Deltarune up to Chapter 5 Thoughts

 Deltarune Chapters 1-5 Thoughts

Spoilers ahead (obviously)

It's really been over 10 years since Undertale first came out, and I still remember my initial experiences with the game positively. At the time the battle system felt genuinely innovative, combining a turn-based system into part demon conversation not too dissimilar from a Shin Megami Tensei game, part shmup with dodging projectiles in a mini form. The writing and visuals that game creator Toby Fox employs are witty and humorous, with more serious moments that make you invested in the world and characters. On top of it all though is the soundtrack, which fits each situation in the game to a tee and will stand the test of time as an all time great game soundtrack. While I did have some of my issues with Undertale at the time, and I wouldn't consider it a favorite of mine, I was excited when I learned that Toby Fox was continuing his work on a new RPG called Deltarune. The launch around Chapter 1 of Deltarune I remember being pretty mysterious, but it soon became pretty widely known and I did end up playing it when it came out in 2018. After that however, I felt like Deltarune was much of the same as Undertale, not really adding a ton in terms of new ideas, and in an incomplete state as only the first chapter of this story had released at this point. So, I decided that I wouldn't play the rest of Deltarune until it was fully completed, whatever that looked like. Fast forward to 2026. Deltarune Chapter 5 had released not too long ago, and has people excited, including a lot of my friends. After some consideration, and some bargaining I had made with one of my friends, I decided to get caught up, as there's only 2 more chapters to be released in finishing this story. That brings us to today, where I'm all caught up and have at least played Chapters 1-5, and I wanted to really sit down and think about what I thought about each Chapter. 

Chapter 1

It's made clear early on that when first starting Chapter 1 that your choices in this game will still have some weight, but will not matter nearly as much as they did in Undertale. The character creator in deciding how you appear is quickly discarded and the game makes that point pretty clear. It's also clear that this world is either the same or an alternate reality to Undertale, with a lot of characters making a return in the home town of the game, which is nice to see. After getting to school and meeting Susie, who seems to be the school bully, the adventure gets started after going to get some supplies from the closet, and finding that it takes us to a different world of the Darkeners, a place devoid of light compared to where our main character comes from as a Lightener. We also meet Ralsei, who is a Darkener and explains to us what we're doing here and our objective As the adventure progressed, I felt like Toby's strengths were still there, not to the same extent as Undertale. A lot of the character writing at this point isn't as strong, but I chalk that up to this being mainly introductions. The humor this time around has some funny moments, usually when it plays on other JRPG tropes or general curiosity. When Susie finally decides that joining the team is beneficial and not a stupid idea, it was a highlight of chapter to me.

 Other parts of the humor though feel more "online" so to say, and that point get accentuated more in later chapters. I felt like the soundtrack was good, but decidedly weaker overall. I felt like a lot of the songs were much shorter loops that just repeated, but they weren't bad just a bit underwhelming. Some stand outs to me were Hip Shop, Chaos King, and THE WORLD REVOLVING. The last track in that list was the highlight of the combat in this chapter to me, but we'll come back to that in a moment. Overall the combat hasn't changed much compared to Undertale, but it has some quality of life changes like showing the percentage needed to mercy or pacify an opponent. Other than that, if you liked Undertale's combat you'll like this game. I did fight the optional secret boss of the chapter, Jevil, and he was the highlight of the chapter overall for me personally. It's a bit unfortunate though that some of the games best content was locked (no pun intended) behind a secret that some players will never experience. I don't have much to say on the character's this time around, as again we just got introduced. It's nice to see Susie come a bit more out of her shell towards the end of the chapter, and other than Ralsei taking off his hat, I feel like he's a bland lorekeeper and that's the only real reason he's here at this point. Lancer is fine, a bit annoying at points but his friendship with Susie is sweet. Our character, Kris, doesn't have much personality at this point either, but we do see at the end of the chapter them ripping their "heart" out and putting it in a cage, showing they have a more sinister side. The story itself so far wasn't the greatest hook I had felt playing an RPG, but it was also retreaded territory as this was the only chapter I had played previously. 

Chapter 2

Continuing on, Chapter 2 feels like a bit more of the same as Chapter 1, but with more expanded character dialogue, and a stronger setting. This is also the introduction of the Castle Town, where if you decided to spare the enemies you face, they show up here to help you on your journey and get additional flavor text from. This place is nice to start each chapter, catch up with old foes and see what's new in the town either with items or characters. One thing I wish is that the recruit list available when you save the game shows is enemies that you just didn't encounter, beside the ones that you just may not have fully recruited. Outside of a few things though, I felt like most of the enemies here were largely forgettable outside of the more major bosses of each chapter which later on start getting their own rooms in the castle. The real meat of the chapter starts with some more expanded characters being Noelle and Berdley. With each dark world you visit being correlated to a real world place, it adds to the overall setting for the chapter. Since this time Noelle and Berdley invite us to the library computer lab to study for whatever group assignment Kris and Susie have, this chapter's setting feels like you're inside a computer itself. Noelle I think as a whole was my favorite or second favorite character across all of the chapters that are available at this point. She's a very sweet girl who also has some trouble sharing what she's really feeling. Her family as we later learn also has some pretty high status in the town, with Noelle's mom being the mayor. Noelle's character wouldn't be complete without her crush on Susie, and seeing how that relationship unfolds throughout this chapter as a cute first beginning, but the later chapters as well was probably my favorite part of Deltarune as a whole. I'm a sucker for cute lil' love stories. Let's talk a little more about Berdley then. I didn't really like Berdley outside of a few jokes and things that he says throughout the chapter. He's a stereotype on a nerd who's a little overconfident and thinks that they're always right, and although he grows to be better at the end of the chapter, I really don't think that he added much of anything to the experience outside of a "gamer" reference.

