Franco Bash
If he's a kick boxer, why did he skip leg day?
Fighter title
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| The Suffering Former Kick Boxer | The Great Conquistador of Kick |
English manual scans from Rage Quitter 87. Thank you!
The English doesn't mention that Franco is suffering, nor that he quit kick boxing. In fact, the English makes it sound like Franco is currently a kick boxer, not that he retired. "Conquistador of Kick" does have some nice alliteration, though. The editor was real good at that.
Manual blurb
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| That guy took my son hostage so he could use me, the former super heavyweight kick boxing champion, to search for the secret scrolls. If I ever want to see my son again, I have to do whatever that bastard says. I just can't take it anymore! No matter what, I'm gonna rescue my son with my own two hands! | Even thought I'm Italian, I call myself the Conquistador of Kick because, well, darn it, it sounds cool. Anyway, some slimy underworld kingpin has kidnapped my son to get me to search for the secret Sacred Scrolls of Qin. I'll find them all right, rescue my son, then shove those 2,000 year old scrolls down that hoodlum's throat. Of course I won't do this in front of my son. I'm a family man after all! |
...
It takes a special kind of person to defend their localization choices in the very next paragraph. I'm in awe.
I don't think it's mentioned anywhere that Franco is Italian. I have no idea where that came from. I mean, I guess from his name, but "Bash" isn't exactly Italian. Guess it got Ellis Island'd?
The English drops that Franco is a former kick boxing champion again. In fact, I don't think it comes up at any point along his route until the very end. Very odd.
"Kingpin" sounds more like Geese than Yamazaki. I never got the impression that Yamazaki was stable enough to become a kingpin instead of just being the crazy bastard you call on every so often.
See the manual page for more information about Qin vs Jin. It's interesting that it's so consistant in the manual, and then consistant in a different way in the game.
Japanese Franco just wants to rescue Junior, English Franco has plans past that. He has also gone home to be a family man.
Intro vs Bob
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Are you're looking for a fight? Allow me take care of that for you. | If you came lookin' for a fight, pal, you sure came to a good place. |
Pretty much the same. Bob is somewhat more informal in English (Bob is a very polite young man!) but it's not a real big deal.
Win vs Bob
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| No one in this entire cafe can stand up to me. | Isn't there anyone who can give me some competition? What's the world coming to? |
And this got punched up pretty well! Guys, I have a good feeling about Franco here.
Intro vs Franco
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| What the-! You! You're the spitting image of my big bro! | What! I've seen you before. Too bad I'm gonna have to ruin such a handsome face. |
This is actually spoken by Franco's Boyacky-looking buddy, Pat Daniel, here. The English messes up and writes it like Franco's the one talking, much like Terry vs Bob. I can't really blame them for the mistake, since I missed it when I was writing this up and Kishi had to catch it for me.
Once you figure out the speaker problem, this is fairly similar. The second sentence is completely invented, since it doesn't make sense as something for Pat to say. But, ultimately, an explainable mistake.
Win vs Franco
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| You gotta work harder to reach my level. | You should have taken a few more lessons before you crossed my path, cockroach! |
"Work" is more literally "study", so that's where the joke about "taking a few more lessons" comes from. I have no idea where "cockroach" came from. Same old weird punching up!
Intro vs Joe
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Whoa, what a gigantic guy. But power alone won't let you beat a technician like the great Joe! | Jeeeez, you're a big guy. But your still no match for a technician like me! |
There's a tiny bit of nuance lost in translation, but this is pretty straight. The contrast with power:technique is still there, just a bit more subtle.
And yeah, your/you're mixup. FF3 didn't have a copyeditor.
Win vs Joe
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Back in my glory days I trounced any number of Muay Thai punks just like you. Sorry 'bout that. | Another kick boxer. Before I go, I should clean this Muetai mess. |
A bit uncertain about this one, but I think I have most of it right.
The English kind of goes off in its own direction. I guess the "Muetai mess" is what happened after he smashed Joe into the mat. "Another kick boxer" is more simple acknowledgment than Franco bragging about his former accomplishments.
Intro vs Mary
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| You know a man named Yamazaki, don't you? If you're able, I'd like you to tell me about him. | I know you know Yamazaki, and you know you know Yamazaki -- so who's Yamazaki? |
Mary's forays into stand-up comedy continue. That said, once you get over how it's phrased like a joke, it is more or less what she was asking in Japanese...just, you know, phrased incredibly weirdly. Not sure what else I can say about that.
Win vs Mary
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Sorry about that. I have my reasons, though I can't tell you them. | Sorry about the nose, babe. Don't worry, plastic surgery can work miracles these days. |
Meanwhile, Franco's reply goes off in a completely different direction. Japanese Franco drops some hints about the plot, English Franco just reassures Mary about her looks. Okay then!
