resource hacker will likely just break the game from being edited any further, due to some faults in the editor. You can still change these without issue but opening it back in SW itself will break the game.)
We have some tutorials on it, you would basically follow this tutorial except instead of replacing .ORG files you would replace the last .BMP file.
One could open an Aeon Genesis translated game in ResHack, save the BMP it has, and then use it to replace the one in the mod.
For the menu buttons, you would find them here in the resources:

Hex editing and Resource Hacking are both super easy to do and if you fiddle around you could rename files and have custom icons and stuff, but that of course wouldn't be needed for this translation project.
[/spoiler]
Though, if you want me to fix all of these in the newest version it would only take me 2 minutes. Feel free to hit me up.

Thanks this is a huge help!
I'll try handling it all by myself, in case I need these again in the future so I don't have to repeatedly ask around for assistance.

Will keep you guys posted. I probably won't release an update until someone's gotten to both endings, unless some other serious bugs like that missing flag- are found. Don't wanna end up with IronBondV3 ENG V40.15

 

@Duke Serkol
Thanks for the quick fix!

Spoiler

Wow the difficulty curve on this mod is a bit out there... From easy throughout the journey, to insane on the new parts! But, I MADE IT. I finally survived all the way through.

First, to get the difficult stuff out of my system....
The first place I had difficulty with was the new underwater area. It was so frustrating watching Curly slowly travel from one side of the screen to the other, over and over till I figured out what I was supposed to do. So frustrating to get through it!
The timing of the air was spot-on in my opinion, never ran out of air, but came close many times. On the other hand, the whole slow pipe thing drove me nuts... At one point I loaded up cheat engine so I could kinda up the game to 2x - 4x speed while going through pipes. I wonder how others will handle this area? No problems at all? Or trapped in water world D:

The frog battle afterwards was quite fun... Tough but doable after several attempts! Did NOT like having to do the tricky passage after each failure though. But, it wasn't too bad.

The next part that hyped up the difficulty... Was Last Cave on the return. Had to machine gun lvl 3 my way back through and that took 10 - 20 times probably... Painful lol But, rewarding.
Afterwards though, I had low health and saved... While the place was collapsing in the plantation.

OMG WHAT
Those BLOCKS DEFY gravity limits! Insane and annoying xD But kinda fun though since it wasn't a long area. I wanted to explore a bit and find Booster if I could... except all I could manage was follow the dog since I had 4 life.
I liked the Outer Wall map, but could easily bypass the slow speed and just fall off screen if you have a general idea where to fall. I did NOT fall off and get an ending here... because I decided to talk to the Littles, and realized this was heading down a path that wasn't canon... I wonder if this is the same ending as Monster X? Will have to test later...

Now if all that was somewhat difficult... here's where things go crazy.
Monster X. WHATTTTTTTTTTT

It seems like a simple enough fun battle... until you beat him. HORRIBLE choice imo. I need something like fireball... It became artificially insanely difficult because I would screw it up on victory and get cutscene grabbed and fall ... SO HARD. TOO HARD! I used the life pot here. ... Not realizing things were about to get...

Miserable.

Oh man this Misery battle is a cluster... of death lol Invincibility frames went out the window, and it was just ... ridiculous. But it was enjoyable enough! Not terribly difficult. Beat it after several attempts...

Hell wasn't too bad either. Was worried, VERY WORRIED when I had low health and saved, but thank the developers!!!!!!! Health was to the left... Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lastly, the first Core battle was quite awesome. Tough enough. But nothing compared to...
Final Fantasy Core Battle. In space.

Oh my goooooooooooooooooooodness. That battle kicked my ass. I eventually got the Core down to no health a few times, but kept falling off thanks to Misery clone x 9999. But, I didn't succumb to cheats. WOOT. Felled the last boss, despite the insanity...

Pretty rad challenge. Very unbalanced with the new spots imo. No wonder Curly was all tired out in the original game. And here I thought Quote was doing all the work.


