Neinhart Sieger
I didn't realise the King of Prussia was Emperor Palpatine.
Challenges
vs self
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Let us fight honorably as benefits a pair of knights. | We are knights each other. Let's fight fair and square! |
So there's nothing actually wrong with the English translation in terms of accuracy, it's just that the first sentence is terrible English. But then "fight fair and square" is solidly idiomatic. I think that particular phrase is common enough it would be in an idiom dictionary, which might explain how the translator came up with it.
vs others
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| My loyalty to my king, my honor as a knight, both are contained within this iron fist. Now, take it! | Give you my knock for justice! |
...
Like, now that I know what the Japanese says I can see what they were going for, but wow. The Japanese line is serious, emphasizing Sieger's loyalty and nobility, while the English is just plain goofy. Since this is Samurai Shodown II, I can't say for sure if this was intentional goofiness or not, but it's plainly a very different feel from the Japanese line.
Win Quotes
vs self
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| You fought for what you wished to protect. I advanced for the sake of my conviction. We were both correct, and that's a beautiful thing. | Great match. I'll never forget that fight. |
My version feels kind of long and clunky, but I want to get across the similar phrasing in both parts here. Sieger draws some deliberate parallels with 2P here and I wanted to show that. Sieger fundamentally sees himself and 2P as good men doing what they must.
Then the English just kind of drops all of that for a very generic line. I understand that mine was long, but I'm sure it could be cut down and still get the same basic idea across...! Instead a key point of Sieger's character is completely dropped.
win with killing blow
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| To sink into useless anger is to lose. Behold your opponent and learn them well. It's not hatred but love that is true strength! | Don't be hateful each other. Love is the best strength. |
| No matter what enemy I smash down with this iron fist, it will not defeat the evil behind this calamity... What a waste! |
The first line is, for once, very obviously the one that got translated. Some aspects of it are dropped in English, especially the part about learning your opponent, and the first part sounds pretty goofy, but overall it's remarkably solid for Samurai Shodown II. Now, how much of that bar is embedded in the ground is left up to the reader...
The second line is Sieger trying to keep his eye on the ball and defeat the evil behind the calamity, not the random people he meets on the way. Sorry dude, it's a fighting game. Gotta fight the entire cast before you can defeat the real evil.
win otherwise
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Go home. Do you not also have a beloved homeland? |
GO HOME AND BE A FAMILY PATRIOTIC MAN!
Joking aside, I think this is a cute line. Sieger is one of the few characters concerned with other fighters, and it has his entire thing with loyalty to a home country (which...only Charlotte really has). Anyway. I like it.
Story
Opening
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Time flowed on after the Shimabara incident, but the storm clouds once more begin to gather... | Time has passed since the last trouble. New battles are going to start, now again. |
| Sieger: King and country, I will defend them both with this iron fist! | Sieger: I defend my country with my fist! |
The first line is the same for everyone. Find details on Haohmaru's page.
The second line drops Sieger's loyalty to his monarch as well as his country, but that's fairly minor in the grand scheme of things. There's also the small thing of how in Japanese Sieger consistently says "iron fist", referring to his weapon and not like...his regular fist, but I think it's such a distinctive part of his character design that it can go without saying.
Stage 3
On Mizuki's page.
Stage 6
On Mizuki's page.
Stage 8
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Sieger: You who take advantage of human weakness! Prepare yourself! | Sieger: Don't exploit people's weakness! |
| Raki, raki, rakikikiki... Wonderful, bearer of the soul I have chosen! Ambition shines around you! Now, offer that soul to the dark god! The end is nigh! | Ha ha ha ha ha! How great the "shining soul;" carriers are! When their soulds come together, the world will become mine! |
| Waste no time with futile struggle; such a soul is not for you to begin with. Now, lay quietly. You won't suffer any longer after I eat you. | Don't offer useless resistence to me! Your soulds are too precious for you! Go to hell! |
| Amakusa: I will not allow this! | Amakusa: Stop! |
| Amakusa: Halt, you hellspawn! Though I once offered my soul to it, no longer shall I obey the demon king! The old me practiced sorcery and took human lives. Then it was a human who saved my soul. Now, I will lend my hand, as a human! | Amakusa: Stop, you evil king. I never have you kill them. Once I was under the evil king. But I don't want to let him do that way anymore! Run away! |
| Sieger: That was Amakusa.... | Sieger: The evil king...it's a very strong enemy! |
The majority of this is the same as Haohmaru, find the details on his page. The only new lines are Sieger's.
