en8/ROMS/Translations/-/docs/Jesus - Tale of the Dreadfu...

==========================JESUS========================
=============Tale of the Dreadful Bio-Monster==========
=====================3 Days Later Edition==============
============================Rev 1======================
Genre: Visual Novel/Adventure

Source language: Japanese

Platform: Famicom

Patch language: English

Author: Pennywise/Niahak

E-mail: yojimbogarrett@gmail.com
http://yojimbo.eludevisibility.org/

======================================================
About JESUS
======================================================
Background:

From Trickless' Site:

"JESUS is an adventure game first released back in 1987
by Enix (Now Square-Enix). It was released for the PC88,
and was also available on other home computers such as
the FM7 and MSX2. In 1989 the game was ported to the
extremely popular Famicom (NES) courtesy of King's Record
and ChunSoft, with the additional sub-title Kyoufu no Bio
Monster (trans: Dreadful Bio Monster). None of these versions
were ever released outside of Japan, but it sometimes gets a
mention on English gaming forums thanks to its name. The
game is a cult favourite amongst many Japanese retro gamers,
and if you can look past its name and give it a chance,
you might be surprised by what this adventure has to offer."

So obviously this patch is for the Famicom port, which had
been translated previously by Niahak. While reading up on his
patch, I saw that he had to cut down his translation
significantly due to space restrictions. For a text-heavy
game like JESUS, you kinda need as much space you can
get. So I contacted Niahak, sometime in late 2009 I think, about
doing another patch and he was down for it and so the project began.

The game script and pointer storage turned out be pretty simple
with only hiragana/katakana switches and sequential text
being the only thing of note. Since there was extra space to
spare in the hard-wired bank I ended up doing my usual DTE
routine to compress the text which was spread across 3 16KB
banks. So we worked on the translation on and off for a while
until sometime around late 2011/early 2012 things started
coming together.

It wasn't until the script was finished that I realized my
compression routine just wasn't enough for a full script.
So I expanded the PRG-ROM and hacked the pointer load routines
to split the text between banks thus giving more us than 2X the
space for the translation. Since the pointer load routines
were reused for all 3 banks, I had to write a little extra
code to determine which bank was being used, but it was
simple enough.

The final 2 aspects of the hacking was probably the most
difficult/pain in the ass to implement. The sweet title
screen we have courtesy of sin_batsu first had to be
recompressed back into the ROM from the decompressed data.
It didn't use the standard NES compression format of RLE,
but instead something else that was a bit more complicated.
I was able to locate the decompression routine, but I left
the reverse-engineering to rveach and who graciously provided
me with decompression/recompression tools and all free of charge.
Next time I might not be so lucky or fortunate.

The last hack was a double line hack for the option/command.
One of the things I didn't like about the original patch was
that that text was heavily abbreviated into 1 line in 7 or less
characters. Getting that text to display as 2 lines was way
harder than it should have been, but I finally got it to
where I wanted it. I also wanted to have 8 characters per line
instead of 7, but there wasn't enough room in the internal RAM
buffer.

Now as for the game itself, I usually don't go for text
adventures, but this game was kinda unique and not half
bad. You kinda get the impression that the game is open
in design based on the choices to pick from, but in reality
it is really quite linear with very little variation on
what you can actually do. That seems to be a detracting
point for some, but I find this to be a benefit for the game.
Having worked on Akira, which oddly enough was translated by
Niahak, any variation of the main path resulted in game
over thus making it possible to go in circles. It's possible
to breeze right through Jesus not having to worry about
making a mistake and starting over again. You are able
to enjoy the game, its world, its character freely. Even
though the story and premise is obviously based on some
classic sources, it's still pretty good in its own right
and deserves to be played and enjoyed.

Continuing on the subject of linearity, I estimate that
between 10-15% of the text is unused by the game. When
the game was ported from the various Japanese PC systems,
various sections and content was removed from the Famicom
port. However, the unused text in the ROM seems to suggest
that there were going to be more things to do, a different way
to do things. Basically the game would still be go from
Point A -> B, but you had more options to get to B.
A few of the more noteworthy things include on the Nebula
the text suggests that it is possible for FOJY to run out
of juice while wandering around. There's also an alternate
way of detaching the Storehouse by reading instructions.
Also you could trigger the scene with Helene on the Nebula
without the Bio-Sensor. On the Corona, FOJY and Hayao make
fun of each of other on several occasions. I have been unable
to trigger any of these events.

Perhaps where the game falters most is that occasionally the
text won't match the situation or option chosen and will be
out place. Never having played the original versions, I have
to assume this was a problem the port introduced. The effect
is essentially was sloppy/poor event programming that was either
caused by a bad programmer or the development was rush kinda
making the game unfinished.

