Melf
04-11-2006, 09:33 PM
I got this email the other day about a project to translate the original MSX version of Illusion City. Apparently it's almost complete, and he suggests that a Mega CD translation might actually be possible.
Hi Ken,
I was reading the "Left in Japan: Mega Drive & Mega CD RPGs", and would like you to know that there is a fan translation [1] of Illusion City in the works. Sadly it's not the Genesis version, it's the one for the japanese MSX Turbo-R computer, but judging by the screenshots they are almost the same.
It is being done by Adriano Cunha and Takamichi Suzukawa. Takamichi handles the translation (from japanese to english) and Adriano the programming (the game was modified to be able to run on MSX 2 computers, which are far more common, as it does not use any Turbo-R specific features except the extra speed of the R800 processor) and the Brazilian portuguese version.
The game was originally distributed on eight 720 Kb floppy discs, of which six are already completely translated. To play I would recommend the OpenMSX [2] emulator, which has versions for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X and excellent compatibility.
According to Adriano (which is a personal friend), it seems that the game was developed using a script engine, ported to the MSX and PC-88 (he doesn't seem to know about the Mega-CD version, I'll check with him). From the translation page, section Curiosities, item "Why Turbo-R?":
"Probably, Microcabin coded Illusion City not in assembly Z80, assembly R800, C, Pascal, BASIC or any other "standard" programming language, but in its own script language. Later, this script was automatically compiled to - at least - MSX and PC-98 (as per the manual). The machine-dependant routines were coded then for each hardware. It's easy to notice that this solution created inefficient code that only a more powerful hardware could compensate (in the same way Microsoft does with Windows). Another strong argument for this theory is that the game doesn't use, as far as it can be noticed, specific R800 opcodes."
So, if his assumptions are correct, it seems it would be possible to use the resources and knowledge gathered on this translation to attempt one for the Mega-CD version.
I hope you will find this information usefull. Keep up the good work on Sega-16: as a Sega fan (had a Master System, Genesis, Saturn and Dreamcast, and I still have two Game Gears) I find it an excellent tribute to one of the best game companies out there.
This would rock if it were to happen. Here are some pics of the game in action (http://images.google.com.pr/imgres?imgurl=http://www.abysse.info/ressources/test/illusioncity/illusioncity06.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.abysse.info/testillusioncity.php&h=153&w=175&sz=13&tbnid=SizJIWsGA6nooM:&tbnh=83&tbnw=95&hl=en&start=2&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dillusion%2Bcity%2Bmega%2Bcd%26svnum%3 D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN).
Hi Ken,
I was reading the "Left in Japan: Mega Drive & Mega CD RPGs", and would like you to know that there is a fan translation [1] of Illusion City in the works. Sadly it's not the Genesis version, it's the one for the japanese MSX Turbo-R computer, but judging by the screenshots they are almost the same.
It is being done by Adriano Cunha and Takamichi Suzukawa. Takamichi handles the translation (from japanese to english) and Adriano the programming (the game was modified to be able to run on MSX 2 computers, which are far more common, as it does not use any Turbo-R specific features except the extra speed of the R800 processor) and the Brazilian portuguese version.
The game was originally distributed on eight 720 Kb floppy discs, of which six are already completely translated. To play I would recommend the OpenMSX [2] emulator, which has versions for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X and excellent compatibility.
According to Adriano (which is a personal friend), it seems that the game was developed using a script engine, ported to the MSX and PC-88 (he doesn't seem to know about the Mega-CD version, I'll check with him). From the translation page, section Curiosities, item "Why Turbo-R?":
"Probably, Microcabin coded Illusion City not in assembly Z80, assembly R800, C, Pascal, BASIC or any other "standard" programming language, but in its own script language. Later, this script was automatically compiled to - at least - MSX and PC-98 (as per the manual). The machine-dependant routines were coded then for each hardware. It's easy to notice that this solution created inefficient code that only a more powerful hardware could compensate (in the same way Microsoft does with Windows). Another strong argument for this theory is that the game doesn't use, as far as it can be noticed, specific R800 opcodes."
So, if his assumptions are correct, it seems it would be possible to use the resources and knowledge gathered on this translation to attempt one for the Mega-CD version.
I hope you will find this information usefull. Keep up the good work on Sega-16: as a Sega fan (had a Master System, Genesis, Saturn and Dreamcast, and I still have two Game Gears) I find it an excellent tribute to one of the best game companies out there.
This would rock if it were to happen. Here are some pics of the game in action (http://images.google.com.pr/imgres?imgurl=http://www.abysse.info/ressources/test/illusioncity/illusioncity06.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.abysse.info/testillusioncity.php&h=153&w=175&sz=13&tbnid=SizJIWsGA6nooM:&tbnh=83&tbnw=95&hl=en&start=2&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dillusion%2Bcity%2Bmega%2Bcd%26svnum%3 D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN).