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Takashi Tezuka Meets Giant Rubber Dildo: A Nintendo Anecdote from Claude M. Moyse

BocoDragon said:
Nintendo HQ sounds utterly insane, btw.

Makes sense that the Yamauchi days were pretty conservative, but I wonder if they still play Mozart like that.

Claude said:
And this French woman was really hilarious…she was working on some role-playing game and kept swearing constantly… "To hell with this fucking game…why do I have to think up names for 20 swords? Wouldn't one have been enough?" It was typical video game names for swords, like thieve's sword, hell sword, demon rapier, Excalibur and so on. She just made it "Sword 1", "Sword 2", "Sword 3" etc. We tried to explain to her that it would make no sense that way and that she should be more creative. But her answer always was something like "merde" or "fuck you", all with a French accent, mind you.

So hot. At least, that's what Claude was thinking. And probably the greater aspect of unprofessionalism. Although it doesn't make for as good a story as far as firing offences go.
 

Dresden

Member
Just as we entered, of course, all men escaped from the shop in a panic because women really aren't meant to be in Japanese sex shops. The shop owner's face became all pale and he hid behind the counter, completely ashamed. The French woman however ran through the shop, laughing out loud: "Look, Claude. A giant dildo, though the Japanese only have small… And look, here, a gay photo book with sumo wrestlers who are sticking burning candles up their butts. I gotta give that to my gay coworker!" From time to time, some new customers entered the shop but escaped backwards in an instant seeing that French woman waving around with a transparent rubber dildo in her hands. Anyway, so she bought the dildo and the gay porn magazine and stashed it all away in her handbag.
Oh, Japan.
 

Ether_Snake

安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安
sprsk said:
It may also might have been because she wanted to name all the swords "Sword 1" "Sword 2" "Sword 3"

But Squaresoft loved the idea, so they used the same principle for spells in Final Fantasy!

Fire 1, Fire 2, Fire 3, etc.

Looks like she quickly found another job:D
 
So only men are allowed to buy dildos in Japan?

Edit: Oh hey, I already posted in this thread. You'd think I'd remember a crazy story like this.
 

Cipherr

Member
Ether_Snake said:
But Squaresoft loved the idea, so they used the same principle for spells in Final Fantasy!

Fire 1, Fire 2, Fire 3, etc.

Looks like she quickly found another job:D


Lol.
 
cosmicblizzard said:
So only men are allowed to buy dildos in Japan?

Edit: Oh hey, I already posted in this thread. You'd think I'd remember a crazy story like this.

I am also curious about this. Not to derail the thread, but is it common for Japanese men to buy dildos for their significant others? Do Japanese women use dildos/vibrators as much as Western women do ?
 

Kurtofan

Member
Ether_Snake said:
But Squaresoft loved the idea, so they used the same principle for spells in Final Fantasy!

Fire 1, Fire 2, Fire 3, etc.

Looks like she quickly found another job:D
Brasier X so hot.
 
cosmicblizzard said:
So only men are allowed to buy dildos in Japan?

Edit: Oh hey, I already posted in this thread. You'd think I'd remember a crazy story like this.
Judging from the way Moyse described it the shop owner probably was ashamed because the french chick ran arround the store screaming and laughing and not because she is a woman.
 

Ether_Snake

安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安
ViralMarketingDrone said:
Judging from the way Moyse described it the shop owner probably was ashamed because the french chick ran arround the store screaming and laughing and not because she is a woman.

I am fairly certain it is because it was a woman, period. Especially a white woman.
 

Boney

Banned
ViralMarketingDrone said:
Judging from the way Moyse described it the shop owner probably was ashamed because the french chick ran arround the store screaming and laughing and not because she is a woman.
I keep confusing you for me! Same as the missile avatar thiefs!
 
Ether_Snake said:
I am fairly certain it is because it was a woman, period. Especially a white woman.
Yet that evil xenophobic, sex-shop owning racist sold her the dildo and the gayporn.
It's just cultural differences and a makes for a funny anecdote.
But derailing the thread with some JAPAN IS RACIST AND XENOPHOBIC I'VE READ IT ON THE INTERNETS discussion is pretty dumb.
 

mrseaves

Banned
Jackano said:
Gotta be Veronique Chantel I think, since it's the only name I was able to remember from video games credits when I was a kid (because it was the only french name in the list). Completely ruin the myth here :lol

Nice one, Prime Blue :lol

Edit: oh, fired... maybe not her so^^"
So I googled her name and found her picture:

Nintendo%20Player%20N25-%20Page%200034.JPG


And a mention of her as "not knowing anything about the video game/RPG/fantasy universe, but explained she did a lot of research in order to translate names for pieces of equipment."

http://forum.abandonware.org/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=3155
 

orioto

Good Art™
Kurtofan said:
Yeah apparently her getting fired means that they stopped translating Secret Of Mana because it was in English when I played it.

