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BassForever

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
29,940
CT
In 1996 the pc adventure/horror classic Phantasmagoria was released on the Saturn in Japan as an 8 disc game called Phantasm. In 2022 a group has translated the game which can now be played in English (and French) on real Saturn hardware. I can't link to the translation since as of this posting they've only released a pre patched iso and not an actual translation patch, but the fact this translation exists as all is such a unique curiosity I felt it was worth sharing the info.
 

Aeana

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,943
Cool I guess, but as far as I know, there is nothing about the Saturn version that makes it better than the PC version.
 

LordHuffnPuff

Doctor Videogames at Allfather Productions
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
2,321
webernet
If I read the release announcement and dev thread correctly they didn't actually "translate" anything so much as replaced the Japanese script with the original English one. So now you can play the game on Saturn if you want, for some reason.
 

Jawmuncher

Crisis Dino
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
38,509
Ibis Island
That era had a few weird adventure games on Systems in Japan that didn't release in the west.
Dark Seed I recall is another one that came out in Japan on PS1 but nothing in the US
 

Jawmuncher

Crisis Dino
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
38,509
Ibis Island
The set looks nice. If it wasn't $100+ I would grab it.

s-l500.jpg
 
OP
OP
BassForever

BassForever

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
29,940
CT
If I read the release announcement and dev thread correctly they didn't actually "translate" anything so much as replaced the Japanese script with the original English one. So now you can play the game on Saturn if you want, for some reason.
I think that's the case with a lot of Saturn English patches, they're less ground up translation projects and more translation inserts. Grandia, Vandal Hearts, and the Lunar translations are all based upon the ps1 translations.

That era had a few weird adventure games on Systems in Japan that didn't release in the west.
Dark Seed I recall is another one that came out in Japan on PS1 but nothing in the US
There's also a few European only adventure games like Discworld 2 and Atlantis. I guess it makes sense with how successful the Saturn was in Japan that some companies would look to port/localize some of the bigger western made games from that era to the Saturn.
 

dlauv

Prophet of Truth - One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,513
Very cool. I'm loving all of these translation projects.
 
OP
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BassForever

BassForever

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
29,940
CT
As I said in the OP I can't link to it because the main site hosting the translation is hosting a fully patched ISO. Even the one youtube video on the translation has a link to the pre-patched ISO. Also any pictures of the English version are going to look largely indistinguishable from the Japanese version. They are working on releasing a patch that'll work with the SSP tool Sega Xtreme offers for patching Saturn files, so I'll share pictures and links when that version is up.
 
Stand alone patch released

sir_crocodile

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,506
This has now actually been released as a patch.

Phantasmagoria English Patch

An uncensored version of the game like on the vintage PC version, you will see the longer intro video, the gory scenes and the controversial scene (rape scene). The voices and texts (99%) fully translated into English. Menu title changed from...

There's no reason at all to play this over the PC version afaik, but it's a cool technical achievement.
 
OP
OP
BassForever

BassForever

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
29,940
CT
This has now actually been released as a patch.

Phantasmagoria English Patch

An uncensored version of the game like on the vintage PC version, you will see the longer intro video, the gory scenes and the controversial scene (rape scene). The voices and texts (99%) fully translated into English. Menu title changed from...

There's no reason at all to play this over the PC version afaik, but it's a cool technical achievement.
Glad to see it