If I could compare the Famicom port with one of the other
versions, I might be interested in restoring the content if
everything's pretty much the same and I know what is supposed
to go where. The only catch is a certain someone has to get off his
lazy butt and starting hacking the game so I can play it in English:)

The music is also one of the highlights for me and I enjoyed
quite a bit of it. If it sounds familiar, that's because
the composer is Koichi Sugiyama, who was a regular for
Enix back in the day and did the soundtrack for at least
the first Dragon Quest. In fact, they play the main DQ
theme in the game.

Anyway, a lot of work and time went into this patch, so
we do hope you enjoy the game. I consider it to be one
of my best releases and am extremely satisified with it.
If you want to find out more about the game I suggest you visit
Trickless' site.

http://pixelmenu.22web.org/

======================================================
Niahak's Comments
======================================================
It has been almost seven years since I first saw a copy of JESUS
on a shelf in Japan, and more than five since I released the
original patch for JESUS.  The first patch was a solo effort, and
it was made by "constructing the Statue of Liberty by hand",
as I'm told.  This version is much improved, thanks to the effort
of Pennywise and others in expanding the ROM, and to Jason and
Pennywise both for their hard work in making my rough re-translation
fit for human consumption.

A couple of individuals not thanked below are responsible for my continuing
interest in JESUS.  One emailed me years ago with a message thanking me for
my work on the initial patch, as it brought back many memories for them.
Another emailed me more recently with suggestions for naming shortly before
the re-translation effort started, which gave us a good starting point on the
names (which were an aspect that needed fixing in particular).

As a translation project, JESUS was more straightforward than other games
I have worked with.  The script may be kana-only, but the subject matter was
already familiar (though it had been gathering dust for a few years), and
there are few places where context is incredibly important.  The tone of the
original script is pretty ordinary anime style as well - with little in the way
of slang and generally consistent structure.  Most jokes come at Hayao's expense,
so they end up being easily translatable.  Only a few lines were particularly
troublesome, and none of those were particularly important in any case.

At times I am not sure that JESUS itself is worth the effort we have put into it.
It's a relatively ordinary sci-fi adventure game with a touch of horror here and there,
and often imposes a strict ordering of actions on the player's part.
It does, however, occupy an interesting place in Enix history, and it has a decidedly
80's anime vibe which some players may find nostalgic.  Perhaps the name of the game
itself will also spark some interest in the game.  If some people who hear about JESUS
play and enjoy this translation, that is enough for me.

======================================================
Patch History
======================================================
6/08/2012
3 Days Later Edition - Initial release
7/19/2012
Rev 1 - Minor script fixes, code hacks and bug fixes
plus a bonus manual
======================================================
Game Tips
======================================================
There are several secret passwords that let you access
different things. They are:

Credits
WHOMA DENES JESUS GAME?

Soundtrack Mode
BLUEA LIENL OVEEM BRACE

Keyboard Mode
THISI SELTO NJOHN MODE!

Soundtrack Mode
IWANN AHEAR GREAT MUSIC

Ending Scene
WILLU BEMYB IOMON STER?

======================================================
Translation Notes
======================================================
While most terms in the game are quite straightforward,
a couple terms and names that may recur in JESUS' sequel
have been modified from the literal meaning for various reasons.

(Ginga Senshi) literally a variant of "Milky Way Soldier"
or "Galactic Warrior", rendered as Space Defense Force or SDF.
This is the organization that Hayao and Captain Milakov
both belong to.  Their historical role, or why they were included
in the Halley Mission are both unclear.

(kometto), literally Comet, is the original name of the ship called
the Nebula in this translation.  It would not have been confusing
for Japanese readers, as for Halley's Comet they used the Japanese
word suisei.

(Jiizasu), the space station for which the game is named,
is consistently rendered in standard casing (Jesus).
It does not appear to be an acronym of any kind.
It is referred to as both a station and a skylab,
but its size and function are not very clear.
======================================================
Patching Instructions
======================================================
Before you apply the patch, the ROM must be expanded.
Add the Japanese ROM to the same directory as the
ROM Expander Pro program and file then run the program.
The Japanese ROM should be named:

Jesus - Kyoufu no Bio Monster (J).nes

and running the program will produce this new ROM:

Jesus - Tale of the Dreadful Bio-monster.nes

Now apply the patch.

We would be highly grateful, if you find some time to
contact us with proposals or corrections. Information
on found bugs or corrections would be highly
appreciated.

P.S.

Support the game industry by buying used games!

Even if the money doesn't go to the developers
directly, as the games become rare and harder
to find, the price goes up, and people become
more inclined to buy new releases "while they can!"

======================================================

Credits go to:

Pennywise - hacking, testing, additional editing

Niahak - translation, testing, additional editing

jaysus - editing

rveach - compression reverse engineer, decompression/recompression tools, consultant

sin_batsu - title screen design, additional graphic design

Trickless - additional testing

All those who contributed into this process.

======================================================


Compiled by Pennywise. June 2012.