Well, technically he’s already done the work, but still — that’s a pretty generous offer! Fan translator Clyde Mandelin, along with a team of Mother 3 fans, released a patch that translated the entirety of Mother 3’s script to English. Now Mandelin has put out the word — if Nintendo feel like saving a few bucks, he’s completely happy to help out or donate his translation for free.
“I realize that localizing a game this size can cost a lot, so if it’ll help in even the slightest, I’ll gladly offer to let Nintendo use my text translation files for any use at all, completely for free,” he wrote. “I’ll even edit the files to fit whatever new standards are necessary (content, formatting, memory size, etc.), completely for free. I’ll even retranslate everything from scratch if need be. Just whatever it takes to get an official release out.”
Seriously — his translation is good. I’d take him up on the offer, particularly since the release of the game is, in itself, an act of fan service. Why not save dollars, get the core fan-base on board and reward someone who clearly cherishes the series? Makes sense to me.
But this is Nintendo we’re talking about. They’ve ignored fan requests to release this game for decades so I don’t imagine they’ll take Clyde up on his kind offer. I almost get the impression he feels the same way…
“I definitely realize this is a silly-sounding offer and all, but I figure it’s better to make the offer and seem silly than possibly miss an opportunity entirely,” he said.
“In the end, if localizing MOTHER 3 should ever come up in a Nintendo business meeting or whatever and someone brings up budget concerns or it costing too much, my hope is that someone will at least mention this offer too, even if it isn’t accepted.”
Props to the man for his initiative. I sincerely hope Nintendo goes for this.
Via Joystiq
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