Japanese X68000 Game Disc Warnings Amuse

Thanks to NFG.2y.net for its new feature cataloging the amusing-looking floppy disc warnings featured on classic game sleeves from the Sharp X68000 Japanese computer. Highlights include the Capcom sleeve illustrations, where "the Street Fighter 2 characters exhorted you to take good care of your floppies", as well as some strange warnings from Japanese developer Zoom, including the suggestions that users "don't bathe with your floppy", and a cautionary tale about dropping your hardware.

Comments

Balrog?

[forkazoo]

Wait, why is the balrog in SF2? And, does the street fighter two balrog have wings? Oh, wait, now I get it... Balrogs have shiny wings!

Amazingly, this *is* on topic!

http://nfg.2y.net/games/x68k_sleeves/capcom1.sht m

Wow, I totally didn't realise how awesome the world was when I was a kid!

Re:Balrog?

[rmull]

It looks like Vega to me... maybe I'm just not remembering.

Re:Balrog?

[Dehumanizer]

In the Japanese version, the boxer was M. Bison (a parody of Mike Tyson, obviously), the spanish ninja was Balrog, and the evil overlord was Vega.

In the rest of the world, because of the Tyson reference, they chose to switch the names around.

Re:Balrog?

[bugbread]

Mike Bison, no less.

Wow, nice information about the X6800.

[schoolsucks]

It runs under Human 68K, an operating system which looks like CP/M 68 or MSDOS and uses a graphic user interface called VS. Notice that the development is still active on that computer, several OSes have been ported on the X68000, the most famous are Minix and Unix NetBSD and all the GNU tools and there are some projects under development : XNeptune (a Ethernet card) or Ko-Windows (a 'NextStep-like' graphic environment). Sweet design too.

Balrog is the boxer

[terrox]

Balrog is the boxer, Vega is the guy with the metal claws.

Re:Balrog is the boxer

[dancingmad]

In Japan, the names were different; M.Bison was the boxer (rhymes with Mike Tyson), Vega was the U.S. M.Bison, and Balrog was the guy with the claws/mask. The Japanese names make much more sense than the changed around English ones.

Re:Balrog is the boxer

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually balrog was in street fighter 1 too. The game just called him "mike". So, its Mike Bison, at least when referring to the boxer in the jap continuity.

Re:Balrog is the boxer

[Anonymous Coward]

no they dont. Vega is Spainish, that name suits MUCH better than Balrog.

"Engrish"

[dancingmad]

As an American, I really have to speak out: why is it the Japanese are always made fun of for their (admittedly "creative") English? How many Americans can speak Japanese? How many Americans can speak another language even (not to mention how many can speak anything other than the German/Latin/French/Spanish poorly taught in high school)? The average American doesn't have an idea of any culture outside of their own.

So, get back to me when you can hobble together a sentence or two in Japanese.

Re:"Engrish"

[Yorrike]

Anata no baka desu. (I'm not American, I also haven't studied Japanese for a decade. Fuck I feel old)

Anyway, if you'd taken the time to, you know, read the fucking article, you'd notice it's not hasseling the Engrish, but rather, making note that the illustrations are, in fact, quite funny.

Jumping to claims of racism. You must be fatally pollitically correct. Whoops, I mean, pollitically correct in a life-challenged manner.

For future reference, read the article before complaining about it's contents.

Re:"Engrish"

[damiam]

I can't speak Japanese. However, if I were trying to sell a product in Japan, I would have a native speaker look over it. I'd expect that Japanese would have the good sense to do likewise when selling products in English-speaking countries (and, usually, they do).

Re:"Engrish"

[Anonymous Coward]

It is a stroke of ignorance that leads most Americans to mock forein peoples use of the English language. However Americans aren't in a position to casually learn other languages the way most people in Europe do because we have fewer close neighbors of different ethnicity, and those we do have we thrust into a different social class to avoid talking to.

At the same time, from the few posts of yours I've read, it's pretty aparent you're another white-guy wishing-he-was-asian. You've had so many "look how much I know about Japanese culture!" posts it pigeon-holes you as a total nuissance. Read the article and realize it's not mocking your wannabe culture, and go spam www.engrish.com if you want to legitimately complain.

