Policenauts Pc 98 Translation

Policenauts(ポリスノーツPorisunōtsu^?) is an interactive movie/graphic novel/adventure game with a hard science fiction storyline, written and directed by Hideo Kojima, and published by Konami. It was initially released for the PC-9821 computer platform in 1994, followed by remade versions for the 3DO in 1995, and the PlayStation and Sega Saturn in 1996. The game has never been officially released outside Japan, despite plans for an Englishlocalization of the Saturn version. On August 24, 2009 (in honor of the 46th birthday of the game designer, Hideo Kojima), an unofficial English translation patch was released onto the internet.

Policenauts, like Snatcher before it, pays various homages to previously existing works. An obvious one is Jonathan's and Ed's (the main characters) respective resemblances to Riggs and Murtaugh from Lethal Weapon. The game also pays homage to the ancient Japanese tale of Urashima Taro.^[1] The game centers on a detective who travels to a space colony to investigate the circumstances surrounding his ex-wife's murder and her new husband's sudden disappearance.

Kojima: With Policenauts I wanted the actors to act as if they were dubbing an American movie, so I picked out people who had experience with movies. When we did the recordings we started with the NEC PC-9821 version. Since there were no video files for that version, we had them act out while we explained their scenes showing cuts of the visuals.

Very strange words, from a rather strange man. PC-98 The original PC-98 version differs substantially from the console versions. Although all versions come on CD, the console versions use full motion video for certain important cutscenes, while the PC version just uses animated stills, similar to Snatcher. The original PC-98 version differs substantially from the console versions. Although all versions come on CD, the console versions use full motion video for certain important cutscenes, while the PC version just uses animated stills, similar to Snatcher. The visuals in the PC version are all high resolution 640×400 static bitmaps with 16. Policenauts is a Japanese-style adventure with action elements. Policenauts.net (The English translation patch for the PSX version of the game can be downloaded from this site. It also contains a summarized timeline of the game's events, among other things.). Unicorn Lynx (181564) added Policenauts (PC-98) on Jun 29, 2010 Other platforms.

• 3Development

Gameplay

The game is set in a primarily first person perspective and uses a point-and-click interface: the player can move the cursor and have the protagonist (Jonathan Ingram) analyze objects around his environment or talk to other characters in the game. Like in Snatcher, the game features shooting segments where the player must defend their character from incoming enemies. The player can use the shooting trainer at the police department to test their reflex and accuracy. There are numerous puzzles in the game, including an event where the player must dismantle a bomb by following their partner's instructions.^{[citation needed]}

The console versions of the game all include support for their respective mouse peripherals. The Saturn version features light gun support for the shooting segments.^{[citation needed]}

Story

The game centers on Jonathan Ingram, one of the five 'Policenauts', astronauts with police training, assigned to ensure the safety of Beyond Coast, mankind's first fully functional space colony in the year 2013. Johnathan tests a new space walking suit, but drifts away into space by accident and is presumed dead by his colleagues. He is found alive and well 25 years later thanks to the cold-sleep module connected to the suit. Three years later, Jonathan (now a private investigator working in the former Los Angeles) is visited by his former wife, Lorraine, who asks for Jonathan's help in solving the disappearance of her current husband, Kenzo Hojo, the only clues he left behind being a torn leaf, a set of capsules, and the word 'Plato'. Jonathan is reluctant to take her case at first, but after Lorraine leaves his office, she is attacked and murdered by a man in a black motorcycle suit. Jonathan, unable to catch the culprit, decides to fulfill his ex-wife's final request and travels to Beyond, where he is reunited with his former partner from his LAPD days, Ed Brown, who agrees to help Jonathan investigate the circumstances surrounding Hojo's disappearance and Lorraine's murder.