That brings me to one of my gripes with Deltarune as a whole, its humor. Don't get me wrong, there are funny moments throughout this and future chapters, but I feel like a large portion of them you have to be either chronically online or understand a certain subset of internet and gaming culture to find a lot of the humor humorous. Berdley and the main boss of the chapter, The Queen, are prime examples of this to me. Berdley and the Queen team up for part of the chapter under the guise that Berdley is helping keep Noelle safe, but the Queen doesn't really like Berdley (don't blame her) and tries to constantly run away. In one scene, Berdley is looking for the Queen when he says "They're just... busy retro gaming somewhere!! I bet they're waiting for me on the player select screen!!" Now then. Imagine if you're an average person or gamer, I have a hard time believing that this type of humor will land. I also feel like it would get outdated in like 15 years, and ultimately drag down the experience for new players then. The Queen is like this to a similar but lesser extent. Because they're technically a laptop, they talk like a computer, but one that's referential and casual in it's tone a lot of the time. Compared to Chapter 1's boss, the King, the Queen just feels like much less of a threat and more of an obstacle than anything. 

Gameplay this time around is largely the same. A lot of the bullet patterns from enemies and bosses that you encounter aren't the trickiest to dodge, but still make for a ok challenge, especially if you don't play other shmups or games similar. The secret boss this time around was about the same difficulty as the secret boss of Chapter 1, but they had a few cool attacks and moments that I wish more enemies had. At a few points in the chapter, including the fight against The Queen there's also a style of combat akin to a Punch Out!! game where you dodge and fight back against patterns that way. This was the first different gameplay style that Toby introduced that I could remember, but it certainly isn't the last. It's a nice diversion in this case, and it also helps that I really love Punch Out!!. Music this time around is about as solid as Chapter 1. I didn't have a ton of standout tracks, but I did really enjoy My Castle Town and Knock you Down !!  as my favorites for the chapter. That's the one thing I cannot deny about Toby Fox as a game creator is his ability to set a tone through the OST, and his ability for composition. Everything fits right where it should be and only additive to the experience. 

Chapter 3

I think looking back, Chapter 3 was my favorite chapter in some respects, and my least favorite in others. Let's start off with the negative, so we can boost this chapter up toward the end. I felt like Chapter 2 did an ok job sprinkling character writing and lore throughout the entire chapter. Chapter 3 just puts all of its lore and impactful moments at the very end, and that 's also assuming you did the secret "boss" of this chapter. I genuinely can't remember much other main party development other than Susie liking us a little bit more than last time which she does just about every chapter. This chapter also has the most gameplay types of any chapter. From cooking minigames to quizzes, from rhythm games to Zelda clones, this chapter has it all. Because of this, I feel like it doesn't perform exceedingly well at any one thing and is lucky if the minigame that you're experiencing isn't detrimental. I really could care less for the Zelda-like gameplay that was a decent portion of the chapter, and was disappointed that it's also where the secret boss was located this time around. It's just boring and tedious, straight up. This was also the chapter I really noticed that I don't know why there even is an equipment system in this game. I never feel like any equipment I get actually benefits me in a serious manner, and it might as well not even be there, which is crazy to think about for an RPG. 

Now with the good. Tenna as the main "antagonist" of this chapter is an absolute delight. He hit all of the right notes for me. He has a great sense of humor in his dialogue and he's very charismatic. Visually he's not like anything else in Deltarune or Undertale for that matter, being prerendered and very fluidly animated as compared to the rest of the game. Even the intro animation when he's first introduced has stuck in my mind with its VHS scanlines and warped audio. Even as an antagonist he's hard to hate with his motives of just being left behind and no one wanting to pay attention to the TV anymore. So much attention to detail and thought was put into this character that it makes him the best part of the entire chapter. When Tenna is on the screen, I am looking and listening with intent as I do in fact, love TV. 

As far as the rest of the chapter, I felt like presentation wise it was some of my favorite that Deltarune has on offer. A majority of the music tracks I ended up enjoying were from this chapter in particular, fitting both a chill vibe at times, as well as more upbeat tunes. My top tracks ended up being Physical Challenge, It's TV Time! (which has a fun sound-font that sounds very similar to a TMNT or other Konami arcade game), Welcome to the Green Room, and Glowing Snow. In addition to the soundtrack, visually I felt like this chapter was pretty strong. Because of how many different minigame styles there were, it at least gave Toby an opportunity to showcase some different art styles and motifs. Lastly, the humor this time around hit just a little bit different in comparison to previous chapters. There's still the occasional dud, but for the most part playing off of TV tropes, and the "throuple" between the weather duo and Rouxls landed well and I feel like would land for the average person. 

Chapter 4

Easily the most lore heavy chapter from beginning to end. Starting off in Noelle's house to study, and having Kris rip their heart out once again but each time getting riskier and riskier to where someone is going to catch them is pretty nerve wracking. Getting to see Susie and Noelle's relationship grow as well is sweet in these more private moments. The church scenes at the beginning of the chapter were also interesting, seeing the Deltarune itself as a religion that most of the town follows, as well as a way to see Kris and Susie's relationship grow as they talk during church, and go to the diner afterwards. Susie has grown so much since being indifferent and a bully in the first chapter, to genuinely caring about Kris, Noelle, and everyone in the Dark World so much. However, they know that the Darkeners can't come to the Light World, and that after first meeting the Dark Knight/seeing Undyne get captured in the last chapter they get a quick reminder that they're the heroes in a prophecy, and that the situation more serious than the fun adventures they've been on so far will let on. This is echoed in the Dark World of this chapter, as its the most serious its been in Deltarune so far. Throughout the chapter being in the dark version of the church, Kris and Susie see the prophecy in a more physical form from mosaic like images that show up as they're adventuring. Ralsei doesn't really enjoy this however, and wants to avoid showing the final part of the prophecy to Susie and Kris. This is after a chapter where Ralsei was specifically hiding a few things from Susie, promised to be more open, and then immediately turns around and does this. Susie ends up seeing the last panel of the mosaic, smashes it and doesn't tell Kris what it says. I'm assuming that it says something about someone either having to sacrifice themselves, or that someone in the group will turn against the rest, but we don't know for sure at this point. The ending of the chapter is pretty exciting as well, getting our first viewpoint of an event called "the roaring" where a dark fountain is opened too many times, and we get to fight against a titan. The story of this chapter is easily the best so far, and it helps make this chapter my favorite I think. It's hard to say because I do really like Tenna lol. 

