Nakoruru
No escape.
Challenges
vs self
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| If you're going to imitate me, improve your looks! | If you're going to copy me,be prettier about it. |
These are not all that different and honestly the official line is both cute and accurate, so props to SNK.
vs others
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| I swear by the mountain gods I will be victorious! | By the mountain gods, victory will be mine. |
| Even if I am the only warrior of the Ainu, if you challenge me only death awaits! | Scourge to the Ainu, prepare to die. |
Kishi got the second line.
The first line...look, there are only so many ways to translate things sometimes!
The second feels like the translator missed something, but I don't know what. Nakoruru is specific that she's a warrior of the Ainu, but nothing about her opponent. I have no idea where "Scourge to the Ainu" came from. Possibly they couldn't figure out how to cram it all in with the character limits, but "I am an Ainu warrior! Prepare to die!" is pretty short and a much more obvious choice.
I don't know man.
Win Quotes
vs self
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Not only am I stronger, I'm also more beautiful. Thus I was victorious. | Strength. Beauty. I am without equal in God's kingdom. |
The official translation gets both strength and beauty in there, and I guess being without equal in God's kingdom is a reason to win. It is a bit of a stretch, though. Japanese Nakoruru is more obviously comparing herself against 2P, while English Nakoruru seems to be going on an ego trip.
It's also a bit odd for Nakoruru to talk about "God's kingdom" when she also frequently talks about "the mountain gods". I won't say these aren't compatible belief systems, but it is a weird note. I think SNK was going for a bit of an elevated register here, it's just weird when taken as a whole.
Win with killing normal
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| It was your fault for raising hand to a girl. You must train your heart further. | Daring to strike a lady. Think it over in traction. |
Once you get over "Think it over in traction", these are pretty similar. After all, what is thinking it over in traction but a way to train your heart? (a very SNK way of training your heart?)
The English is a bit less obvious about Nakoruru blaming the opponent for making her beat them up, but I think it works.
Win with special move
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| The gods of Chemrai protect me, and so I cannot lose. | With the mountain gods. Protecting me, I can't lose. |
Gonna be upfront about this: I don't know what Chemrai means and I can't find any references on the internet. With that spelling (in Japanese), everything leads back to Nakoruru. Google likes correcting the spelling to Chiang Rai, a city in Thailand. That doesn't seem very relevant to Nakoruru here, so I'm going to ignore that.
The official translators just went with "the mountain gods" again, which seems reasonable. Other than that and some unfortunate punctuation errors, the line is pretty straight. If you correct the punctuation, it's probably a better effort than mine.
Win otherwise
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| My style is to attack and break away. That's why you lost! | Against my Hokkaido Hurricane Attack,you didn't have a chance. |
Basically, Nakoruru practices hit and run. In English this becomes the very wrestling "Hokkaido Hurricane Attack", which...doesn't entirely get the meaning across. I couldn't find the English Neo Geo manual for Samurai Shodown, but "Hokkaido Hurricane" doesn't show up in the 3DO or SNES manual so I'm going to say that one isn't an official move name. I suspect the editor, who probably wasn't involved in making English-language manuals.
Correction: Rage Quitter 87 scanned in the Neo Geo English Samurai Shodown manual and yes, there is no Hokkaido Hurricane Attack in Nakoruru's attack list...but oh boy, is it obvious the editor had a grand old time with this manual. I guess they just couldn't resist the joke, which does sound like our editor.
Clear
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| If you despoil nature, then in the name of heaven, I'll punish you! | Who ever defiless the body, nature shall feel my wrath. |
In Japanese, the line is very clearly playing off Sailor Moon's "In the name of the moon, I'll punish you!" line. It was 1993, Sailor Moon was big. The first part is better translated as "those who despoil nature", but that didn't work with the Sailor Moon reference and I thought that was important to maintain.
The English line completely misses the reference, not that it would've made any sense for arcade-goers in 1993 anyway since Sailor Moon wouldn't come to the west for another four years. But in its place we get...something kind of confusing. "Who ever [defiles] the body" somewhat religious, though I can't track the phrasing down to anything concrete. It might be an artifact of trying to make Nakoruru talk in a slightly higher/old-fashioned register, which often ends up sounding religious in English. But how is nature "the body"? The body nature, like the body politic?
If you ignore "the body" then it turns into "Who ever [defiles] nature shall feel my wrath", which is a perfectly good translation. Then you just have a spelling error to deal with, which is the sort of thing that slips though before spellcheck, especially with obscure words.
...but what's up with "the body, nature"?
Story
Stage 4
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Nakoruru: Nature is safe here too! | Nakoruru: Hark... |
| Nakoruru: ! | Nakoruru: ! |
| Nakoruru: The voice of nature...stopped? | Nakoruru: The voice of nature. |
| Amakusa: Kukuku... Behold, I am the vengeful spirit of Amakusa. Now, cry and plead unto the dark god! | Amakusa: Call me Amakusa, Amakusa! |
| Nakoruru: What does the dark god want with me? | Nakoruru: The dark guy! Me? |
| Amakusa: Kukuku... My god has need of your power. Now, come and join me! | Amakusa: Heh,heh. My lord thirsts for your strength in his lowly little love nest. |
| Nakoruru: How dare you! Who'd want to be your toady? | Nakoruru: Never. Corpse breath! |
| Amakusa: Heheheh...then prepare yourself for death! | Amakusa: Then die,you crazy funster! |
| Nakoruru: I won't lose! | Nakoruru: I said never! |
Nakoruru's first couple lines make perfect sense in Japanese, but are bewildering in English. At first she's happy that nature is now safe, but then becomes concerned when she can no longer hear it. But in English, it sounds like she's just starting to hear the voice of nature when Amakusa shows up, which make it sound almost like Amakusa is the voice of nature! "Hark" is another archaic word. It feels like out of everyone, SNK worked hardest to make Nakoruru sound like she's from another era. Why her? Why only her? Who knows?
Though SNK did not make such an effort when she's talking about "the dark guy". This is another bewildering translation. The verb is left off in Japanese, but context makes it clear: Nakoruru wants to know what the dark god wants with her. In English, it sounds more like she thinks she's the dark guy. It's pretty out-there, and if it is a legit mistake someone was either going very, very fast or didn't know a lot of Japanese.
In Japanese, Amakusa's line is basically the same as it is for everyone: Ambrosia wants the player's power. This is...somewhat changed in English. Gotta admit, though, "lowly little love nest" is a heckuva alliteration. I sense the editor.
In Japanese, Nakoruru refuses at least partially because she doesn't want to work with Amakusa. She gives no reason in English, but does break out the very SNK "corpse breath".
"You crazy funster" is back.
It's interesting that Nakoruru's last line in English is a clear callback to earlier lines, which suggests some context and continuity. This isn't in Japanese, so that's a nice little addition.
Ending
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Nakoruru: You defiled nature... This is the price! | Nakoruru: Thou foul despoiler of mother nature! Your just desserts. |
| Nakoruru: All right everyone, let's go back to Kamui Kotan! | Nakoruru: That done, I return to fair Kamui-Kotan. |
English Nakoruru is full-on (imitation) Early Modern here, which again, fits the era but it's damn weird it's only her. (well strictly speaking it's off by a couple centuries, but who'd notice?) It's also not super consistent, which again suggests that there were two people cleaning up the script: our familiar editor, and someone else. Usually that someone else took the story sequences, though the editor got in a few lines here and there. It seems that someone else really wanted to have a period feel for at least one character, and that ended up being Nakoruru.
The translations in and of themselves are perfectly accurate, with the only differences being the odd tone the official translation takes.