During the course of the investigation, Jonathan and Ed learn that Becker and Tokugawa have been involved in running an illegal drug and organ trafficking ring in order to counteract the negative side-effects of being in space for long periods of time. Hojo had been included in the business in order to save his daughter, Karen, and ultimately wanted to leave, only to be murdered. During a stand-off with Becker, Jonathan records Becker's confession about the scheme and has Meryl broadcast the recording live, exposing the scandal to the colonists. Ed saves Jonathan from death, while Meryl and the remaining police arrest Tokugawa. Jonathan donates his bone marrow to Karen upon learning that he is her biological father, and returns to Earth.

Development

Policenauts was first released for the NEC PC-9821 on July 29, 1994. The PC-98 came in one CD-ROM that included an installation floppy disk. All the cut-scenes were rendered using hand-drawn pixel art as opposed to full-motion video anime. Prior to releasing the standard version of the game, Konami issued the Policenauts: Pilot Disk for the 3DO on April 21, 1995. This disc contains a playable demo, an encyclopedia of the game's backstory, featurettes, and information about the game's voice actors and developers. Policenauts: Private Collection was released for the PlayStation on February 9, 1996, featuring much of the same content as the Pilot Disk, adding an earlier version of the game's script as well. The encyclopedia, featurettes and shooting trainer are included as hidden features in the Saturn version.^{[citation needed]}

The first console version was released for the 3DO on September 29, 1995, consisting of two CD-ROMs. Animated cut-scenes were added to this version along with CG animation, and all the graphics were redrawn. Limited edition copies came bundled with the 3DO mouse and a mousepad. The PlayStation version (January 19, 1996), also on two discs, made further additions by digitally fixing most of the graphics and movies from the 3DO version. The last console version, released for the Sega Saturn (September 13, 1996), on three discs, added support for Sega's Virtua Gun light gun peripheral. Although the home console versions of the game mostly used pre-existing dialog tracks from the original PC-98 version, all of the original voice actors were brought back to record new lines of dialog for the new cutscenes.^{[citation needed]}

The PlayStation version has been re-issued twice. The first time was under the 'Konami the Best' label on September 18, 1997. A second reissue under the 'PSone Books' series was released on August 7, 2003. The game was added to the PlayStation Store's Japanese Game Archives on May 15, 2008, making the game downloadable for the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3.^[2]

English localization

The Saturn version of Policenauts was officially announced for a North American release by Konami on May 1996.^[3] A mock-up cover art was produced and featured on a promotional Sega pamphlet packaged with certain games. However, the North American version was never released. According to Kojima, work began on the North American version, but the developers were unable to synchronize the English dialogue with the animated FMV cut-scenes.^[4]

A fan translation of the PlayStation version has been produced, which has gained attention from the video game media. Although the translation of the game content was nearly completed by Marc Laidlaw and Artemio Urbina during the summer of 2007,^[5][6] the translation project could not find a programmer to complete the insertion of translated material into a version of the game and progress stalled.

Reception

GameFan's three reviewers scored it 100, 94 and 92 out of 100. One of the reviewers said 'that Policenauts has one of the best game storylines ever.' Another reviewer said that he 'truly thought adventure gaming could get no better than Snatcher' but Konami 'has outdone themselves in everything from the beyond-beautiful music to the professional quality cinemas.'^[7]

RPGFan rated it 97% for story, 95% for sound/music, 94% for graphics, 80% for gameplay, and 80% for control, with an overall score of 98%. They called it 'a masterpiece' and concluded that, from 'the incredible graphics and soundtrack, to the compelling story, Policenauts is a true classic.'^[8]

The game was notable for being an early example of extensive voice recording in video games.^[9] It also featured a theme revolving around space exploration and occasional full-motion video cut scenes. The gameplay was largely similar to Snatcher, but with the addition of a point-and-click interface and some first-person shooter segments. Policenauts also introduced summary screens, which act to refresh the player's memory of the plot upon reloading a save, an element Kojima would later use in Metal Gear Solid. The PlayStation version of Policenauts could also read the memory card and give some easter egg dialogues if a save file of Konami's dating simTokimeki Memorial is present, a technique Kojima would also later use in Metal Gear Solid.^[1]