Accident Intro
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| A buncha different folks are showin' up around town. You'll be extermining them right quick won't'cha, daddy-o? | So some woman is lookin' for me, you say? Well, pass on this big knuckle sandwich. |
| Heh, got a problem with that? I won't mind givin' yer son back if you beat me, but... Heheheh... Whaddaya say? | Okay, I'll give you a chance. If you win, I'll return your son. If you lose, well.... |
Kishi helped out with the second line. Thanks!
The first line is interesting because the English actually adds specificity, and in a way that makes sense! In English, Franco passes information about Mary to Yamazaki, who tells him to take care of it himself (he already did...but whatever). In Japanese, Yamazaki just observes that a lot of pests are showing up, and tells Franco to take care of it for him. It's much more general.
But the more specific English does make the switch to the second sentence more jarring. It's not clear why Yamazaki is offering Franco a chance or how the information about Mary relates. The Japanese is clearer: Franco doesn't want to do Yamazaki's dirty work, so Yamazaki decides to fuck with him about it.
It's noticeable how the official translator really tried to make Yamazaki sound like a gangster. He's probably got the most consistent character voice in the entire game.
Accident Postfight
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Yamazaki: Looks like yer ready to get back in the ring. Just use that punch for eliminatin' everyone in our way. Good luck to ya! | Yamazaki: You fight like a fiend, my friend. Good luck to you. Ciao, Franco! |
| Franco: Hey, wait! Where's my son? This isn't what you promised! | Franco: Hey! Get back here. My son! Where is he!!! |
| Franco: Damn, that sonuvabitch tricked me! If he lays a hand on my son, he'll pay for sure! | Franco: Tricked by that weasel! If he touches my son, I'll teriyaki him! |
...okay look only breaking character for a line or two is still "most consistent character voice in the game".
Anyway, Yamazaki's line is a bit less clear in the English. The Japanese is more explicit about what's going on between him and Franco, a relationship that's a bit harder to suss out just going off the English.
Franco's lines, on the other hand, are pretty straight and well-done (for the game). I'm not sure anyone else has said "I'll teriyaki him!" ever, but it sure does conjure up a mental image.
Intro vs Mai
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| I don't know where I've seen you before, but that fighting style rings a bell. You're the world kick boxing champ, aren't you? | You must be a friend of those guys in the black suits. Pass over the secret scrolls!!! |
That's different.
I'm a bit uncertain about Mai's Japanese line, but it's sure as hell not related to the English line. At all.
I got nothing.
Win vs Mai
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| You shouldn't be loitering around here, little miss! Go home and take a nap! | This place is not for a woman! Go back home, take off your shoes, and stay in the kitchen! |
Whelp.
I can see how they got the first bit from the Japanese. The second bit...well, he is telling her to go back home. I guess you could call that punching up?
Intro vs Andy
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| You're the terrifying, invincible kick boxer Franco Bash! ...but why are you here? | Why it's the master of kick, Franco Bash! What brings you to my neck of the woods? |
Fatal Fury 3 would like to inform you that Franco Bash is a well-known fighter, all your old favourite characters know and respect him and totally think he's cool. Please think he's cool. Please.
No seriously after Mai in Japanese and Andy in English no returning character can shut up about how Franco is this well-known fighter. It's kind of strange, but I guess you gotta sell the newcomers somehow?
Anyway, "master of kick" is a bit toned down compared to "terrifying, invincible kick boxer", which is unusual. Overall, though, it's pretty straight, especially after coming off the Mai fight.
Win vs Andy
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| I fought punks just like you back in my glory days. | Oh, you have such nice blond hair. Get a shampoo, boy, this is a man's world now! |
Kishi translated this. Thanks!
This is...different.
Andy's hair gets insulted, just like Terry's over on his route. Did the translator/editor just have a thing against guys with nice long hair? It's okay to take care of your hair, even if you're a dude!
Intro vs Hon Fu
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| You appear to have some ties to Yamazaki. Prepare yourself if you do not renounce him. | So ,you know Yamazaki ,huh? Tell me where he is ,or I'll just have to pummel you into a pulp. |
Translation and general help from Upthorn! Thank you!
Since real translator Upthorn helped out, we're preserving Hon Fu's old-fashioned(?) accent here. See Terry's route for details.
The official translation changes one thing: what Hon Fu wants out of Franco. Japanese Hon Fu just wants to take out an underling, English Hon Fu wants to know where Yamazaki is. It's a pretty minor detail, but it's there. I do like "pummel you into a pulp" being in there. Good English.
