Italy Team
I kind of appreciate that the only reason they're hanging out in Italy is because Andy's FF2 stage was arbitrarily set there.
Story
Rugal Mid-Story
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| So they're the ones that defeated Geese and Krauser... Well then, I will test their abilities to the utmost! Ha ha ha! | Hmm. So they are the ones who toppled Geese and Klauser. Well then, let's see how strong they are. Ha ha ha! |
"[T]oppled" is an odd word choice here, but it's not really wrong. It's just not the sort of thing you expect the kind of villain Rugal is to say.
"Klauser" is likely just something that snuck through an editing pass, given they get it right in the rest of the game. It does suggest the translator was new and not the person that worked on FF2 or Special, though. Presumably someone was able to either clue them in or clean up the text in most instances, just not here.
As a story note, it's interesting that the Fatal Fury boys get to be famed because of what they've done, while the kyokugen folks are just known because kyokugen is famous. Also, enjoy Krauser's brief moment of relevance in KoF. He burned so brightly just twice, and was gone...
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 |
| Andy: Are you the organizer of this tournament? Who are you?! | Andy: You are the host of this tournament?! Who the hell are you? |
| Rugal: My name is Rugal. I've heard a lot about you: the strongest men in the world, who defeated both Geese and Krauser. I would love to add you to my collection. | Rugal: My name is Rugal. I've heard of you often as the world's strongest fighters who defeated Geese and Krauser. I do wish you would join my collection. |
| Terry: Collection? | Terry: 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 fighters that I've beaten so far! Aren't they wonderful? |
| Joe: Tch! Out of all the bad guys we've fought so far, this one's the worst! A real monster! | Joe: Tch! You are the worst opponent that I've ever met! |
| Rugal: Hahahahaha...that's high praise, Joe! But don't think I'm the same as Geese or Krauser... Now, allow me to invite you to the battle stage. | Rugal: Ha ha ha ha... That's the best compliment that I have ever received, Joe. But don't regard me as easy to defeat as Geese or Krauser. Now, let me invite you to the battle stage. |
"Who the hell are you?" seems pretty strong for Andy, but that's what you can do in the arcade.
Joe uses こいつ/koitsu, meaning "this guy" in his line, which meant I interpreted it as him speaking to Terry and Andy instead of to Rugal like in the official translation. Under the character limits it makes sense to cut that out, but they sure had the space to go longer and Rugal's line right afterwards doesn't show that same level of character counting ("[...] don't regard me as easy to defeat [...]" is a pretty long-winded way of saying that). It also cuts him calling Rugal a monster/demon/devil.
Like I said, Rugal's reply is really long-winded in the official translation. They were clearly fine with just adding extra sceens (enough so that it was hard for me to match everything up...), even if there was a more natural and shorter way of writing the lines.
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 I could lose a battle.....!! |
| Terry: See? This is our power! | Terry: See....! We are strong! |
| Rugal: Heh, now I understand why Geese and Krauser were defeated...! I suppose I looked down on you too much. But don't think this is the end! Drown in the ocean's depths! Farewell! | Rugal: Mmm.. Now I see the reason why Geese and Krauser were beaten....! Maybe I had underestimated you too much. But this is not the end of the story! A watery grave awaits you! |
| Joe: Crap! Run for it! | Joe: Oh no! Let's get out of here! |
Terry's line is awkwardly stilted in the official translation, which is pretty normal for KoF94 but also it's a really straightforward line. I guess whoever did the quick editing pass missed it.
I'm not a big fan of "I looked down on you too much" but I don't like "I underestimated you too much" either so...whacha gonna do. It's also interesting that Rugal's "Farewell!" gets straight cut in the English version...I assume some sort of control code problem, like with Yuri and England Team.
Joe's pretty long-winded in the official translation. I tried to make him less so.
Ending
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Terry: The next time we meet, we might be fighting each other, you know. | Terry: Maybe I'll meet you as an opponent next time. |
| Andy: Mm-hm, and I'll be training for that day. | Andy: Yeah... I'll train myself until then. |
| Joe: Next time, the great Joe is gonna win! | Joe: Next time, I, Joe Higashi will win! |
| Terry: No way I'll let that happen! | Terry: I won't let you do that! |
| Andy: See you later, Terry, Joe.... | Andy: Good-bye. Big brother, Joe... |
| Geese: So not even a man like Rugal could defeat those guys...I knew it. | Geese: Hm. Even the famed Rugal couldn't beat them... I thought so... |
| Krauser: So it seems the task of beating them is mine! | Krauser: It's my role to beat them! |
| Ha ha ha ha! | Geese-Krauser: Ha ha ha ha ha! |
Terry foresees the addition of edit teams. Though the way the official translation is phrased makes him sound...more aggressive than in Japanese. Like it's more than just philosophical musing on how fighting tournaments work. Or is it me?