References

1. ↑ ^1.01.1Kurt Kalata, Policenauts, Hardcore Gaming 101
2. ↑'PlayStationStore - POLICENAUTS - (株)コナミデジタルエンタテインメント' (in Japanese).CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)<templatestyles src='Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css'></templatestyles>
3. ↑'Konami: Policenauts for Saturn'. Archived from the original on November 9, 1996.<templatestyles src='Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css'></templatestyles>
4. ↑Policenauts: Official Guide. pp. 118–122. ISBN4-87188-835-5.<templatestyles src='Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css'></templatestyles>
5. ↑Policenauts Fan Translation Project Nears Completion news from 1UP.com
6. ↑Fan-translation of Kojima's Policenauts nears completion - Joystiq
7. ↑Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named gamefan
8. ↑Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named rpgfan
9. ↑Mark Ryan Sallee. 'Kojima's Legacy: We reflect on the influence of Hideo Kojima's 20 years in gaming'. IGN. Retrieved 2009-08-20.<templatestyles src='Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css'></templatestyles>

Bibliography

• Various (September 1996). ポリスノーツ 公式ガイド. 公式ガイドシリーズ (in Japanese). コナミ. ISBN4-87188-835-5.CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)<templatestyles src='Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css'></templatestyles>
• コナミCP事業部 編 (September 1996). セガサターン ポリスノーツ―公式完全ガイドブック. コナミ完璧攻略シリーズ (in Japanese). コナミ. ISBN4-575-28640-0.CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)<templatestyles src='Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css'></templatestyles>
• 講談社 編 (March 6, 1996). ポリスノーツオフィシャルビジュアルデータブック. 覇王ゲームスペシャル 45 (in Japanese). 講談社. ISBN4-06-329246-0.CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)<templatestyles src='Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css'></templatestyles>

External links

• Policenauts Official website(Japanese)
• Policenauts PSone Books Re-release Official website(Japanese)

Policenauts Pc 98 Translation Free

Policenauts, Hideo Kojima’s 1996 interactive sci-fi detective story, wasnt available in English until 2009 when a group of dedicated fans at Junker HQ released a translation patch for the game’s PlayStation port. Since Konami never officially localized the game, English-speaking players had to make do with this, dealing with some cut content and other issues. No longer.

Earlier this month, the Junker team finished work on a patch for the “complete” Sega Saturn edition, making it possible to finally play Policenauts in its entirety without a working knowledge of Japanese. If you’re a fan of Kojima’s brand of storytelling, you’ll want to check it out.

Over at Policenauts.net, the team has released very detailed instructions on what you need to do to get the game up and running on your PC (or Mac), and it requires a little bit of legwork. The patch itself is a series of files that must be applied to the game’s .iso and .cue files, which means you’ll need to do a little bit of command line tinkering to ultimately replace the Japanese with English text.

As for getting the game to work, it took me about an hour to muddle through the process and get it working on my MacBook Air with no coding knowledge whatsoever, though the process is actually short and relatively simple. If you follow the instructions, you shouldn’t run into any major issues. Just keep in mind they include extra steps to rip the necessary files from actual Policenauts discs, which you can skip if you feel comfortable finding the .iso files needed for emulation online.

And what does playing Policenauts feel like 20 years after its release? If you can stomach the point-and-click interface, it holds up pretty well. The pixel art of the Saturn release is great, particularly in the game’s light gun shooting sections, a holdover from Kojima’s Snatcher. Junker should also be commended on their stellar translation work, which captures the voice and tone of the game’s hardboiled protagonist with what I can only imagine is extreme authenticity; and it helps make up for the age of its design. Even two decades later, this is definitely a Kojima game.

Policenauts English Download

It’s also interesting to play now as an early glimpse at Kojima-isms. His attentive prescience about technology and society is present here in mentions of things like virtual reality porn and artificial organs, and if you’ve ever wondered where his use of the font Helvetica and tendency to introduce characters by name and voice actor during cutscenes comes from, it’s here.

Policenauts Pc 98 English

Need more convincing? Right off the bat there’s relatively blatant references to Blade Runner, Lethal Weapon, and 2001. Some things never change. Now you have no excuse to not see it for yourself.