King of Fighters 94

America Team

Sportsball!

Story

Rugal Mid-Story

My translation	Official translation
A strong group...but they've still got a lot of rough edges. Let's wait and see how far they can get in the tournament... Ha ha ha!	Well...They are bold in their fighting style. But still rough diamonds... I'm looking forward to seeing how far you can fighting. Ha ha ha!

The Japanese doesn't seem to be talking about USA Team's fighting style when it describes them as strong, so that's an interesting little bit added by the translation team. I figured it was just Rugal calling them big and tough like everyone else in the game does.

"Rough diamonds" isn't a bad translation, but it's an interesting one. The usual phrase is "diamonds in the rough", and the change here is probably due to character limits. But picking an idiomatic phrase and then manipulating it in a way that loses the idiom shows both some familiarity with common English phrases, and maybe some faith that the players would get it anyway. It's possible that some native editor did a quick pass but had to cram in stuff for this line, so perhaps that's where it comes from?

It's also interesting for Rugal to suddenly switch to talking about the team to talking to them. That also feels like an editing slip-up.

Before Rugal

My translation	Official translation
Secretary: Congratulations on your victory. The tournament sponsor will certainly want to meet with you all. Please, come with me.	Secretary: Congratulations on your victory! The sponsor of the tournament welcomes you with open arms. He wishes to invite you... Please, follow me.
Rugal: Welcome to my gallery.	Rugal: Welcome to my museum.
Brian: Are you the organizer of this tournament?!	Brian: Are you the host of the tournament?
Rugal: That's right. My name is Rugal. Out of gratitude for your taking the trouble to come here, I'd very much like to add you all to my collection.	Rugal: Yes. My name is Rugal. Thank you for coming all the way here. I wanted you to come and join my collection.
Lucky: What? Collection?!	Lucky: What? Collection?
Rugal: Look around you! Those are the figures of the martial artists I have defeated up until now. Well? Aren't they lovely?!	Rugal: Look at the statues around you! These statues are the end result of all the fights that I have beaten so far! Aren't they beautiful?
Brian: What the hell kind of hobby is that? It's messed up!	Brian: How sickening! Are you mad?
Rugal: Your rigorous training has made your bodies exquisitely suited to my collection. Now, let us go to the battle stage.	Rugal: You have well-trained tough bodies. You are well suited for my collection.. Now, shall we go to the battle stage?

A lot of this is standard Rugal stuff that other teams get. One thing that stands out: Rugal says he's grateful that America Team went out of their way to come to him. He doesn't usually say that.

Brian's line in English is completely the wrong register (I resisted having him be more foul-mouthed), as well as dropping Brian mentioning this is Rugal's hobby/interest/etc. You could translate his second sentence as "That's crazy!" or something, which is probably how they got "Are you mad?" (which is the wrong register and the wrong dialect of English but shhh).

Rugal talking about America Team's bodies is just a thing.

Mid-fight

Rugal ripping his shirt off is the same for all characters, so it's on his page.

After Rugal

My translation	Official translation
Rugal: I-impossible! That I should be defeated-!	Rugal: I..impossible! How could I lose a battle.....!!
Brian: Get it now? We're the strongest in the world!	Brian: See? We are the strongest in the world!
Rugal: That may be true...but I am Rugal! I cannot allow myself to die here! Drown in the ocean's depths! Farewell!	Rugal: Y..yes, you are... But, I still can't die this way!! A watery grave awaits you! Farewell!!
Lucky: Crap! Run for it!	Lucky: Look out! Let's get out of here!

Most of these are phrasing differences. "[B]ut I am Rugal!" is my attempt to handle このルガール/kono Rugal, which is an arrogant way of referring to oneself people who watch a lot of anime have probably seen by now. The official translation seems to have just ignored it and gone on to Rugal refusing to die.

Lucky's line is mostly just wordier in the official translation.

Ending

My translation	Official translation
Lucky: Well, what now?	Lucky: Well... What shall we do from now?
Brian: I'm gonna go back and do football full-time again. I'm a star player, after all!	Brian: I'll go home and concentrate on football. I've got lots of fans. I'm a star athlete!
Lucky: I was planning on continuing with this street fighting thing. How about you, Heavy D?	Lucky: I'll continue street fighting. What are you gonna do, Heavy D?
Heavy D!: Seems like I'm the type who needs a fight to feel alive. I'll go with you.	Heavy D!: It seems I can live only in battles. I'll go with you.
Lucky: Oh-ho? So you finally started to feel that way.	Lucky: At last! You've made up your mind.
Heavy D!: Something like that.	Heavy D!: Yeah....
Brian: So that's how it is. Hey, if you guys ever plan on doing something fun again, gimme me a call.	Brian: Okay. Done! Call me if you plan to have an interesting fight.
Lucky/Heavy D!: Sure. See you later!	Lucky/Heavy D!: Yeah. See ya!

