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Messages - spiffy

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Sorry it took a while to reply, I've been a little busy.

But yeah, by using your work here as a template, changing each area title will be that much easier now. The graphics in the raw files are only slightly scrambled, but just enough to cause a few headaches without a guide.

I'll be sure to credit you for your work in the new version. Thanks again!  :thumbsup:

Yes, that's perfect! Thank you so much!

What program(s) did you use, by the way?

Hello all,

I'm in the process of creating a major update for my HoD localization fix. Thanks to the indispensable help of Nagumo over at the Castlevania Dungeon forums, I've almost completed a near total retranslation/localization of the full English game script from the original Japanese. 98% of the text can be effortlessly altered using LagoLunatic's amazing DSVania Editor (here's hoping there's enough space for the expanded script), so all that remains is the retranslated area titles that appear on-screen when you first enter a new region of the castle.

The game stores the on-screen area names as LZ77-compressed tile graphics. I've located and ripped all the raw graphics data (including the titles I didn't change for reference purposes) as well as the palette data (hex offset and files in .tpl and .pal format). The problem is that I'm just not a very good pixel artist and it could well take me months to get the results I want on my own with YY-CHR or Tile Layer Pro or what have you.

So, I'm humbly requesting the help of any talented pixel artists to help me edit the existing area titles to reflect their newly retranslated names. There's six of them:

- Room of Illusion -> Hall of Illusion
- Shrine of the Apostates -> Tomb of the Apostates
- Skeleton Cave -> Skeleton Nest
- Luminous Cavern -> Schistostega​ Caverns
- Sky Walkway -> Floating Gallery
- Chapel of Dissonance -> Chapel of Heresy

If anyone is interested, just hit me with a PM and I can send you an archive containing all the necessary data and information. I saved the raws in '.gba' format, so I hope that's okay. 

According to this forum post, in the PAL version of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (i.e. Tony Hawk's Skateboarding) the following three music tracks that were present in the NTSC version:

Vilified - Even Rude
Screamer/Nothing to Me - Speedealer
Euro-Barge - The Vandals

... were replaced with these three:

Le Hot - Grand Unified
Ain't Got Time to Waste - Aim feat. YZ
Blue Thunder - Aquasky

I wonder if it would be possible to insert all six tracks (three region-exclusive + three from the opposite region) onto a single game disc/image and edit the game's playlist to play the additional tracks, ideally in alternating order (region-exclusive -> opposite-region-exclusive -> region-exclusive, etc.).

I'm not sure if the Playstation version would have the extra space to accommodate the extra tracks, but I'm pretty confident that the Dreamcast version would (in GDI form at the very least).

Hello, I'm the guy who made the Localization Fix for Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance. I've set my sights on releasing a sort of 'final' or definitive version of my patch (as well as the one for AoS) before the year is out.  The one thing I would really like to focus on for this final release is whether or not the in-game cutscene dialogue needs any further revisions or touch-ups in order to be both closer to the original Japanese script and to improve its overall readability/flow.

I've already made a few changes in the previous version(s), mostly for the reasons I've already stated. However, I'm certainly no native speaker, and I've probably made some mistakes. So now, I'm humbly asking anyone with the appropriate expertise and experience to help me compare the original Japanese dialogue script with the updated English script that I'm currently using for the latest version of the patch.

As far as resources go, there doesn't seem to be a complete dump or transcription of the Japanese script anywhere on the internet at the moment. The Script page for HoD on the Castlevania Wiki contains links to a Youtube playthrough of the Japanese version of the game corresponding to each section of the story, which is somewhat inconvenient but still the best available option. Transcripts of certain scenes relating to Maxim's character are also available here, but that's obviously all that the author covered. There's also a Translation Guide on GameFAQs that contains a rough, literal translation of the game's original Japanese dialogue, but I can't completely guarantee its accuracy.

Any interested parties can just hit me with a PM and I'll be very happy to share and discuss any information regarding previous or future possible script revisions in the form of documents/text files or emulator save states.

Newcomer's Board / Re: Akumajou Dracula (Famicom) - Menu Text Alteration
« on: February 18, 2018, 11:28:45 pm »
Almost certainly Konami checksum-protected the files on this game as they have been found to do on other games.
Need to find the ASM code which JMP to the BIOS' Reset routine and disable it.

