                     Game Gear Phantasy Star Gaiden RPG

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Disclaimer and Intro:
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Phantasy Star Gaiden English translation patch
Produced by Magic Translations Company, a proud member of the CTC.

Magic Translations takes no responsibility for whatever the user does with
thispatch, or any consequences to the user or his/her computer.

This patch is for educational purposes only, and is not offered for sale
under any circumstances.

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Read Me FIRST:  
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Phantasy Star Gaiden has been tested with Massage only.  We don't anticipate
problems with other EMUs, but without testing, can't say for sure.  If you
compete the game using an EMU other than Massage, we would appreciate hearing
about it.

This game has required a LOT of technical modification.  It's quite possible
that we may have overlooked something in the beta test.  If you notice
ANYTHING, please let us know immediately.

Patch pstara.ips is the origional Sega english font that was in the japanese
release of PS-G.  pstarb.ips is a new wide font we inserted.  We released
both so you could use which ever you liked most.

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Patch Usage:
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WARNING: DO NOT PATCH OVER AN OLD PATCH (USE A FRESH JAPANESE ROM IN GG
FORMAT).

WARNING: DO NOT START FROM AN OLD SAVED GAME.

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Release History:
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version 1.00 - Everything is done.  Absolutely nothing that was in the
previous patches remains.  Everything is brand new.  

preview patch- Intro was released to attract Assembly help.

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Percentages
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Menus - 100%
Monsters - 100%
Names - 100%  
Normal Text - 100% 
Storyline Text - 100% 
Items, Weapons, and Armor, Etc. - 100% 
Spells - 100% 
Shops - 100% 
Anything Not Listed Above - 100%

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What's In the Next Release
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Possible re-adjustments to menu and dialogue boxes not already expanded.

Bugfixes, if any.

Spelling and punctuation corrections, if any.

Hacking errors, if any.

Untranslated text (very unlikely).

Known bugs - none (except possible incompatibilities with emulators other
than Massage).

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Contact Info and Thanks:
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Please direct bug reports and questions by email to:

aganime@hotmail.com - Taskforce - Rom Hacker and Programmer
wildbill@aloha.net - Wildbill - Script Editor
faradaycpp@hotmail.com - Faraday - Translator

Big thanks to Adol for providing the Phantasy Star Gaiden cartridge to
be dumped, so we would have something to translate.

Big thanks to Imid for dumping the cartridge that Adol provided.

Big thanks to Musashi for helping with weapons and items lists translations. 
   

Big thanks to Necrosaro and The Gun with help on Villgust.  This help is
what made it possible for me to even be able to do Phantasy Star Gaiden.
You guys are great.

Big thanks to Spiffmaster Cow for the use of his early patch while
testing.  Also, for the offers of help and support.

Big thanks to AWJ and -anubis-][ for providing some early interpretations
of lists features.

Big thanks to Strength and Ballz for helping us investigate "Gaiden" in the
title page's graphics.

Big thanks to Naflign the Muskcat for being the biggest of fans and
putting up with our torturous ways with the biggest of smiles. :)

Finally to Faraday and Wildbill, I look forward to working with you
two on whatever my next project(s) happen to be.  Actually, you know
what they are :)

-Taskforce

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Editors's Note:
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Is Phantasy Star Gaiden the "lost episode" of this magnificent, sprawling
series by Sega?  Quite possibly, yes, but the size of this game, as compared
to ported English versions I through IV, is somewhat shorter.  Indeed, a
rough translation of "Gaiden" is "side quest" or an "additional story". Thus,
one might expect a novella-sized game in lieu of a full-blown novel.
Nevertheless, PS-G is lengthy enough to deliver a rollickingly good play,
suitable for typical RPG immersion by those who still prefer a good
old-fashioned 8-bit RPG over the glitzy eye-candy of some of these more
shallowly plotted, but modern, "hi-tech" RPGs floating around.

