The Nintendo Switch is slowly but surely becoming a platform that’s great for budding video game historians, with companies big and small porting over their older titles given them a chance to shine once more. Sega Ages is one of the most noteworthy of these efforts, with the team at M2 being lauded in emulation circles for very faithful ports, replete with features.
It turns out the team may be pushing even further when it comes to preservation too. In an interview with GearNuke, M2’s Yosuke Okunari revealed the potential for old, Japan-only games seeing English localizations. M2 previously localized Monster World IV as part of Sega Vintage Collection 3 for the Xbox 360 and PS3, so there’s precedent. Check out the full quote:
“Regarding the titles we are currently porting, the only thing that will be localized in the games will be the menu, and the rest of the game will be left as is. The English in Phantasy Star can be very awkward, but because we want people to feel the nostalgia, we decided to leave it as is.
When we released the Genesis/MegaDrive title Monster World IV for the SEGA Vintage Collection 3, it had never been released outside of Japan, so we had our current localization team translate this title. This title ended up with translation quality which wouldn’t have been possible to have back in 1994 when this game first released.
In the future, we may try localizing titles which have never been translated if we can draw a reaction.”
With plenty of games never leaving Japanese shores, it’s exciting to think of the possibilities! As always, we’ll keep you up to date with everything Sega Ages related as it comes in.
Written by Tom Brown
Whether it’s an exciting new entry in a series long established or a weird experiment meant only for the dedicated, Tom is eager to report on it. Rest assured, if Nintendo ever announces Elite Beat Agents 2, he’ll be there.