What ??
I definitly played it in french in december 94 if i recall well.

"Isatis se fait rosser !!!"
 

Mojojo

Member
fun story, looks like this woman brought the Paris syndrome directly to the Nintendo HQ .
Triggers
Cultural difference - the large difference between not only the languages but the manner the French communicate on an interpersonal level in comparison to the rigidly formal Japanese culture proves too great a difficulty for some Japanese visitors. It is thought that it is the rapid and frequent fluctuations in mood, tense and attitude, especially in the delivery of humour, which cause the most difficulty.
 
Uh oh... The wife of a friend of mine used to translate Zelda Games into French.

Fake edit : oh, seems she's not this Veronique. I'll ask her about all this next time I see her though :)
 

h#shdem0n

Member
bring a porn magazine into work and pass it around at lunch and see if you get to keep your job.

unless you work in the porn industry.

While it's possible she was more severely reprimanded for being a woman (possible, not saying that's what happened), that behavior is unprofessional and most work places will let you know that it could be grounds for termination.
 

daxgame

Member
I suspect that the story is a bit exaggerated on purpose, but then again that's just my impression. If I was french I guess I would be glad she was fired, anyway.
 

-KRS-

Member
Uhm that's one hell of a bump. I didn't even remember my post in this thread and I had already forgotten that Eine Kleine Nachtmusik is in DDR Mario Mix. I don't even know why I knew that back then, because I haven't played that game. :S

But it was entertaining to read the story again at least.
 

iidesuyo

Member
Please excuse me for digging this thread out of the grave, I stumbled about it while searching for Claude Moyse news and being referenced in the OP. Hard to find the interview as Classic Zone seems to have closed down.

Some additions. Those events in Japan must have taken place somewhere in 1994, because Secret of Mana wasn't released in Germany until christmas of that year.

The Japanese staff obviously didn't care about what he was doing, otherwise he wouldn't have gotten away with his translations. IIRC he once said that those guys reminded him of penises, so it seems he felt the urge to tell people to always use condoms.
schleimer02normalversion6b3.jpg


Well, they later changed it in the DX version. Secret of Mana was also altered in the VC version.

Secret%2Bof%2BMana%2B-%2BLindenstra%25C3%259Fe.JPG

090102210946ow5.jpg



Also interesting, the Kirby games bombed in Germany. Surprising to me, it always felt like they were popular.
 

ReyVGM

Member
It would be great if you could translate what that is supposed to mean. I don't know if it's supposed to be a bad translation or not.
 

iidesuyo

Member
It would be great if you could translate what that is supposed to mean. I don't know if it's supposed to be a bad translation or not.

Lindenstrasse is a popular soap opera in Germany, being around since the mid 80s or so. The translation seems awkward to many, it's like "hey, let's go watch Dallas". Many didn't like it. There is also some some blond guy who looks for his sunglasses and looks like a pop star from back in the days.

heino.jpg


I found it funny, but a lot of people hated it. Many German pop culture references which didn't really fit in a JRPG.
 
Please excuse me for digging this thread out of the grave, I stumbled about it while searching for Claude Moyse news and being referenced in the OP. Hard to find the interview as Classic Zone seems to have closed down.
You may have figured out but the wayback machine has a snapshot of the page. The zip file containing the chatlog is in there (not viewed it myself, verified the download worked).
 
So I googled her name and found her picture:

Nintendo%20Player%20N25-%20Page%200034.JPG


And a mention of her as "not knowing anything about the video game/RPG/fantasy universe, but explained she did a lot of research in order to translate names for pieces of equipment."

http://forum.abandonware.org/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=3155

I was precisely thinking about this interview too when reading the OP ^^

Yeah apparently her getting fired means that they stopped translating Secret Of Mana because it was in English when I played it.

My copy was in French, IIRC... ?
 

Mael

Member
Secret of Mana was really translated and in full.
It's even a competent translation especialy compared to the shit SCEE pulled with FFVII

and wow I didn't see orioto banned?
....That culture difference really did him in this time...
 
As a translator working on products essentially designed for children, I can see why her actions (and sense of humor) may have set off alarm bells for the Big N.
 

Mael

Member
Yeah I was in that thread. Was disappointing to say the least. This Necro is the stuff of legend though lol.