There's a tone and nuance difference in the first line, where in Japanese Sieger is getting ready to punish Ambrosia for taking advange of human weakness, whereas in English he's more warning him. It's pretty small, though.
The big difference is in the final line. In Japanese, Sieger recognizes Amakusa (somehow), while in English he's impressed with Ambrosia's strength. They have nothing to do with each other, so I really wonder how that happened. That's not normal in story sequences...
Stage 12
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Sieger: No matter the opponent, they are naught in the face of my conviction! | Sieger: My loyalty never lose! |
| Rakiki-useless! Useless!-kikiki! Nkikira-I'll eat you all! | You, impertinent small fry, I'll eat, eat you all! |
| Sieger: Are you making fun of me, you damned fiend?! | Sieger: Never make a fool of me, demon! Kill you! |
The first line is...more or less there. It's stilted and Engrishy, but the basic idea of Sieger's loyalty/conviction allowing him to triumph over all is there.
Mizuki's line is the same for everyone, so check out Haohmaru's page.
The second line...well, I can see where they got it, but it sure does sound silly. "Kill you" is both added in and sounds incredibly goofy, but at least it matches Genjuro.
Ending
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Sieger: The mastermind has been eliminated! I must return home without delay! | Sieger: I must tell the king that the devil is dead. |
| But in his country, the people were being attacked by rampaging monsters because of the mad demon king's death. | But in his country, uncontrollable beasts were attacking the people. |
| King: I'll never hand my country over to a pack of devils like you. | King: Upon my life, I will save my country. |
| Sieger: Your majesty, please stay behind me. | Sieger: Watch, your majesty. |
| Monster: Ghuuu.... | Monster: Guwah... You are... |
| Sieger: Vanish, you monsters that threaten my homeland! | Sieger: Yes, Neinhalt Sieger, the knight who killed your boss! |
| Sieger: Your majesty, princess, are you both unhurt? | Sieger: Are you all right? |
| King: Thank you, Sieger. | King: Thank you, Sieger. |
| And so... | And... |
This, in general, seems to be massaged a bit more than usual for SamSho2. It's not just completely made up, but most of the lines are different to a degree the game doesn't usually do.
For instance, take the very first line. In Japanese, Sieger recognizes he's beaten the main evil, and wants to return home right away. In English, he wants to report to the king, but doesn't specify that the ringleader is dead. It's not startlingly inaccurate, it's just...different.
The next line is just massively cut down, though it does lose that the monsters are like, a dying strike by the monsters against Prussia. Instead monsters are just attacking...well, because. I guess you're supposed to pick up that the world is falling to monsters because of Ambrosia, but it's not stated, nor that they're there for revenge.
In All About SNK Fighting Games 1991-2000, the king is just labeled as "king". In Sieger's backstory, he's apparently named Heinrich, but I can't find an official source for that backstory. (I checked scans of Neo Geo Freak and Gamest, but couldn't find it) I ultimately decided to follow All About SNK Fighting Games, but I figured I'd make a note. (Historically speaking this would be Frederick William II, but I'm not going to hold Samurai Shodown to that level of historical accuracy) Anyway, the king's line is changed, but not unrecognizably so. There is a difference in feeling, where the Japanese king is preparing to make a last stand, while the English king sounds like he's about kill all the monsters.
Sieger's next line is changed for...no particular reason, but it's also fairly minor. It does kind of go along with the split in the previous line, where Japanese Sieger is here to protect the royal family (who were about to die) where English Sieger is just taking an unpleasant job off their hands. The monsters are more articulate in English. It sets up the next line...
...which is completely changed, but I feel like it's trying to get across that the monsters are here for revenge, which was cut from a previous line. It's at least establishing for sure that the monsters are part of Ambrosia's forces. "Boss" feels pretty modern, but that's SNK for you. It is interesting that the Japanese text box is so big when the line clearly doesn't fit. We know SNK translated as they were making the game, did the English translator specifically ask for a bigger box? That's pretty cool if so!
The rest of the lines are all very straightforward and there's not a lot to say about them. Sieger's line is cut down, presumably for space constraints. It's not that big of a change.