Smash Translation – Europe vs. America. Round 1!

UPDATE: nocturnal YL has pointed out numerous Japanese errors in my original post. They have been fixed. He has also provided a great explanation on the Fire Emblem titles, which everyone should read. Thanks again nocturnal YL!

Also, some contexts on the Fire Emblem titles (in particular, in-series versus Smash), since you said you don’t know much about them.

Marth: “Hero-King” is actually his in-series title. Its equivalent in Japanese is “英雄王” (mentioned in Robin and Lucina’s reveal trailer). He’s called “紋章の王子” here because the Fire Emblem (in-game artifact that changes depending on the particular story) is alternatively called the 炎の紋章 (see also Melee’s Event 46).

Ike: Likewise, Ike’s title is “Radiant Hero”. In this case, the NA/EU names did accurately reflect localization changes, as “蒼炎の勇者” is his title in Japan.

Whether or not these two are legendary depends on who’s speaking. Lucina would definitely say yes. The titles of Lucina (“未来を知る者” / “Foreseer”) and Robin (“High Deliverer” / “聖王の軍師”) have little bearings on Smash (except the loose reference in Lucina’s case in Japanese).

Today, I will be looking at the literal Japanese meaning of the Boxing Ring nicknames for Smash 4 Wii U. For those of you who are unaware, the Boxing Ring stage displays a character card — with a nickname. It looks like this:

The North American Release (henceforth referred to as “America”…sorry Canada) and the European release saw different interpretations of these nicknames. Some of these localizations took a radical departure from the original Japanese meaning in an effort to make these nicknames appeal to their audience. Other times, we saw a literal translation of the Japanese name.

The America and European names come from SSBWiki. I copied the text from this Japanese blog, but I confirmed it with the video/ my own game. Translations originated on this blog.

Please note, that Iggy, Larry, Lemmy, Ludwig, Morton, Roy and Wendy share the same nickname as Bowser Jr in Japanese (More about that later).

I figured it would be more interesting if I kept score. Here’s the criteria for earning a “point” :

1. An amazing, true to the character, nickname

2. If not #1, then kept the original Japanese meaning.

3. If neither, then whatever one is better, or no points.

Of course, everything is my own opinion. Feel free to let me know just how much you disagree with me.

Since we are keeping score, let’s get the non-points out of the way first (Cases where the translation is the same between versions).

Donkey Kong, Meta Knight, Olimar and Pikmin, Palutena use literal translations that are shared between all versions (Four characters):

Here are the rest of the characters that share translations between the America and European releases– Nine characters (Link, Mii Fighters,Ness, Samus, Villager, Wario and Zelda):

I would have changed it to, “Bearer of the Triforce of Courage” as Link is not always the Hero of Hyrule. In fact, the Hero of Hyrule refers to the Link in Legend of Zelda for the NES and The Adventure of Link, while the design depicted in Smash closely resembles Twilight Princess (Who I think is technically the Hero of the Twilight Realm).

All the these translations are perfect.

The English nickname is perfect.

The English nickname is perfect.

His English version references New Leaf for the 3DS, which was released a year before Smash 4. I think his Japanese name is more future-proof, and therefore better.

Wario’s translation is awful. I might eventually go into greater detail but I was extremely disappointed that (mainly) Nintendo of America reduced Wario to a bunch of lame fart jokes. I get the title, and if it was just the title I would’ve liked it; but coupled together with his trophy entry really reduced Wario as a character. I know that was one of his main hooks in the original Brawl premier video; but the Japanese version really doesn’t make that many references to Wario’s fart attack. The Japanese nickname is actually a homophone of sorts. Highlight and Rascal are pronounced the same way in Japanese. Therefore, I believe that, “Money-grubbing Menace” would have been an ideal localization for Wario’s nickname as alteration could be an alternative.

Zelda’s translation is slightly different. The English release saw her becoming “wise”. Not that big of a change.

Okay, here are the entries that slightly differ from the literal meaning:

I like all of these localizations. Especially Charizard who received the best upgrade. Mr. Game & Watch’s English title sounds bad ass, and Falco’s is more true to his personality.

Okay, now we can start keeping score.

Now, there are some cases where one region used the literal translation and not the other. They are identified as the “Winner” in the last column; six characters (Captain Falcon, Mario, Mega Man, Pit, Peach, and Rosalina and Luma).

Europe’s translation makes so much more sense in terms of localization. The literal Japanese sounds terrible in English.

I’m pretty sure that Toadstools are suppose to refer to the Toads. However, since Peach’s original name was Princess Toadstool, and the kingdom has always been Mushroom Kingdom — the European version wins for being correct and literal.