Whew... okay now that the pain of battle is leaving my heart. Let's see...
Story-wise I don't agree with quite a few things, but I got past it and enjoyed the fresh interpretation.
My favorite part of the mod actually was just seeing Quote reenact his part and see it happen through Curly's eyes.
(I'm curious to replay and choose all the actions that go against Curly's canon just to see what will change...) But as for giving me a glimpse into Curly's Story... A very nice mod, a lot larger than I expected!

Could have benefited from new music and graphics for the Miakid parts, but good stuff.
Of course all this commentary isn't really directed at your contribution is it? You did the translation and insertion?

Well, I say job well done! You captured a good amount of the character's personalities in your translations and saw minimal typos.
(I have just a few screenshots with typos I'll post in a bit. Need a break after the game tried to break ME.)

Thanks for translating the mod! Maybe I'll do a proper write up later~

EDIT:

Spoiler

Extra line

strenght should be strength

This surprised me... xD Awesome

How does he know Colone is alright still? Or does he mean, I hope Colone is alright still?

SO AWESOME

mysteryous should be mysterious

intollerable should be intolerable

tickect should be ticket

 

The "u" is coded to be changed into "Studio Pixel Presents." Change the "u" to something else and it'll change the name.

I see, thanks!

So, have you continued playing? Any bugs/typos to report?

@Duke Serkol
Thanks for the quick fix!

No need to thank me, I'm the one who caused the problem to begin with

Spoiler

The first place I had difficulty with was the new underwater area.

Smooth flying with the Colone and Puu Black fights?

It was so frustrating watching Curly slowly travel from one side of the screen to the other, over and over till I figured out what I was supposed to do. So frustrating to get through it!

It really is... but at the same time kind of a neat way to do "pipes".

Did NOT like having to do the tricky passage after each failure though. But, it wasn't too bad.

Yeah, I definitely would have put a save point after that.

The next part that hyped up the difficulty... Was Last Cave on the return. Had to machine gun lvl 3 my way back through and that took 10 - 20 times probably... Painful lol

Wow really? Never had a problem with that part, but I see now it was a good thing that it was there to serve as a training ground for the best ending route, given how much that requires players to rely on the machine gun.

OMG WHAT
Those BLOCKS DEFY gravity limits! Insane and annoying xD But kinda fun though since it wasn't a long area. I wanted to explore a bit

I actually did that the first time I played, before translating the game, to look for the other ending.

I did NOT fall off and get an ending here... because I decided to talk to the Littles, and realized this was heading down a path that wasn't canon... I wonder if this is the same ending as Monster X? Will have to test later...

It is the same ending yes. Though you can't just fall off, you have to reach the rightmost side of the screen with the machine gun.
As for canonicity, I guess this is supposed to be what happens if Quote saves Curly, restores her memory, takes the Iron Bond but doesn't go down into the Sacred Grounds (either by ignoring the prefab house or by keeping the Mimiga Mask).

Monster X. WHATTTTTTTTTTT

It seems like a simple enough fun battle... until you beat him. HORRIBLE choice imo.

Agreed. It would have been more reasonable and logical to simply put the <KEY command later into the code, right before the message window opens, after the explosion.

Oh man this Misery battle is a cluster... of death lol Invincibility frames went out the window, and it was just ... ridiculous.

Kind of luck based (depending on the drops and where Misery chooses to appear), isn't it?

Final Fantasy Core Battle. In space.

Oh my goooooooooooooooooooodness. That battle kicked my ass. I eventually got the Core down to no health a few times, but kept falling off thanks to Misery clone x 9999. But, I didn't succumb to cheats. WOOT. Felled the last boss, despite the insanity...

Congrats! I can tell you didn't get the Booster. Did you go back to get another Life Pot? Or managed without?

No wonder Curly was all tired out in the original game. And here I thought Quote was doing all the work.

