Joe Higashi
Doesn't get a special ending. Isn't it sad, Joe?
Story
Story 1
Story 2
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| A Muay Tai punk, huh? Someone interesting's showed up. | The Muetai wonder guy... This could be fun. |
Mine is not a great translation.
Still using "Muetai". I'm not sure when this is fixed, if ever. Exciting discoveries await!
"Wonder guy" is not quite what Geese is saying in Japanese, but it makes sense for Joe. The second sentence is rephrased into something a native English speaker might actually say, which is pretty good. Nice job, SNK.
Story 3
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| I'll test your strength. Hurry, advance through the tournament and face me. Ahahahah... | I can't wait to see how strong you are,big boy. |
This line is used for a ton of characters. Joe, Franco, Kim, Hon Fu, Mary...it's basically a generic line. SORRY JOE. His star's been falling since Fatal Fury 1, but this is just adding insult to injury.
Anyway. It's a very dull line in Japanese, but it's taken in a weird direction in English. As always, I assume this was on purpose and the editor was having a laugh. It's not a very exact translation, but Geese is talking about testing the level of the player's strength in Japanese, so there's a definite connecting line. It's just phrased in a silly manner.
Story 4
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Joe: All right, I've been waitin' for this! Here I come! | Joe: Oshaaaah! Okay, I'm ready now. |
| Geese: So you came, Joe Higashi. I'll take my time in dealing with you. | Geese: I'm gonna serve you up real good,Joe Higashi! |
Joe's line in English is both more literal and sillier than in Japanese. "Oshaaaah" is a literal representation of what he's saying, but it's kind of a..."getting pumped" word/sound. The idea is that Joe is shouting and getting ready for the fight, so I translated it as "all right". Then the English drops that Joe's been waiting for this and makes him sound less enthused. Huh.
The word Geese uses when he's talking about what he's going to do to Joe usually means "to cook, to prepare a dish", but can also mean "to handle, to deal with". I went with the latter, the official translation went with the former and turned it into...well, a colorful little threat. Slightly goofy, but I can see what they were going for.
Win Quotes
vs Terry
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Hey hey hey, Terry, you sure got weak, didn't ya? | Wow,Terry. You've sure become a weenie! |
Same basic meaning, different phrasing. The key point here is the grand return of "weenie", which didn't appear in AoF2 or FF3. SNK's most iconic insult took two games off, but it's back now. (it was doing work over in KoF anyway)
vs Andy
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Andykins! Shouldn't you be headin' back to Japan 'bout now? | Well,beefcake, head on back to Japan! |
He's saying "Andy-chan" here, which I rendered as "Andykins". The official translation went with "beefcake", which is a bit of a strange choice. There's a definite difference in connotation between the two, is what I'm saying. Namely in that one is cutesy and condescending, and the other almost sounds like Joe is complimenting Andy's strength. Weird.
Otherwise there's the same basic meaning in both.
vs Joe
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Ain't no way you can imitate the Great Joe if yer that weak! | What a wimp! And never mimic me again! |
This sounds like it was rewritten from a few key words instead of being an actual translation. In Japanese Joe says that the problem with imitating him is that his duplicate is too weak to pull it off; this is completely excised from the English version in favor of a more generic line. Huh.
vs Franco
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| You sure got a strong kick. But that still ain't enough to take down the Great Joe! | You got a nice kick, but you're no match for me! |
This is just edited down a little and ends up cutting out a bit of Joe's self-aggrandizement. In general, Joe is somewhat less bombastic about talking himself up in English - I sense a lack of time and attention for dealing with his speaking style in English.
vs Mai
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| If you were just a bit more ladylike I'd make you my girl. | If you were cuter, you'd make quite a catch! |
There are a couple nuance differences here.
"Ladylike" and "cuter" aren't exactly synonyms. Mai's already cute, Joe's saying she needs to be more of a proper, elegant lady instead...Mai. And he's not saying she'd be a good girlfriend in the generic sense, but directly stating that if Mai was more of a lady he'd steal her away from Andy (who would probably heave a sigh of relief).
