Amakusa Shirou Tokisada
A real guy. His vengeful ghost probably wasn't possessed by evil and resurrected in the late 18th century in real life, though.
...probably.
Challenges
vs others
| My translation | Official translation | SNES |
|---|---|---|
| O dark god Ambrosia, bestow your judgement upon this fool! | My religion says all are equal. Peasant. | My religion says all are equal. Peasant. |
| Kukuku... O great god of darkness, grant me power! | My powar will bring you to your god. Abayo. | My power will bring you to your maker. Abayo. |
Well, the first one is completely made up, though it does make a historically-accurate reference to Amakusa's Christianity, which is one of the things that brought him into conflict with the Shogun in the first place. Of course, the "Peasant" at the end turns it into a joke, but at least it's joking about a real thing.
In Japanese, of course, Amakusa calls only upon Ambrosia.
The second line is a mess. Two words are the same, but everything around them is changed to the point where the entire line is different. Then there's an obvious typo, but even more weirdly, a Japanese word. "Abayo" is a casual way of saying good-bye, and doesn't fit in with either Amakusa or Samurai Shodown's general style of speech. More than that, there's no way for most arcade-goers in 1993 to know what it meant besides context. Why put it there at all? The editor alone knows.
Very confusing, very mysterious.
The first line is exactly the same in the SNES version. The second fixes the typo, which is nice, and changes "god" to "maker", which is understandable...but the previous line specifically talks about religion (and it's not super flattering either) so why was that okay? Man, I don't know.
Win Quotes
Win with killing normal/special move
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Dost thou hear it, that sweet, pure voice? It shall guide thee unto heaven's gate! | Come, gentle one. I will cure you of the disease called life. |
Once you break out the "thee" and "thou" in modern English it's kind of all or nothing, so Amakusa isn't quite this old-fashioned and formal in Japanese but he is using an archaic pronoun that more or less translates to "thou".
The English line at least gets that Amakusa just killed the player. We've seen "disease called life" before, in Art of Fighting and Fatal Fury Special. It was one of my first tip-offs that there was a singular voice behind SNK's unique style, and that I should take a second look at Art of Fighting. It's a phrase with history in this project!
Other than that, there's not much relationship between the English and Japanese lines.
Win otherwise
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Kneel and pledge thy lifelong fealty to me! Thy soul shall become sweet liquor for my dark god! | Kneel before me and be saved. Not! Die. Fool. Whah hah hah! |
| Thou wish to continue? But my dark god is invincible. | Why not accept your end? This battle bores me. |
Amakusa has two non-kill win quotes, possibly to make up for the lack of others, or because they assumed everyone was going to be forced to try and timer scam him. (I SURE WAS)
These are not that bad by the standards of Samurai Shodown. They're both clearly touched by the editor, but the original intent is still roughly there. ...mostly. Kind of. A bit.
In the first line Amakusa demands the player kneel, but is going to kill them anyway in both languages so it's kind of a wash. The idea that Amakusa is going to feed the player's soul to Ambrosia is lost in English in favor of Wayne's World jokes, but, well...we all expected that by now.
The second line is more changed, but I can see a connection between "Thou wish to continue?" and "Why not accept your end?" The reasoning is different, though. In Japanese, Amakusa declares that Ambrosia (and, presumably by extension, himself) is invincible, while in English he's just bored.
Story
Stage 3
| My translation | Official translation | SNES |
|---|---|---|
| Muahahah......I have awakened! | I awake from 100 years of sleep to kick some butt! | I awake from 100years of sleep to wreak havoc. |
| My name is Amakusa Shirou Tokisada. Now is the time for me to bring about the destruction of this peaceful world! | Tokugawa, you filth! I stab at thee. | Tokugawa, you filth! I despise thee. |
So the first line...okay, it was 1993, Power Rangers was big. It at least has some relation to the Japanese line, even if it's a patented SNK tone-destroying translation.
Note the odd indentation in Amakusa's Japanese line there. It happens to him occasionally, and I'm not sophisticated enough to understand if there's a deeper meaning there or not. It does give a slightly different flavor to the line, though.
And more on spacing, it seems that the Japanese version has slightly more space for text than the English version. I'm not sure if this is actual technical limitations or what, but you can see that just in terms of space the Japanese version takes up more. Combined with the greater information density of Japanese and, well...yeah, the editing is going to get harsh.