I can tell you only download japanese schoolgirl porn.

Re:"Engrish"

[rgmoore]

You might be surprised about how bad some translations can be. Think about how many companies try to cut corners when writing documentation. If they're not willing to spring for decent writers in their primary language, what makes you think that they're going to do so when it comes time to do translations?

In fairness, the Japanese have gotten much better on the translation front than they were in the days of Zero Wing. I've purchased a lot of Japanese equipment, and everything that I've bought recently has come with well written and translated documentation. Not so some of the other international stuff I've seen. We recently got some German-made equipment at my work, and the documentation was poorly translated. It is full of German gramatical constructs that don't belong in English, and the overall effect makes it quite difficult to understand. Even though my German is quite rusty, I almost think that I could understand it better if they hadn't translated it at all.

Re:"Engrish"

[fbjon]

Yes, bad translations into English are not a japanese thing, it happens on all fronts. The difference with Japanese is that it's so different from English that translating is a much, much more difficult job than, say, German to English.

Now having lived for half a year in Japan, I can't say that I have seen all that many particularly bad translations around. The few cases that I do notice tend to stick out like sore thumbs though, making for a slightly skewed picture of this Engrish thing.

DISCLAIMER: I'm not an English native speaker, so I'm probably not as sensitive anyway :)

Re:"Engrish"

[fbjon]

As an American, I really have to speak out: why is it the Japanese are always made fun of for their (admittedly "creative") English? How many Americans can speak Japanese? How many Americans can speak another language even (not to mention how many can speak anything other than the German/Latin/French/Spanish poorly taught in high school)?

Anyway, if you'd taken the time to, you know, read the fucking article, you'd notice it's not hasseling the Engrish, but rather, making note that the illustrations are, in fact, quite funny.

Granted, the grandparent is barking up the wrong tree, but the point is still valid. Why general language mistakes are so funny are beyond my comprehension. Some are funny, but most are just plain, normal bad language. No need to stomp like some kind of grammar police on every ill-formulated sentence.


Ah oops, this is Slashdot.. sorry. Speaking to a wall here, I guess :)

Re:"Engrish"

[Anonymous Coward]

Zya, korya dou? Ora, Amerikazin zyanai ga, nihongo ga dekiru. Sore izyou, ano hen na "Engrish" tte kotoba ha kokkei to omou. Yondara sinu hodo waratte, bakusyou suru zo.

Tumari, omae ha urusai. Aho.

Re:"Engrish"

[PainKilleR-CE]

Granted, the grandparent is barking up the wrong tree, but the point is still valid. Why general language mistakes are so funny are beyond my comprehension. Some are funny, but most are just plain, normal bad language.

I think the main reason the Japanese (and many other Asians) get hit with this is because their native language is missing entire concepts required for English, and it leads to particularly odd sentences from time to time. In the end, though, most intelligent people will at least give them credit for trying, and will either mildly correct them (as opposed to ridiculing them) or let it pass. Most of the people from Japan I've met that are learning English are happy to have a little help now and then with a language that makes absolutely no sense to them at times, but no one likes to be treated like an idiot.

Re:"Engrish"

[Anonymous Coward]

Feeding admittedly, but...

*ta-chi*

Ima kaiteru kotoba wa temee mitee na jingai yarou ga wakaru hazu nee kara damare.

Spoken as an American that just doesn't like a lot of other Americans ^^

Re:"Engrish"

[Chuq]

Watashi no chinchin wa hoshii desu ka.

(Though I guess I don't count, being Australian rather than American.)

Re:"Engrish"

[bugbread]

Mazu, dare mo nihonjin no eigo o baka ni shitenai jan. Omae koso zenzen rinkusaki mitenai dake ja nai no? Ttaku, dakara surashudotto wa aori bakkari to iwareteru jan. RTFA, kono ahome!

To Express Your Joy, Shake Your Hips

[mrseigen]

I have got to get into a marketing firm somewhere so I can put those directions on a game box.

Shake til you puke!

What the...