Yeah, it actually kinda bothers me how the last leg of this mod makes Quote look like a chump.

Story-wise I don't agree with quite a few things

Me too. Aside from the above, I didn't like the idea that the Colons take their name from their mother Colone (they're obviously called that because they were adopted by a punctuation named robot). When the concepts of a Misery copy and Reserve Core were introduced I figured the mod was going to use this to explain why Misery looks different in the ending (say if she had been split in two and merged back) and how the island doesn't fall only if you go for the best end (by having a Reserve Core purged of Miakid kick in), but in the end it didn't do either of those.

I'm curious to replay and choose all the actions that go against Curly's canon just to see what will change...

I don't mean to dissuade you, but alas the differences will be minimal, just a few different lines of dialogue.

for giving me a glimpse into Curly's Story... A very nice mod, a lot larger than I expected!

And the only option really. Kaeso's Curly's Story was supposed to do that but it was never finished.

You did the translation and insertion?

Well, I say job well done! You captured a good amount of the character's personalities in your translations

Thank you!

saw minimal typos.
(I have just a few screenshots with typos I'll post in a bit.

All have been fixed.
Will wait to post a new release at least until I hear back from zxin and EnlightenedOne.

Thanks for translating the mod! Maybe I'll do a proper write up later~

You're welcome! I really, really wanted to get this translated, especially because I was never able beforehand to find the Nemesis and the best ending (who could have guessed I just needed to go back through "Egg Corridor?" after talking with the Littles?)

Unfortunately my translator is very burned out, so I can't promise more to come anytime soon (would have loved to take on Iron Bird Story).

A write up? You mean like a review or something?

 

While I don't have much criticism to add other than I'm currently stuck at Booster's fetch game and I don't quite know where to go since the game isn't being very clear about that.
I do however have to point out a small Whimsical Star graphic error. The midsize star has 2 brown pixels at its upper right corner. Should be easy to fix.
Wait should I even point out graphical error? Considering you're a translator not the creator of the mod?

One question though before upgrading my Machine Gun into unlimited ammo, its max ammo was 90 instead of 100. Did I miss an upgrade or is this intentional?

 

I'm currently stuck at Booster's fetch game and I don't quite know where to go since the game isn't being very clear about that.

Spoiler

Booster said even something broken down would do. Think back to the original Cave Story, what did we see getting crashed that could possibly have had thruster parts in it?

I do however have to point out a small Whimsical Star graphic error. The midsize star has 2 brown pixels at its upper right corner.

Man the original author really did a number on MyChar.

Wait should I even point out graphical error? Considering you're a translator not the creator of the mod?

I did fix a few glitches. Not all I found because some can make for neat exploits. This one though is just an annoyance, so I'll definitely be correcting it.

Spoiler

One question though before upgrading my Machine Gun into unlimited ammo, its max ammo was 90 instead of 100. Did I miss an upgrade or is this intentional?

I thought this was weird too, but yeah, there's no way to get the ammo to 100.

 

Oh sweet, a translated mod! I couldn't wait to try this when I first saw it in the lab earlier today. Given the length of the mod, I ended up going a little over the 100 image limit in my notes, so I'm going to have to span this over two posts with my review of it in the second one.

Spoiler: Mod Notes Part 1

domo arigato serkol-san
domo arigato david-san

first off, the game's files aren't in their own folder in the .rar, so extracting it leads to a bunch of files everywhere

it also starts in Fullscreen instead of 640x480 Windowed

ohhey quote

here's to hoping that this is a lot better than the official "Curly Mode"

but wait
now that i took this life capsule, it won't be there for quote when he wakes up
immersion ruined 0/10

i dunno why i was expecting the polar star, but this works

i guess i should avoid thinking about the discrepancies from the main game (outside of jokes) since it is kinda necessary for this kind of mod

it would be cool if i could take him along, but saying No just closes the message box