They both have a similar idea to them, but it's not quite the same.
vs Bob
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| All right! I'm the strongest! | Am I the ultimate,or what? |
They can't all be winners.
These are both roughly the same, again. The "Am I ___ or what?" construction is very 90s. Gonna have to give you an "or what" there, Joe.
vs Billy
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Ho-raaah! "Defeat" ain't a word in the dictionary of me, the Great Joe! | Uwaaaaah! "Defeat"? What's that mean? |
Mars struggles to translate "kono Joe-sama" part 64. It's a hyper-arrogant way to refer to yourself, which is why I generally go for "the Great Joe".
The English here feels like they're trying to get across the same arrogance, but it's edited to where Joe just sounds confused. The intention is still there, I just don't think they pulled it off.
vs Hon Fu
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| No no, you did great as an opponent for the Great Joe! My compliments. | Yeah,you certainly were good. I'll give you that! |
There's some differences here. The big one is that Japanese Joe specifies that Hon Fu was a good opponent for him (with the implication that he made Joe look good?) while the English just says that he was good. The Japanese is sarcastic, while the English sounds honest but begrudging. The words are there, but the tone is different. It's an interesting line.
vs Yamazaki
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Oraora! Joe scores an overwhelming victory! | Olah. Olah. Joe wins again! |
Well, that's a way to handle "oraora". It's not wrong. It's just...odd, especially since it's handled so literally. This is in stark contrast to how it was handled back in Fatal Fury Special.
Other than that...well, the English is a bit less hyper self-aggrandizing, which means the line loses a bit of energy, but it's basically accurate.
vs Sokaku
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Heheh. Yer pretty strong too, pal. | Heh,you were strong. Not!!! |
It's right except for the "Not!!!". That can't die. SNK won't let it.
vs Mary
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Whoa there, isn't a stun gun against the rules? | Hey,no one said stun guns were aloud in this match! |
"aloud"
I'm trying to be forgiving of typos in this project, especially since Real Bout was obviously made and translated under ridiculous time constraints, but sometimes I just can't hold myself back.
But anyway! These are very similar lines in meaning, with just translator phrasing differences to distinguish them. Either way, Joe is trying to call Mary on bringing a taser to fighting tournament. Unfortunately, crime lords are notoriously lax on rules in their underground fighting tournaments.
vs Kim
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| How'd ya like my incredibly awesome footwork? | Yeah,my footwork is just too much.Right,meat? |
The first sentence is more or less there, though again, it loses some of Joe's wild self-aggrandizement. But then it adds the bewildering "meat" as an insult. Is that supposed to be "dead meat"? That would make sense, but just "meat" is...weird.
It's also in KoF95 for some reason. Did the editor just have another phase?
vs Chonrei
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Yer little bro's stronger. | Your little brother's stronger! |
Yep.
I tried to make mine sound a little more "Joe". Meanwhile, I don't think the editor managed to get to this one.
vs Chonshu
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| If you're like this, then yer brother can't be worth much either. | If you're this sad, your brother must be pathetic! |
Yep.
Same idea, slightly different phrasing, again. I think I actually like the official version a bit better than mine.
vs Duck King
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| What's wrong, Duck?! You lose like this, P-chan's gonna be sad! | Hey,Duck. If you keep losing like this,you should consider hanging up your feathers! |
P-chan is, of course, the little chick that follows Duck around.
The English version edits the reference out - possibly because of concerns over if audiences would get the reference, or not wanting to come up with a localized name for Duck's duckling. Or just because the editor saw the chance for an awesome pun and went for it.
All of these are equally likely and I cannot make any guesses as to which is correct.
I do like the pun, though. It's good. Probably better than trying to get Americans to understand who P-chan was.
vs Geese
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Ch! It's over already? Whadda bore. | What,finished already? What a gyp! |
Same idea, slightly different phrasing...again.
There's just not that much to say here.
Joe also gets a quote for everyone, I guess because he was more fun to write than Andy.