Thirteen years after its original release, the fine people over at Policenauts.net released an English translation patch for the PSX version of the critically acclaimed adventure/interactive movie game Policenauts, developed by this little fellow, who was still fairly unknown back then. The game can finally be played by people incapable (or not sufficiently capable) of deciphering the geometrical explosion known as written Japanese.

The translation includes each and every depiction of kanji in the whole game. Voice acting was thankfully left alone. Even the game's rare bugs have been eliminated, and a (for unknown reasons) previously locked text choice has been unlocked and can be selected for the first time.

Our gratitude/admiration/prayers or whatever else go to the following folks:

Project Coordinators
Marc Laidlaw, Artemio Urbina, Michael Sawyer

Translation
Marc Laidlaw

Programming
Michael Sawyer, Artemio Urbina, Nicholas Katsaros

Graphics Editing
Michael Sawyer

Character Table
James Snipes

Beta Testing
Chip Cheezum, Deceased Crab, GuavaMoment, itobandito, Joey Migeed, Kris Pickett, Lenin Mendoza, LiquidPolicenaut, Lorenzo Grajales, Miguel Asher Sandoval, Pizuz, Retroware TV, Tasian, Zorak

Website Design
Marcela Barsse, Marc Laidlaw, Artemio Urbina

Website Construction
Marcela Barsse, Alexander Lombardi Koch, Artemio Urbina

Remix
MrRudi

Special Thanks
epitaph

Dude, what a F****NG COINCIDENCE! I JUST downloaded the patched ISO! Checking it right now - what a bliss! :-)

Outstanding work, indeed! :)

Now if only someone translated my favorite Virus...

I JUST downloaded the patched ISO! Checking it right now - what a bliss! :-)

Yep, I was pretty happy when I received the message from Policenauts.net. The game is pretty awesome indeed, but cannot quite reach the class of Snatcher in terms of style and atmosphere, in my opinion.

Now if only someone translated my favorite Virus...

Amen to that, man.

And while they're at, they could also translate all those Chinese RPGs (too lazy to check the spelling now =D) that you keep reviewing; I almost cry when reading those, because they seem to be pretty close to my beloved Suikoden series... =\ Unfortunately they are all written in those mad scribblings... =P

And while they're at, they could also translate all those Chinese RPGs (too lazy to check the spelling now =D) that you keep reviewing; I almost cry when reading those, because they seem to be pretty close to my beloved Suikoden series...

They are very close indeed, since Suikoden is also based on Chinese history - 水滸伝 means "Legend of Water Margins", which is a medieval Chinese novel about 108 heroes who fought an evil emperor.

I would actually gladly translate the best Chinese RPG of all times. I'm sure my Chinese girlfriend will help me with that, too. The only problem is that I know squat about programming. So someone has to hack the game, replace the original text with mine, and so on. If I could find people who would do that, it would be beyond awesome.

Huh.

I... hrm.

Hm.

Huh? :)

If I might point you to Kitsune's hompage in his profile. :-)

I'd probably go for it, but that game has walls and walls of text and it scares me.

Dude, you serious? Translating it definitely looks like the easier part... because that's the only part I can do. But suppose I begin translating, what should I do with the text? I mean, whoever hacks the game should know where to put the new text... is all the text stored somewhere in some files, and all you have to do is open the file and replace the old text with the translated one?

Anyway, I'm a total ignoramus in everything concerning programming - what I can deliver is the translated text, but where and how to put it is a mystery to me...

You don't understand... translating can be the easy part. But sticking the damn text back into the game? That can be a problem! Depending on the game, it can involve tons of reprogramming work that I am not capable of 95% of the time!

Furthermore, this is an RPG. RPGs have loads of text. RPGs require loads of betatesting. And I'm just one guy, you know?

If I can get the game somewhere, I'll look into it.

...

Unicorn,

Really the hardest part in fandom translation is finding the translators, not the ROM hackers.

Could you also submit this as trivia to Policenauts entry and add the link to Links/Searches?

Heh, forgot about that. XD

Done and done.