Editor’s Note: The above image is not how the optional updated patch looks in the game.
After outcry from some individuals caused translators to include an optional “slur free patch” for Goemon 3, the patch has seemingly updated again to only offer that patch.
For those who missed our prior coverage [1, 2], a fan translation of Ganbare Goemon 3: Shishijyūrokubei no Karakuri Manji Katame (roughly “Good Luck Goemon 3: Shishirokubei’s Mechanical Manji”) drew outcry.
One NPC in the game says “I’m actually a tranny… Should I tell my boyfriend the truth?” In Japanese the term “newhalf” (“ニューハーフ”) was used, slang for a transgender woman.
While indicative of the time and the tone of the scene, some users of Twitter and gaming forum ResetEra took extreme offense to it, and dogpilled the translator with abuse. After a public apology, the translator seemingly deleted his online presence, and indicated the incident “crushed [their] passion for translating.”
The project had up to that point allegedly taken “4 years of work,” and $400 USD “worth of research material for accurate translation.”
After this DDS Translation offered a patch where players could use a “slur free patch” to revert the word back to newhalf, instead of using tranny.
Now, the Twitter account for DDS Translation has now been deleted, and the fan translation patch has updated to seemingly only allow the “slur free patch.”
An anonymous source has also revealed to us that Glen Nilsson had contacted both DDS Translation and the original translator of the Goemon 3 patch via Twitter [1, 2], prior to their accounts being deleted.
Nilsson is a “Submission Reviewer” for Romhacking.net (where the fan-translation patch of Goemon 3 was hosted), along with Co-host and Producer of YouTube channel DudeGoBack, Admin of The Metal Review, a Writer for The Digital Fix, and an indie game developer.
In addition, the patch has now seemingly been updated to version 4.0. There is now no warning of “controversial text” in the readme file, instead stating the only change in version 4.0 as “Reverts a word back to Japanese.” The page for the game on Romhacking.net states the 4.0 version was uploaded on February 8th, the same say Nilsson reached our to DDS Translation.
Our anonymous source also sent us two alleged screen captures of the downloaded files. We can verify the 4.0 version (on the right) is accurate to what can currently be downloaded from Romhacking.net. You can find them below:
Based on the phrasing of the original readme, this would seem to indicate the use of “newhalf” is the only one available.
We are working to find archives of our prior sources and citation, and have reached out to Nilsson for more information.
