Mickey Rogers
Just because you're number one doesn't mean they can be bothered to spell your name consistently.
Fighter title
| My translation | Arcade translation | Home translation |
|---|---|---|
| Tragic Champion of the Underworld | The Tragic Pugilist Bum | The Tragic Champ from the Lower East Side |
Arcade sourced from The Arcade Flyer Archive, maunal sourced from Rage Quitter 87. Thank you!
Well, he's tragic all around the world. A bum is pretty different from the champion of the underworld, though, and neither match the Lower East Side. The Japanese is all about Mickey's illegal matches after he got kicked out of the official ring, neither of the English versions are. Instead the arcade seems to want to paint Mickey as homeless, while the home version just implies he's poor.
Interview
What do you treasure? The gloves I got from the former champ.
Who's your rival? I'm the champ. A champ doesn't have rivals!
What's been on your mind recently? Wondering about how the boxing world's been getting along without me.
Finally, give us a word about your participation in the current tournament. This tournament is my chance to return to boxing. To all the boxers around the world: You have right up until I step back into the ring to train! Make the most of it! (laughs)
Intro vs Yuri
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| This is no place for children. Get out! | This is no place for a child. But you are kind of cute. |
| Wah! Scary! I'm gonna cry! ...As if! | Thanks. I'll remember that... I'll remember that when I kick you senseless. |
Well, half of Mickey's line is there. Then Yuri's English line adds on that with a rhythm that's pretty much her Japanese line, just with entirely different content. Huh.
I have no idea why they did that, though.
Intro vs Eiji
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Hey buddy, I'm telling you, get out of here right now and I'll forget we ever met. | If you go home now, I won't tell your momma. |
| I appreciate the gesture...but I cannot accept! | If I kill you, you still won't tell her,slick! |
Well, that's...related. Mickey's line changes from a vague threat to...saying he'll tell Eiji's mom. Sure.
Eiji's line is then re-written to riff off Mickey's English line instead of the Japanese line, as is common. Mickey's not particularly threatening or anything in Japanese, it's just a standard sort of martial artist line.
"Slick" also shows up in King's route in this game, and in Franco Bash's win quotes in Fatal Fury 3. I'll have to check if it shows up in the future.
Intro vs Jack
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Here he comes, the amazing walking punching bag! | Hey, it's the walking punching bag, back for a return trounce? |
| You just don't know how to talk to people, do ya? I'm gonna cave your face in! | Ha ha ha. The boxing comic speaks. Ho ho ho funny? Not! |
Kishi got Jack's line.
Mickey's line is a bit awkward with the comma splice, but otherwise fine. He doesn't say anything about having trounced Jack before in Japanese, that's added for the English.
Then Jack's line just gets...weird. Not sure what else to say about it. We see another instance of the Wayne's World "Not!", which SNK refused to let die. It's in a really weird place here, mostly because there's no break in the previous sentence.
Weird.
Intro vs Lee
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| This a contest between your precious speed and my punch. Which will win? | Your speed or my punch-- which shall prevail? |
| The speed of an amateur? I don't have anything to worry about. This contest is already decided. | Hmm. Let me get back to you on that. |
Mickey's line is straight, though it does drop him commenting on Lee's speed.
Lee's line is completely rewritten for the sake of a joke, as you do. It takes him from being completely confident to not at all confident, which is a pretty big change - but also what we're used to by now.
Intro vs Robert
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| You should be thankful you get to experience a punch from Mickey the Champ. | Don't think of my punch as dangerous. Think that it's a gift. |
| Wow, scary. You're good at making threats, pal, now let's see if you can back them up! | All in all, I'd rather have a nice tie. |
"Mickey the Champ" is my attempt to render "kono Mickey-sama", which basically Mickey referring to himself in a hugely arrogant and exaggerated way. The official version didn't bother with that, instead focusing on expanding the "be thankful" part.
