New English fan translation patches for lesser-known titles Tama: Adventurous Ball in Giddy Labyrinth (referred to just as Tama moving forward) and Hissatsu! are now available for us all to enjoy. These patches round out the teased “Summer of Saturn” trilogy from Exxistance and wiredcrackpot, two of the Saturn Scene’s most prolific contributors of the past few years.
Here are links to the respective English patches for Tama and Hissatsu! The team confirms that both patches work on real hardware (tested with a Satiator ODE), as well as the following software emulators: Kronos, Yaba Sanshiro, Mednafen, and Ymir.
The English patch for 3D puzzler Tama, currently in version 1.02, originally released nearly a month ago — our apologies for the delayed coverage — represented the July release of the “Summer of Saturn” series.
The patch for the Shinobi-like Hissatsu! version 1.0 is the August “Summer of Saturn” release that only became public this morning. However, according to the releases metadata on the project’s GitHub page, it was completed on June 6. It would appear that the translation team had their “Summer of Saturn” series ready well in advance.
The SNK 2D fighter Shinouken (aka Ragnagard) was the first release in the Summer of Saturn series. For those that are interested in the patch and the team’s motivations behind these efforts, check out SHIRO!’s coverage here.
The duo behind the Tama and Hissatsu! patches are familiar faces in the Saturn romhacking scene, releasing more than a dozen hacking/translation efforts between them in the last two years, not to mention their highly anticipated Cyber Doll English patch currently in testing — see SHIRO!’s coverage here. To hammer this point home, just look at their output from the last two years alone (sans the “Summer of Saturn” series, ongoing projects like Cyber Doll, Riglord Saga 2, and Sword & Sorcery, unannounced projects, and more minor project contributions like that in Di Gi Charat Fantasy):
Exxistance:
Wiredcrackpot:
Not sure how they do it, but we, like untold other Sega fans, are grateful.
The GitHub pages for both patches read quite similarly, including patching instructions, sections about each game, along with some tips and tricks, patch credits, and more.
The team credits wonder-inc in both patches for their help in testing before release. Both patches also give special thanks to Bo Bayles for providing cheat codes and other helpful hacks.
Lastly, the Tama patch includes a heartfelt thanks to Exxistance’s grandma, who helped to inspire the translation effort.
Applying the patches
The following patching instructions for Tama or Hissatsu! are from their respective GitHub readme files. They are included here for your convenience.
- Unzip patch bundle (relevant only for the Hissatsu! release)
- Download an XDelta patching utility like Delta Patcher
- Open your XDelta patching utility
- When using Delta Patcher (this step will look similar regardless of the XDelta patching utility):
- For “Original File” find Track 01 of the original game disc (that being: Tama – Adventurous Ball in Giddy Labyrinth (Japan) (Track 01).bin OR Hissatsu! (Japan) (Track 01).bin depending on the game)
- For “XDeltaPatch” find the appropriate XDelta patch.
- Click “Apply Patch”
- If successful, Track 01 will be replaced with the patched track.
Note that only Tama – Adventurous Ball in Giddy Labyrinth (Japan) and Hissatsu! (Japan) game images were tested with their respective patches.
Tama was available at the Japanese launch of Saturn in November 1994. This humble 3D puzzler by Time Warner Interactive draws clear inspiration from wooden ball labyrinth toys that were popular in the mid-20th century. While the game has gained a modern reputation for its rather low framerate, it is impressive that this day-one Saturn title showcased a variety of fully 3D levels — with a mix of textured and flat-shaded polygons and true transparencies — that are able to be manipulated by the player in real time. This was before Sega provided developers with helpful tools like the Saturn Graphics Library.
Hack-and-slash title Hissatsu! was developed by Emotion Digital Software, aka Bandai Visual, and released in June 1996. The game is based on the long-running television series of the same name about assassins in Meiji Restoration era Japan. For more on Hissatsu!, why not check out Peter Malek’s thoughts in this #BestOfSaturn?
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