>select Yes
>this
what

ohhh

there should probably be a comma between "Yes" and "they"

dunno if you're willing to go back and fix instances of weird translation, but the second sentence should probably go "Could you tell me where they went?"

kinda sucks that Sandaime didn't get any special treatment, but i guess he was never relevant to the plot in the first place

there should be a comma between "Luckily" and "red"

you what m'dude

"Cousin" should be lowercase

comma should be between "yeah" and "Colone" instead of where it is right now

wouldn't be out of the question to rename this "Arthur's Key" or something, but i guess the literal translation doesn't sound TOO strange

"delusional" would fit better, to be honest

out of curiosity, i decided to let myself get shot once in the fight against the robot

wew lad
RIP

well, fighting something that isn't Balrog as the first boss is a refreshing change of pace

this is a comma splice

game pls i need health

ohhey, cool

oh, seems like those robots beat me to the punch

oh god Igor was swapped with Balrog 3
oh god his missiles 2shot me
oh god

needs a comma after "Unfortunately"

oh oops, almost skipped this

igor please

well that's neato
hiding it here, that is

remember kids
don't do drug

king please
you spooked the heck outta me

heh, i like how they actually made a cutscene of King running over to Arthur's house

rats, foiled again

aw man, didn't get any rouge

welp

well that's odd
the text is different from the first ammo expansion

it's haunted
ooOOOooo

i like how they're trying to make King more relevant to the story

it's a little unsettling how you can meet and talk to Mimiga that become frenzied in the main game

maybe you shouldn't have messed with Mama Bear?

oh fug

WELL THIS IS GONNA BE FUN

that actually wasn't as bad as i thought it was going to be
kinda bummed that i didn't have a choice on who to target, though

oh god no

wait
this explains why she doesn't remember Quote in the main game
still sucks, though

there should be a comma after "Jack"

is it really safe for me to hold onto the Colons, though??
i mean, i guess i'm one of the most effective guards available, but i'm practically charging into combat with babies strapped onto my back

>hiding a dog behind a fake wall
triggered

this totally wasn't found by accident or anything
shut

there should be a comma after "flowers"

>they thought to set a flag on the hidden chest
nice

whoone.

tsu.

wree.

yo-n.

g-oh!

aw man, i can't even get my own panties

wow, Mimigas sure do grow quickly if they're already this big after a few days
maybe the amount of time that passed was a mistranslation?

oh boy, here we go

HERE
WE
GO

good ol' mr. little

well that was anticlimactic

there should be a space after "I was..."

*unzips machine gun*

itty bitty balrog

wew, he's a feisty lil' bugger when he's small

poor gaudi

"mysteryous" should be "mysterious"

"loose" should be "lose"

spooked

clutch

nice, seems like Quote's going for the best ending
that's my boy

he also seems to have been using a save editor

now we're cookin'

didn't really take much effort on the creator's part, but i like how Quote managed to do a little damage to the Core before I could join in on the fun

but he already
fine

should be a comma after "Regretfully"

oh wow, i didn't even notice this changed to suit my amnesia

wew lad, this additional waterway area
it's uh
something alright
(i want off mr. doctor's wild ride)

MUCH better

at least half an hour of being blown around later

and then i die
of fucking course

literal cancer

i think that one map took me at least an hour in and of itself to complete
DELETE WATERWAY

there was no save before this, so i have to make it past that current each time i die

and it only took five tries
only

"tickect" should be "ticket"
"jail no. 1" could also be "Jail No. 1", but that's just the "no. 1" looking weird

eyebrows.gif

i can't believe i managed to figure out right away that i needed to scavenge parts from the bike

Decided to backtrack to Mimiga Village because I could now.
Egg Corridor was accessible, and even though its chests were open, I could still explore it.
Could also go all the way to the Outer Wall, even though I couldn't get there from the Plantation.
And now Mr. Little is asking me to look for another Nemesis in Egg Corridor.
HOW DEEP DOES THE RABBIT HOLE GO?