And it's setup for rewriting Robert's line to follow up from that instead of his rather generic Japanese line. Pretty standard procedure.
Intro vs John
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| You did me a lot of favors in the past, but that's over now. Get out. | Well, boss. It's come to this. At least I did it my way.... |
| So this is what they call biting the hand that feeds, eh, Mickey?! | Hard knocks, I have had my share... Oh, enough. Let us to battle. |
I was running out of ways to say "one line was straight and then they rewrote the other" and they throw this at me.
So in Japanese the conversation is straight-forward and plays on the past of both characters, making reference back to Art of Fighting 1 and how Mickey was working for John back then. It shows character for both of them.
So of course they completely throw that out in the English and replace it with jokes about Elvis songs. (well, My Way was a Sinatra song first, but Elvis covered it) Mickey at least recognizes that he used to work with John before making a My Way joke. I can't track down the exact phrasing of John line to anywhere, but Google gives up Elvis' My Way again, with other references to Hard Knocks, which is another Elvis song. Neither is an exact match, but this stuff was a lot harder to look up in 1994 compared to today.
"Let us to battle" is some strange phrasing.
Intro vs King
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Long time no see, Ms. King. Sorry, but I'm gonna kick your ass. | King, my mixed up little friend returns. I must break you, toots. |
| Amateurs shouldn't run their mouths. | You got a big mouth for an amateur, Mickey. |
I usually don't worry about making an effort to translate '-san', because it's usually awkward and distracting in English. But it stood out here enough I tossed it in. Anyway, in Japanese Mickey recognizes King and rolls into a fairly standard pre-fight line.
In English he still recognizes King, makes a cross-dressing joke, and rolls into a Rocky IV riff. Honestly, it gets the idea of the Japanese line across while adding in a cultural reference for Americans. I think it's cute.
Meanwhile King's line is completely straight, and they handled it better than me. Good job!
Intro vs Takuma
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Hurry and sound the bell! I'll knock this guy out in 10 seconds flat! | Ring the bell now because this will be over quick. |
| You sure have a lot of confidence. Very well, come at me any way you wish! | Quite an ego for a tenth rate amateur. |
These are both very cut down versions of what they are in Japanese. Mickey's line especially loses a lot of character thanks to that. Meanwhile, Takuma's line, which it has a connection to the Japanese, is much harsher in English, plus adding another "amateur" joke about Mickey. It's interesting because it doesn't really stand out in English, but it isn't there in Japanese.
Intro vs Temjin
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| See my punch? Scary, huh? And it's getting closer. | What do you think of my punch? Scary, huh? |
| Waah! You startled me. What a violent fellow you are. Well then, here I go. | It's not your punch, it's your breath! Whew baby! |
Mickey's line is so straight the official translator and I independently came up with the same phrasing. It drops "getting closer" bit from Japanese, but that's about it. "What do you think of my punch?" is quite literal, surprising for this game.
Temjin's line is rewritten to make an entirely different joke. The ways of AoF2 are mysterious.
Intro vs Ryo
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Hey, kid! Can you avoid my punch? Don't chicken out now! | Hey, boy! I hope you can avoid my death punch. Wow, chill, dude. |
| Well, I don't know about that. Shouldn't I be the one telling you not to chicken out? | I'm okay. I just never met a valley boxer before. |
A straight-forward conversation in Japanese becomes...strange, in English.
Mickey's line is actually pretty straight, except that "Wow, chill, dude" is a hell of a way to translate "don't chicken out now". I suppose the idea is that Ryo is shaking with fear, which is a bit of a jump but somewhat makes sense. It's just that it makes sense if you already know what Mickey's trying to say, but comes out of nowhere if you don't.
Meanwhile Ryo's line is more-or-less rewritten. "Valley boxer" is presumably a joke on "valley girl", even though Mickey sounds more like a surfer there. I guess it all sounds the same across the country.
