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Does Nintendo Treehouse rely on memes too much? (Tri Force Heroes Localization)

K

Kade

Member
It's not possible to simply dislike things in things you otherwise enjoy greatly and point out why. I must be some "butthurt" zealot fighting an imaginary war for the integrity of video game jokes. I must vanquish my foes with opposing opinions, but first let me exaggerate their thoughts on this matter to give myself the upper hand.
 
T

Trigonometrize.

Member
Weltall Zero said:
I like how people defending the use of memes are painting those against as if they opposed them because they detracted from the gravitas. Nobody disagrees that the translation in a game like Triforce Heroes has to be funny and silly; the argument is that memes are a) extremely lazy attempts at comedy that substitute actual, original comedy, b) not nearly as funny in the first place, even assuming one gets the reference, and c) prone to get worse really quick as they fall into saturation and discredit.
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Things can be silly and still be quality, though some in here act like there's no connection.

Kade said:
It's not possible to simply dislike things in things you otherwise enjoy greatly and point out why. I must be some "butthurt" zealot fighting an imaginary war for the integrity of video game jokes. I must vanquish my foes with opposing opinions, but first let me exaggerate their thoughts on this matter to give myself the upper hand.
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Gotta love that strawman.
 
D

Dimmle

Member
Nairume said:
super-paper-mario-message-board-e.jpg
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the best
 
L

Linkhero1

Member
I don't like it one bit. I prefer the European translation. Nothing wrong with including it every once in a while, but the example in the OP makes it seem bad.
 
M

MUnited83

For you.
Randam said:
what is nintendo treehouse?


and I want a 1 to 1 translation of the original. which in this case would be the japanese version.
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Lol, 1 to 1 translation. You don't even know what you're asking for. A 1 to 1 translation would be the most terrible incomprehensible shit. That's not how translation/localization works and I hope people never try that crap.
 
R

Riki

Member
Frumix said:
Because right now we're able to play some great games from 20 years ago and they tended to have a lot less of this trash.
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I don't know if this is true. Games like Earthbound, Toe Jam and Earl, Earthworm Jim and plenty of others have very dated references in them.
I think people are just upset because they think they're better than memes. Which is a lie.
 
A

Aaronrules380

Member
Frumix said:
Because right now we're able to play some great games from 20 years ago and they tended to have a lot less of this trash.
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Triforce heroes quality 20 years later will be awful because the servers will be down and single player is abysmal, not because of memes
 
F

Frumix

Suffering From Success
Riki said:
I don't know if this is true. Games like Earthbound, Toe Jam and Earl, Earthworm Jim and plenty of others have very dated references in them.
I think people are just upset because they think they're better than memes. Which is a lie.
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Eh, there is a certain discrepancy in quality there, I think. Internet memes are some of the simplest forms of reference humor, and wink wink nudge nudge just isn't funny if the recipient doesn't know what it's all about. And a proper reference, for example, Might & Magic VI referencing Star Trek crew member names in a spaceship-related quest, doesn't look out of place, an unknowing outsider just simply won't get anything out of it, while here, if you don't know what a doge meme is or why it should be funny, it looks like the writer just gave up and let his pet ape finish his work. It's just misplaced. This is why it's the lowest quality humor - because it has no context, it's just somebody in the game saying a meme out of the blue.

Earthworm Jim in its entirety is dated, but it owns that dated-ness, it doesn't look like an ugly brain tumor on the body of a perfectly good game design.

casiopao said:
I surely feel all that great quality from SNK translation 20 years before .^_^
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Oh well, those fighting arcades, that surely invalidates all the great game scripts and translations, you showed me.
 
A

Aaronrules380

Member
Frumix said:
Eh, there is a certain discrepancy in quality there, I think. Internet memes are some of the simplest forms of reference humor, and wink wink nudge nudge just isn't funny if the recipient doesn't know what it's all about. And a proper reference, for example, Might & Magic VI referencing Star Trek crew member names in a spaceship-related quest, doesn't look out of place, an unknowing outsider just simply won't get anything out of it, while here, if you don't know what a doge meme is or why it should be funny, it looks like the writer just gave up and let his pet ape finish his work. It's just misplaced. This is why it's the lowest quality humor - because it has no context, it's just somebody in the game saying a meme out of the blue.

Earthworm Jim in its entirety is dated, but it owns that dated-ness, it doesn't look like an ugly brain tumor on the body of a perfectly good game design.



Oh well, those fighting arcades, that surely invalidates all the great game scripts and translations, you showed me.
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The doge meme here just sounds like a funny strange way of talking if you aren't aware. It's not over 9000 or something like that
 
A

Aroll

Member
cw_sasuke said:
It depends on the game of course but it seems like a perfect fit for a "silly" spin-off like Triforce Heroes. No need to get upset about it.
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I think calling it a "spin-off" always needs clarification - because it's a canon game that takes place after A Link Between Worlds. What makes it a spin-off, because it's multiplayer? So was Four Swords Adventures a spin-off?

Four Swords arguably was because it was a side game attached to a rerelease of ALttP, but Tri Force Heroes and Four Swords Adventures both stand on their own.

Just curious what makes it a spin off.

Anyways - on topic - I think internet meme's can work for say, marketing the game. I mean, they market it a lot on the internet, so buying into that culture to do so is good.