"SUCCESFUL" should be "SUCCESSFUL"

i hecked up

igor?
if this is following events in the game, you should be dead by now

ez every ti-

oh no

gottem
ez every time

"miss" should probably be Ms., or at least Miss
also should have a comma after "you"

that's odd
i could have sworn there was a sparkling pupper here in one of the screenshots you posted in the OP

 

... and here's Part 2.

Spoiler: Mod Notes Part 2

*unsheathes Nemesis*

pls

but it's dead though

I WAS WRONG

so the creator was skilled in the art of ASM-fu (or at least clever H/V trigger usage)
i see

oh boy

that's the fastest i've ever died in a boss fight

okay, once more without the falling to my doom

1. That boss was the first boss in a good long while to really get my heart pumping. Holy hell that was intense.
2. I am REALLY glad I found the Nemesis.

b-but the best ending though

ayy

i have a feeling that i missed something

n-nani?

door won't open and the readme says I need to beat this thing while standing on the platform in order to open it

just when i thought this mod was turning it around, too

countless attempts later, and I somehow finally managed to do it

oh boy, now i get to fight Misery only with a billion things being spawned at the same time

that was actually a lot easier than i was expecting it to be

we hell now

there should probably be a comma after "destroyed"

gee, i wonder what this could be

oh wow, it wasn't the heavy press
now i look silly

this DOES look a lot like the hallway that lead to the original Core, though

it just HAD to be wind

so this fight is basically "keep your machine gun at level 3 or you die"
good to know
at least there's a respawning weapon energy capsule

wew lad
4 hp left

it wasn't AS bad once I got the hang of the wind currents and how to roughly stay in the same spot to shoot at the Reserve Core

what

what do you take me for?
a casul?

actually, seeing as i can only eat a maximum of one hit (two if you count Misery's bats), i think i'ma do it

ohhey a life pot
thanks sparkling pupper

>i don't have to redo the Misery fight
god bless

let's try this once more with my lucky amount of HP and additional life pot

GOTTEM
I stopped looking at my health once the Core opened its mouth, but I'm fairly sure I had somewhere between 1 and 3 left as I land the final blow.

here come dat robot

o shit best ending

there shouldn't be a comma between "very" and "much"

Spoiler: Post-Mod Review

All in all, this mod was pretty enjoyable. Given the story it tells, it using vanilla maps was pretty much unavoidable. It feels as though the changes made to the dialogue, all the cutscenes, and the sporadic new maps helped spice things up enough to maintain some semblence of freshness. I still feel as though I missed a thing or two, but getting the best ending is satisfactory enough.

The difficulty in the mod was very hit-or-miss at times. In general, the harder than usual bosses were pretty fun to fight. Mini-Balrog and Monster X before I knew what I actually had to do come to mind. Other bosses were considerably less enjoyable, such as Boss Frog and Monster X after I figured out what I had to do. The maps themselves weren't too hard to traverse for the most part; it was to be expected with something that used mostly vanilla maps. One map in particular warrants mentioning: Other Waterway. It may have just been me being bad at water mazes, but that place took me almost an hour to completely clear out.

In regards to the translation, it was very nice outside of a few hiccups here and there that I pointed out in my notes. Thank you once again for doing this, by the way. Do you by any chance have any other mods you plan to translate? cough Iron Bird Story cough

 

Given the length of the mod, I ended up going a little over the 100 image limit in my notes, so I'm going to have to span this over two posts with my review of it in the second one.

Oh my...! You've got quite the eye for this. Thanks for providing such an attentive report of your playthrough!

Anything that I don't address directly in my reply (commas for the most part) consider noted and fixed for the next release.

first off, the game's files aren't in their own folder in the .rar, so extracting it leads to a bunch of files everywhere

A matter of preference I guess. I usually create a folder for whatever I'm going to extract before doing so, and sometimes, to my annoyance, I find that I end up with only a folder appearing in said directory.
If others agree that the game should be archived as a folder, I'll do that in the next release.

it also starts in Fullscreen instead of 640x480 Windowed

Mh, I didn't include neither Config.dat nor window.rect so I'm not sure why. Well people can just use DoConfig and solve the problem.

