Bahamut Lagoon is a Japanese role-playing game with tactical simulation elements for the Super Famicom. It is one of my favorite games of all time, yet it has unfortunately never been officially released outside of Japan. As such, it has been a dream of mine since 1998 to create an English localization (or fan translation) for this game.
Not only was this the title whose protagonist I drew my name from, it was attempting to localize this game in 1998 that initially led to me teaching myself programming and reverse-engineering, and was also my inspiration to become serious about learning the Japanese language.
Those skills set in motion much of the course of my life thereafter. Whether it's my cross-assembler bass, my emulator bsnes, or my current career working as a software engineer in Tokyo, Japan ... it all ties back to Bahamut Lagoon.
To date, I have actually completed the game reprogramming work for Bahamut Lagoon, from start to finish, three times. Each time, my knowledge and skill grew immensely, and by the time the work had finished, I had so many ideas to improve upon the work that I'd want to start over again.
After the third time, my emulator bsnes was really starting to gain steam, and I haven't had the chance to look back at this project for nearly twelve years now.
And if I'm being honest: I've always felt that this fan translation would be a sort of beginning and an end. It's the longest-held dream of mine to finish this translation, but I know that once it's done, there won't be any childhood dream left to take its place.
But time flows eternal, and will not wait on us forever. The truth is, I'm growing older, and looking to wind down my involvement in the retro gaming scene as byuu.
Having now achieved all of my other goals with the near-completion of bsnes, a conversational grasp of the Japanese language, and my dream job in the country of my choosing, it feels like the right time to revisit this childhood fantasy and finally make it a reality.
And so with this, I'm officially announcing my intention to attempt one final English translation attempt at Bahamut Lagoon.
It's now or never.
It starts where it ends.
© 2020 byuu - archive.fo/DgF7p