Outside of the story, the presentation this time around is much more grounded, and I feel like its impactful because of it. The tall rafters of the church, mosaics with the story of the Deltarune, and the rooms where it goes pitch black except for when you take a footstep make it a visual treat. That's not to say the entire chapter is grounded, the fight with Jackenstein was quite a good time, both in terms of the fight itself, and how Jackenstein talks like a YouTube Poop. Music this time around was meeting the standard of the other chapters I felt, with my personal highlights being From Now On, Castle Funk, and The Second Sanctuary. The climbing gimmick of this chapter is fine for the most part gameplay wise, with a few parts that were a bit unresponsive. I think its at this point though I realized that the gameplay of Deltarune was not the reason I was playing. I was caught up in the story, and I wanted to see what happened to the characters. Now most good RPGs end up doing this where a story beat or characters will hook you into seeing the rest of the game, but the best RPGs will have the gameplay to back it up, with intense boss battles, impactful loot and side quests, and unlocked abilities that further make your strategies in battle more efficient and destructive. I don't feel like that's the case with Deltarune. The gameplay at this point when you're sparing enemies or attacking them is getting a bit stale. We don't really unlock any major abilities, and really the only ability that I can think of being unlocked is Susie's ability to heal a little bit now. Equipment just straight up doesn't matter. I haven't felt the impact of an armor upgrade or a perk that it's given throughout 4 chapters of the game. I can see that some armor gives something but like I don't know what a fluffiness increase does on Ralsei, and I never found a spot in the game where that was explained to me. This I think is because of the nature of the game, where sparing enemies is by far the preferred way to deal with enemies, it makes it hard to strategize when you're just trying to spare the enemy regardless. Most enemies aren't difficult either, and that includes most of the secret bosses too. So if the bosses aren't that much of a difficulty spike, the equipment you get doesn't matter, and you don't unlock many if any abilities to help make combat quicker or more engaging, I have a difficult time putting it in a similar ground to other RPGs. All of this to say, unless some of the gimmicks hit for you, I don't think the gameplay of Deltarune is the reason to play the game. It's for the story and the presentation. With that being said, let's continue on to the final chapter released at this point in time as of August of 2026. 

Chapter 5

Jarona. This chapter felt like the lead in to the last two chapters that have yet to be released, setting the stage and foreshadowing we can expect from our characters, while also calling back to some similar characters to Undertale, further connecting the two worlds. Starting the chapter at the town fair, and seeing the scene with Noelle and Susie by the water (is it a river or a lake or the ocean? I couldn't tell) was extremely sweet. I'm such a sucker for little love stories man. Going into the chapter and seeing the different types of soul flowers be brought back from Undertale was fun as well, getting to see a different kind of personality in each one. I don't know if I had a personal favorite flower, but there wasn't any one of them that I didn't enjoy their company during the chapter, and I did go back to the café that you go to later in the chapter to talk with each one more, as well as hear more conversations between the flowers. Asgore was good in this chapter too. Seeing him come to the realization that if he let go of the past he could move forward with everyone easier, and that no one blamed him for anything he did previously. Flowery's voice lines were memorable throughout the chapter, and seeing his fully anime intro animated by Studio Khara (!?!?!?!) was pretty insane. The soundtrack has continued to be another bright spot, with some songs that have a more eastern sound so to say, to match the visuals of the castle that you go through to close out the chapter. My highlights for this chapter are Garden of Hopes and Dreams, Sunset of Seven Suns, Flower Castle and Cutie Mew Mew Magic. The gimmick this time around are these pillars that you can hit to move into a 2D plane that turns the game into an action platformer. It's competent, but again, nothing special. It does break things up I guess, but as a I voiced in the last chapter recap, I wasn't super impressed nor looking to be at this point. The secret boss this time around was the one I had the most trouble with, and I even died to them like 2-3 times which I hadn't done with any other enemy yet to this point. Overall, this chapter was solid and I'm curious to see how Toby and the team follow up to wrap the story up with a nice bow. 

Conclusion

Toby Fox has a pretty deep love for the Japanese game industry as a whole, and its even more evident in Deltarune than it is with Undertale. With that being said, its interesting to see what he picks and chooses to add to Deltarune, as it feels like he's trying to cram as many different love letters and ideas into one game that doesn't really need it. As I mentioned in the Chapter 4 recap, it gets to a point where the gameplay doesn't become the leading reason to continue playing Deltarune. But what Toby does do very well is character writing, settings of a story/world building, and presentation. The game is nice to look at during 95% of the game, and the music is good all the time while sometimes being even great. I understand that there's still things I haven't seen with Deltarune, as it's a game that has multiple routes and easter eggs. Unfortunately, I don't feel like the gameplay is worth all that much to see some of these routes, so I'll probably get caught up in other ways like YouTube. I do think that the game is worth experiencing, but it would be difficult to classify it in the same echelon as the RPGs that Toby is emulating and pulling from.

Thanks for reading!

Opinion: Segagaga Translation

A Sega Fan's Dream... Right?

The wait is finally over for Dreamcast and Sega fans alike. Yesterday, February 27th the English translation patch for Segagaga was released to the public. This game has had a storied history not just during its era when the game was released, but as a cult Japanese game that was localized because of Sega's position in the gaming market, and the Dreamcast dying out shortly after the games release. Segagaga (or SGGG if you prefer) has had a history in the fan translation community, with at least 2 other teams trying and failing to make something that was in a playable/releasable state. 25 years later however, we're finally able to enjoy what the Japanese audience has enjoyed. With every fan translation though comes doubters and people who aren't happy with the final product, and this release is no different, but for good reason. To understand this however, you need the full picture. What is a Segagaga, the patch's history leading up to its most recent release, and the current controversy? 