Intro vs Mickey
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Hey you! You're 10 years too early to be copying me! | Hey, I've seen you before. Gee you're ugly. |
| Hey, you sound a little funny. Got the pre-fight jitters? | This line has been said before. Be original, clone boy! |
I like literally translating "10 years too early" because it's interesting seeing how SNK didn't. If I was doing this for real I'd probably go with "You need way more practice before you can imitate me!" or something. The official version, meanwhile, just rewrites the line so 1P Mickey is directly insulting 2P Mickey's looks.
2P Mickey's line is then rewritten to play off that instead. It actually plays more with the general SNK conceit that mirror matches are imitators trying to take over from the original than the Japanese version does! Japanese 2P Mickey's line is insulting 1P Mickey by calling him scared, English jokes that he's the copy instead of 2P. Neat.
Intro vs Big
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Hey, pops...those toys aren't gonna let you beat me, you know. | With those twigs do you think you can win? |
| You talk like an amateur, you fight like an amateur. You're a long way from the pro ring, Mickey. | Coming from a pug like you... Oh, I forgot my witty retort. |
...
Goddamit SNK.
So Mickey's line is straight, just very cut down. It's a little awkward-sounding in English, but "those twigs" is a pretty cute translation.
Then Big's long line that plays on Mickey's amateur status again is just kind of...dropped. "Pug" is presumably short for "pugilist", and then I guess they ran out of time or stopped caring. At least they're honest about it!
To the Police Commissioner
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Suit: Mr. Mickey Rogers. The commissioner has requested to meet with you. Would you please come with us? | Suit: Mr Mickey Rogers? The police commisioner would like a word with you. Could you walk this way? |
| Mickey: Interesting. Sure, I'll let you drag me along wherever. | Mickey: Okay, but I need to be back at the gym by six. Training. |
The goon's line was translated by Kishi.
Well, that's different. I feel like the English line is playing on something, but it's too generic a phrasing to tag it down any further. Either way, he's doesn't mention the need to be back for training in Japanese.
...you know, it's pretty dark out for in-game time to be before six.
Intro vs Geese
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Geese: Welcome, Mickey Rogers. | Geese: Why, it's Mickey Rogers. Swell. |
| Mickey: Who the hell are you? Spit it out! | Mickey: Who are you, duck face? |
| Geese: Now now, calm down. My name is Geese. Geese Howard. You want to become a professional boxer, correct? I could help with that... | Geese: That's gooseface. Relax. My name... My name is Geese Howard. I offer you a little help in becoming the king of the realm of boxing. How about it? |
| Mickey: I've made it this far on my own, and I'm going to keep going on my own too. I don't need a scumbag like you! | Mickey: Well, thanks a lot Goose, but I'm a rebel. A lone wolf who is not dependent on silly-named guys. |
...fairly accurate when you account for SNK being SNK.
Geese breaks out the old '50s slang for his introduction in English, once again replacing some boilerplate in Japanese. Then Mickey brings another bird insult...though sadly a joke we've already seen. I guess there's only so many common birds the translator/editor could think of on short notice.
I still appreciate AoF2's Geese's willingness to play along with mocking his own name. Name like that, you gotta lean into it. "King of the realm of boxing" is spiced up from the simple "pro" Japanese Geese offers, though specifically saying "the realm of boxing" is more literal than my translation. Sorry.
Mickey's refusal comes down to about the same reasoning in English and Japanese, the English has just been run through a powerful SNK filter first. It also keeps up making fun of Geese's name, because they were really going for it in this game. After AoF2 SNK backed off from that a bit, because you have to make it special.
...I wonder how paling around with John and Big works with the 'lone wolf' image.