Actually injecting that culture INTO the game though... I don't really feel that it fits, and it goes against what this game is in every other region of the world.
 
G

Glowsquid

Member
Riki said:
I don't know if this is true. Games like Earthbound, Toe Jam and Earl, Earthworm Jim and plenty of others have very dated references in them.
.
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iirc Working Design's translations were controversial even at the time for overdosing on pop culture references and lewd jokes. The more things change, etc.

The example in the OP is cringey as fuck but I really don't know why people are doing the "but what about in 20 years????" thing. it's a single line of dialogue
 
S

SparkleMotion

Member
Aaronrules380 said:
The doge meme here just sounds like a funny strange way of talking if you aren't aware. It's not over 9000 or something like that
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Right. If the dialogue is like "The ruins are so ancient! They are over 9000!" Then it would be out of place "So ancient. Such ruin." could make sense without even knowing the meme in reference.
 
S

Starwolf_UK

Member
Eila said:
Well, Nintendo were always going to mess with the "japanesey" titles. I'll take the game however, but some of those changes sound incredibly unnecesary.
I have to say I preferred the english dub of Xenoblade Chronicles. It's just funny without trying too hard with the memes.
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Making memes of its own can be bad but "I'M REALLY FEELING IT" and "Now its Ryen time" are harmless goofy phrases and don't come off as so forced. such blatant.

SparkleMotion said:
Why are people so concerned with playing this game 20 years from now?

"THIS GAME USES MEMES! IT'S SO DATED!"
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I wonder what Japanese Link to the Past players think whenever they pick up the MC Hammer (no really, it is called that in the Japanese version).
 
Boss Doggie

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Frumix said:
Well I agree that Pokemon examples in this thread are far, far worse.
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I disagree. I think the Pokemon examples work much better than doge because like I said before, even without the idea of the meme, they still make sense.
 
R

Riki

Member
Glowsquid said:
iirc Working Design's translations were controversial even at the time for overdosing on pop culture references and lewd jokes. The more things change, etc.

The example in the OP is cringey as fuck but I really don't know why people are doing the "but what about in 20 years????" thing. it's a single line of dialogue
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People just enjoy getting upset over silly things. Always have. Always will.
 
L

LaserHawk

Member
Ugh... seeing a doge reference in a Zelda game made my heart sink. I hate memes.

I don't have the game yet, but I hope there isn't a whole lot more.
 
T

Tansut

Member
It's only really offensive in terms of comedy writing. It's lazy and uninspired and it doesn't fit contextually at all. It's all "hey remember this?" without the punchline.
 
M

MrBadger

Member
Damn, that's such a lame joke.

Although the Mario and Luigi games (and probably Kid Icarus) have had memes I've laughed at.
 
Boss Doggie

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
SparkleMotion said:
Right. If the dialogue is like "The ruins are so ancient! They are over 9000!" Then it would be out of place "So ancient. Such ruin." could make sense without even knowing the meme in reference.
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The only over 9000 reference brought up was Pokemon, and even if you don't know the meme it works. As I said, it works like "your power is so off the charts!"
 
T

Tabris

Member
You know who used to do this? That old company Working Designs. They translated and published games like Lunar.

Not exactly meme based but re-working the script by inserting comedy relevant to the time or just juvenile comedy.

You know what happens? It horribly dates your game and script with both time and as your fans grow up.

Stop doing this people.
 
P

Pizza

Member
SparkleMotion said:
Why are people so concerned with playing this game 20 years from now?

"THIS GAME USES MEMES! IT'S SO DATED!"
Click to expand...


I'm not concerned about playing the game 20 years from now, I'm concerned with the fact that its a garbage easy joke to make. You're referencing a dead horse for no reason other than to forcibly inject a HA I GET IT into some dialogue.


And the HA I GET IT will be literally nothing to someone who has chosen not to investigate memes. It's a reference that doesn't stand on it's own and is unfunny in a vaccum. Like drive-by gifs you see in every single Mighty Number 9 thread on here. Except this person was paid to put it into the game forever.


That's like if Mario and Sonic stopped playing the olympics to discuss potter puppet pals or the numa numa dance. Or if master chief stopped and asked cortana if he can haz cheeseburgers. Lazy writing sucks.

SparkleMotion said:
Right. If the dialogue is like "The ruins are so ancient! They are over 9000!" Then it would be out of place "So ancient. Such ruin." could make sense without even knowing the meme in reference.
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Sure, but without the context it just seems like the translator had a stroke
 
R

Ridley327

Member
MrBadger said:
Damn, that's such a lame joke.

Although the Mario and Luigi games (and probably Kid Icarus) have had memes I've laughed at.
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I don't recall much in the way of real-world references in the series, beyond the one image that someone posted. They rely way more on very offbeat and irreverent humor, like Fawful's speech patterns.
 
T

Technoweirdo

Member
Is the line funny because it's a reference? Or is it because the line just works and gets a bit funnier if you know the reference?

50 years from now, some kid might pick up a game and they will definitely not get the reference. Hell, even today, I bet there are lots of people who might not pick up the reference. Despite that, would they find it funny? If yes, then I don't get the problem.

Personally, I think the line works. The guy is clearly fascinated by so ancient, much ruined things that he loses a bit of his composure merely thinking about it. Like Homer Simpson when he thinks about food.
 
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