The purpose of the mission… (cont.)

Thanks to Noxid’s clear love of the original PC translation, I came up with the idea to have a third party to spot check both translations! The results…

.
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Well, the results are troubling! I don’t have enough information to decide which translation has the facts right…

(First excerpt I sent was Curly’s memories returning, and the “Purpose of the mission” found in the previous post. The second excerpt was another small yet major change of Cthulhu’s dialogue)

Here’s part of the first excerpt I sent him :
The Wii translation :

The purpose of the mission… it was the incredible slumbering power found on this floating island…And it was also about the Demon Crown.
But you and I were different.

We were sent on a mission to destroy that power.

The PC translation :

Their target was the awesome power kept within this island…
The ODemon CrownO.
But you and I, we were different.

The two of us were sent in order to destroy that power.

And here is the second excerpt :
The Wii translation :

Hey.

This is highly unusual.
You’re a soldier from the surface,
are you not?
Where is your blonde pal?

…..

What?
You lost your memory?
Heh heh…

The PC translation :

Oho.

A soldier from the surface?
Didn’t expect to see you
here…
Where are the others?

…..

What’s that?
Your memory’s gone?
Heh-heh-heh…

And here’s the actual TL check :

First excerpt:

“And it was also about” in the first version looks completely wrong to me. The demon crown is clearly the slumbering power from the line just above it, so unless you know in advance that they are different things it’s an absolutely bizarre conclusion. Otherwise they’re both fine though the latter is much more literal and personally I don’t think the adaptations in the first version add anything (they’re just adding a bunch of extra words that aren’t actually there to clarify what they think it’s talking about, which in my opinion is very bad practice in song translations).

Second excerpt:

I would have to be in context to say which is wrong, but literally it’s just “where are your nakama” and nakama is not explicitly singular or plural. The first tl assumes it’s referring to a single person who has blond hair, while the second tl assumes it’s referring to multiple people. Since you know where these come from, you’ll have to decide which makes more sense yourself.

After glancing at one other part to make sure, it’s safe to conclude that the second guy is staying literal and the first guy is rewriting stuff. However, the second guy does adapt individual sentences so there’s nothing horribly wrong with it, and the first guy is adding a ton of things that aren’t even there. In my opinion the second tl is much better.

My conclusion.
This puts me in a pinch! It seems both translations *could* be considered correct. It seems the original japanese left vague descriptions that the player would have to fill.
But… the Wii translation had the guidance of Pixel, whereas the PC translation did not. That is correct right?

When it comes to things like “Huzzah!” or “Oh yeahh!” and Grasstown or Bushlands : I’m willing to stick to my favorite interpetation disregarding Pixel’s choice… As it was the “Huzzah!”, that we call have come to know and love.
But, in situations where major events are changed?

The thing is, the Core Base had TONS of destroyed robots. The Wii interpetation could easily be true. The robots were after securing the power of the Island. The Core.
The Demon Crown was also important of course, but maybe not even the main target.

Also, it easily stands to reason that the new interpetation of Cthulhu’s dialogue could be what Pixel intended.

Would the official translator go out of his way to screw up major points like these? I mean if Pixel made it clear that Bushlands, and not Grasstown was the proper translation. Then Pixel very well could have intended the changes I’ve noticed.

The only way to get to the bottom of this it seems, is to talk to the actual translator. Did they make it more Nintendo friendly; adding stuff like, “Where’s your blonde pal?” or did the translator ask for clarification and have Pixel give his intentions?

Gah!

Also, it seems there was no official japanese release of Cave Story Wii or JP announcement for the upcoming 3DS Cave Story 3D. Right? I couldn’t find any mention of it… Which means the PC script is the only script to go on.