Just looking for 4C 24 EE (JMP $EE24), I find this hex
A9 00 20 87 CC F0 08 A9 00 8D 03 01 4C 24 EE
One way to disable it would be to find that and then put EA for all the bytes in the sequence AFTER the F0 08. I haven't checked but that should work.

Expect a patch for the FDS version in a little while. At some point in the future, I might even be able to insert a localized title screen both for this version and Akumajou Dracula for the regular Famicom.

Newcomer's Board / Akumajou Dracula (Famicom) - Menu Text Alteration
« on: February 13, 2018, 06:33:15 pm »
Hi, I'm the wierdo that's been making all those Localization Fix thingies for some of the old Castlevania games, the most recent being the original Castlevania for the NES:

I also wanted to do the same for the original Famicom version, which, as you know, has a save function and an additional menu with an extra music track:

I also wanted to translate the two menu options, 'NAME TOUROKO' ('NAME ENTRY') and 'NAME KESU' ('NAME ERASE/DELETE') and replace them with English equivalents, but it seems that making even the slightest alterations to either of these two text strings in a hex editor causes the rom to endlessly load and reboot when played on an emulator (I've used FCEUX and Mesen, both with the same result).

I can alter the text strings in the credits and still be able to boot up the game just fine, so obviously the system menu text is much more sensitive to change (for this game, at least).

Would anyone be able to help me out here?

It's that time again, ladies and gentleman. I've just got a few remaining lines and names to address before I begin my test playthrough of the game on my DS:

#20 - Mollusca (モニュモニュ - 'monyu-monyu')
- The Japanese name is obviously some kind of onomatopoeia, although it's apparently ambiguous enough that I can't seem to find any conclusive answers or definitions anywhere online. Crying/weeping, squeezing/groping, squelching/squishing... the general idea seems to be the sustained squelching/squishing sound of soft or moist organic matter... which would be entirely appropriate for a gigantic slug moving across the ground. I just need to know if my suspicions are correct before I can start thinking of a name that appropriately 'conveys' the sound.

#37 - Valkyrie:
- The official English description simply copy/pastes the one from AoS. The original Japanese reads "邪悪な心に聖なる力を持つ、好戦的な乙女"
- Took a slight liberty here and translated it as "A battle-loving maiden whose wicked heart conceals a holy power." While the line reads okay enough, I just hope that my choice of the word 'conceal' doesn't mangle the line's original intention.
#49 - Guillotiner/Guillotine Devil:
- The original Japanese description reads: "何万もの人間をギロチンに かけた悪魔"
- Official English description: "Rumored to have chopped off hundreds of heads with its bloody guillotine."
- I've opted to go with the translation used in Order of Ecclesia, which reads: "A demon who has executed countless victims in its bloody guillotine." At a glance, it definitely feels more accurate than the one used in DoS, though I'm still a bit iffy about my reading of '何万', which in this context seems to indicate a massive unknown quantity (countless) rather than something more specific (hundreds).

#81 - Mothman:
- Second line of original Japanese description: "灯りに誘われて何処からかやってくる"
- 2nd line of English desc.: "It appears to be attracted to the light."
- I've a feeling that the original English translation is sufficient, but I'm still unsure about the Japanese: '[Is] attracted/lured to light and will show up/arrive someplace"? "Shows up/arrives at places where [it is] attracted/lured by light"?

Yeah, there's a lot of unused space in the stats section on the Equip and Soul Set menus that would be perfect for displaying damage-type icons. Unfortunately, I haven't really explored much of DSVania Editor's other capabilities. I'd try asking around in the official forum thread:

The original translation for 凶凶しく成長したウニ is good in my opinion. The connotation is 'very badly formed'. As a Shinto thing, I would not take it as genetically mutated, but 'tainted with evil' which is usually accompanied by a corresponding outward appearance. I've seen similar things translated as 'monstrous' 'deformed' 'mutant' 'wicked' etc. I don't think there's a single equivalent word in English, so take your pick.
So maybe something like "A grotesque, malformed sea urchin" then? Thanks, that helps a lot. :thumbsup:

I don't remember the specific source from where I got the beanpot reference (it's been almost 10 years now), but to Asian culture it's literally an infernal caldron like the following:

Also this could help:
Ah, I get it now. You learn something new everyday.  :)

But I think I'll retain the original description, mainly because its a direct a reference to Western demonology, and should thus probably include all the specific cultural connotations that come with such a subject.

