Shen Mue Dub Info

During a speech held at GDC 2000, Yu Suzuki revealed details, footage, and his opinion on the progress of the Shen Mue dub.

The key facts of the dub so far are that the translation has been finished in Japan. Suzuki personally decided which voice actors were chosen, and he also believes these new voices are of higher quality than the originals. Sega has auditioned 200 voice actors for roles in the game. All the main characters are voiced by people found in New York.

Suzuki showed an example of the dub with video footage captured from two scenes in the game. The first one takes place as Ryo's father is dying, and the second is a typical conversation between Ryo and a store clerk. Also of note is that all the menus, options, and explanations during the gameplay footage were already translated as well.

SCENE 1:
IWAO: Keep friends, those you love, close to you . . ..
RYO: No . . . Father! . . . NO!!!

SCENE 2:
RYO: Excuse me.
STOREKEEP: Ohh . . . Sensei Hazuki's Boy.
RYO: I could really use your expertise again.
STOREKEEP: Of course . . . provided it's something I am familiar with.
[ RYO SHOWS STOREKEEP THE KAGAMI ]
STOREKEEP: I think perhaps this type of precious stone is only found in the Gui Lin Region.
RYO: I see . . . Well then, thank you very much for your help.
STOREKEEP: You're welcome

Ok, granted this isn't the worst translation I have ever seen. However I hope the whole game doesn't have dialouge as dry as these above two examples. On the bright side, Sega is obviously taking the translation effort seriously, and with luck the dub will go down in history with the likes of other well dubbed games such as Metal Gear Solid.

Thanks to editor WooJin Lee for pointing this story out.

Source(s):

IGNDC

Date Updated:
March 13th, 2000

Time Updated:
1:12 PM

Kei Sagami