Working Designs

Episode
350 - This episode focuses on controversial publisher/localizer Working Designs and all of the games they released here in North America. Check out some addendums in the pinned comment.

0:00 - Intro
1:01 - Parasol Stars
2:14 - Cadash
4:03 - Exile
5:52 - Cosmic Fantasy 2
7:39 - Exile: Wicked Phenomenon
9:51 - Vasteel
11:17 - Lunar The Silver Star
13:59 - Vay
16:03 - Popful Mail
19:38 - Lunar Eternal Blue
22:16 - Iron Storm
23:29 - Shining Wisdom
26:30 - Dragon Force
28:26 - Albert Odyssey
30:37 - RayStorm
32:04 - Sega Ages Volume 1
33:14 - Alundra
35:07 - Elemental Gearbolt
37:16 - Thunder Force V Perfect System
39:12 - Magic Knight Rayearth
40:34 - Lunar Silver Star Story Complete
43:53 - Silhouette Mirage
45:31 - Vanguard Bandits
48:06 - RayCrisis
49:13 - Gungriffon Blaze
51:13 - Lunar Eternal Blue Complete
54:14 - Silpheed: The Lost Planet
56:18 - Arc the Lad Collection
58:45 - Growlancer Generations
1:00:21 - Wrap up
1:01:25 - Game Sack if Directed by Working Designs


#workingdesigns #lunarthesilverstar #alundra

[GameSack]

Hey everyone. Vic Ireland contacted me with a few clarifications that I'd like to share:


18:31 - I say that they re-recorded the cut scenes since they couldn't get the isolated audio tracks. This is not true. They re-recorded them because the Japanese version's audio was weak. I certainly agree with that assessment.

20:52 - Vic says he implemented the pay to save mechanic to prevent "save scumming back when I cared how people play". He seems to regret its inclusion. I still say that it didn't affect my playthoughs at all, though I can see why people would object to it.

23:00 - There is actually some Working Designs humor in Iron Storm. According to Vic "if Japan wins where the US eventually stages an economic invasion of Japan, flooding it with inexpensive autos, TVs, radios, and gadgets. The resulting trade imbalance enslaves Japan to the US. " I would've loved to show this.

34:12 - Regarding the increased difficulty in Alundra, Vic says "I didn't only buff monsters in Alundra. It was more of a balancing. For the final boss I reduced its HP and increased its attack power. The Japanese version took FOREVER to kill. It was a tiresome attack sponge. I made it easier to kill, but more deadly if you got hit so the battle was a more reasonable length. Someone who formerly complained bitterly about WD "meddling" on Alundra wrote me an apology letter after they played the Japanese version and realized that I did inarguably change at least some of it for the better. Also, the opening animation with the rock music was just for the US version. Did not exist in the Japanese."

39:44 - Magic Knight Rayearth. I probably should've mentioned that the hard drive crash happened at Sega in Japan before Working Designs got the game. I did when I talked about this one in the "Last Officially Released Games 2" episode. Regarding if it was just FMV data or not, Vic clears things up with "Rayearth source code was absolutely partially lost on the Japanese side in a crash before we got it. Anyone that says it was just FMV lost has no idea what they're talking about. Tim had to really jump through a crazy amount of hoops and hack out chunks of binary, already compiled code from the retail Japanese release to fill in the gaps in code libraries that were lost or damaged to eventually get the English version to actually work."

45:45 - I said Vanguard Bandits' Japanese title was Epic Stella when it's actually Epica Stella. Vic adds some more fun trivia about the game: "Vanguard Bandits" was actually called Epica Stella in Japan, not Epic Stella. Vanguard Bandits was an accidental title. We were spitballing after we got the legal notice from Midway about Detonator Gauntlet infringing and someone jokingly said "Panty Bandits" to someone else some distance from me and I misheard it as "Vanguard Bandits." It actually was a way better title than Detonator Gauntlet, so it worked out OK. Also, the surround assist feature of the game (where if you have allies adjacent to an enemy you are attacking, that helps you) that really improves the strategy did not exist in the Japanese version. Ken worked a long time on that to get it right and it turned out great.