Many thanks for your input, regardless! Your version of SOTN is the only one I ever play nowadays.

Ukobach has the same exact description in SOTN. This is what we used for the retranslation:
Demon of the beanpot, appears with a flaming body.<End>
It's definitely something along those lines, but I'm just wondering about the specific choice of the word 'beanpot'. Nearly every demonology source I could find (both primary and secondary) only ever seem to link Ukobach with 'pots', 'cauldrons' and 'boilers' specifically, although these differences in terminology could almost certainly be chalked up to the Dictionnaire Infernal's translation from its original French. The copy I found on from 1863 uses the word chaudière, which directly translates as roughly 'boiler' or 'kettle', but can also apparently be used to describe any sort of vessel that is specifically used to heat liquids (like a cauldron for example, especially in older contexts like fairy tales). The kanji '釜' also appears to read in a similar fashion, with 'kettle', 'iron pot' and 'cauldron' also invariably turning up when consulting several online dictionaries.

I freely admit I'm no expert at this sort of thing, but it's looking more and more like the original translation had the right idea, just slightly embellished.

I believe the description for Needles translates to something like "A fully-grown sea urchin with a wicked appearance." I'm still learning, so take it with a grain of salt.
Thanks. If you're still not completely sure, I can give it some more time and consultation. I'd just prefer to get as much right as I can on the very first pass, especially considering the surprising amount of textual alterations I've made. 

I've almost finished work on my localisation fix for Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow. I just need to clarify a few remaining lines of Japanese that I'm just not sure about, specifically the enemy descriptions for Needles and Ukobach. If the existing translations are adequate, I can just leave them as is:

#64 - Needles:
- "凶凶しく成長したウニ" (Japanese text)
- "A giant, mutant sea urchin." (Official in-game translation)

#77 - Ukobach:
- "灼熱した体で現れる釜炊きの悪鬼" (Japanese text)
- "One of hell's cauldron demons with a blazing, red-hot body." (Official in-game translation)
- From what I can tell, a literal reading of the text produces something like "A demon that appears with a red-hot/scorching body and cooks/boils kettles/cauldrons (perhaps it means 'fry cooking/frying' instead?)"
- Was translated as "Demon of the beanpot, appears with a flaming body" in Gemini's SOTN retranslation (
- The Wikipedia entry for Ukobach ( and other primary sources state that he is the 'inventor of fireworks and the art of frying foods."
- My current, tentative localization: "A demonic fry cook with a blazing, red-hot body" (there has got to be a better term to use besides 'fry cook', space permitting of course)


The item description for the Copper Plate (どうのむねあて) reads: "胴の胸当て", which I think roughly translates as either "body/torso armor" or refers to the specific type of body armor that is used in kendo (, though I don't believe they usually make that stuff out of copper. The official translation reads "Breastplate made of hammered copper", which completely ignores the Japanese text, so I'm kind of at a loss here.

とうかん could be from 頭冠 which means "head collar; cephalic crown; corona capitis; crown of the head".

That clears things up. I've settled on 'Golden Crown' for now. Thanks. :thumbsup:

Time to upload this thing!

Ah, I see it now! It was so obvious in hindsight. It's just too bad that it exceeds the 16 character name limit, though, so unfortunately it'll have to remain 'Skull Knight'.

Cheers. :)

January 21, 2018, 06:14:34 am - (Auto Merged - Double Posts are not allowed before 7 days.)
Found one more: 'みかわしのふく'.

In the game, it's translated as 'Loose Clothing' ( but the article I just cited provides an alternate translation of 'Clothes of Mikawashi'.

Is the author of the article just way off the mark here, or is it some sort of Japanese historical/mythological reference that I can't seem to pin down?

Got it. Settled on 'Evasion Clothes'.


And another: 'こんじきのとうかん'. Translated as 'Gold Headband' in the original release (, and 'Golden Crown' in other sources. I understand 'こんじき', but I can't seem to find anything supporting 'とうかん' as 'crown', especially when a similar item, Platinum Crown (プラチナクラウン), is clearly spelled out in katakana.

