Eric's Blog

Zelda II and the Error of Ruto Town

When I was sixteen, I received Zelda II: The Adventure of Link from Nintendo as a part of their Ambassador Program on the Nintendo 3DS. I thought the game was fantastic.

The visuals, while certainly looking dated, boast that familiar charm found in most classic games of the era, and the game-play and music are equally as timeless. The game is still great fun even to this day, despite its bizarre shift to a side-scroller.

Unlike its predecessor, Zelda II is mostly played as a side-scroller.
Unlike its predecessor, Zelda II is mostly played as a side-scroller.
I fondly recall passing through Ruto Town, a settlement nestled in the mountainous region of the map, in my first play-through when I met a cryptic character who had only one thing to say: "I AM ERROR"—a statement which left me puzzled.

At the time, I was not sure whether this was a bug in the software, or if the character's name truly was "Error". Either way, I brushed it off and continued with the game.

"I AM ERROR"
"I AM ERROR."
Several years passed and I forgot all about Error and his vague, cryptic ways. It was only after watching a YouTube video on the subject that it all came back to me. I recommend watching the video for yourself, but the gist of it is that the English translation was a mistake, and that his name really is "Error".

Curious to confirm this for myself, I decided to play the Japanese version of Zelda II, and I was not disappointed.

The Japanese text reads, "My name is Error..."
The Japanese text reads, "My name is Error..."
Somewhat to my surprise, the video was correct—his name really is "Error"! Also, the Japanese is quite clear here, which makes me wonder why the translation was so vague in the English version. Some questions, I suppose, may never be answered.

Interestingly, the majority of in-game text is written in katakana. This is likely due to katakana's angular nature, which aids in its readability when a limited pixel count is concerned. It is also for this reason that few retro games prominently feature kanji.

Hungry for more information on this topic, I turned to Google, which is when I came across Legends of Localization, a site dedicated to cataloging changes in video game translations. The site even has a page about Error himself! Check it out!

What do you think about Zelda II's cryptic English translation? Do you know of any other poorly translated video games? Tell me all about it in the comments!

Help This Cat Find Her Lost Kittens

Making a game over the course of a weekend was a blast back in May. When I saw that the guys over at the Allegro community were throwing together another game-making event, I just knew I had to participate. So I did.

The event was "KrampusHack"—a loosely organized game jam based on the popular Christmas game called "Secret Santa". Each participant submitted a wishlist of game ideas, and then made a game for another participant based on their wishlist.

I was assigned to a guy named Mark who likes cats. The end result was Kitten Kerfuffle, a game about helping Nini, a mother cat, find her lost kittens in the woods.

Nini and two of her kittens.
Nini and two of her kittens.
In Kitten Kerfuffle, you assume the role of Nini, a mother cat who has lost her kittens. You have until nightfall to find all ten of your kittens, lest they will succumb to below freezing temperatures overnight. Will you find them all in time?

Just like with my last game, Kitten Kerfuffle's source code is freely available on GitHub. Likewise, pre-compiled versions are available for both Windows and Linux.

Feel free to give the game a gander and leave me your thoughts and suggestions in the comments section! I look forward to hearing from you!

Are Video Games Worth Retail Price?

Most of my time gaming as a child was spent exploring the lives of turtle-stomping Italian plumbers and ultra fast hedgehogs who had a fetish for golden rings.

In other words, I was a Nintendo fan.

Like many long-time Nintendo fans, I was content with the occasional new Super Mario or Sonic game, but eventually grew tired of those games as I got older.

Eventually I began checking out Sony and Microsoft to see what they were up to. Both companies' respective consoles boasted a varied library of mature games and plenty of third-party developers—things Nintendo has sorely lacked.

In the end, I never did make the switch to Xbox or PlayStation. Instead, I decided to jump ship to PC gaming in May, and I've had a blast ever since.

The average PC gamer, as depicted by South Park.
The average PC gamer, as depicted by South Park.
Gaming on PC has allowed me the opportunity to play some truly fantastic games that I never could play previously. I've enjoyed dozens of hours taking down pirates in Far Cry 3, nearly one-hundred hours exploring the wastes of Fallout: New Vegas, roughly eighty hours re-playing Sonic games from my youth, and more.

And I've done all of this on the cheap thanks to Steam sales and Humble Bundle.

This year alone, I've purchased forty-one PC games, all for just $48.97. That's about $1.19 per game. In contrast, I've purchased five console games this year for a total of $138.91, or roughly $27.78 per game. That's a big difference!

There are a number of variables that attribute to this price difference, but mostly it's due to the fact that PC games tend to depreciate more quickly than console games thanks to lower manufacturing costs, fewer licensing fees, and seasonal sales.

Even so, most big budget games are priced the same at launch on all systems. Ubisoft's upcoming Watch Dogs 2, for example, is currently available for pre-purchase across the board for $59.99. The digital release is still likely to depreciate sooner than the physical version, however.

Watch Dogs 2 actually looks pretty good. Will it be worth $60?
Watch Dogs 2 actually looks pretty good. Will it be worth $60?
This difference in cost between digital and physical releases got me thinking about how I currently go about calculating the value of games. Previously, I would read the reviews for a game I was interested in, and if they were favorable, I'd buy it regardless of cost.

However, recently I've also begun to take into account how many hours I can expect to spend in a game. If an expensive game averages dozens of hours of fun, I feel that the expense is better justified than compared to one that only offers a few hours of fun.

To see if a game is worth your money, calculate its cost per hour; do this by dividing a game's cost by its average length in hours. You can use HowLongToBeat.com to find a game's combined average length.

Here's how a few of my recent games stack up:

Title Cost Hours CPH
Pikmin 3 $65.69 42 $1.56
L.A. Noire $4.99 29 $0.17
Fallout: New Vegas $4.99 93 $0.05
Assassin's Creed: Rogue $1.36 38 $0.04
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim $4.99 71 $0.07
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze $20.94 26 $0.81

As you can see from the above, most of my games stack up to be just a few cents on the dollar—chump change, really. Even the more expensive titles, like Pikmin 3, are still surprisingly more affordable than other forms of entertainment.

Movie tickets, for example, are ten bucks in my area. Assuming the average movie is ninety minutes long, that averages out to be $6.67 per hour of movie-watching.

I'd rather be at home playing video games, where I get more bang for my buck, than out watching movies. I still catch the occasional flick with family and friends though—like last year's Black Mass with my brother (which was really good).

In short, digital versions of games can be cheaper than physical ones, and expensive games can still be worth retail price if they average a good cost per hour.

What are your thoughts on this post? How do you know if a game is worth paying for? Let me know in the comments!

These Bananas Taste like Strawberries

My father planted several banana plants in the backyard a year or so ago, and we're just now being able to enjoy them. These small bananas sport a soft, velvet-like texture and an aftertaste akin to what you'd find in a strawberry!

A bunch of strawberry-flavored bananas.
A bunch of strawberry-flavored bananas.
Several banana plants. These guys are nearly 12 feet tall!
Several banana plants. These guys are nearly 12 feet tall!
A bottom view of the bananas.
A bottom view of the bananas.
Another view of the bunch. My dogs like to play around here.
Another view of the bunch. My dogs like to play around here.
The weather's been pretty nice the past several days here in Louisiana, but once the first frost sets in, the banana plants will go away until next year. I'll be sure to enjoy a few more strawberry-flavored bananas before that happens.

What do bananas taste like in your area? Have you ever tried bananas from other places? Let me know in the comments!