Korea Team
Apparently reforming Krauser, sovereign of the darkside, is much easier than reforming two random criminals.
All screenshots and translations courtesy of Kishi! Thank you so much!
Story
Rugal Mid-Story
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| It appears that Kim fellow strong-armed those other two into forming a team. Could those two really reform themselves here in this tournament...? Ha ha ha ha! | I guess those two were forced to join the team by Kim. Can those two ever come to life in this tournament? Ha ha ha! |
The general idea of Kim forcing Chang and Choi to join his team is there in both, but the official translation loses the idea that Rugal wants to see if Kim will succeed in reforming them. Instead it talks about seeing if they'll "come to life", which makes it sound like they're zombies or something. Now that I know what the Japanese says I can kind of make the connection, but it's really obscure.
It's not even that big of a character savings! I'm lost.
| 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. |
| Kim: Are you the sponsor of this tournament? | Kim: Are you the host of this tournament. |
| Rugal: Indeed... I am the sponsor, Rugal. | Rugal: Yes... I'm Rugal, the host. |
| Choi: Surely you called us here so you could hand off the prize money, eh, buddy boy? | Choi: Did you invite us to give us prize money? |
| Rugal: Heh... I'm sorry to disappoint, but I called you here in order to add you to my collection. | Rugal: Ha! Sorry to disappoint you but, I invited you to join my collection. |
| Chang: What?! "Collection"?! | Chang: What? Collection!? |
| Rugal: Look at the statues surrounding you! These statues are the fighters whom I've beaten so far. Well? Aren't they wonderful? | Rugal: Look at the statues around you. These are the fighters that I've beaten so far. Aren't they wonderful? |
| Kim: W-What are you saying...? Either way, you won't beat the three of us easily! | Kim: What?!... Still, you will not beat us easily! |
| Rugal: Heh heh heh. Your statues will prove that I've risen to the top of the fighting world! Now, allow me to invite you to the battle stage. | Rugal: Hah hah hah. Your statues will be evidence of my championship in the world of fighters. Now, let me show you the battle stage. |
Straight from Kishi: "Note: Choi ends his sentences with "-deyansu," which was apparently a form of politeness used in the Kamigata region (what is now Kansai) during the Edo Period. Supposedly, it's still in use today in certain corners of Japan.
As far as I can tell, SNK's English scripts just ignored this until SVC Chaos, where they started translating it as "buddy boy." This interpretation has remained consistent up through KOF XIV.
I don't think it should be left out, but any translation I could pick wouldn't be any less arbitrary than "buddy boy," so I'm just sticking with that."
Now you know.
Like most Rugal dialogues, this is pretty similar, barring things like word choice. There are a few typos and other slip-ups in the official translation, like Kim's lack of a question mark in his first line, or Rugal's misplaced comma in "Sorry to disappoint you but,". (though it looks fine on a screen-by-screen basis, as you can see) All are pretty minor.
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.....!! |
| Kim: That's the way of things! Justice always prevails! | Kim: Of course! Justice always wins! |
| Rugal: Hmph... But you three won't be leaving here! Better that you should join the ocean's depths. Farewell! | Rugal: Hmph... But I won't let you leave here! A watry grave awaits you! Farewell!! |
| Kim: Not good! Run for it! | Kim: No! Let's get out of here!! |
Interesting things: They typoed "watery" here, into "watry". So yes, this is a line that's been repeated, which allowed in the possibility of error. Of course, it's not always the same, which is probably why they did it that way. Still, neat to see.
In general, this is pretty well done on SNK's side. Kim's lines all sound good, and as usual, I dig "a watery grave awaits you!" even if it is slightly misspelled.
Ending
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Choi: A~ah, that grand prize money... | Choi: Damn!! My prize money. |
| Kim: What? What's this about a grand prize?! | Kim: What? What do you mean by prize money!? |
| Chang: Hmph, the only reason we put up with you all this way was for that grand prize! Now all that hard work's gone up in smoke! | Chang: Ha! I followed you just to get the prize money! All that trouble for nothing! |
| Kim: I see. So that was your intent from the beginning. I hate to say it, but it seems my method of training has been far too easygoing. | Kim: I see. So, that's your purpose. I'm sorry I failed to train you enough. |
| Choi·Chang: Huh? | |
| Kim: All right! As soon as we get back, we'll start preparing for the next tournament! | Kim: Now, let's go home and I'll train you for the next tournament! |
| Choi·Chang: Y...You've gotta be kiiiiddiiiing! |
Whoa, they cut lines! That's really weird for KoF94!
Well, I assume it's weird. I haven't done the entire game yet.
But yes, they cut Choi and Chang's last two lines, which are important for pacing and for comedy. Really not sure why that happened.
Choi's a lot harsher about losing the prize money in English. It's a bit surprising.
