Last week I looked at classic import title Princess Crown — the spiritual predecessor to the upcoming PS3 and Vita title Dragon’s Crown. However, I kept getting one question again and again. “How do I play it in English?”
While there isn’t an English version of the game (or even a homebrew patch for that matter), there is the next best thing, a comprehensive English translation. The problem is that it’s long gone from the server that originally hosted it. Luckily on the internet — thanks in large part to the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine — nothing is truly gone forever.
Former game writer Anoop Gantayat wrote this excellent translation and game guide over a decade ago. It is full of maps, pictures and page upon page of translations. And while you might expect it to only cover the main plot, it actually covers every NPC’s conversations as well.
While it’s not a 100 per cent literal translation, it is an entertaining one and definitely gets across what the characters are saying. It’s only major problem is that there is a bit missing from the translation guide: the post-game side stories and the final ending of the game. Luckily, there are various other walkthroughs for the side quests that summarise what goes on and the final end has been translated line-by-line and put up on GameFAQs.
So, if the language barrier has been the only reason you haven’t yet played Princess Crown , grab yourself an import copy and play today.
Princess Crown was released for the Sega Saturn in 1997 and then again for the PSP in 2005. It has never received an international release but is available at many import stores and on the Japanese PSN.
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