A Bahamut Lagoon English patch has existed for quite some time. Many who have experienced the game have done so through the 2002 patch made by Dark Force, Neill and Clyde Madelin (Tomato), and CPF. However, like many early SNES translations, it’s far from perfect, at least mechanically. That’s why Byuu (creator of the bsnes and higan emulators) decided to complete their fan-translation of Bahamut Lagoon, 22 years after they first set out to do it.
Most gaming enthusiasts know about Square titles like Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, and the Mana series. However, in the 1990s, the studio released a host of RPGs that never made it to the states. Bahamut Lagoon was one of the Super Famicom’s swansongs and was likely never localized due to the impending release of the Nintendo 64 (a situation similar to that of Star Fox 2).
What’s new in this Bahamut Lagoon fan-translation patch?
https://twitter.com/BahamutLagoon25/status/1341411106200412162
It’s only due to fan-translations that English-speaking players have gotten to enjoy games like Bahamut Lagoon. Along with a fresh translation from @RetroTranslator, this patch is meant to be a definitive release technically as well.
Byuu set out to fix all bugs present in the game. Menus and text, two of the biggest obstacles in SNES-era fan-translations, are built from the ground up. Every text graphic has been redrawn and improved from the original, and the entire game has been essentially reprogrammed and optimized. The result is a game that looks and runs as good (or better) than if it had localized by Square itself.
This Bahamut Lagoon English fan-translation is one of the few projects that manage to improve a game past the need to insert the script. Making games is hard, and during the days of the SNES, developers worked in assembly, writing raw CPU instructions. As such, this patch shows a real labor of love and an appreciation for a classic that never made its way overseas.
The final version of the patch will be released on February 9, 2021, to commemorate the game’s 25th anniversary. However, a public beta patch should be available very soon. Keep an eye on the project’s official Twitter to see when the beta drops!
