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Difference between revisions of "El-Hazard Ports to PC and GBA"

From EHOL

(Officially decomissioning PC/GBA version)
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<FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=3>
 
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<br>
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Hello and welcome to the site section deticated to your friendly neighborhood webmaster's latest brainchild -- El-Hazard
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Back around November 2002, a cumulative effort of playing the El-Hazard Sega Saturn title (my younger brother Tim), hacking the data files of the Sega Saturn title and recreating the engine for a modern PC platform (me), and a great guy named  
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for the PC compatible!  This little title has been in the works since November 2002 and is the cumulative effort of  
 
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playing the El-Hazard Sega Saturn title (my younger brother Tim), hacking the data files of the Sega Saturn title and  
 
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recreating the engine for a modern PC platform (me), and a great guy named  
 
 
[mailto:rubens.barrichello@swipnet.se Magnus Andersson] who did  
 
[mailto:rubens.barrichello@swipnet.se Magnus Andersson] who did  
 
[http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/8867 MIDI conversions] of the BGM's at the last  
 
[http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/8867 MIDI conversions] of the BGM's at the last  
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minute!<br><br>I recommend you give this page a quick read through if you're new to this game.<br><br>
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minute, produced a PC rendition of the Saturn/PC-98 game.
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== GENERAL DISCLAIMER ==
 
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Short and sweet: I'm not responsible if this makes your computer system die, your workplace network fry, or your younger
 
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sibling cry.<br><br>
 
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Also, this game makes some generic religious references, but nothing any real worse than the original El-Hazard OAV. 
 
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Explained in greater detail below, Jinnai sees himself as a "messiah", but this is not meant to be slanderous or
 
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supportive of ANY denomination of ANY religion.  Quite frankly if you see Jinnai as (mis)representing your religion,
 
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you're in worse shape than any of us.  Unless it's one of those fangirl worship religions I've heard about...<br><br>
 
  
 
== The Good and The Bad ==
 
== The Good and The Bad ==
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<b>Q.</b> <i>How close it this thing to the Saturn version?</i><br><br>
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<b>Q.</b> <i>How close was this thing to the Saturn version?</i><br><br>
 
<b>A.</b> It all depends which part you'd like to be closest.  If it's 100% accurate translation, forget it.  The  
 
<b>A.</b> It all depends which part you'd like to be closest.  If it's 100% accurate translation, forget it.  The  
 
original english player's guide written by Lucan Duran (available at  
 
original english player's guide written by Lucan Duran (available at  
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the priestesses, etc.<br><br>
 
the priestesses, etc.<br><br>
  
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As far as technically, it's nearly dead on.  The engine and all the [limited] effects that it produced are matched as  
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As far as technically, it was nearly dead on.  The engine and all the [limited] effects that it produced are matched as  
 
close as we could eyeball any of it.<br><br>
 
close as we could eyeball any of it.<br><br>
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The problem however is that we took what I later felt were too many creative liberties with the script.  It was compared to what bad dubbing companies do to good anime series.  (Ouch!)  As such, I don't feel it is worth presenting any more unless someone comes along to redo the script.  The software also likely needs to be modernized, updated, maintained, etc.  It's just not my priority in life right now, especially since El-Hazard has slid into almost total obscurity.
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<font size=4>Saturn (via TV capture card)</font><br>
 
<font size=4>Saturn (via TV capture card)</font><br>
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of these were based on things that seemed funny to us from that Japanese version, such as Jinnai's accusation of Makoto  
 
of these were based on things that seemed funny to us from that Japanese version, such as Jinnai's accusation of Makoto  
 
performing black arts turned him into a religious zealot.<br><br>
 
performing black arts turned him into a religious zealot.<br><br>
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We all know Jinnai is <i>supposed</i> to be the dillusional
 
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nutcase of a school president who's after Makoto for whatever active reason it was that he thinks or knows that Makoto
 
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had tried to oust him from office... but honestly, that doesn't
 
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seem all that far off from a religious zealot who's after him for accusation of being a demon, now does it?<br><br><br>
 
  
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<b>Q.</b> <i>I'll show you, I know Japanese, I [will] own a Saturn, and I [will] own El-Hazard for the Sega Saturn, and
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But what you do when you're younger looks kind of stupid later a lot of the time, and this was no exception.  This was immature and unprofessional, and I apologize.
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do the dialog properly!</i><br><br>
 
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<b>A.</b> That's not really a question, but go right ahead!  I'll even give you the script sources if you want to pursue
 
