Laurence Blood
Another really cool name on a really boring character.
Axel and Laurence share all of their special lines, with only their standard intro, win, and ending being unique. I've split the lines across both their pages, where Axel gets the Billy intro, the Geese intro, the self intro and the partner subboss win. Laurence gets the Krauser/partner subboss intro and the Krauser win.
For whatever reason, his name is spelled Lawrence for the home ports. Weird.
Manual
Fighter title
| My translation | Arcade translation | SNES translation |
|---|---|---|
| The Pinnacle of Matadors | The Bloodthirsty Matador | Spanish Bullfighter |
Arcade translation sourced from The Arcade Flyer Archive, SNES translation from the manual on the Internet Archive.
It was really hard thinking of a good translation for the Japanese word here and I still don't think I quite got it, so I really can't blame the flyer translator for going "fuck it" and making a pun about Laurence's name instead. The Japanese is kind of "standing alone" combined with "superior", which is why I went with "pinnacle"...there's probably a better way.
It's not like Laurence isn't bloodthirsty and it's more understandable than anything I can think of for a straighter translation, so I'm gonna call it good.
Monolith figured kids wouldn't know what a matador was. Weak.
Quote
| My translation (FFS) | SNES FFS | Sega CD FFS |
|---|---|---|
| I'll take you apart slowly and carefully, the same as a bull. There's no sport in winning quickly, after all. | There is no honor in disposing of an opponent in one blow -- I will make you dance like the bulls in the ring! | The more blood I draw, the more fun I'll have. |
SNES manual from the Internet Archive, Sega CD from Sega Retro.
Wow, that SNES line is pretty good. The Japanese is a bit more explicitly sadistic, but the SNES version gets the idea across in a way that wouldn't run afoul of Nintendo. I like it.
The Sega CD version lacks grace and subtlety, but at least it bears some relation to the Japanese line. It's missing Laurence comparing his opponent to the bulls he usually fights, and there's nothing that indicates he's going to take his time cutting his opponent apart...but you know, it's better than others.
Fatal Fury Special
Normal intro
| My translation | Official translation (FF2) | Official translation (Special) |
|---|---|---|
| I shall use your fresh blood to dye my cape yet deeper crimson. | Kukuku... I'll stain the mat with your blood. | I'm going to die my cape with your blood. Grisly, huh? |
Translation provided by Upthorn! Thank you!
The Japanese word translated as "cape" here is マント, or manto. I can see that turning into マット, matto (meaning "mat"), pretty easily. A translator being rushed or just not reading carefully combined with a general association of fights and mats turns a boast about Laurence's cape into a boast about the ring.
The laugh is there in Japanese FF2, they dropped it for Special. It's a minor line update in the Japanese version, as we've seen before.
Special trades out the マント/マット mistake for the kind of homophone switching I only associate with native speakers. Die/dye confusion is usually a decent tipoff that a native who wasn't being copyedited enough wrote it. "Grisly, huh?" was entirely added by the translator/editor, and stands out for not being a bizarre insult.
| SNES (FF2) | Genesis (FF2) | SNES (FFS) |
|---|---|---|
| By the time I'm through, your own mother won't recognize you! | I'm gonna smear you all over the pavement! | I'm going to dirty up my cape with you. Grisly, huh? |
Like Billy and Axel, Laurence's SNES FF2 intro just goes off and does its own thing. The Genesis one kind of does too, but at least there's some sort of connecting thread to the Neo Geo version...even if it's very tenuous. Of course, neither of them have that much connection to the Japanese. What happened with the subbosses?
As for Special... Monolith, could you try? Just once? Could you try just once for me?
Normal win
| My translation | Official translation | SNES |
|---|---|---|
| Lights out already? And I only had to use 60% of my strength. | What a tough. I think I used about 61.5% of my strength. | What a tough one. I think I used about 61.5% of my strength. |
I had a hell of a time trying to figure out that first sentence. I'm still not 100%.
...but it's definitely not "what a tough". That's not the only place in FFS where that exact phrase occurs, and it's a complete break from the Japanese in both cases. It's also weirdly Engrish. What a tough...what? Guy? Match? Steak? I wonder if it was just when the official translator couldn't think of something else good to put there...but the second case is pretty straightforward. Weeeeeird.
The English translation also gets more specific about the strength percentage, presumably because the translator/editor thought it was funny. 61.5% is a more amusing number than 60%, after all.