Honestly, the thing that bothers me most about this line is the spaces before the commas... It's not even a consistent style thing, it's just FF3 not being proofread again.
Win vs Hon Fu
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Sorry, it's because my son's been taken hostage. But thanks to you, I know I'm gonna finish this. | Sorry. You'll find your nose, I'm sure. Now, I have bigger fish to fry. |
"Have the determination to finish this" or something like that.
The English line changes a lot. The reiteration of why Franco's doing this is dropped, along with the idea that Hon Fu helped give him the resolution he needed. It gives Franco's character a different feel, where in Japanese he tends to be apologetic and tries to explain himself to Hon Fu and Mary (since they want to beat up Yamazaki too) and in English he tosses off lines that are considerably more flippant. This goes along with the tone of the English translation in general, where characters often don't really care about the plot.
Intro vs Sokaku
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| You are enraged. Have you been seduced by the secret scrolls of the Jin as well? | Okay, Bash, just hand over the secret scrolls, and I'll promise to kill you quickly! |
See the manual page for an explaination of Qin/Jin(/Shin).
Anyway, this line sure is different! About the only thing the same is the words "secret scrolls". Sokaku is, once more, not even close to sounding weird and archaic in English like he does in Japanese. And uh...well, you can see how incredibly different the lines are, not sure what else I can add here.
Win vs Sokaku
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Outta my way! I don't have time to play around here, and I got no interest in any secret scrolls either! | I don't have time to play with some scroll-searchin' punk midget. Get out of my way! |
"Scroll-searchin' punk midget" is powerful. This is mostly pretty straight, with the minor point that Japanese Franco makes sure to mention that he doesn't care about the scrolls, which is left out of the English version.
Intro vs Terry
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| I didn't think I'd meet the legendary kick boxer here. You gotta have a match with me! | Well, fancy meeting the king of the kick boxing world here! |
EVEN TERRY KNOWS FRANCO AND THINKS HE'S COOL, PLEASE THINK A BOXER IS COOL
(Sorry SNK, Franco still isn't Vanessa)
The lines are pretty much the same. Terry explicitly wanting to fight Franco is dropped for some reason.
Win vs Terry
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| You're damn strong. The next time we meet, I'll take you on as the kickboxing champ. | You were a strong opponent. Next time ,let's just play chess. I'm gettin' to old for this ,ooh. |
Translation from Kishi! Again!
The first bit is pretty much the same. The second bit goes off the rails a bit, where Japanese Franco is looking forward to another match with Terry after he's redeemed himself and English Franco just wants to retire. Franco's character really changes a lot between Japanese and English!
Intro vs Geese
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Heh heh... A man who was once covered in glory has become just another rat, huh? | Heh, heh. The king of kick seems to be just the king of wieners. Come on, wimp! |
So I'm torn between a serious analysis of this and just declaring "king of wieners" to be my new favorite SNK insult.
The English does seem like it's trying to set up a contrast between Franco's glory days and now, though the way it's phrased makes it sound more like Geese is just razzing him.
Win vs Geese
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| You're a stubborn bastard, but it doesn't look like you're back up to snuff. | Kind of gettin' old there ,Geese. Didn't even get a bruise. |
Not sure about this one. As always, corrections welcome.
The English focuses on the second part, with talking about how Geese isn't up to his old strength. The first part is completely dropped, but I like the attempts to give Franco some character voice.
Intro vs Yamazaki
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Heheh...you're a real dumbass, ain't'cha? No more second chances, I'm comin' at you for real. | Kya, kya....What an idiot. This time, I ain't gonna be so kind.... |
This is pretty good! I'm confused about Yamazaki's "kya, kya" in English. Usually that's a sign of over-literal handling of laughter, but the over-literal version in this case would be "ku ku". It's like they realised that would look bad, but went for a different weird laugh instead? I don't get it.
Ending A
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Y-you got some terrifying power...but power alone ain't gonna let you beat him. Give it up... | You're strong, but... you know, power is like, well, like...power...OK? |
Kishi got the pics. Thank you.
Since only the first line of the ending is unique, I put the other parts over here.
Ahahahah.
Well.
So, Yamazaki is talking about power and how strong Franco is in both languages. He just loses the thread of what he was talking about in English. Punch drunk?
It does lose the implict gameplay hint in Yamazaki's dialog, though.