A Game for the Fans

2001 wasn't a good year for Sega. The company had gone through much turmoil after the large success of the Sega Genesis in the USA. Sega of America and Sega of Japan's relationship had been deteriorating for quite some time, and Sega had grown to be a company that consumers weren't trusting in (at least in the U.S market). The release of the 32X attachment for the Genesis, the rushed launch of the Sega Saturn in the U.S market and the launch of the Sony PlayStation marked the beginning of the end for Sega's slice of the game console market. Japan was a bit more fortunate with the Sega Saturn, with it being the console that being the most well received out of any others in Sega's home country. The Saturn kept a close position to the PlayStation through out '95 and '96, but the release of Final Fantasy VII is largely considered the turning point for Sony's console, and they never looked back. After the Saturn's failure to capture the same audience the Genesis once had in the U.S, Sega had to do something to revamp its image and quickly. Enter the Dreamcast. Released in 1998 in Japan and '99 in the U.S, the console was a true leap in home gaming hardware that people couldn't even imagine. Incredible graphics going from 32-bit to 128-bit hardware, direct internet access right out of the box with a built in modem, and a strong library of  With a strong reception in the U.S, becoming the fastest selling console in U.S history to that point with over a million units sold after about two and a half months of being on the market⁽¹⁾. Japan faced a similar strong launch, but chip shortages meant that consoles couldn't be sold as quickly as customers would've liked to buy the new console⁽¹⁾. Although the Dreamcast had a decent launch, consoles were still being sold at a lost, as was the common practice at the time, with companies making up sales in software. In September of 1999 at the Fall Tokyo Games Show⁽²⁾, Sony revealed the PlayStation 2, and the writing was on the wall. The PlayStation 2 released the following year in the U.S and Japan, and the Dreamcast's discontinuation was announced in January of 2001⁽³⁾. 

Senior Managing Director at Sega Hidekazu Yukawa in the What's Shenmue? demo disc

As the console's life was coming to a close, enter a little game called Segagaga. Segagaga was an RPG that parodied Sega's current status in 2001, and used that story to it's advantage. In the game, Sega only holds 3% of the console market share, and its up to two kids to save the company from the evil corporation DOGMA. The game uses many a Sega intellectual property, staff members, consoles and more as a love letter to the company. Outside of references to Sega, the game also references other popular franchises, as well as some things being a 4th wall break on the games development. For example, characters in the game will literally talk about lazy asset reuse or lack of animation in certain spots when characters are talking. While being a common trait in other JRPGs of the time, its also referencing the games small budget. This isn't to say that the game is bad looking, it mashes a variety of visual styles together to create something quite unique for its time, and features animated sequences from Toei Animation throughout the adventure.  It is because of the game's satirical nature and uniqueness that it became a cult classic, and something that English speaking Sega fans wouldn't be able to experience as the game came out in Japan only days before the Dreamcast was fully discontinued. Because of this, the game has been heralded as a holy grail fan translation to many in the community, with many fans waiting decades to finally play this game in their native tongue. Why was there such a wait though?

The Fans' Turn to Create a Game

From my understanding, several attempts to translate this game were started, but never really got off the ground it appears. Some users on the Dreamcast-Talk forum had been trying to collectively work on things with the game, with some tools even being posted like a texture extractor for the game. Enter the project's lead Exxistance. Exxistance is not a stranger to the fan translation scene, even creating patches for some Sega Saturn games like Delisoba Deluxe and Shinrei Jusatsushi Taromaru that translate those games into English. Exxistance had found this texture extractor tool on the Dreamcast-Talk forum, and decided to tinker around with SGGG. According to Exxistance "when I started looking through SGGG’s textures, I realized that the game had an enormous amount of text baked into the textures, much of it as user interface elements. All the primary actions of the player, for example, are drawn into the UI rather than being simple text elements that can be updated in the game files. Merely translating the game text alone would not provide a player with the context they need to comfortably play the game in English"⁽⁴⁾. From my understanding of other fan translation efforts, most games have text files that aren't baked into the UI, but rather an entire script that is usually extracted, translated and reinserted into the game. The hacking work usually comes in with making the retranslated text is in English instead of Japanese, adjusting font-widths, making sure that text boxes are appropriately showing a correct amount of text, and more. Any fan translation that is released should be appreciated as the amount of work that goes into a single project, let alone a game the size of SGGG, is immense and usually done in fans' spare time. Exxistance has experience in adjusting textures, and decided to adjust some of the text textures little by little as a hobby project. However, after posting his progress to the Dreamcast-Talk forum, word quickly got around and more people showed interest in joining the project. After a little over a year of consistent work on the project, Exxistance and team released their English translation patch of Segagaga on Friday, February 27th 2025.

Rightfully so, fans were excited, as was I. I recently started learning Japanese last year with the hope of eventually being fluent enough to not only speak the language, but also be able to read the games that were exclusive to a Japanese audience. I also recently purchased a Dreamcast for myself earlier this month, and SGGG was a game that was on my radar as something that I would eventually play. Thankfully, that turned into a sooner rather than later because of this patch and the people that worked on it. Shortly after the patch was announced and released however, some addendums were revealed that soured some peoples' opinions on the patch.

Fans will be Fans

Scrolling through my social feeds after the announcement of the patch, I saw peoples' opinions go from excited to somewhat soured. According to the addition on the GitHub page of the hack itself, "Due to the importance of SEGAGAGA to the fan translation community, I think it’s important to disclose where AI was used in the development of this translation patch. What I call the “playtesting translation” — a base translation that allowed the artists and playtesters to get started early and understand what they were working on — was developed using a combination of DeepL and ChatGPT 4o/4.5. That translation then went through a substantial, months-long human translator review. I don't think that the end product feels “machine-translated,” but that’s ultimately for you, the player, to judge"⁽⁵⁾. This news made many people in the community question the quality of the patch itself. Some further discussion on the matter I found mostly on Bluesky, with people mostly disappointment in the use of AI for a game that so entrenched with otaku and game culture that people with the right kind of context would understand. Below I've attached some screenshots of others' opinions that I've seen on Bluesky. I haven't seen as much talk about this on Twitter personally, and the searches I have done haven't gotten nearly as much traction as the discussion on Bluesky. 

MattoBii is a Japanese to English translator and has worked on several fan translations in the Sakura Taisen franchise. 

Aura is an indie game developer and animator, and was the lead animation lead on the game Wanderstop according to their bio.