Spoiler: Mod Notes Part 1

here's to hoping that this is a lot better than the official "Curly Mode"

I take it the answer was yes

but wait
now that i took this life capsule, it won't be there for quote when he wakes up

Haha, yeah it's strange how the author has us place the ID card for Quote to find but pick the life capsules from the same spots. Maybe he/she didn't consider them as anything more than a gameplay mechanic.

it would be cool if i could take him along, but saying No just closes the message box

You'd need a rope for that.

there should probably be a comma between "Yes" and "they"

Mh, I don't know, she seems too panicked for proper, grammar correct, pausing. If I had to change this, I'd make it "Yes! They have!!"

dunno if you're willing to go back and fix instances of weird translation, but the second sentence should probably go "Could you tell me where they went?"

King isn't asking her to tell him (not directly, at least), he's asking if she was able to figure out (tell) where they went (depending on how events played out, she might have no way of knowing).

you what m'dude

Miss your life capsule?

wouldn't be out of the question to rename this "Arthur's Key" or something, but i guess the literal translation doesn't sound TOO strange

Well, it technicly isn't Arthur's key, it's Colone's, it just happens to be the key to Arthur's house (I guess this goes to explain why there are two keys in the original game).

"delusional" would fit better, to be honest

Not really the same thing though.

this is a comma splice

So you suggest I change the comma to another question mark instead?

well that's odd
the text is different from the first ammo expansion

Yeah, not sure why the author didn't use this for all expansions, making the first one different. I guess he/she was still learning at that point. That's my explanation as to why the mod initially follows the original game very closely (when it really doesn't need to since it's portraying different events) only to grow bolder and more inventive later on.

is it really safe for me to hold onto the Colons, though??
i mean, i guess i'm one of the most effective guards available, but i'm practically charging into combat with babies strapped onto my back

But isn't that the most adorable thing ever pictured?
Seriously though, I find it more perplexing that the children of Arthur's cousin (Arthur being still alive at this point in time) are just entrusted to Curly for no real reason (other than she rescued them, I guess).

this totally wasn't found by accident or anything
shut

If you check the dog's description while carrying him, it says he's into treasure hunting.

whoone.

tsu.

wree.

y-on.

g-oh!

This is a joke that was in the original Cave Story but didn't make it through either translation (not AG's nor Nicalis'). The dogs are barking out numbers in English up to the third one, then the fourth and (in this mod) the fifth switch to Japanese.

aw man, i can't even get my own panties

Wouldn't it have made more sense to hide them instead?
But yeah, sucks that the mod did nothing with that.

wow, Mimigas sure do grow quickly if they're already this big after a few days
maybe the amount of time that passed was a mistranslation?

Yeah it says many days but it's fairly obvious that it's been years (which, technicly speaking, are made of many days). So not so much a mistranslation, rather the author not expressing this in a very clear manner.

well that was anticlimactic

I would have preferred a longer animation, yeah.

there should be a space after "I was..."

I knooooow >_<
It botehrs me too. Unfortunately, this is how the line goes in the AG translation and I chose to stick to it whenever Quote's on screen (or for signs/computer screens that have the same text as in the original)

he also seems to have been using a save editor

It surprises me that the author wasn't able to, or didn't think of, removing the air tank barrier from Quote. I could probably do it in about the same time that it took me to type these two lines.

"jail no. 1" could also be "Jail No. 1", but that's just the "no. 1" looking weird

Generally I avoided capitalizing places since most of them have names that would be odd when capitalized within spoken dialogue (though sometimes the opposite was true). As for the space between no. and 1, it seemed odd to me too, but that's the way the room is labaled in the AG translation.

that's odd
i could have sworn there was a sparkling pupper here in one of the screenshots you posted in the OP

Makes you wonder, uh?