Win vs Yamazaki
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Franco: Where did you hide my son?! Tell me, or you'll never use that mouth of yours again! | Franco: Tell me where my son is or you'll never eat food with anything but a straw! |
| Yamazaki: Sh...shit... | Yamazaki: All right, all right, just don't kill me. Your son is being held at Delta Park. |
| Chonshu: Franco Bash...show me the power of the man called the strongest kickboxer in history. | Chonshu: Franco Bash. Nice to see you here at last. Come, show me your power. |
| Franco: Gh! What happened? | Franco: Gyaah. What's going on? |
| Franco: Oho, looks like Yamazaki's backer didn't like him much. | Franco: Well, it looks like Yamazaki wasn't liked by his boss. |
Return of the bizarrely helpful Yamazaki! I have no idea what's up with that.
The first line is really good. It's a good, solid rendering of that threat into English.
The rest is very straight, without a lot of punching up. A lot of times Chonshu says something nuts, but not here.
Intro vs Chonshu
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| So you're the man Yamazaki hired. And then you even beat him...? Ha. | Another one of Yamazaki's goons. I hope you have the secret scrolls with you. |
| Well either way, it doesn't seem like you knew about me. Don't worry, I've been looking after your son. | Well, it looks like you don't have the secret scrolls. Oh well, time to die anyway. |
| My name is Jin Chonshu. Up until now, you've been exterminating rats on my behalf. | Don't worry about your son. He's restin' at the bottom of the sea in an airtight box. |
| But your services are no longer needed. Terry, Geese, Yamazaki...you took out all my prey for me. | I don't take hostages, I eat them. You may scare scum like Yamazaki, but not me! |
| And now you even found about me. I can't let you run wild anymore... | You may think you're strong, but no one can light a bar of incense to me!!! |
...and then there's this. I'm guessing the translator (editor?) put some effort into Franco.
The English first line implies Yamazaki hired multiple people (which near as I can tell he didn't), and brings up the secret scrolls, which the Japanese doesn't at all. In fact, Chonshu's Japanese monologue doesn't mention the scrolls at all! That plot point is just completely dropped on Franco's route in Japanese.
The English also drops the point that Franco didn't know about the Jins at all, and that Chonshu's been the one keeping an eye on Junior. In fact, in the next line Chonshu implies he killed Junior (?????!!). Which I guess is another way to say "taking care of"...but the Japanese just means that Chonshu's been keeping him fed and stuff. I wonder if they kept hanging out through Real Bout?
And then the English version loses the idea that the Jins/Yamazaki specifically wanted to take out Geese and Terry, and that Chonshu was planning to backstab Yamazaki all along. Instead Chonshu engages in some really bizarre threats.
And to cap it all off, he throws out a boast that is, quite frankly, incomprehensible to me. The best I can come up with for "no one can light a bar of incense to me" is bragging about being immortal, which fits in with the secret scrolls/reincarnation thing, but it doesn't really make much sense. fbm thinks it might be a play on "no one can hold a candle to me", which makes more sense in context but doesn't make sense as a thing someone would say. What the hell, SNK.
Ending B
Ending B is also the same for all characters, so it's on a common page too.
Chonrei
Chonrei's intro is the same for everyone, so it's on a common page.
Ending C
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| The hero's blood flowing through the Jin family mutated into evil ambition over the course of ages and possessed the brothers' bodies. | The blood of the Jins is the blood of death. It could only, in the end, conclude this way. |
| September 16, 1995 Franco Bash defeats the Jin brothers, returning this town to days of peace. |
Sep 16, 1995 Franco Bash rids the world of its evil Jins! |
| The Jin brothers regained their original souls, disposed of the secret scroll that had been passed down in their family, and returned home to China. | The delusions of the Jins were just that. Immortality...the last refuge of corruption! |
This is a little strange.
So there are two common Ending Cs. One is for Terry/Andy/Joe/Mai, and is covered on the common page. The other is for Mary/Franco/Bob/Hon Fu, and I would cover it on the misc page except every single one of those changes the second line...except Franco. Franco gets the same weird, misleading second line that makes it sound like he killed the Jins, while Mary, Bob, and Hon Fu all get custom lines that aren't in the Japanese.
It's really weird.
Meanwhile, the actual different line gets replaced to a generic one across every ending. At least they were consistent with implying the Jins got killed? It really doesn't make a lot of sense.
Franco's Ending
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Junior! You held up so well. It's all right now. Now I can start my kickboxing comeback. | Junior! You're alive. Thank the heavens! Now I can plan my comeback. |
Franco's ending is pretty straight, with no major differences.
There is one cute thing in Japanese that doesn't translate so hard I and the official translation just ignore it: Franco praises Junior for holding up with がんばった (past tense of 'ganbaru', which you probably know if you watch enough anime, it roughly means "do well/do your best/put in effort/good luck") and then says he'll がんばって (same word) for his comeback. Basically, Junior did well, now Franco's gonna do well. I'm sure there's a way to get this across in English without the notes, but eh, I can explain things so I will.