Maud has also fan translated several games from Japanese to English, including Waku Waku Puyo Puyo Dungeon on Sega Saturn

Thomas James is a professional Japanese to English game translator, and has worked in the games industry for over a decade on games like Ghostwire Tokyo, Tales of Arise, and The Legend of Heroes franchise⁽⁷⁾

Outside of Bluesky, I also perused the Dreamcast discussion channel on Sega Saturn Shiro's Discord server after the patch was released. The discussion seemed to be pretty split for the most part, with people bringing up ethical concerns in using AI as a base translation for the game, while developers on the patch and several other users defended the translation citing the human review and rewrite method. The machine translation was not the only thing that was provided to the translators, the original Japanese script was also provided to compare and contrast with the working playtest translation⁽⁶⁾ according to SixFortyFive, a translator who worked on the SGGG patch.  Additionally, the game's script is nonsensical and purposefully written in such a way that some literal translations may be taken as something done by machine learning, when it may not be the case. Most importantly, the patch itself includes all the tools and work that had been done up to the point of the patch's release, making the project available for anyone to pick up, adjust or make improvements, and re-release. Additional clarification from Exxistance was left in the Shiro Discord as well.

My personal opinion on the patch is a bit in the middle. Before getting into it however, it is important to know that as I'm writing this, I haven't experienced the patch for myself. I do plan on giving it a try for myself in the near future, and may come back to update this once I have. On one hand, I'm happy and excited that this cult classic game was translated and available to a wider English speaking audience. It's very clear to me that a large amount of human work went into the patch to get it off the ground. Several of the community members that have worked on this patch have worked on other patches for the Dreamcast and other consoles like the Saturn and their work is quite good on other projects. On the other hand though, I agree with the sentiment that using the AI translation as a playtest and translating off of that on occasions can lead to oversights in the quality of the work. Translating and localizing works for another audience is an art in a way. Deciding on what to keep as literal as possible to honor the developers' intentions, and deciding on what to change to make the game playable and understandable for a different audience is no small task, and there's a lot of nuance in it as well. In this case, I don't think that the AI usage was done in a way that paints the developers as lazy or trying to translate in such a way that says "at least it's translated in some way instead of not being translated at all". They used it as a tool so that they could focus on other parts of the patch to make the experience as good as possible. I also appreciate the option of making your own patch using this one as a framework. If I wasn't happy with the translation, theoretically I could sit down using the tools provided and adjust things myself with enough time and knowledge. Lastly, all of this work was done for free and in the developers' spare time! That doesn't make it free from criticism, but I absolutely take that into consideration. In this day and age we're fed so much AI trash content and scams even if you don't interact with the tools directly. To me it's easy to see if something is AI trash or not, and I don't think this patch should be portrayed that way alongside things that clearly don't have an ounce of effort or human touch in them. Whether you decide to play SGGG or not is up to you, but I think it's important to have nuance and not write people's hard work off based off of the use of a tool.

Thanks for reading. I don't think I'll use this blog to make a ton of opinion pieces like this one in the future, but I wanted to try something different. I don't usually share my opinion online in this way, but I had a lot of thoughts on the situation overall, and I thought this would be a good way to give a broad view on the patch to someone who doesn't have any skin in the game.

Sources

1. History of the Sega Dreamcast/Release. Sega Retro. (2025, August 24). https://segaretro.org/History_of_the_Sega_Dreamcast/Release 

2. Perry, D. C. (2016, July 13). TGS 1999: Sony’s Grand Showing. IGN. https://www.ign.com/articles/1999/09/21/tgs-1999-sonys-grand-showing 

3. History of the Sega Dreamcast/Decline and Legacy. Sega Retro. (2025, April 27). https://segaretro.org/History_of_the_Sega_Dreamcast/Decline_and_legacy

4. https://github.com/ExxistanceDC/Segagaga-English-Translation/blob/main/README.md#Messages-From-the-Team

5.https://github.com/ExxistanceDC/Segagaga-English-Translation/blob/main/README.md#AI-Notice

6. https://bsky.app/profile/sixfortyfive.bsky.social/post/3mfvb67nvds2d

7. James, T. (n.d.). Thomas James Japanese-English Translator. Freelansations. https://www.freelansations.com/ 

Respect Your Elders: Dragon Quest 1 HD-2D Remake Thoughts

 Party Like It's 1986 

In recent years, Square-Enix has been creating and releasing games under this "HD-2D" art style and presentation. Games like Octopath Traveler were the progenitor of this movement, and several games like Live A Live and Star Ocean have been given this makeover. In 2024, Square-Enix re-released Dragon Quest III HD-2D remake, and then later announced that Dragon Quest I & II were getting the a similar treatment. I had just recently finished Dragon Quest V on my DS very early last year, and thought it was a great experience! I've heard that Dragon Quest can be JRPG comfort food from several people on social media before, and I can relay that sentiment. So, itching for some more comfort food, I recently checked out Dragon Quest I on the new HD-2D collection from late last year. Before DQV, I had played DQI on several occasions, getting about two-thirds of the way through the original US release on NES, and fully beating the IOS port on the Nintendo Switch about 4-5 years ago. With that prior experience with not just the franchise but the game itself, how does the HD-2D remake stack up?

The story to this point, as DQIII is the prequel to the original DQ

 

Presentation

 The biggest draw I think initially to this collection of games is its presentation. DQ I & II have been re-released several times since their original versions in the mid-late '80s, but not to this level of love and care that the franchise deserves. Like I mentioned above, I had played through the other Switch version of DQI but it wasn't the best experience. Some things were hit and miss with the visuals, and it was a pretty bare bones improvement overall. Thankfully, the new HD-2D remake hits pretty much every mark. The new visuals are looking great in my opinion. The sprite work on the characters in the overworld and in battle are supremely detailed while still carrying the original Toriyama art style that the series is known for. Towns, dungeons and the overworld have been revamped with a new 3D visuals that compliment the sprite art nicely. The mountains have never been larger, and the water has never looked as scenic as it does here. As the hero walks through dungeons, you can see the shadows from the torch in his hand crawling the walls and flickering as the torch does. Battles have never looked better either, with enemies greatly detailed and every strong attack has a clean animation to go alongside it. I especially like the Dragon Slash ability, with a slash summoning a screaming dragon that does well against dragon foes. Everything looks great, with a few caveats. I played my copy of the game on a Switch, and I did notice times when loading into a new area the frame rate dipping down a bit as things were loading in, mostly in the backgrounds. Additionally, playing in handheld mode did not do any favors for the sprite work in the characters. The sprites are detailed enough so that you're able to see their expressions and emotions on the current situation fairly easily, but some of that detail is lost at the lower resolution of the Switch's handheld mode. Characters become muddied together, but not in a way that makes it look better like dithering has been used in the past. Still though, I can't ignore the level of detail that has been put into the visuals. I would just recommend playing on a newer device with a little bit more under the hood than the ol' not so reliable Switch.

