Zatch Bell! Electric Arena 2: Complete English Translation

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Identify your ROM revision.

2. Apply the main translation patch (BPS) before the optional (IPS) patches.

3. That's it!


CHANGES:

Originally, the password mode was accessed from the title screen by inputting an absurdly long key combo.
Now all you need to press is UP on the d-pad a total of 15 times.

Every password has been found on the ROM.

The ones known to affect the game are:
- 81216 = Unlocks the Sound Test mode.
- 86300 = Turns the title screen red (one of the steps to unlock the final character.)
- 13106 = Master code that unlocks everything (except the event exclusive item.)

A '.cheats' file is included that allows unlocking the event exclusive item.
If using mGBA, just rename the cheats file so that it matches your ROM,
upon loading the game in mGBA the event exclusive item should appear in the Zatch Collection mode.

Once you unlock it, you must go to the options mode, change something, and exit to trigger a save,
this is only if you want to keep the item. After that it's recommended to turn cheats off to avoid problems.

If you open the cheats menu, or the file in a text editor you will see other cheats you can enable.
I made these for testing the game quickly, codes such as "P2 instant lose."

NOTE: Sound Test can also be unlocked by playing the game normally.


OPTIONAL PATCHES:

ZatchEA2_noMenuJP_rev1_X.ips = Removes the Japanese graphics that cover the English ones on the main menu.

ZatchEA2_noShade_rev1_X.ips = Removes the shading on the main font. Makes it easier to read.
(Do not apply this AFTER the 'MinishCap' font patch, or you'll have a broken file.)

ZatchEA2_MinishCap_font_rev1_X.ips = Replaces the main font with a '1px line' style that looks closer to the JP one.
I found the VWF data after finishing the translation, so the script doesn't take advantage of the extra screen space.
But it looks really nice, and will benefit anyone who wishes to translate this to other roman languages.

ZatchEA2_DUB_rev1_X.ips = Replaces Japanese VO for Mamodo Battles' VO, missing voices are fandubbed
or taken from the anime dub or Mamodo Fury.


IPS was chosen because it doesn't force file integrity checking (a checksum), thus allowing optional patches.
While BPS was chosen for the main translation because of the integrity checking.


CURIOUS FACTS:

This translation started in 2013, in those days I felt like I could do anything, but no matter what I tried
I couldn't find the script, and things weren't going anywhere so in December 28, 2013 I released the last bit of
progress I had; just a few graphics replaced. (https://www.dropbox.com/s/e1j0qbk1eqlcy8p/ZAKERU2.ips?dl=0)

Fast-forward to 2023 someone starts posting images of the 3rd game (Dream Tag Tournament) in English, and says it's
just using shift-jis encoding. This motivates me to pickup EA2 again, while this one didn't use sjis I thought this:
If the printed text is displayed in sync with the theoretical buffer in the 256KB memory region then eventually
I would bump into that text. This is exactly what happened, once I knew what the text looked like I started
messing with it until I found that it's a known encoding: 3-byte UTF-8.

Then, it was just discovery after discovery. In just a few months 90% of the work was done.
I don't regret waiting it out, even if I had found the script back in 2013 I would have struggled in other areas,
such as the building of the script's pointer table to use longer strings, or adding strings that didn't exist originally.
And the dialogue wouldn't have had that extra attention to detail thanks to Raze, who gave the script
a second pass and caught various nods to the manga and tweaked whatever awkward wording could be found.


On a different note, the game has some unsolved mysteries. The script mentions the possibility of 15 levels in Survival
Mode, but this seems impossible to reach after level 13, the amount of opponents to beat gets set to infinity.

The revision commonly referred to as 1.1, fixes a graphical issue with Rauzaruk Zatch's intro animation that appears
after having played a few matches. (Though inaccurate emulators won't show it.)
The "power-from-within" or "spell meter" in the game no longer has the animated look to it in rev 1.1, this would
be the easiest way to tell what revision someone is using.
After much searching, I've never seen a youtube video of someone playing the 1.1 version.
I searched the ROM database known as "no-intro" and found out the dump is rather recent: it was posted
on October 25, 2022 no wonder I had never heard of it.



There's a lot of unused content, outside of the event exclusive item, it's possible to hold L+SELECT on the Zatch Collection
mode to initiate a 'link cable match' but it doesn't seem to ever link.

The script mentions a few character descriptions, these were roughly translated into the script, but have no purpose.
It also mentions a Zeno line "I'll show you what a real nightmare is like!" that is likely supposed to show up
if you get an EXTRA BATTLE in Battle Mode.

Outside of the exclusive items, there's a script pattern that hints at the final character being unlockable from cable linking,
instead of just with password mode.

There's a voice recording of Dufort saying "Jikerdor" a spell Zeno doesn't have in this game.
As well as a voice recording of Albert saying "Raja Migsen" also a spell not in the game,
but the sound does appear in the Sound Test, unlike Dufort's. It's possible sound #132 is also unused.



ADDITIONAL CREDITS:

- This project was primarily developed using the following tools:
HxD, mGBA, CrystalTile2, and Audacity.

- All the amazing Zatch Bell fans who still maintain the series alive outside of Japan.

- romhacking.net, this was my resource for a lot of romhacking tools and information.

- My voice actors, the "Ready..." "Fight!" lines are from "Star Wars: Masters of Teras Kasi"
Naomi, Suzy, Dalia, and other system lines are by CamiRubio.
Raiku-Sensei and Praying Mantis Joe lines are by DiegoA.

- XZatchBellGamerX helped greatly with the translation and matched several references to the manga/anime.
For a more-or-less complete look at all of his revised lines, see every line with "Raze" in it:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1paOkVLCpiCRJwzdTvW4hZmpWxKSambCqgzkUvub7sjY/edit#gid=0