Is PS-G true to the series?  Yes and no.  "No" in the sense that it doesn't
entail travel to multiple worlds; but a huge resounding "YES" in regard to
its definite tie-in with Phantasy Star-I (SMS), and the later Genesis
episodes.  In fact, PS-G is more in line with the "series", per se, than
PS-III.  This aspect alone makes PS-G an almost obligatory checkpoint for PS
fans wending their way through the epic!

Being a huge PS groupie, I translated many weapons, armor, items, monsters,
spells, and battle techniques myself, conducting exhaustive research into all
four Phantasy Star episodes.  In the final analysis, the largest influences
on our naming conventions were PS-I and PS-IV.  Thus, I feel we achieved a
hoped-for goal, that is, a game that boasts a definitive Phantasy Star "feel"
in its gameplay.  But also, we tried to
preserve qualities from the literal translation that make PS-G unique as a
standalone work.

Accordingly, we worked very hard on the features lists, basing some of our
choices on logic, others on proper conversions of Katakana borrow-words.  If
anyone discovers a feature's name that we blatantly missed, we will consider
updating.  Otherwise, our game patch is available for your enjoyment and FREE
distribution.  If anyone perceives that a better interpretation is possible,
he is invited to produce his own PS-G
English patch (but please do not use ours as the basis for this patch).

Beyond what I've already stated, I won't spoil the game.  The name "Phantasy
Star" speaks for itself, and my English script is 99% true to Faraday's
input.  To heighten the suspense, I have added certain details and humor.  To
me, good role-playing conveys a sensation of being part of the adventure,
supercharging the player with a panoply of emotions.  So, if you enjoy our
enhanced storyline, especially those dramatic narrative scenes, thank
Taskforce for finding us an extra 1,200 bytes
of data storage, an RPG scriptwriter's dream!  It enabled me to convert a lot
of comic book-style "grunts", "groans", and other gutteral utterances into
meaningful dialogue.

Finally, special thanks go out to primary teammates, Taskforce and Faraday. 
These guys were the indispensable members of our triumvirate.  Without
Faraday's scripts, the show would have been stopped dead in its tracks.  And
Taskforce pulled technical magic out of his hat with menu expansion and
syntax re-arrangement (that I termed "organic Z-80 ASM" at the time), which
quite frankly, I thought would be downright impossible.  I have never seen
anyone work longer hours for days on end than TF did,
to reverse-engineer the necessary routines without having the benefit of the
source code.  He was a veritable obsessive-compulsive hacking machine,
striving fervantly to advance this project to near perfection.  I lost track
of the Honolulu sunrises I watched during the height of our own little
"gaiden" experience.

So, enjoy!

-Wildbill

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Taskforce's Hacking Notes:
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I figured it would be appropriate to explain here how the format of the PS-G
battle pages ended up the way they are.  I'm referring to the odd spacing
that occurs between attackers, action verbs, and adversaries in that text. 
This was a problem we couldn't solve, and I'm not so sure that someone with
advanced Z-80 assembly skills would have been able to make it any better. 
The primary reason for that odd spacing is because some monster names are
much longer than others, so the line breaks must take this into account. 
Unfortunately, monsters with short names make the gaps and spaces appear
uneven and unfilled.

Second, I've done a lot of modifications to the game code.  There isn't any
visual evidence of this on the surface, but it's quite possible there may be
some we didn't find during beta testing.  We fixed a multitude, however,
including a really cool one that let you kill the final boss without ever
hitting him.  I can just hear all of the "Oh, Darns" ringly loudly out there! 
Too bad (hee-hee-hee).  I won't release the info on how to do this, either. 
And no, it isn't in the Japanese version.  It's just something I stumbled
onto.

Finally, about the title screen...  There were several people who produced
graphics to replace the "Gaiden" name in the title screen.  However, nobody
knew quite how to paste them in.  In the final analysis, I felt that since we
were merely going to replace the Kanji for "Gaiden" with the word "Gaiden"
itself, that it wouldn't make much difference what language the word was in. 
It also kept another serious problem somewhat at bay, one which I don't
really care to discuss here.  So, to all of those who helped us explore
various ways to hack the title page, a big "Thanks!"  I wish it could have
worked out differently.

-Taskforce

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End of Info File
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