I'm sticking with "the great Joe" for consistency.
Geese doesn't technically say "famed" in Japanese, but it's an understandable addition. I like it, Geese would definitely be keeping tabs on Rugal.
For the final laugh, the Japanese does not show who the speaker is. I assumed it was Krauser until I checked the English, but both of them together also makes sense. Since it was ambiguous I got lazy and just left it off. Make your own decision.
Enjoy the setup (?) for KoF96.
Win Quotes
Terry
| Team | My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|---|
| America | You sure got power, but your technique is lacking! | Can't beat us only by power! |
| Brazil | Sorry there, soldier boys! Looks like I got a little too serious! | We might have overdone it! |
| China | Sorry, but this is our era! | It's going to be our century! |
| England | You're pretty good! Take this loss as a lesson and keep on trying! | Don't give up fighting!! |
| Italy | When you're as famous as we are, the number of imitators gets to be a real pain! | Celebs are often copied. |
| Japan | Don't look down on us! We're not celebrities because of our good looks! | We aren't famous for nothing! |
| Korea | So we won this time. You know, maybe it's because your team members are bad? | You've got the wrong members! |
| Mexico | Great as usual! Let's go again anytime! | Let's do it again sometime! |
Kishi helped out with Japan.
Most of these are about what you'd expect out of KoF94. One thing to note is that I'm pretty sure the line against China is another joke about how Athena and Kensou are the "old" faces of SNK, which the Fatal Fury boys have now taken over (soon enough to be replaced by Kyo). It's kind of hard to tell just from that line, but it would fit in with the rest of the game.
"We're not celebrities because of our good looks" is a bit of an interpretation, but I like it, so. The official translation is accurate, just cuts out the first sentence.
Andy
| Team | My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|---|
| America | Power alone won't bring you victory! You have to refine your fighting senses! | You can't win only by power. |
| Brazil | You must have undergone intense training! This was a good workout for us too! | It was a good session for us! |
| China | That level of power will never allow you to advance beyond this point. | You can't advance from here. |
| England | This fight was a sharp lesson in minding your own business. | Stop street fighting! |
| Italy | You lost, but I have to applaud such brave fakes! | Admit you are a fraud! |
| Japan | Too bad! You didn't quite have the training to defeat us! | You need more training! |
| Korea | It's a very Kim-like team, but the strength isn't quite up to par. | The team suits you very well. |
| Mexico | I'm glad to be able to fight you! We won this time, but the next time, who knows?! | We managed to win this time! |
Neither Kishi nor I were 100% on the line against England, but we're pretty sure that's roughly the idea. The official translation is a bit looser and drops the idea that Mai (/team members) should be not following Andy (/others) around replacing it with a bald demand to stop street fighting.
The official translation of the Korea line loses Andy saying that the team isn't strong enough, but does keep the idea that it's the kind of team Kim would go for. I guess the idea is that Andy knows Kim and therefore knows about the whole "rehabilitation" thing, unlike, say, Athena.
Besides that, America and Brazil lose out (but not particularly important lines) and the rest are just simplified or a bit shorter.
Joe
| Team | My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|---|
| America | Just having a big body isn't enough to win! | All of you are just big! |
| Brazil | Doesn't look like there's anyone stronger than us in the army either! | Even an army can't beat us! |
| China | You guys are pretty famous too, but the times have changed! | Times are changing... Remember! |
| England | See? What did I tell you? You need to quit already! | Well, I've warned you! |
| Italy | You're a hundred million light years too early to try imitating us with power like that! | Don't claim to be us, weakling! |
| Japan | If you're Japanese, you definitely know about me! So that means you really are crazy! | You really don't know me? |
| Korea | Dude, Kim, what's wrong with you? I had high hopes, but you totally sucked! | Why! I'm disappointed! |
| Mexico | So this is all Kyokugen Karate can do, huh. Or maybe we're just too strong! | Maybe we were too strong! |
Joe's line against China is basically similar to Terry's in Japanese, with the same joke about how Fatal Fury is the new face of SNK. This is considerably harder to divine in English, with the blatant diss turning into a vague warning that probably didn't make a lick of sense to anyone in 1994. Or more recently, really.
The line against Italy is pretty neatly done, but I really like "hundred million light years too early" in Japanese. Light years are a measure of distance, Joe, not time!
The line vs Japan changes from saying that they're crazy/reckless for taking (the great) Joe on to just being sad they haven't heard of him. It's too bad, because it's way less funny that way.
The Korea line is also considerably more vague in a confusing way in English. Seems to be a theme with Joe.