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that project.<br>
 
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If you just know Japanese but don't own the Saturn/game, I can't at this time really help with such
 
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a project, because the only thing I can think to do is take over a thousand screenshots and send them in bulk, and  
 
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that's just on the edge of insanity.  A Saturn and a copy of the game can come up cheap on eBay, so I recommend you go
 
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out and purchase both.  (You'll probably also need either a Japanese Saturn or a modified Saturn, for this game is
 
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Japan-native only.)<br><br><br>
 
  
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<b>Q.</b> <i>How should I work to get all 9 endings in my measly 3 save slots?</i><br><br>
 
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<b>A.</b> Once the game gets to about Chapter 8, there's nothing really left for you to do except watch the outcome of
 
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all choices you've made up to that point.  Therefore, there's no reason to keep a savegame there.  So, once you've seen
 
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an ending, you'll be given a chance to save.  Save on to the slot you've been using up to that point, and it'll give you
 
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a count of how many endings you've achieved.<br><br>
 
  
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[[Image:EHPC_screen_save.gif]]
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<b>Q.</b> <i>I think it's worth fixing; can I redo the dialog and/or code?</i><br><br>
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<br><br>
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<b>A.</b> Absolutely.  I'll give you the resources if you want to pursue that project.<br>
  
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<font size=3><b>After you save on that slot, reload from it to continue your quest to obtain all 9 endings!</b></font> 
 
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If you don't reload from it, it won't remember your ending counts...
 
 
<sidebar>
 
<sidebar>
 
* EHPC
 
* EHPC
 
** El-Hazard for the PC Compatible|Introduction
 
** El-Hazard for the PC Compatible|Introduction
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** EHPC/Getting Started|Getting Started
 
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** EHPC/Controls|Controls
 
 
** EHPC/Story|Story
 
** EHPC/Story|Story
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** EHPC/The Basics|The Basics
 
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** EHPC/Download|Download
 
 
* Game Guide
 
* Game Guide
 
** EHPC/Game Guide|Introduction
 
** EHPC/Game Guide|Introduction

Revision as of 16:43, 13 April 2011

(Latest version is v0.99)
EHPC Main.jpg


Back around November 2002, a cumulative effort of playing the El-Hazard Sega Saturn title (my younger brother Tim), hacking the data files of the Sega Saturn title and recreating the engine for a modern PC platform (me), and a great guy named Magnus Andersson who did MIDI conversions of the BGM's at the last minute, produced a PC rendition of the Saturn/PC-98 game.

The Good and The Bad

Q. How close was this thing to the Saturn version?

A. It all depends which part you'd like to be closest. If it's 100% accurate translation, forget it. The original english player's guide written by Lucan Duran (available at GameFAQs.com) was our only basis to the game, besides our basic El-Hazard knowledge. So basically, anyone familiar with El-Hazard will get the concepts like the Eye of God, the priestesses, etc.

As far as technically, it was nearly dead on. The engine and all the [limited] effects that it produced are matched as close as we could eyeball any of it.

The problem however is that we took what I later felt were too many creative liberties with the script. It was compared to what bad dubbing companies do to good anime series. (Ouch!) As such, I don't feel it is worth presenting any more unless someone comes along to redo the script. The software also likely needs to be modernized, updated, maintained, etc. It's just not my priority in life right now, especially since El-Hazard has slid into almost total obscurity.


Saturn (via TV capture card)
Saturn compare.jpg

PC
EHPC compare.jpg

As you can see, the screenshots are ESSENTIALLY the same, save for a bit of positioning error. However, this is partly due to trying to convert on-screen results to numerical forms in an efficent manner. The Saturn may also have had a more precise method than my 16 pixel-block design.


Q. [I'm an El-Hazard fan, so I notice...] What's with the characters?

A. Well, the original Saturn version was virtually The Wanderers with an additional priestess, and Galus doing his Eye of God thing. Eventually by about the third chapter, we decided to have more fun with this game, and we created additional facets to the characters that are not by any means 100% accurate to their typical cartoon counterparts. Many of these were based on things that seemed funny to us from that Japanese version, such as Jinnai's accusation of Makoto performing black arts turned him into a religious zealot.

But what you do when you're younger looks kind of stupid later a lot of the time, and this was no exception. This was immature and unprofessional, and I apologize.


Q. I think it's worth fixing; can I redo the dialog and/or code?

A. Absolutely. I'll give you the resources if you want to pursue that project.
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