Thanks to LagoLunatic's recent work in providing support for Harmony of Dissonance in his excellent DSVania Editor, I'm this close to releasing a hack which will hopefully clear up a number of localization issues that have existed in the English game text for years. I'm not a native or fluent Japanese speaker, so I had to rely on a wide variety of sources as well as very judicious use of online dictionaries and translators (knowing full well the pitfalls of solely relying on such things without taking into account the surrounding context or proper sentence structure). I've almost certainly made some massive mistakes somewhere, so when I finally release it, feel free to correct me via reviews, PM or what have you.


There's just one remaining quibble left to address: Skull Knight ( In Japanese, its name is rendered as 'スカルトナイトロード' (skarutonaitoroodo). Is this some sort of pun or portmanteau that could be easily recognized by a Japanese audience, similar to '死門' ('Gate of Death'/'Shimon') or 'すけるトン' ('clear'/'skeleton')?

I'm currently making a cosmetic hack for Castlevania Bloodlines/Vampire Killer that corrects a few small textual errors, namely reverting 'Elizabeth Bartley' in the intro sequence to 'Elizabeth Bathory' and 'Alcarde Spear' to 'Alucard Spear' on the player select screen.

So far, I've managed to change 'Bartley' to 'Bathory' in both Bloodlines and Vampire Killer (good thing the latter is entirely in English!), but I can't for the life of me locate the text or graphics data for the player select screen. Apparently, Konami used a unique compression routine for its Genesis games during this period, so I was wondering if anyone who has any experience with said routine or dealing with compressed graphics in general could help me out here?

With help, I may also be able to make optional patches that restores Eric's original feminine features in Bloodlines and/or reverts 'John Morris' to 'Johnny Morris' for the sake of completeness.

Personal Projects / Re: DSVania Editor (v1.4)
« on: March 22, 2017, 04:06:07 am »
Hmm, apparently Gallery of Labyrinth has two different versions. The one I added support for was the second version (rev01), so maybe you have the original first version?

Ah, that was the problem. Cheers.

Personal Projects / Re: DSVania Editor (v1.4)
« on: March 21, 2017, 07:41:59 am »
I can't seem to extract the files from the Gallery of Labyrinth (Japanese PoR) rom. The program just hangs indefinitely, despite the fact that all the files have apparently been extracted into a local folder. Opening that same folder with DSVania 1.4 also freezes the program.

Maybe I've just got a bad dump?

Personal Projects / Re: DSVania Editor
« on: February 28, 2017, 01:56:48 am »
I managed to find them, they're stored as graphics instead of text.
Richiter is in /sc/f_seleob1.dat and Charotte is in /sc/f_equipob0.dat.
DSVEdit can't edit graphics but you can edit them with a generic editor like Tile Molester. For /sc/f_seleob1.dat set Mode: 2-dimensional and Codec: 4bpp linear reverse order. For /sc/f_equipob0.dat set Mode: 1-dimensional and Codec: 4bpp linear reverse order.

Those tips you gave for locating the graphics in Tile Molester were a lifesaver (probably never would have found them otherwise)! Both typos are now fixed.

Those patches should be coming soon once I've done a bit of play-testing.

Personal Projects / Re: DSVania Editor
« on: February 27, 2017, 06:27:37 am »
This program is everything I could have ever dreamed of. Thanks, LagoLunatic!  :thumbsup:

Using this tool, I've been working on a set of patches for all three of the DS Castlevania games that aim to clear up some slightly iffy translations/spellings (very much like Almagest/Radagast's fixes for Aria of Sorrow - in fact, many spellings/translations are pretty much copied wholesale), maintain consistent terminology (where appropriate AND possible), and to to fix any nasty typos and formatting errors within the text.

I'm just about finished, but the only thing I'm having trouble with at the moment is fixing the two remaining typos in Portrait of Ruin: 'Richiter Mode' on the File Select screen and 'Charotte Aulin' on the Equip screen (

I've thoroughly looked through all the viewable text and sprites, but I can't seem to locate the appropriate data (maybe its located somewhere else?).

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