This is a game near and dear to my heart. Released as a budget title for the PS2 by a company that did not actually do localization work, Castle Shikigami 2 has a bit of a reputation.
It’s actually a solid little vertical shooter, but certain other things tend to overshadow its gameplay…
What went wrong?
I can’t speak for XS Games — the internet isn’t even sure if the company still exists, as their website hasn’t been updated in three years — but I can make a bunch of hypotheses about it.
XS Games is (was?) a budget publisher, not a localization company. Prior games that they “translated” (Psikyo’s Gunbird and Alfa System’s Castle Shikigami 1) were stripped of all plot and sold as Mobile Light Force 1 and 2. As far as I can tell, Castle Shikigami 2 was their first attempt at actual translation work.
This is the credits splash screen that XS added to the game’s starting sequence. You’ll note that this 6-person team does not include a translator or a localization editor, leading me to wonder how the translation itself was handled. With how scarce former XS staffers seem to be on the internet, all we can do for now is speculate. (That said, if you worked on Castle Shikigami 2, don’t hesitate to fire over a comment or an email! I’d love to ask you some questions and get some insight into the inner workings of the company.)
One possibility is that the translation was done in-house at Alfa System and sent over to XS. The other possibility is that XS did the translation themselves, with what I presume is the help of Señor Google, Translator to the Stars. As we look at the text itself, we’ll be able to make a more informed theory. Until then, I plan on covering this assuming XS had the best intentions.
I’m also aware of the fact that the European version has a different translation than the US version, but no voice work. I’m unfamiliar with the European version, and will not be checking it until after the bulk of the work has been done on the US version, primarily so the EU version’s text does not influence my own retranslations.
That’s all for part 1 — next stop, Actual Game Text! See you soon!
You should totally look at Castle Shikigami III after you finish this project. It didn’t seem to be any better…
I wonder if it literally was just the staff reading the lines– perhaps even this being intended as a placeholder translation before just giving up on trying to get proper voice acting/polished text and releasing it as-is.
It would seem plausible if the team had no localization and was their first take at it to perhaps understimate the costs/time.
I’m pretty sure that’s the case, but it’s still wild speculation. Finding former XS members is like finding a unicorn.
As far as I know, the EU version had the story chopped out. I can’t confirm this, but I’ve heard as much.