Gauntlet's Guide Unnecessary Translations

I blame it on Dragonball Z. I really do.

This all started on a Megaman forum I go to. Someone suggested that Eddie was made by Dr. Cossack because he reads Bob and George and forgot that it was a fan comic. Someone tried to set him straight and told him all the helper pets were made by Dr. Light. Being an expert in the subject of MM's helper pets, I informed the people that Beat was made (at least in part) by Dr. Cossack while the rest were made by Dr. Light.

And no one believed me. They asked me for proof!

I have the Megaman 5 manual in my hands. Beat was made by Cossack. At least in part.

"Ahhhh", they say, "but what about the ROCKman 5 manual? What does IT say?" And, "Are you SURE Eddie was made by Light? I ALWAYS thought he was made by Cossack. What does it say in the manual?"

.......

Alright now. Let's just think of this LOGICALLY for a damn second. Why would Capcom America just THROW IN the tidbit that Beat was made by Cossack? And why would Eddie, were he a cossack bot, help MM in MM4 when Cossack is trying to DESTROY MM? Do we REALLY need to go to the Japanese manual to confirm the paragraph in the Megaman 5 manual? While we're at it ...... what was the real JAPANESE story behind Megaman 5? Maybe it's totally different! Maybe we're missing out on some primo dialogue between Wily and Megaman!

I blame this all on Dragonball Z. Before Dragonball Z we trusted the professionals. But after the botch job of censorship and shortening ...... well, things were never quite the same. We've lost sight of some facts...

One fact is that professional translators are not incompetent. Guess what? Not every paragraph of story needs a Japanese confirmation! Professionals sometimes do a ...... PROFESSIONAL JOB! Sometimes ....... just sometimes ........ that paragraph that says "Beat was made by Cossack" is actually translated CORRECTLY! Go figure that one out! And that, while the current Capcom translators do a pretty sorry job of spelling and grammar ....... they at least TRANSLATE the games pretty well. And those early translators did an even better job! Especially since they only had a paragraph a game to get done.

You're a pretty sorry sack if you have to go to the Japanese games to make 100% sure that Protoman is Megaman's brother or something stupid like that. Dragonball Z may have been horribly translated but get over it already! If the manuals say Mr. X staged a world tournament or that Wily stole Gamma then he FUCKING STOLE GAMMA! That story twist was one sentence! What the Hell could go wrong there? And if I say that Cossack made Beat ...... THEN HE FUCKING MADE BEAT! Or at least helped make him.

So, to summ up ...... There are times that fan translations are good. And necessary. There are those guides that accompany a game. There's the OVA that'll never see the light of day here. There's mangas and, until recently, there was the RF CD database. But, for the love of God, if you can't take capcom at their word for the one story synopsis in their manuals you need some paranoia help.

I am Gauntlet and this has been Gauntlet's guides.

Affiliates

Blyka's Door
E-Can Factory
MMAyla
MM BN Chrono X
MM PC Website
Protodude's RM Corner
Reploid Research Lavatory
RM AMV Station
RM EXE Online
RM EXE Zone
RM:Perfect Memories
Sprites INC