It's the second line where things get weird. In Japanese, it's pretty straightforward. Amakusa states his name (presumably one most Japanese arcade-goers would recognize, even before Fate/), and delivers his goal: destroying the peaceful world of 18th-century Japan.
In English, the entire thing shifts. Instead of Amakusa introducing himself, he sets up revenge against the Tokugawa Shogunate as his goal. Except we don't even know it's revenge. To be fair, probably few American arcade-goers would know who Amakusa was back in the day, and Tokugawa has a slightly higher profile. On the other hand, it's not like knowing who Amakusa was will tell you all that much about his role in the story, so it's just a name. On the third hand, "Amakusa Shirou Tokisada" is gonna eat up a bunch of characters in a very limited space. Still, "Amakusa" is one character shorter than "Tokugawa". They could've done it.
"I stab at thee" is a rare instance of the English version of Samurai Shodown attempting some archaic flavor. But I think it's just a Moby Dick reference.
Incidentally, in Japanese Amakusa uses a slightly archaic pronoun and some older verb forms, but is otherwise not super old-fashioned. He also uses a feminine sentence ending but it's like, once. I tried to get across this flavor in my translation.
Butt: too spicy for Nintendo. Stab is also off-limits, but that one we all expected.
Stage 6
| My translation | Official translation | SNES |
|---|---|---|
| Muahahaha...another country now walks down the path of destruction! | Know my vengeance you murderer of my ancestors. | Know my vengence. You spoiler of my ancestors. |
| ...............R......rapture! | ||
| Hm? This one is dangerous, I see. He bears an extraordinary spirit! | You fight well. But, my ambition will be realized! | You fight well, but my fury will be realized! |
Yeah, there's an extra line in the Japanese version. A line getting cut in the English version is pretty rare for SNK, as we've had plenty of opportunity to see in this project. They could've used that extra space too...
In Japanese, Amakusa tells the player what he's doing (destroying Japan) and how wonderful that is. In English, we finally get a motive...which doesn't make a lot of sense for the historical Amakusa, but he hasn't been identified in English so it's not like anyone would know. It does cast some confusion on what Amakusa is supposed to be in English, since he's not identified as a ghost.
The final line in Japanese is Amakusa noticing the player and explaining why the player is a threat. This sort of comes across in English, but in a much-abbreviated form, and some extra bragging on Amakusa's part.
All in all, this entire scene is another rewrite.
While I understand not being able to get "murderer" past Nintendo, "spoiler" feels a little off. What, did Tokugawa buy Amakusa's ancestors everything and never discipline them? "Ambition" to "fury" is also odd - probably character limits, though also possibly thinking kids wouldn't know what "ambition" is.
Stage 12
| My translation | Official translation | SNES |
|---|---|---|
| You vulgar fool, I may yet forgive you.... Kneel before my black magic! | You seek me? I am touched. Come, my friend...and die! | You seek me? I'm touched. Come my friend. |
| It seems our destiny is to battle. Come then! To the depths of my beautiful darkness! | Come on, come on! I promise to kill you quickly. | Come on! I promise to finish you quickly. |
Again, this is just completely rewritten.
At first Japanese Amakusa offers a way out for the player: if they submit to Amakusa's rule. In English, Amakusa starts preparing for the fight.
Which ends up repetitious in the next line, where in Japanese Amakusa switches to deciding he and the player must fight. The English just keeps reiterating about how the player and Amakusa are going to fight and Amakusa is going to kill the player.
The SNES lines are slightly simplified, and remove all refrences to killing and dying. Sure does make Amakusa sound friendlier in the beginning!
Postfight
| My translation | Official translation | SNES |
|---|---|---|
| Cur! To leave you be led to the failure of my dreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaamssssssss! | I have left you alone, but now, I must exterminate you. | I have left you alone, but now, I must finish you. |
| S,s,surely, I shall retuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrnnnnnnnnnn! |
Another line gets cut in the English version. Also gone is the very distinctive wailing as Amakusa dies. It doesn't really work in English all that great, but I tried.
Instead, the English line sounds more like it belongs before the fight. It makes me wonder if there was a copy-paste mixup somewhere along the line, because it displays even less connection to what's happening on-screen than any of the rest of these scenes. Sure, they were rewritten in English, but they usually had something to do with what was happening. This is just weird.
Anyway, he did return...kind of.
Obviously, not getting "exterminate" past Nintendo.