I get what he was trying to say but I don't think it translated over well...
And really as far as insult goes this doesn't even come close to being on the radar as it goes here.... or maybe I stayed too long in Paris...

Anyway I guess it explains why around that time the translations seemed to have lost a little something...
Although whoever did OoT in French needs a medal, outstanding work as far as I'm concerned.

I mean, again play FFVII and OoT back to back and you'll see what I mean.

e: oh and I think I have the French magazine this interview was in, here is the last place I expected to see it posted lol.
Such a blast from the past!
 

wrowa

Member
Lindenstrasse is a popular soap opera in Germany, being around since the mid 80s or so. The translation seems awkward to many, it's like "hey, let's go watch Dallas". Many didn't like it.

It probably was mentioned in this thread already, but there was a reason for that. Claude got invited to Japan to translate SoM, but once he's arrived there they showed him a Japanese version of the game. Which was a huge problem, since he didn't actually speak Japanese - he wanted to learn the language, but apparently NoE actively discouraged their employees from learning Japanese at the time.

After a few days where he could do nothing much, they very proudly gave him a translation in broken Engrish. He then had to work with that - but it was so bad that he often didn't really know what happened on screen. During the infamous "Lindenstraße" joke he only knew that the Goblins needed to go away for some reason... and then he came up with that joke.

It's worth pointing out that while many people disliked his translations, just as many loved his humour. Some of the old German translations he did still have a really special, early 90's feeling to them. I'm glad they exist, really.
 
It was time for some small talk. Mr. Tezuka asked the French woman how she liked Kyoto and what we did the evening before. And she said "Oh, it's great here. We've been to a sex shop…" Followed by an embarassed and unbelieving silence from the Japanese employees. Then she opened her handbag and took out the porn magazine. "Look what I found. They have candles in their asses. Is that what you do around here? And here, this dildo. Cool, ain't it?"

I would pay obscene amounts of money to see this conversation.

Just incredible. WOW !
 

Mael

Member

Let's not derail this thread any further, I'll be concise :
He used the term "autistic withdrawal" to qualify Nintendo's behaviour.
I can assure you that if you translate wholesale his post in French and have it read by French people, no one would burn him at the stake for that.
He spent pages upon pages trying to ineffectively defend himself.
Really he could have just said something was lost in translation or something but it wasn't in any way something important.
Heck that's probably how Liberation would have qualified Sarkozy's behaviour in 2012...
View it as how people see the word "retard" and its translation in french if you will.

let's leave it at that.
 

Gambit82

Banned
This is true, but you have to remember: This is Nintendo in the 80's/early 90's. I wouldn't be surprised if the conservative Japanese ("ZOMG WOMEN IN THE SEX SHOP! *runs*" :lol ) toward her display and being upfront like that caused her to be fired.

In a normal job, it isn't appropriate to show a dildo and pornography to coworkers.
 

BGBW

Maturity, bitches.
The official working time begins with Mozart's "Eine kleine Nachtmusik".
So was this the inspiration for it being the tune that starts a Mario Bros session?

EDIT: Oh wow, didn't even realise how old this thread was. Story was interesting to read nonetheless.
 

xk0sm0sx

Member
Hmm, my lecturer in Digipen who developed games in Nintendo of America's NST told us a story saying the men only in development in Japan's Nintendo can wear whatever they want, but all the women had to wear uniforms. Until one day Miyamoto's favourite artist protested it and they finally allowed the women in development to wear whatever they want as well.

So I'm not quite sure where it fits in there...
 

iidesuyo

Member
It's worth pointing out that while many people disliked his translations, just as many loved his humour. Some of the old German translations he did still have a really special, early 90's feeling to them. I'm glad they exist, really.

I loved it. Made the game a bit more lighthearted.


That's a ballsy way to go out, for certain.

It was the mid 90's, and she probably was simply carefree.

When I remember working conditions in Germany 20 years ago... the ash trays were piled with cigarettes, alcohol at work was often tolerated (some vending machines at work sold beer), touching the butt of girls was seen as a minor offence... things have changed A LOT.

Hell, in my father's office, they had a calender with naked girls, and that was a government agency. Unthinkable today.
 

ChipotIe

Banned
Holy shit at the 3 door bit.

That's actually very common for buildings that house executives at a regular basis. They also get their own elevators, personal gyms/indoor swimming pool, or whatever they feel like really - it varies from place to place.
 

iidesuyo

Member
And she's fluent Japanese? How does one get to that point with no sense of the culture?

No, they translated the English version. European staff were discouraged to learn Japanese.

Nintendo flew them to Japan to translate the English translation of the Japanese version. That's how I got it from the original interview.
 
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