Ancient Roman - Power of the Dark Side: Getting a Fan Translation
The game, often cited as the ‘Worst PlayStation RPG Ever’, is about to receive an English translation patch thanks to a team of fan translators and hackers. Originally developed by Nihon Systems in 1998, Ancient Roman - Power of the Dark Side has become infamous online due to its poor graphics and sound quality, yet it has also gained popularity for being so bad, it’s good.
As detailed in an interview with SnowyAria from Time Extension, she explains how she stumbled upon this game while searching for JP-only games to translate. She was immediately captivated by its mismatched blend of polygonal characters and pre-rendered backgrounds, which reminded her of successful games like Final Fantasy VII. Despite the initial negative reviews, Ancient Roman - Power of the Dark Side’s quirky gameplay and odd story make it endearing in its own way.
However, translating such a poorly made game comes with significant challenges. The music doesn’t work reliably, due to the mismatched instruments and octaves. Additionally, sound effects are delayed for nearly a second before playing, an issue stemming from each file being normalized to 10 seconds long—unnecessary for even basic actions like sword swings.
Despite these hurdles, SnowyAria’s team has made progress in tackling some of the game’s major issues and aims to make this unique gem accessible to a wider audience. The English translation patch will feature a walkthrough to guide players through any potential roadblocks, especially since the story itself is sometimes confusing and forgettable.
What do you think about translating games with questionable quality? Should such efforts be encouraged or discouraged in the gaming community?
I think it’s great that bad or unpopular games are getting translated. In a perfect world, everyone would be able to play and understand any game, good or bad. This kind of work is bringing things one step closer to that ideal.