I like Europe for not having “The”

Here’s the rest:

I think the American translation of Bowser Jr’s nickname is better. I see Bowser Jr. as a spoiled prince who attempts to please his daddy. As noted before, the Koopalings share Bowser Jr.’s title in Japanese. Therefore the generic title “All Purpose Chariot” makes sense as it’s the common thread between the eight characters.

I can understand why the US dropped the “Southern Countries” or didn’t localize it to “The Tropic”. I don’t hate the European release though.

European wins for the pun.

Okay, I have a sizable rant about Duck Hunt and Europe. For those of you who are unaware, the European version of Smash 4 has renamed the character Duck Hunt to Duck Hunt Duo, probably in an effort to distant the character name and the game title. This makes sense. However, the localization team in Europe failed to understand Duck Hunt as a character. Duck Hunt is a team of three — the duck, the dog and the hunter (the guy with the NES Zapper). It’s mentioned in the game in both Japanese and English versions, shown in reveal trailer and even said by Sakurai in an interview. To me- there is no contest, the European team messed up. I believe that the origin of the this confusion could be this title.  共演 means “to perform together, appearing together, co-starring”. However, Japanese does not have plurals. Therefore it could easily mean “two or more [actors] performing together,etc”. In fact, the Japanese definition for the word says that it’s two or more. Don’t worry Europe — America invented a character in Majora’s Mask that didn’t exist.

I think the Resurrected King of Evil would have been an amazing title. So no points.

The American translation isn’t bad; the European one is just closer.

Honestly, I don’t know much about Fire Emblem. I’m giving it to Europe just because it’s closer.

Europe is closer but I like the American version better.

Kirby’s Japanese title is amazing. It’s funny because usually in America, Kirby appears stronger/ more angry than the Japanese box arts yet the titles are reversed. I’m assuming that NoA just didn’t want to include “Demon” and Kirby.

EDIT: a12223344556677 has informed me the Japanese title is actually a reference:

The Japanese title of Kirby “Pink Demon” is actually a reference to the description of The Arena from Kirby Super Star. In the Japanese description Kirby was referred to as the Pink Demon. In the US versions it was changed to the Pink Wonder (SNES) and the Pink Terror (DS).

The US title makes a lot more sense now.

I appreciate America’s title as it’s a tidbit from Little Mac’s history.

The Japanese is actually referring to the Pokemon Movie: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew.

All three versions are great.

紋章 means Coat of Arms, so I’m going to go with Europe. Again; I don’t know much about Fire Emblem. Sorry.

America’s title references the original nickname but Europe’s take is just better.

America wins just for the Brawl reference. Through, I like Europe’s take on the meaning of R.O.B.

I like the American version slightly more.

I don’t know Xenoblades, but I enjoy Europe’s title slightly more. The Japanese blog I copied the Japanese nicknames from states that Shulk is not calm/kind/gentle, so it’s suppose to be ironic. Again, sorry I don’t know Xenoblades.

EDIT: a12223344556677 has informed me the Japanese title is actually a reference:

The Japanese title of Shulk is actually a reference to one of his meme-status quotes in Japan. When starting quests he is known to speak (in text) “穏やかじゃないですね”, roughly meaning “you don’t look calm”. In Japan, this quote was referenced multiple times, from the reveal trailer (the first time this quote was voiced), to his up taunt, and in Palutena’s guidance. The English versions appropriately changed most of the references to this quote to poke fun on “It’s Reyn time”, which is more famous in the English community.

Thanks for the information!

“Hero of the Wind” would have been perfect. Europe is closer to the Japanese.

The Japanese is suppose to be something that a coach would say to you. Both versions of the translation lose that. I can understand why Europe/ America didn’t want the female Wii Fit Trainer to say, “let’s continue our diets today” though.

I think Zero Suit Samus’ different localizations show how’s she depicted in each region, or at least what attribute Nintendo highlights. Japan sees Zero Suit Samus as a beautiful warrior, whereas America sees her as a warrior. These differences in expectations explain why Other M’s story was so heavily criticized in the West but not as much in Japan.

C̶o̶n̶g̶r̶a̶t̶u̶l̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶s̶ ̶E̶u̶r̶o̶p̶e̶!̶ ̶E̶v̶e̶n̶ ̶a̶f̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶c̶o̶m̶p̶l̶e̶t̶e̶l̶y̶ ̶m̶e̶s̶s̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶u̶p̶ ̶D̶u̶c̶k̶ ̶H̶u̶n̶t̶,̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶s̶t̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶p̶u̶l̶l̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶h̶e̶a̶d̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶o̶p̶i̶n̶i̶o̶n̶.̶

EDIT: Because of Kirby, it’s a tie now!

Europe – 18

America – 18

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