Spoiler: Mod Notes Part 2

1. That boss was the first boss in a good long while to really get my heart pumping. Holy hell that was intense.
2. I am REALLY glad I found the Nemesis.

1. What about Boss Frog?
2. You wouldn't have gotten there without it. Really.

just when i thought this mod was turning it around, too

I know if has a slow start, following the original game too closely, but does that mean you weren't really enjoying it much until shortly before this point?

there shouldn't be a comma between "very" and "much"

Not sure how that got in there. Guess I was going with "Thank you very, very much" then realized that wouldn't fit two lines. Anyway, fixed.

Spoiler: Post-Mod Review

All in all, this mod was pretty enjoyable. Given the story it tells, it using vanilla maps was pretty much unavoidable.

Or was it?

I still feel as though I missed a thing or two

I can confirm that... and perhaps help with, if you'd like.

In regards to the translation, it was very nice outside of a few hiccups here and there that I pointed out in my notes.

Thanks again, you make for a great playtester!

Do you by any chance have any other mods you plan to translate? cough Iron Bird Story cough

I wish! Some day maybe.

I'd like to tackle Hakoniwa first since it's so short, being incomplete (I mean, last I checked Iron Bird was incomplete too, but it's still a really long mod), but for some reason I can't open that mod in any of the available editors.

 

Oh my...! You've got quite the eye for this. Thanks for providing such an attentive report of your playthrough!

Anything that I don't address directly in my reply (commas for the most part) consider noted and fixed for the next release.

Spoiler: Mod Notes Part 1

I take it the answer was yes


Haha, yeah it's strange how the author has us place the ID card for Quote to find but pick the life capsules from the same spots. Maybe he/she didn't consider them as anything more than a gameplay mechanic.


You'd need a rope for that.


Mh, I don't know, she seems too panicked for proper, grammar correct, pausing. If I had to change this, I'd make it "Yes! They have!!"


King isn't asking her to tell him (not directly, at least), he's asking if she was able to figure out (tell) where they went (depending on how events played out, she might have no way of knowing).


Miss your life capsule?


Well, it technicly isn't Arthur's key, it's Colone's, it just happens to be the key to Arthur's house (I guess this goes to explain why there are two keys in the original game).


Not really the same thing though.


So you suggest I change the comma to another question mark instead?


Yeah, not sure why the author didn't use this for all expansions, making the first one different. I guess he/she was still learning at that point. That's my explanation as to why the mod initially follows the original game very closely (when it really doesn't need to since it's portraying different events) only to grow bolder and more inventive later on.


But isn't that the most adorable thing ever pictured?
Seriously though, I find it more perplexing that the children of Arthur's cousin (Arthur being still alive at this point in time) are just entrusted to Curly for no real reason (other than she rescued them, I guess).


If you check the dog's description while carrying him, it says he's into treasure hunting.


This is a joke that was in the original Cave Story but didn't make it through either translation (not AG's nor Nicalis'). The dogs are barking out numbers in English up to the third one, then the fourth and (in this mod) the fifth switch to Japanese.


Wouldn't it have made more sense to hide them instead?
But yeah, sucks that the mod did nothing with that.


Yeah it says many days but it's fairly obvious that it's been years (which, technicly speaking, are made of many days). So not so much a mistranslation, rather the author not expressing this in a very clear manner.


I would have preferred a longer animation, yeah.


I knooooow >_<
It botehrs me too. Unfortunately, this is how the line goes in the AG translation and I chose to stick to it whenever Quote's on screen (or for signs/computer screens that have the same text as in the original)


It surprises me that the author wasn't able to, or didn't think of, removing the air tank barrier from Quote. I could probably do it in about the same time that it took me to type these two lines.


Generally I avoided capitalizing places since most of them have names that would be odd when capitalized within spoken dialogue (though sometimes the opposite was true). As for the space between no. and 1, it seemed odd to me too, but that's the way the room is labaled in the AG translation.


