Puyo Puyo English "Bootleg" for the arcades

[Kaite20]

(Posting here because it has been labeled both with and without "bootleg" in the rom. Feel free to move this topic if it isn't a bootleg.)

If there is a bootleg port that the Puyo Puyo fandom knows well, it is this one. While there were name changes, hilariously bad dubbing for the little voice clips the characters had, and dialog changes that range from being somewhat accurate to the original and some way off the charts, the gameplay and non-text graphics remained unchanged (aside from Harpy's dress turning to black and her loss of wings in her transition to Dark Elf). Because of this, it was the CLOSEST of ports compared to the original, as opposed to the more well known Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine and Kirby's Avalanche.

The funny thing is, when an official English release of Minna da Puyo Puyo/Puyo Pop was released, the name "Dark Prince" stuck as Satan's dub name- to avoid religious issues, I'd assume, since he was the only one to get a name change. That, and with the fact that there are two versions of the ROM, one having "bootleg" in the title while the other doesn't, makes me wonder if the port isn't really a bootleg, but maybe official... the credits are too vague to say if it is or not.

Still, it's an oddity that is worth playing at least once for the silly changes this port offers.

This cropped screencap from the port pretty much sums my opinions of it up.

Attachments:

• weird.png (50.79 KB)

[yacopu]

I've always wondered about that strange translated version that has been floating around the internet. It's quite amusing, and I also find it pretty neat that they put in the extra effort to redo the voices as well.

[Kaite20]

yacopu

Apr 12 2014, 04:50:26 AM

I've always wondered about that strange translated version that has been floating around the internet. It's quite amusing, and I also find it pretty neat that they put in the extra effort to redo the voices as well.[/quote]Well, except for Rulue/Lulu, but Compile didn't give her a voice until a little later (see Puyo Puyo CD), so the "bootleg" English version didn't give her a voice either.

Just for the hell of it, here's a comparison that I found of the official Japanese voices and the "bootleg" English ones (and shows the name changes).



The "bootleg" voices are filled with so much ham and cheese it's hilarious.

[yacopu]

Funny enough, some of the English voice acting in this version reminds me of the acting in Kirby's avalanche.

[taizou]

I once played it in a Sega-run (I think?) arcade in Disneyland Paris, I doubt either Sega or Disney would have a bootleg Sega game on their premises.. and honestly it's had far too much effort put into it to be a simple bootleg translation. no way are bootleggers hiring multiple English-speaking voice actors to redub a game - they would either leave the voice clips in Japanese or rip them out entirely. the ROM sets floating around might have come from a bootleg copy, but i could say with like 99% certainty this is an official translation.

[Superjustinbros]

Unsure if this may be relevant, but someday I'm hoping the Puyo Puyo "Sample Rom" gets found and dumped someday. I'd really like to see how it plays with six colors instead of five.

[yacopu]

This is really fascinating, I've definitely never heard of this before. Those are some pretty interesting differences indeed. Also, is it just me, or did the game seem to be lagging during the demo cutscene with the falling Puyos?

[Superjustinbros]

Considering that Genesis/Mega Drive games can't really scale and rotate sprites the same way the SNES could, that could be why it appears to be laggy.

Sad that with even how big the Japanese fanbase is, no one in Japan as far as I know has ever bothered finding or dumping the ROM. I've tried every search possible in Japanese with no luck.