I'll add to this post if Vic adds more clarifications.

[BladeBlur]

This is probably one of the most anticipated episodes of Game Sack for me, and seeing the duration of it, I applaud your hard work Joe. Thank you for making my Saturday nights great!

[MickK]

Working Designs was the only reason we could play these games outside of Japan and back in the days that was awesome but nowadays i mostly patch the games with un-worked patches because they often changed and rebalanced to much in my opinion.

[marcosdheleno]

"they even made french people seem normal", i almost spit my coffee over that one.

[GameSack]

What do you think of Working Designs? Love 'em? Hate 'em? Do you wish they had localized Chrono Trigger? Final Fantasy 7?

[AmberShort]

Best episode ever! Thanks Joe.
I miss Working Designs. They really brought alot of the rpg games out here. Not to mention the love they put in their product cases. Especially when it came to collectors sets. We really don't see them much anymore which is sad.

[HeruruMeruru]

As a Lunar fan, I have a love genuinely/love ironically relationship with Working Designs. I will admit that a lot of their earlier translations have aged poorly... but a lot of translations from that era have aged even worse. And yeah, the changes they made to the diffculty is unacceptable. Their PS1 era translations were honestly fine, though, aside from a few questionable line changes.

Personally I think their song dubs were great, the boat song in Lunar Silver Star Story in particular I think is better than the Japanese version.

Their packaging and collector's editions are absolutely gorgeous though, you can't deny that.

[Pewpewpew]

I miss them so much. I don’t have many things left from them, except my Growlanser ps2 release.

Thank you for making this episode.

I loved how they snuck little messages in their magazine ads in the copyright section :)

[banginyo]

My friends and I were obsessed with that Lunar theme song when it first came out! Hearing it brings back memories!

[kidfazer]

Joe I know you’ve never been one to overly flex your collection but I know it’s gotta be incredible. You actually inspired me to collect because of how knowledgeable you are. It’d be cool to see your collection. Maybe a montage style video going through your shelves. Thanks again for your content as always!

[Blink_____]

I hope the script writer for Albert Odyssey's translation never apologizes to anyone. That thing was a masterpiece

[PlusisChicken]

Working Designs brought some pretty great games over here. Their translations don’t bother me. As long as the basic idea of the story comes across I don’t care if some random NPC says some dated 90s humor. Alundra is one of the best games ever. I’m definitely glad we got that one. It out-Zeldas some Zelda games, and I think the music is really good. The puzzles get way too convoluted at times, though, sort of like Lufia II. Those puzzles where you push blocks on ice and they only stop when they hit a wall or something are just bad.

[kacamac]

lot of nostalgia in this one for me. I always enjoyed the dumb and silly translations. Sometimes you get a chuckle sometimes you don't, its all good

[HoodedChaosProductions]

This was one of the best episodes of GameSack I've seen in a long while.

[GuestZer]

I was first made aware of Working Design thanks to Game Sack, so this is perfect.

[TheStolken]

Popful Mail's translation is so powerful. I hope video games go back to insanely funny translations like that. This episode definitely got me interested in some of their other games. Exile has always been on the radar so good to know there's more to it than I thought.

[anthonylira]

That ending skit alone earned the thumbs up. Thanks for the trip down amnesia lane!

[jmarra]

Vanguard Bandits is one of my favorite games ever, and it's great to see someone else even know it exists, let alone appreciates it's quality

[rojovision]

This might be the most expensive episode in GS history.

[Bloodreign]

More continues can be earned in Parasol Stars, they are hidden well though. The bubbles, or enemies when thrown into certain spaces on each stage, and you uncover hidden items. You can hit each area multiple times with bubbles or enemies, and each time the bonus items you uncover increase in point value, eventually you uncover a 100 yen coin, collecting it earns you a continue. Bonus doors in boss rooms (like Rainbow Islands) can be uncovered by collecting 3 "miracles" in each world, if you get 3 of the same, you get a bonus door on the boss stage, entering it and you can actually find a large Yen coin that awards you 99 continues, finding a rainbow necklace which pops up every 77 levels played, within the stage, also awards you 99 continues.