Japanese and Western sequels question - http://www.mmcafe.com/ Forums


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Sensenic
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"Japanese and Western sequels question" , posted Fri 18 Mar 07:48post reply

quote:
Ahh, okay. I was wondering when it was coming out (I wonder if they'll partially translate the title for the US release......?).

"We all love KD" ? "Everybody loves KD"?
Those are far better titles than KD2, but then, who knows.

This post made by Iggy reminded me of this thing I noticed, and that recently I've been wanting to post here (although I'd always forget or be too lazy in the end). I'm just asking myself why do Japanese tend to give different names to sequels whereas here in the Western they tend to just use the usual numbers (Da Big Adventure 2, Somesport 2005, etc.). At least, that's how I see it.

A few examples to make myself more clear. Apart from the quoted Katamari Damashii one we have:

- While here in the west we got Samurai Shodown I, II, III, IV and V, as well as Samurai Spirits 64 1 and 2, the original names were: Samurai Spirits, Shin Samurai Spirits, dunno but not 3, dunno but not 4, Samurai Spirits Zero (has a number but, even in this case, it's written, spelled, if you see what I mean), Samurai Spirits: Samurai Tamashii and Samurai Spirits: Asura Zanmaden (not sure about the order of these last 2)

- I might be wrong but I think there's no Castlevania Japanese title that has a 2 or bigger in its title, with all those many sequels, prequels... They all have a different unique name.

- There's also Parodius (actually Parodiusu da!), Gokujou Parodiusu, Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodiusu, Sexy Parodiusu... (feel free to correct the spelling)

Of course, I'm not saying this is absolute or anything, I know there are many Japanese sequels with numbers on them and Western sequels without them/with different names, but (I think) the tendency is there... I just wonder why.





Nikochan dono.

Nihon mo ingenmame wo tsukurimasu Jan

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tenguman
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"Re(1):Japanese and Western sequels question" , posted Fri 18 Mar 07:56post reply

quote:

- While here in the west we got Samurai Shodown I, II, III, IV and V, as well as Samurai Spirits 64 1 and 2, the original names were: Samurai Spirits, Shin Samurai Spirits, dunno but not 3, dunno but not 4, Samurai Spirits Zero (has a number but, even in this case, it's written, spelled, if you see what I mean), Samurai Spirits: Samurai Tamashii and Samurai Spirits: Asura Zanmaden (not sure about the order of these last 2)

- I might be wrong but I think there's no Castlevania Japanese title that has a 2 or bigger in its title, with all those many sequels, prequels... They all have a different unique name.

- There's also Parodius (actually Parodiusu da!), Gokujou Parodiusu, Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodiusu, Sexy Parodiusu... (feel free to correct the spelling)




- Samurai Spirits 3 and 4 are Samurai Spirits Zankurou Musouken and Samurai Spirits Amakusa Kourin

- Well, the Castlevania series has been called Akumajou Dracula since forever in Japan. They've been putting the "Castlevania" in the names of the games since Harmony of Dissonance.

As for the changed names... I can only guess it's beacuse it's better to just put a number after the game name than to try and translate the whole thing.

Besides, they must think "What the hell, the gamers (a.k.a kids) will never know the difference/won't care."





「この世に悪があるとすれば、それは人の心だ。」

Sensenic
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"Re(2):Japanese and Western sequels question" , posted Fri 18 Mar 08:20:post reply

quote:
- Samurai Spirits 3 and 4 are Samurai Spirits Zankurou Musouken and Samurai Spirits Amakusa Kourin

Thanks.
quote:
- Well, the Castlevania series has been called Akumajou Dracula since forever in Japan. They've been putting the "Castlevania" in the names of the games since Harmony of Dissonance.

I know, I wasn't referring to that. I mean that in all the Akumajou Dracula/Castlevania saga you won't find a Japanese title that's called Dracula 2 or Akumajou Dracula 3, for example.
quote:
As for the changed names... I can only guess it's beacuse it's better to just put a number after the game name than to try and translate the whole thing.

Besides, they must think "What the hell, the gamers (a.k.a kids) will never know the difference/won't care."


Uh-huh, I know too. I'm talking about original titles, here, not translations (well, maybe about the translations too). I mean that in the West they tend to use much more the numbers and in Japan they put different names to the sequels. I'm just wondering why.





Nikochan dono.

Nihon mo ingenmame wo tsukurimasu Jan

[this message was edited by Sensenic on Fri 18 Mar 08:40]

Ishmael
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"Re(3):Japanese and Western sequels question" , posted Fri 18 Mar 10:02post reply

But what about those series that meander between numbering and name additions, such as how the Fatal Fury series has everything from Fatal Fury 3 to a title as clunky as Real Bout Fatal Fury Special in it's roster?

The idea of direct sequel titles was pretty popular in the US since it linked the current game with a previous, popular one ["If you liked MegaMan 2 you'll love MegaMan 3!"] it seems to be falling out of favor. The practice of naming games with the main title and a new subtitle [Hitman: Contracts, GTA: Vice City, or what have you] is catching on since it doesn't make the player feel like they have to play every single game that came before to know what the heck is going on. That system makes it harder if you actually do want to go back and play the older games since there's no way to tell which is which but neither system is perfect.