[Jorkapp]

I don't get some of the ones from Zoom. Who would want to have sex with a floppy? (The Love is for Grown-Ups one)

Reminds me of the Beagle Bros.

[cpu_fusion]

Reminds me of the Beagle Bros., a fanatical cult of Apple II developers.

I sense a patent suit! Who patented "silly disk care warning icons"? .... hmm... no one eh ... be right back ...

Re:Reminds me of the Beagle Bros.

[neglige]

a fanatical cult of Apple II developers

"I. O. Socket"? "Al Gorithm"? I already love these guys ;)

This just screams

[crazysim]

Photos... I mean GIMP Contest!

Engrish

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmmm... I still like the warning on the back of old NES games, "Avoid Violent Bumps"

Dreamcast Warnings, Too

[shadowcabbit]

Haven't read the article yet myself, but the "safety" warnings on products-- regardless of where you actually get them-- are usually pretty funny to me, particularly because in order to actually become a warning, ostensibly someone must have tried the offending act at least once.

Anyway, I just wanted to chip in that on Sega Saturn and Dreamcast discs, there was usually a CD-audio track that had some warning to the effect of "take me out of the CD player, dumbass, and put me in the game machine". Sega's warnings were pretty standard, but a few third-party warnings were hilarious (Working Designs did a really good one for Magic Knight Rayearth) or downright creepy. Those kinds of warnings deserve mention, too.

Re:Dreamcast Warnings, Too

[Filmwatcher888]

TurboGFX CD games did the same. They would have one with a loud klaxon sounding warning you to take the game out of the CD player before you "blow" your tweeters. Then a explosion sounded.

Similarly, the TurboDuo games that were incompatible with the TurboGFX CD machine would show a cute graphic telling you that the game was incmpatible.

Re:Dreamcast Warnings, Too

[Ayaress]

I saw one on an online jokes site about a brand of chainsaw manufactured in Sweden that has a warning on the blade that reads, "Keep hair and genitals clear" in English. I thought it was made up until the same site posted a picture of it actually STAMPED into the plastic blade guard.

The thing that makes it scary is that if America is any sign, they only put those sort of obvious warnings nobody should need AFTER somebody goes and does it.

Re:Dreamcast Warnings, Too

[IntergalacticWalrus]

Yeah, those Dreamcast warnings were pretty fun. In Shenmue, each of the 4 discs had the usual "don't use the disc in a music player" message, only instead of being the generic voice, it's the voice of a character from the game, and a different one on each one of the discs! Talk about nice little details.

Also, the commercial homebrew game Feet of Fury has a funny parody of the warning, something like "running the disc in a music player can cause children of third world countries to spontaneously explode".

LOVE IS FOR GROWNUPS!

[Artifex]

For a second I thought this particular Zoom warning was a moral exhortation to game enthusiasts who are minors, but looking at the fact that it's in silhouette showing off the giant hole in the middle of the floppy, it becomes suddenly, painfully, hilariously clear.

Floppy Warnings

[PateraSilk]

Did anyone notice the weirdly suggestive diction, "Love is for grownups"? That scares me.

Samba De Amigo

[Tom Courtenay]

This is somewhat offtopic, so apologies in advance.

I rented some third party maracas for the Dreamcast's Samba De Amigo a few years ago. Unfortunately I don't remember the name of the company that made them, but they were covered with the most ludicrous "Engrish" warnings I'd ever seen. Can anybody point me to box shots of some third party controllers? I'd love to re-read some of them.

SotN and most TurboDuo games had audio warnings

[Webapprentice]

SotN gave you a free music track on track 1 if you attempted to listen to the game disc on a CD player.

Most TurboDuo games had a young woman's voice speaking the warning. "This disc contains..."

Playstation Warnings, Too

[key45]

I have a printout of a web page from scei.co.jp entitled "STORY FROM DR. AT PlayStation CLINIC".
It starts like this:

Story of Liquid
You might play game as you drink pop, right? As you get excited, you might have spilled the pop. It would be sucked if you spill the pop over your PlayStation!.... If the cockroaches get into the console through tiny space, it makes inside dirty and does mischief. So be aware!

I can't find the orignal page anymore, but someone posted some more excerpts here.