Kim not knowing there would be prize money is both strange and perfectly in-character.
Most of this is pretty straight, as usual.
Win Quotes
Kim
| Team | My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|---|
| America | Reflect on having underestimated taekwondo, the greatest of all combat sports. | Don't make light of tae·kwon·do! |
| Brazil | You're strong, all right! But it's us who will move on from here! | It's us who will go forward! |
| China | Taekwondo is the invincible fist I've poured my all into! It can't be defeated so easily. | My fists are invincible! |
| England | You boast beautiful techniques, but your opponents were just out of your league! | You fought the wrong opponent! |
| Italy | It seems you've let your training slip! I'm looking forward to next time! | You have neglected your training! |
| Japan | You three are young. If you pile on the training, you'll get stronger and stronger! | You get stronger by training. |
| Korea | I would never lose to you, a fake who speaks of justice! | I don't forgive you, fraud! |
| Mexico | I'm glad I got to fight you three! I hope we can face each other again someday. | I wanna fight you again! |
Most of these are just very cut down.
The win quote vs China drops the idea that it's taekawndo specifically that makes Kim strong instead of him just being strong in general.
Kim calling Daimon young feels like a subtle insult. The entire line goes from encouragement/backhanded compliment to a straightforward statement of fact, so I hope it makes a bit more sense now.
The use of "wanna" in the Mexico win quote feels out of place, both for Kim and for KoF94 in general. Very odd.
Chang
| Team | My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|---|
| America | If it's a question a stature, I'm the biggest! You three might as well be kids! | You are just little kids to me. |
| Brazil | How do you like my iron ball? It'll bust you up the same as if your opponent were a tank! | Did you enjoy my iron ball? |
| China | Those who project justice are all the more suspicious. That goes for you three, too. | I smell injustice. |
| England | Wah ha ha! Wouldn't you say this is the expected outcome, ladies? | This is the natural result! |
| Italy | So even leading men can get wrecked. Winning over you three is the most fun of all! | Your handsome, it didn't help.. |
| Japan | It's good to be a free man, but you three are spoiling the mood! | Damn you! Get out of here! |
| Korea | That's some trick you pulled while I was away, but it ends today. | Stop copying us now! |
| Mexico | I dunno what a kyokugen style is, but we'll stomp it flat! | Only your words are bold. |
The America quote loses the idea that Chang is making this out to be a direct comparison of build, not that the America Team is particularly childish in attitude or anything.
Against Brazil, it loses the reference to tanks, which means that the line is slightly-less military themed than otherwise. Too bad.
China doesn't make a lot of sense without the context! Chang's trying to say that people who talk a lot about justice (ie, Kim) are usually secretly hypocrites, and throws the psycho soldier folks in that camp too. In English, this is cut down to where he's just accusing them of injustice out of nowhere. It weirdly makes Chang sound more like Kim, when the intent was the opposite.
For Italy, there's a clear connecting line between "leading man" -> "handsome", but that Chang's especially happy to beat them because Italy Team is a bunch of star-types is lost. That said, I think the English line is cute, even if it has a couple awkward typos.
In Japanese, the word for obstacle/intrusion is also used to (rudely) tell people to leave, so that's what's going on in the Japan Team quote. Sadly, Chang talking about freedom is lost too.
The Mexico quote just goes off and does it's own thing.
Choi
| Team | My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|---|
| America | Blockheads like you should just go home and get in bed, buddy boys! Upoh! | Your body is no use in war! |
| Brazil | You're wasting your time! You'd have been better off forfeiting, buddy boys! | You should have given up! |
| China | Over already, buddy boys? Oh, pweeease forgive me! Uki ki ki~ | You finished already? Heeee! |
| England | Slicing up something beautiful gives me such a rush, buddy boys! Hyohhh hyoh hyo! | So exciting to chop up beautys! |
| Italy | Ukya kya kya! Now we'll become famous, too, buddy boys! | Now, we can be famous too! |
| Japan | What happened to all that vim and vigor you had a moment ago? Uhyo hyo hyo! | Have you lost your spirits? |
| Korea | Iron claws that haven't been maintained ain't gonna be enough to scare me, buddy boy! | Your iron nails are rusty! |
| Mexico | You mad? Usshi sshi sshi! The taste of your blood is superb, buddy boys! | Your blood is delicious! |
The quote vs America Team is weird, because at no point does Choi mention war. It feels like someone got their wires crossed with someone from Brazil Team.
In general they cut out the weird noises Choi makes, only letting them stay in the China win quote. China also drops the sarcastic "forgive me".
The quote vs Korea is roughly the same, but is cut down so far it loses a ton of character. "Iron nails" also has a very different meaning from "iron claws", though the meaning is more clear in context. Still!
Most of these are close, except for the weird noises.