Lucky is, again, very wordy in the official translation. I tried to make him sound more informal to match the situation.

It's interesting that Brian mentions he has a lot of fans in the English version, when he just says that he's a star player in the Japanese. It's a reasonable assumption, but it's added in English.

I struggled with how to phrase Heavy D's line here. "It seems I can live only in battles" is somewhat stilted, but I dig the feel.

I also struggled with Lucky's reply. I originally had "So you finally came clean about it", but that implies Heavy D! was in denial, which I don't think is entirely there in Japanese. (if I was doing this for real I'd probably push harder on it) "You've made up your mind" makes it sound like Heavy D! was indecisive about it, which I don't think is entirely there either...but it's a tricky thing to translate in any case.

Brian does not specify getting back together for a fight in Japanese, just if they're doing anything interesting/fun. Since it's a fighting game a fight is probably implied, but theoretically they could be hitting a bar or something.

Win Quotes

Heavy D!

Team	My translation	Official translation
America	If you wanted to beat the real us, you're out of luck!	You came across real fighters.
Brazil	Pathetic! I thought you'd have a bit more to you, but....	You weren't worthy oppoenents.
China	That level of strength isn't going to get us!	We know all of your attacks.
England	Power is everything here! Those skinny little arms of yours are just pathetic!	Muscle counts here, girls!
Italy	Get stronger! Your fans are crying!	Your fans must be disappointed.
Japan	My straight punch is invincible! No one can keep standing after taking one!	My punch is invincible.
Korea	Too slow! I was falling asleep out there, you're so damn slow!	You make me sleepy!
Mexico	No matter who the opponent, my punch will knock them out! That's how I roll!	We can beat anybody!

As usual, a lot of these are just heavily cut down. Brazil especially loses a lot of flavor in the editing process, but it's still (arguably) conveying the same idea. Shame about that typo, though. The line against England Team is actually pretty cute in how it gets edited.

The line against America is the most interesting to me, since it drops the whole idea that the doppelgangers might've wanted to beat the real team in favor of Heavy D! just dissing them for not being real fighters. It's probably the line that got the most changed, and even then it's still recognizable.

Lucky

Team	My translation	Official translation
America	You might look like us on the outside, but in terms of training we're worlds apart!	We are seasoned fighters!
Brazil	Wanna beat us? Better bring a nuke!	We outweigh nuclear arms.
China	Old folks and kids go home! You're no match for us!	You are no match for us.
England	I'll fight you again anytime!	Challenge us again any time!
Italy	I've heard about you! But we're the ones with real strength!	We are the strongest!
Japan	You might be the best in Japan, but you're nothing on the world stage!	Are you really the No.1?
Korea	What's up with you guys? You look like a bunch of clowns!	Much easier than I expected!
Mexico	We both use karate, but I'm better!	My karate was superior, huh?

These are cut down again, but there's more nuance lost here than with Heavy D!. No more ragging on China for being too old/young, having heard of Italy, etc. Japan is especially interesting because the English line completely drops the point that they're the best in Japan, making it sound more like they're supposed to be the best in KoF proper.

As for Brazil...well, the English makes it sound like America Team is literally, in terms of body weight, heavier than a nuclear weapon. Which is a hell of a thing to say. The Japanese makes it clear that it's just bragging about how tough they are in a "it would take a nuke to beat us!" way. Which is still a hell of a thing to say, but makes a lot more sense as trash talk.

Brian

Team	My translation	Official translation
America	Just imitating the original will get you nowhere! There's a difference in strength!	You are no match for us!
Brazil	Are you just playing soldiers? Heheh!	Stop playing soldiers!
China	Psychic powers? That's rich!	Psychic powers? Yeah, right!
England	Doesn't look like you have the power to beat us!	You aren't strong enough!
Italy	You're famous, right? Then show us a better time.	Make it a little enjoyable!
Japan	Looks like Japanese martial arts suck after all! Hurry up and go home!	Go home!
Korea	The team composition ain't bad, but it ends up kinda weak!	Team combination isn't too bad!
Mexico	Kyokugen? It's a famous name, but the real thing was just a speedbump.	Karate? That's nothing!

Wow, that line against Japan really got cut down, huh?

I'm not entirely sure what Brian's trying to get at with saying that the Korea Team composition/combination isn't bad, but that's what he's saying, so...

Nuance change: The English line against Mexico makes it sound like he's dissing karate in general, but he's specifically saying that kyokyugen doesn't live up to its reputation.

You know, it's kind of dumb to make fun of psychic powers after you fight someone who is undoubtedly using telekinesis, but on the other hand...what is the difference between Psycho Ball and Koohken?