Monolith specifies what "what a tough" is talking about. That'll do, game company. That'll do.
Intro vs Axel/Krauser
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Please allow me a match! | Oh, I say, fight, anyone? |
The Japanese is pretty straightforward. The English is confusing, but mostly in terms of character voice. Where the hell did the "I say" come from? It makes the line sound upper-class British. The "anyone?" at the end adds to it and makes it sound less like it's addressed to the player. Very strange.
This line is shared with Axel.
Win vs Krauser
| My translation | Official translation | SNES |
|---|---|---|
| From now on I'm number one. | From today just call me no.1. Sweet Buns is fine, too. | From today just call me NO.1. |
I can't track Sweet Buns down to a pop culture reference, so it might just be Laurence/Axel deciding the best way to rub their victory in Krauser's face is to compliment their own butts.
Okay yeah sometimes I can't defend these.
You gotta admit, while it's a completely loopy thing to say, it's a completely loopy thing to say in a very American way. Honestly, to me it feels like a predecessor to FF3 going completely off the rails. I suspect the native speaker who touched up Special also worked on FF3, but I really can't prove anything.
Sweet Buns are, of course, much too saucy for Nintendo.
As mentioned, this line is shared with Axel.
Ending
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Krauser! From now on, I'm the Dark Kaiser. You'd better keep that in mind! | Krauser! I'm not a cream puff. Got it! |
So, the English really needs a question mark at the end there. Otherwise it makes it sound like Laurence is saying he's got it. Sloppy copyediting strikes again.
So, cream puffs. There's a connecting thread here of Laurence trying to get Krauser to take him seriously, but it's obscured in the English thanks to bizarre word choice and completely dumps the idea that Laurence took over Krauser's spot. Which, like...doesn't being the Dark Kaiser mean you have henchmen and stuff? Which means worrying about the logistics of your dark empire, keeping the lights on and the cash flowing in... This seems short-sighted on Laurence's part.
Well, anyway. It's definitely bizarre, much like the previous quote, but it's also not the kind of bizarre I'd expect out of someone translating literally. Much like the rest of the game.
Fatal Fury 2
Win
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| If that's the extent of your strength, I'd have more fun fighting a bull! | If your power is at that level, I'm better off fighting a raging bull. |
We already did the fun FF2 subboss quote.
I like "raging bull", but think "more fun" is more evocative than "better off". They're very similar either way.
SNES Win
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| If that's the extent of your strength, I'd have more fun fighting a bull! | I didn't think you could make it this far. May be you're not such a wimp after all. |
...yep, Laurence is the one single boss who keeps his Neo Geo win quote on the SFC, which then gets completely rewritten for the SNES. I don't get it.
Needless to say, the SNES win quote has like...nothing to do with the Japanese quote, and makes Laurence sound like a completely different character. I have no idea what's going on with that. The rest of the boss quotes are clearly translated from the Japanese SFC script, so why is Laurence the exception? Did it get changed at the last minute?
Mysterious. And even less likely to be answered than any of the other questions on this site.
Genesis Win vs Laurence
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Go fight a calf instead! | You'd be better of taking on something your own size like a baby calf! |
The translation is accurate, if a bit awkward. "Baby calf" is also redundant - a calf is already a baby cow. I wonder if that was intentional or if someone started off with "baby cow" and missed completely editing out the first pass.
On the other hand, I do like the attempt to play off "pick on someone your own size", even if it ends up a bit clumsy. It's got heart.
Genesis Intro vs Krauser
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| I've grown tired of being your underling. | Now I'm really going tou. show you my full fighting power! |
"Grown tired of fighting as your subordinate", or suchlike. "Being your pet fighter"?
Again, I'm not a professional and this is why.
But it's very much not the English version, which is downright strange considering how literal all the other subboss lines are. It changes Laurence's character too - the Japanese is pretty clear that he wants out from under Krauser, while the English drops that completely. You could even read this as Laurence having an arranged fight with Krauser.
The typos are what are going to stand out to the average English-speaking player, but they're not the weird part of the line.
Genesis Ending
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Now I have become the emperor. | From now on I will be the King! |
"King" is a possible translation of that term, but "emperor" is much more common. It does match what Krauser calls himself in his intro spiel though, so good term consistency!
...yeah not much else to say here.