This definitely looks better on a TV, but even in the OG Switch's handheld mode some scenes can impress.

Visuals aren't the only part of a game's presentation however; soundtracks are an integral part of the DQ experience as a series as long running as it is. As I understand it, more recent releases of DQ games were available with a full orchestral soundtrack provided by the Tokyo Symphonic Suite in Japan but not here in the states, mainly DQVII and VIII on the 3DS. This is not the case thankfully for DQ I & II as they have a fully orchestral soundtrack that sounds amazing. Traversing Alefgard with the soft oboe and strings playing in the background really adds to the sense of wonder of the world itself. It is a soundtrack that adds to the freshness of the experience, while still giving longtime players nostalgia with Sugiyama's compositions that have graced the franchise for so long.

Gameplay and Story

(Minor Spoilers Ahead)

Erdrick's Grave found early on in the game is a key catalyst for your adventure

Being the grandfather of most JRPGs to this point, DQI is mostly a game that goes back to basics. Throughout the game you only control one character, a descendant of the legendary hero Erdrick on his quest to slay the Dragonlord and bring peace back to the land of Alefgard. In the original, this was pretty cut and dry storywise. You would go around the world collecting new equipment, learning new skills, gathering keys to progress to the next section of the world until you're at the end. This is largely the same in the remake, but much more fleshed out. Several key items are included that you have to gather that aren't in the original, making you explore the world a little bit deeper, and giving opportunities for some characters to be fleshed out. The original DQ basically didn't have characters for a lack of a better term. It was you as the hero, the king, the dragonlord, and other minor characters that would give you items needed to progress. In the remake however, you get to really experience Alefgard as a land that people live in, and you get to learn much more about their experiences and plights. As an example, part way through the journey you come across some faeries who will be vital to your quest. You get to see some friendly banter and debating on what they should do with you as humans and faeries historically didn't always get along. Then later in the adventure, you get to experience some events alongside the faeries firsthand that makes the hero's journey all the more worth it. I'm purposefully being vague in my description here, because I think its something that you should experience. In addition to there being more story and characterization in general, the writing is fairly competent as well. Dialogue is mostly written in an old Shakespearean way where most words have a -st or -eth at the endeth of every other wordeth. There were also several points where in talking with the NPCs you discover some wittier dialogue that won't necessarily have you laughing out loud, but it adds brevity to more serious moments and situations throughout the adventure. 

Stories are only half the battle however; what does the minute to minute gameplay feel like? In a game this old yet new, I feel that Square-Enix hit a nice balance of feeling like the original while adding modern sensibilities. Battling might has well have been completely retooled. In the original game, your moves were limited to fight, item, run, and spell, all while only fighting one enemy at a time as you were just one hero. Well you're still just one hero, at no other point will you receive any other party members or help in battle throughout your playthrough. The enemies have gotten a bit more wise though, and will fight you with multiple groups of fiends at once. To compensate, the hero has a few more tricks up his sleeve. You now have access to abilities, a mid ground between casting spells and doing a normal attack. Most abilities are elemental forms of physical strikes, but you have other more status buffing effects like Dodgy Dance or Wild Side to assist in your efforts. You can also now defend on your turn! Wow! While sometimes unused in some JRPGs, defending as well as every other move in your arsenal has a time and place. Controlling only one character makes you approach battles a little differently compared to most games following it. I really noticed this in the boss battles. Some bosses aren't anything to slouch at becoming a careful dance of attacking, healing and defending, all while noticing subtle habits in how they attack you. It makes those more climactic battles feel more like a puzzle, where you're trying to find a strategy that works best for the current situation. That's not to say you don't see that in more modern JRPGs, but its more noticeable and appreciated because only control one character, not in spite of it. 

Battles are some of the best updates to the DQI, while still having that classic DQ feel.

Strategies and abilities aside, there are also some nice quality of life changes. In the overworld you can now run to get a move on, and the fast traveling options have been greatly expanded since the original game, not even costing MP to Zoom from place to place. Battles can be had at different speeds as well, making them as drawn out or as snappy as you'd like them to be. On the subject of grinding, compared to the original which was about 60% grinding, the remake is very minimal. I had about 20 hours in my play time of DQI, and I'd say a little under a full hour was spent grinding either for money or exp. I don't think it was required at all either, it was just something I wanted to do to get a better piece of equipment earlier in the game, or to make a boss fight a little bit easier. In my opinion one of the greatest quality of life features is the Recall system. Whenever you talk with an NPC, whether it be in a cutscene or some cat you found on the street that meows at you, pressing the start button allows you to save that interaction in a memory bank of sorts to recall at a later point. As someone who isn't past looking things up for a game online, but likes to try to beat the game without the outside help, this was a great feature. Being able to recall hints to find hidden equipment pieces or hidden areas on the world map made me feel that talking with every NPC was valuable, but I didn't have to worry about forgetting their information, or remembering where they were located so I could talk to them again. I would like to see features similar in other RPGs in the future, as it was one of the biggest takeaways I had from playing this remake. 

 

Closing Remarks

My itch for Dragon Quest has become ever itchier after playing this first part in a two part package. While Dragon Quest gets more recognition in the west than ever before, it feels satisfying to go back and play the series origins. I've made some remarks to the limitations of the original version of DQ over the course of this post, but don't think that I didn't enjoy my time with the original. It was a different experience than the games I had already played, but I could see the essence of the JRPGs that I've come to enjoy in DQ. The HD-2D remake captures that feeling and essence, but in a refined way that is complimentary to the original experience. The game is beautiful to see and hear, and has enough depth to its story and gameplay to keep you engaged throughout the games duration. With the complete Erdrick trilogy being out on modern consoles in HD-2D, and DQVII Reimagined being just on the horizon, I'd say that there's not going to be a better time to get into the franchise. If you like JRPGs, give this version of the game a shot to see where so many other games got their ideas from. I'd say its worth going back to the original version of the game sometime as well, as it makes you appreciate the remake even more, while also still being fun in its own right. 

 

Thank you for reading my blog. If you'd like to support me, check out the other posts on this blog, or consider visiting my YouTube channel at youtube.com/@checkthemanual. 

