Retro publisher accused of re-releasing 16-bit games with plagiarised fan translations

Classic game publisher Retro-Bit has been accused of publishing numerous games containing plagiarised fan translations.

Retro-Bit Publishing specialises in re-releasing 8-bit and 16-bit games, mostly consisting of NES, SNES and Mega Drive / Genesis titles.

Many of the games were previously only released in Japan, but Retro-Bit Publishing sells them fully translated into English for the first time.

The publisher claims in the FAQ pages for a number of its games that they have a “talented programmer” who it credits “for his work on the translation”, but claims are now emerging that this may not be the case.

Game translator Krokodyl has posted a lengthy article on their blog (as spotted by Time Extension) in which they accuse Retro-Bit Publishing of using existing fan translations for at least four games.

According to Krokodyl’s ‘evidence’, Retro-Bit’s releases of Shockman Zero, Assault Suits Valken, Gley Lancer and Majyuo: King of Demons have English translations that are either identical to or appear to lift largely from fan-made translations already available online for free.

Specifically, Krokodyl claims that the games use the work from translators Svambo, MIJET, and Aeon Genesis, and states that after discussing the situation with them, all three say they never worked with Retro-Bit on its releases.

For their translation of Shockman Zero, translator Svambo had to create their own custom Latin alphabet font for the game because the original version only used Japanese text. According to Krokodyl, Retro-Bit’s release of the game uses the same font. They also accuse Retro-Bit’s programmer of mainly lifting the translation from Svambo’s version and changing the odd word here or there.

Giving an example, one line in the game translates to English as, “I’ll remember your name”, but Svambo decided to change this to “I’ll put you on my list”. Retro-Bit’s release, using Svambo’s font, reads “I’ve put you on my list”.

Krokodyl claims they contacted Svambo to ask about this. According to their account, Retro-Bit approached Svambo and asked to pay for the translation, but because they only did the programming and couldn’t reach the translator they used, they declined the offer. Krokodyl, therefore, suggests Retro-Bit was already aware of Svambo’s translation.

Among their other accusations, Krokodyl claims Retro-Bit’s programmer also copied the Latin alphabet font created by translator Aeon Genesis for their fan translation of Majyuo: King of Demons.

Perhaps most damning of Krokodyl’s accusations surrounds Gley Lancer, which they claim plagiarises a fan translation by translator MIJET. The game’s ‘good ending’ credits are left in Japanese, and MIJET decided to leave these in Japanese out of respect for the developers, but they did add an extra credit (in Japanese) saying “English translation: MIJET”.

Krokodyl says this credit is still in Retro-Bit’s version of Gley Lancer, and suggests it wasn’t spotted because the programmer wasn’t able to spot it due to it being written in Japanese.

Retro-Bit has not yet responded to the accusations.