           Technos Samurai: Downtown Special! v1.0     9/03/98
          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
         
     ROM Hacker:  Jim Price             Translator:  Faraday

         Editor:  Wildbill              Additional   Wildbill
                                      Translations:  Nick


What's been done:  Text replaced 
                   Pointers recalculated
                   Item icons created	
                   A couple of color palettes changed            						 

What's not done:   Nothing, as far as I know. Of course, there may be 
                   some bugs that we didn't catch. If you find any, 
                   please let me know. <Tsamurai@hotmail.com>
                   
_______________________

Applying the patch-
     I recommend using Snestool. Just select "Use IPS" and follow the 
     instructions.
_______________________

Hey! Someone want to make a faq for this game? Even I didn't manage to find 
all of the hidden shops...


Thank you, again to Faraday for translating the text and to Wildbill
for the excellent job editing the script and beta testing. 

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From the editor:

Greetings Players!

First off, I think the entire gaming world owes Jim Price a word of
gratitude for creating this English patch for Technos Samurai - Downtown
Special, and making it available to the whole universe.  For pure
Japanese culture afficionados, however, Jim's creation departs from a
perfectly literal translation.  To those jaded individuals out there who
are pedantic in outlook, I would say that someone so enamored with
Japanese culture should also know the language quite fluently, and thus,
not need an English patch.  Otherwise, anyone dissatisfied with
this outstanding addition to the English repertoire of classic games,
should procure the ROM and create a "proper" translation (whatever that
is) with our blessing!

That said, I will explain our rationale for interpreting the funky
spirit and humor in this game.  But before I do, I wish to say that
nothing would have been remotely possible without Faraday's excellent
work, as always, not only in performing the raw translation, but
enlightening us about the "Old Tokyo" back-street ambiance" that
characterizes the theme of this game.  In Faraday's own words, Downtown
Special is rather "cheesy":

     "This game is supposed to be a comedy. As you know, a lot of (corny
     lines) appear while you're actually in action, while beating the
     hell out of your enemy. And they are rather hard to read to begin
     with, but once you get use to it, you will begin to read all the
     text and laugh, while you're kicking your opponent's ass. Well,
     that's what happens in (J)apa anyway. It was intended to be more of
     a laugh, rather than a serious 'complete levels', 'complete the
     game'.

     "I hope to recreate that, and I've done my best to adopt the "mood"
     rather than literal translation of the words.... And we've got to
     sort out the names.... They must be read quickly. (J)apa names
     aren't good for that, if we're going to deal with (E)nglish
     speakers.

     [Note: We shortened most of the names...ed.]

     "And an extra note: I found it VERY difficult to translate the dump
     towards the end. This is because they are mixture of modern (J)apa,
     old (J)apa gag (like Shakespearian wit) and finally a typical
     poetic-style (p)eriod play style text. It all sounds silly and odd in
     (J)apa, but that's the object of the game.  So I've translated the
     'cheesiness', but changed the actual text i.e. literally very little
     is translated in the last few lines of end sequence."

Thus, Jim and I took the spirit of Faraday's words, and after further
consultations with him (and with his blessing), we decided to take one
more step in the transcription and adapt a Western street-gang lingo,
while still trying to preserve the uniquely Japanese flavor and
backdrops.  I know this sounds paradoxical (even to us), but we wanted to
end up with a game that would "play well in Peoria".  Working Designs
takes this approach all the time, so, who are we to question its
legitimacy?  Therefore, we took a little license with the plot, changing
it from the roundabout, poetic, Japanese method, to the harder-hitting,
in-your-face, tell-it-like-it-is, right-up-front western style of action
storytelling.

Our resulting prologue now offers a direct introduction of the characters'
missions, conflicts, and romantic woes, delivering a clear message that
the hero's girl has apparently been stolen by some asshole who's seems
to be also working for the "Beeg" boss-man.  But first, our intrepid hero
must find an ellusive remedy for his stricken boss, and while searching
around almost aimlessly in this very non-linear game, he and his
companion(s) enounter all sorts of zany characters who either give them
vague information, or engage them in goofy battles reminiscent of The
Three Stooges.

There is a "Map Cursor" item at a secret shop in Hizen.  I would suggest
that you find it, then warp around the map and fight those people
wearing the more brightly-colored clothing.  Characters will join you,
abandon you, give you items, and fight you; and soon, you'll have no
idea who's supposed to be doing what to whom!  That's the way the game
seems to be intended to be.  Indeed, it has more twists and turns than
the Snake River, but its sidesplitting humor overrides all of the
head-scratching Machiavellian plotting.  Just remember that "the butler
didn't do it", and that the game is intended to be an absolute frolic
for the Japanese player, sort of like, "Laurel-and-Hardy-meets-the-
Jesse-James-gang".

I hope you, the public, will enjoy this little creation.  I would place
it right up there with Mario-I, for its period.  Remember, Jim was not
required to share his work.  It is both a privilege and a pleasure to
receive this patch, but not an absolute right.  I can attest to how hard
Jim has worried on it.  It shows...so, enjoy!

              -Wildbill

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<http://www.psnw.com/~stumpy/main.html>
Please direct all bug reports, questions, comments, suggestions etc. to
                         Tsamurai@hotmail.com