Win vs Geese
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Mickey: See that? I don't need any of your help! | Mickey: Who's the musclehead now?! |
| Geese: Ggh, it seems I wasn't taking you seriously. | Geese: Heh, it's all over. |
| Mickey: Gh...what in the world?! | Mickey: Eh! What the heck...? |
| Suit: This way, Mr. Geese. | Suit: This way, Mr Geese. |
| Geese: Though I lost this time, have no doubt that I'll be back to even the score. Until then, farewell. | Geese: I have lost this time. But I will be back. For now, my farewell. |
| Mickey: You think you can get away, asshole?! Arggh! | Mickey: You,scum! Are you letting him go? |
The bits that are the same as Ryo's route were translated by Kishi!
Mickey's first line in Japanese is a very direct callback to his pre-fight conversation with Geese. I have no idea where the English line came from - no one called him a musclehead at any point. A leftover from an earlier draft, or just the editor not checking? Who knows? The term doesn't show up on any other routes (though Jack's European copy is "The Indestructible Musclehead"), so it is a mystery.
The rest of the lines are all reused from/on other routes. The third line is also used for Jack, John, Eiji, and Mr. Big in English and in Japanese. The final line is also used for Jack, again in English and Japanese. I theorized on Jack's page (the first time I noticed) that all the lines point to the same location in memory, which would account for how they stay the same across both languages. However, SNK didn't seem to do this for other lines, so...hm.
For more commentary, see Jack's route.
Geese Goes to Japan
Since Geese's migration is common to all characters, I put it under Misc.
Ending
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Mickey: I became the king of fighters or whatever, but what I really want is to become the world boxing champ. | Mickey: Da da daah da da daah! The next boxing champ of the world, Mickey the Mauler! Yeah! Yeah! |
| Coach: Good news, Mickey, you got a match! Your chance is finally here! | Coach: Mickey, your oppatunity is heah! The title bout! |
| Mickey: What? Pops, are you for real? | Mickey: Really, Pops. No lie? |
| Coach: Yeah, it's real. But you know Mickey, this might be your last chance. You can't afford to lose here! | Coach: Mick this is it, your final chance! Don't blow it this time. Around. I'm beggin' yas! |
| Mickey: All right! Just you watch, I'm gonna make the best comeback you've ever seen! | Mickey: I promise, Pops. This time I'll do it for youse and everybodys! |
Mickey is considerably more confident and enthusiastic in English. Him dismissing having become the champion of the recent tournament is also dropped, replaced with a nickname that sounds more like a wrestler than a boxer. Then again I know jack about boxing, so maybe it does work for boxers.
Mickey's coach doesn't speak in any particularly unusual way in Japanese, but the English gives him a...Brooklyn? Bostonian? accent for some reason. It also specifies that Mickey got accepted for a title bout, not just that he got a match in general.
Mickey's line is pretty straight, but the coach's line gets weird. I have no idea what that "around" is doing there, but once again I suspect some hasty editing. Two mistakes like this make Mickey's route feel extra slapdash - someone was feeling the crunch. Also, in Japanese he's just warning Mickey, but this changes to a more personal plea in English. It makes them feel closer.
And finally, Mickey doesn't explicitly declare this his comeback in English, though he does in Japanese. He also gets an accent out of nowhere in English, which is very odd. I can't tell if it's more sloppy editing or what. Very strange.
Win Quotes
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| vs self | |
| It seems like we're equally matched in speed and power; I was just one step ahead of you. | The end was foregone. I am just too totally terrifie. |
| vs others | |
| You're nothing more than a punching bag. | Thanks for the fight. You made a swell punching bag! |
| Not bad. But you get right down to it, I'm just stronger than you! | You did quite well for a corpse, my friend. Rest in peace. |
Mickey's vs self win quote goes from more or less respecting his opponent and acknowledging 2P as an equal to aggrandizement and typos. I'd complain that E isn't even all that close to C on the keyboard, but they're the same finger and I have made far more inexplicable typos in my time, as I imagine we all have. Let us forgive.
Win quote one is more (sarcastically?) complimentary in English, but gets the basic idea across regardless.
I have no idea what happened with win quote two. "Not bad" -> "You did quite well" makes sense enough, but then the English just goes off and does its own thing, as it does.