 2025 in review

Videos and Learning New Skills

If you've just been following this blog, then 2025 hasn't been much. Looking back I only created one post on how I was tackling my backlog. I had created a handful of other posts, but never got around to refining them or fleshing out the ideas that I once had. However, most of my time this year was spent on my YouTube channel, CheckTheManual. There I tried my best to create content semi-regularly, with the highlight being July/August leading up to Evo where I looked at several game manuals, and my collectors edition of Cyberbots in full detail. Outside of that I also made 2 Playdate reviews, which seemed to really take off and are where the majority of my views have come it seems. My goal was to try to hit 100 subscribers within the year, and currently as I'm writing this my channel is at 115 subscribers! I'd say the videos that I'm most proud of were my Cyberbots video as well as a Nintendo Power video I made looking at the launch of Nintendo's Wi-fi service and how to access it. I learned a lot of new things in editing videos, and although basic, it felt good to learn something new. My goal for 2026 isn't necessarily a subscriber count per se. I'd like to come back to writing more blog posts. Perhaps just keeping things shorter and a bit more opinion-based would be easier for this blog, still to be decided more on. As for my YouTube channel, I would like to continue in creating longer videos with a bit more substance and research needed to be put into them. My short form content which has been my bread and butter so to speak I'd like to keep more brief. Usually my videos are about 2 minutes in length for the shorts, but in checking my analytics I find that most people aren't staying for longer than 10-15 seconds. So I plan to change my shorts to be shorter just looking at either artwork or tidbits about the manual I thought were cool. I have a lot of other ideas for my videos, so stay tuned to that. 

Outside of the videos and posts I'll be creating, I'd also like to focus more attention on things that could aid in bringing new ideas to the table. I've always heard that game developers do better when their interests are more varied, and that they take the medium of video games as a creative outlet first as opposed to making entertainment or as a job. With that being said, in 2026 I'm going to be putting more effort into reading, and learning Japanese. The latter I've already taken some great steps towards, as in the last quarter of 2025 I've been taking in person Japanese classes with my fiancé. My main intention behind this is to experience Japan and its culture to the fullest extent, and so I don't look like a total tourist when we eventually are able to make the trek across the Pacific. Additionally, it would allow me to experience things that most western gamers wouldn't be able to because of the language barrier. Maybe one day I could contribute in a meaningful way to a fan translation of a game! On the flip side, reading has been something I've always enjoyed, but never put serious time into. I have a handful of books down that I'd like to read, but most of them are nonfiction. I'll do my best to find some great fiction to read throughout this year as well, in the hopes to expand my horizons and potentially improve my amateurish writing on this blog. 

Games 

Most years I look back on and realize I acquired more games than I did play them. This was thankfully not the case this year. About two-thirds of the way through the year, I looked back and really started to keep track of every game that I spent more than a few hours or so playing. For me, I usually spend my evenings playing one game for several hours. That doesn't necessarily mean that I beat all of the games I played, but I did beat quite a few of them. Using the website topsters.org I compiled all of my games into one helpful image I could add to and revisit over the course of the year, while also placing them in the order I enjoyed them the most. Here is a list of everything I played! 

Wow! Right at 50 games this year across a variety of platforms, genres and timeframes. This list is ordered in its entirety, with some room for games to move around. Now I'm sure I forgot some games to add to this list that I did end up playing, but I can always add it to next year's list if needed. Additionally, here are some brief thoughts on the games that I either enjoyed the most, or have something to add to for clarification. 

1. Virtua Fighter 5 REVO/World Stage: A fighting game player's fighting game. Playing this game semi-seriously for the first two-thirds of this year was nothing short of one of the greatest experiences I've had playing a fighting game. The epitome of simple to understand, difficult to master. The VF community is awesome, and I look forward to hopping back on the grind in 2026. 
2. Unicorn Overlord: Easily one of my favorite tactical RPG's and probably now in my top 10 JRPG's. Beautiful presentation overall, with deep mechanics and gameplay that can be as long or as short as you'd like it to be. The story is pretty cut and dry, but there's a lot of character growth and finality to the story that really made me enjoy it. Can't recommend enough, thank you Vanillaware. 
3. Metal Gear Solid 4: Don't play this without playing the rest of the series up to this point. If you haven't, you won't care. If you have, easily one of the most memorable experiences you'll have and a true love letter to the players of the franchise.
4. Fallout New Vegas: The sleeper hit of this year for me. From Novac to Nellis, from Vegas to Hoover Dam, everything about this game is memorable. Some of the best character writing and decision making I've ever encountered in a video game, and something everyone should play.
5. Animal Crossing Wild World: I loved when the villagers were a little more snarky, and the mechanics not so over tuned with crafting and durability. Easily my favorite Animal Crossing. 
6. Lumines 2: Has Missy Elliot and Gwen Stefani saying "super kawaii"
7. Baroque: Game I wish I played more of award. I'll definitely be coming back to this one throughout '26
8. Freedom Wars: Neat premise, and the gameplay is fun, but a bit grindy in single player. I wish I would've played this game when the online was working on Vita, or just played the remaster on modern consoles/Steam. If you like Monster Hunteresque gameplay, give this a shot.
9. Clair Obscur Expedition 33: I only played like 5-6 hours of this while it was on game pass. Kind of a neat premise, and it was a game that I had on my radar, but I didn't really feel like there was anything that I hadn't already experienced in other games before. I might come back and give it another shot, but at this point the community around the game is kind of keeping me from playing it. 
10. Spotto: Play more DSiware games. Cute and charming puzzle game that doesn't overstay it's welcome

If you'd like to know more of my thoughts on any of the games I have listed above, feel free to ask in the comments or send me a DM on my Bluesky or Twitter. In the year to follow, I also have some games I'd like to play sooner rather than later. So, I've also made a list of games in my backlog that I can check off my list as 2026 continues. 

As you can see, I started this list back in September or so, and I've already played the first two games on this list, so I'm making some headway. I'm thinking of playing something with a bit more action next, so maybe I'll check out Ranger X. It's also Persona's 30th anniversary next year, and I've always wanted to play the OG. We will see.