Makes you wonder, uh?

Spoiler: Mod Notes Part 2

1. What about Boss Frog?
2. You wouldn't have gotten there without it. Really.


I know if has a slow start, following the original game too closely, but does that mean you weren't really enjoying it much until shortly before this point?


Not sure how that got in there. Guess I was going with "Thank you very, very much" then realized that wouldn't fit two lines. Anyway, fixed.

Spoiler: Post-Mod Review

Or was it?


I can confirm that... and perhaps help with, if you'd like.


Thanks again, you make for a great playtester!


I wish! Some day maybe.

I'd like to tackle Hakoniwa first since it's so short, being incomplete (I mean, last I checked Iron Bird was incomplete too, but it's still a really long mod), but for some reason I can't open that mod in any of the available editors.

I thought I might as well answer a few of your questions and comments. When I saw that you quoted both parts, I was worried for a moment that you responded to everything I said, but thankfully you omitted most of the general mistakes and miscellaneous remarks.

Spoiler: Clarification on Responses

Decided to take screenshots of the quotes and responses to make it easier to respond to.

The Config.dat file is what you need to keep for the game to remember that you want it to open in 640x480 Windowed (or any size that isn't Fullscreen).

Yeah. Without the question mark, it's a run-on sentence, but with the question mark it becomes two independent sentences. The second one may still be a little iffy, but it'd be better than the way it currently is.

Ohh, it was THAT dog. That's actually really, really clever of the creator.

Eh, Boss Frog wasn't really as intense as it was frustrating. Any time I managed to get past that finnicky water current before the fight, it turned into a race of killing the jellyfish so they couldn't distract me from the frog before the frog killed me. Fighting it in water physics while also trying to not drown didn't help much.

Nah, what I meant was that I thought that the mod managed to successfully recover from the Other Waterway incident, but then found out that we were expected to pull off something like killing the boss while having enough forward momentum to land on the platform.

I may have to give that mod a look sometime when I have some more free time on my hands. Anyways, I was refering to how the mod had you go through areas before Quote and prep everything for him, like hiding the ID Card in Egg No. 6, and then exploring after Quote woke up, like the entirety of the Labyrinth section of the mod.

No problem, and thanks for the compliment! I've found that playing mods like this provides both a thorough analysis for the creator to look through and a (hopefully) entertaining read for passersby.

Glad to hear that you have plans for other translations in the future. Iron Bird Story was incomplete the last time I played it, yeah, but there's still a very substantial amount of mod to play through.

 

The Config.dat file is what you need to keep for the game to remember that you want it to open in 640x480 Windowed (or any size that isn't Fullscreen).

Oh, so the game's behaving as it normally would when going back to default. Well I see no problem then, if people don't like full screen that's what DoConfig is there for.

Fighting it in water physics while also trying to not drown didn't help much.

Easy to forget about the timer, isn't it?

Nah, what I meant was that I thought that the mod managed to successfully recover from the Other Waterway incident, but then found out that we were expected to pull off something like killing the boss while having enough forward momentum to land on the platform.

Ah, I see what you mean, yes.

I may have to give that mod a look sometime when I have some more free time on my hands. Anyways, I was refering to how the mod had you go through areas before Quote and prep everything for him, like hiding the ID Card in Egg No. 6

Cool, I hope you'll enjoy it!
That's true about the ID card... but it was pretty much the only instance of setting things up for Quote, wasn't it? Curly could have just as easily ventured into completely different parts of the island until he woke up.

 

I got the booster parts before the letter, and now I am stuck. Has anyone else had this problem? Is there something I'm missing, or is it a glitch?
Edit: By messing around in Booster's lab, I've since realised I need to find Professor Booster to fix the elevator.
I know that this is a necrobump, but someone else also had this problem earlier in the thread, and I think other people might get lost here too.