Overall my 2025 was great. In my personal life things are going quite well, and my passion of video games grows stronger by the year. I'm really proud of myself for growing my YouTube channel to the point that it is today, and I look forward to creating even more videos in the future. Keep an eye out here as well for posts ranging all sorts of game topics. I hope you have a happy New Year!

How I found to have fun with my backlog, fun with games again, and moving forward

 I'll play it someday...why not today?

Several days ago, I bought a handful of import games online which I was excited about, because my game purchasing has drastically gone down over the past few years. Several years ago, I knew exactly what games I had and which I didn't. However, as my collection has grown, I've started using an app on my phone called GameEye to enter and keep track of my collection in its entirety. This came about after buying several lower dollar games that I already had bought years ago and never realized. After receiving my new import games, I entered them into my collection app, when I realized I had just passed the 700 physical games owned threshold. Even typing it out it seems like so much! It made me stop for a moment and think back on how many of my games I've actually played or enjoyed vs. how many I've never even touched. It also made me think of how many times I had thought about starting a game, but never actually did. Whether it was the game that was just purchased, or something that was sitting on the shelf for years it gave me a call to action. Earlier this year, I set some ideas/goals that I wanted to follow when playing games that were reinforced after adding my 700th game to my collection. I feel like it's really helped me overall with my enjoyment of games, so I wanted to share some concepts that I've been practicing and see if it helps other people!

 

1. Don't hesitate to play something just because you haven't finished what you're currently playing 

This was a big one for me personally. I would start a game that I knew had a reputation of being a bit on the longer side. I'd play around 20-30 hours of that experience, but I would get burnt out around that point. However, because I just invested 20-30 hours of my time, I now am pushing through the rest of the game trying to finish it to make the experience feel worth it. Because I've now locked myself into one game, I felt guilty playing another game or starting a brand new story out of fear that I would never get to finish the first game. I realized this more than ever when playing Elden Ring. I started playing Elden Ring for the first time early 2024. It was my first true soulslike experience, and I was having a ton of fun fighting difficult enemies and traveling an amazing, uniquely built world. I felt like this for about 30 hours, when I started to feel fatigued after playing nothing but Elden Ring for the past 2 weeks or so. Even though I was fatigued, I said to myself "well I must be close to the end, I'll just keep pushing to the credits". I played the game for about another 15 hours in total over the next few weeks, but in doing so I was not having as much fun. I wasn't exploring the side dungeons as much as I was. I found myself just running past enemies just to get to the next point in the story. I felt like I lost my sense of curiosity and was just going through the motions so I could play something else. I stopped playing Elden Ring around the 45 hour mark and felt kind of crappy about it, but I just wasn't having the same amount of fun. That's usually where my story would end with games like Elden Ring, but earlier this year I decided to play a little bit more, picking up where I left off. I ended up falling in love with the game all over again, and put another 40 hours into the game! I realized that I shouldn't just rush through a game to say that I beat it. Fun is king when it comes to games, and if I wasn't having fun, then I'll just play something else. My save file will be there when I'm ready to play again, and there's plenty of resources both in games and online to help me remember where I left off if I forgot. Because of this mentality, in 2025 I've played more games than ever!

2.  Replaying is fun, but I could be missing out

Earlier this year, I was playing through Pokemon Platinum when my roommate walked over, saw what I was playing, and said "ah the annual Pokemon playthrough". I hadn't realized it, but every year we had lived together and even some before that I had played through an older Pokemon game once a year. I don't think that there's anything wrong with replaying a game that you enjoy, but what about the games that you might enjoy even more? I love when I find out that a game that I've had on my shelf for years becomes a new favorite. After playing some Pokemon, I decided to try out Dragon Quest V for the first time, and it easily became one of my favorite RPGs on my DS. Now this isn't to say you should never replay your games. Just before you decide to boot up a game that you've experienced before, think about the stuff you haven't experienced yet!

 3. Spread the love across your consoles/devices

 Now obviously your mileage may vary with this point, but I still think it's worth making even if you only have 2-3 devices. I have a wealth of consoles and handhelds to play stuff on, but I tend to stick towards my favorites. In turn, because I play those consoles more often, I tend to feel like I'm running out of things to play. In actuality so much of my collection is underplayed or consoles just unexplored. It's important to pick up a console or handheld you haven't touched in a while to help remember why you have it in the first place. For example, I've had my PSP for quite some time at this point. Most of it's library that I owned I had already played through when I was younger, but I had never forgotten that I had a PSP and always kept an eye out for new games to add to my collection. Although my collection had grown by double, I wasn't using it. So I decided to charge my PSP for the first time in about a year and check out some of the games I had purchased. I had played Lumines as one of my favorite games growing up, but I never played Lumines 2 so I started there. Did you know that Lumines has not just unique music created for the game, but also some licensed tracks from the early-mid 2000's like Hollaback Girl and Pump It? It reminded me in a more literal sense that these retro games are a product of their era, and they're fun to experience past the time they were originally released. Also that Pump It is dangerously easy to get stuck in your head. 

4. Play games in handfuls

 Whether just for the evening or over a longer period of time, it's good to have a few games that you're "currently playing" at any given time. I usually split things up into a console RPG or action game as well as a handheld game for a more relaxed experience. For my older consoles that have more arcade experiences like my Genesis or NES, I'll play several games over the course of one evening. That way if there's an experience that really grips me, I can continue to play that while still actively trying the games that I haven't touched whatsoever.

5. Bring friends along for the ride!

Just because you're experiencing a game for the first time doesn't mean you can't share that experience! As mentioned above, I recently bought some import games with one of them being a Sega Saturn game called "Anarchy in the Nippon". It's a 3D fighting game similar to Virtua Fighter 2, and I mainly purchased because it was cheaper and looked to run pretty smooth on the Saturn. However, fighting games are always meant to be played with an opponent, and thankfully my fiancé was down to play as well. She honestly beat me pretty bad overall, but we both really enjoyed some of the characters. The game primarily consists of what I assume are high school students (I can't read Japanese) but also features two older people. One is a middle-aged Japanese salary man type, while the other an older businesswoman or teacher, but both play nothing how they appear. I don't think I would've liked the game as much as I did if I was playing it by myself. So recently, I've been more encouraged to share my new experiences with friends and family, because what good is having such a collection if I can't play with or talk with them about it?

Thanks for reading if you made it this far!