"In 1992, when I was in my third year at university, I worked part-time at a company called Atelier Double. This company consisted of one room in a condominium in Yokohama ... or rather, it was done in three rooms. One room is the main development room. One room handles contracts from rival companies. The other room was the president's office, which doubled as a conference room. It was a very cozy and nice company. The first job I was asked to do as a part-time job was to translate the CD-I game " Mystic Midway: Rest in Pieces " into Japanese. CD-I is a "multimedia machine" made by Philips. At Atelier Double, they made several CD-I titles, and he seems to have sold quite a lot, such as "Tokyo Private School Examination Guide Liseenne Graphics" and "Yuki Saito Anniversary".
In particular, "Yuki Saito Anniversary" should have been "the best-selling CD-I title in Japan" at this time. I heard that it was about 300 ... The exam guide is a database of pictorial books that mainly collects girls' high school uniforms. At that time, it was just after the burst of the bubble economy, and there was still some scent left. Especially among private high schools, "making new uniforms" was popular. This is because there were many junior high school girls who took the exam for such things as cute uniforms requested by famous designers. And the female junior high school students who chose it were also in demand for pictorial books that could list cute uniforms. Books were also popular, but CD-I software was mainly sold to private junior high and juku schools.
By the way, this is the story of the Japanese version of "Mystic Midway: Rest in Pieces". The Japanese version had the subtitle "Don't let it go to the graveyard alone". Even though it's a Japanese version, I didn't mess with the program at all. The estimated amount of selling copies was 300, so it was not worth to investigate a lot of time in it. All you have to do is buy the rights to a game that sold reasonably well in the US and easily modify it. The CD-I was a "multimedia machine", so I talked a lot. The goal is to replace all of this audio file with Japanese. There was already voice data that the voice actor had spoken to. It is included in DAT (Digital Audio Tape), and the number of seconds is adjusted to the original one. There is also a table with the filename of the original file and the number of bytes.
Use MacII to capture audio from the DAT (48KHz data at this point) and convert it to 44.1KHz for use with the CD-I. Then, cut out the file accurately so that it is not different from the original file by 1 byte."
Thanks to CD-i member Gluon VAN, we can share a translation of this interesting article at Wizforest, which tells the story of an employee who worked at Atelier Double:
- アルバイトで最初に頼まれた仕事は、CD-I用のゲーム「Mystic Midway:Rest in Pieces」の日本語化作業。(My first albite was Japanese translation of "Mystic Midway:Rest in Pieces".)
- ドゥーブルでは、すでにCD-Iのタイトルをいくつか作っていて、「東京私立校受験ガイド リセエンヌ グラフィックス」とか、「斉藤由貴 Anniversary」とか、かなり売れたそうです。(Atelier Double had made some CD-i titles yet, "Lycéenne Graphics", "Yuki Saito Anniversary", they've sold quite a few.)
- 特に、「斉藤由貴 Anniversary」は、この時点での「日本で最も売れたCD-Iタイトル」だったはず。たしか、300枚くらいと聞いたような… (Especially, "Yuki Saito Anniversary" maybe "Best sales CD-i title in Japan" at this point. Certain, I heard 300 copies...)
- #受験ガイドは、主に女子高の制服を集めた図鑑データベースです。(Supplement:"Lycéenne Graphics" is picture book database of girls high school uniforms mainly.)
- 当時はまだバブル崩壊直後で、まだ残り香のあったころ。特に私立高校の間で「新しい制服を作る」のが流行していました。 (At the time, it was immediately following Japanese bubble clash, lingering scent yet. "Make new uniform" was spread widely in private school especially.)
- 著名デザイナーに依頼したかわいい制服など、それを目当てで受験する女子中学生が多かったためです。(Because many girl junior high school students take the test for the purpose of cute uniform made by famous designers.)
- そして、選ぶ側の女子中学生にも、かわいい制服を一覧できる図鑑などに需要があったのです。(And, students also want to picture book can list cute uniforms.)
- 書籍も流行っていたけど、CD-Iソフトは主に私立中学・進学塾相手に売れたのだとか。(Books was spread widely, CD-i version mainly sold private junior high school, and cram school.)
- さて、「Mystic Midway:Rest in Pieces」日本語版の話。日本語版には「ひとり墓ッ地でキモだめし」というサブタイトルがついていましたが。(Then, Japanese translation of "Mystic Midway:Rest in Pieces"... Japanese version's subtitle was "Test your courage in Graveyard".) (※This subtitle is Japanese play on words "ひとりぼっち(Hitoribotti)"(Alone) and "墓地(Boti)"(Graveyard). May respect original version's play on words "Rest in Pieces("Peace" and "Pieces")".)
- 日本語版と言っても、プログラムなど一切いじりません。先に書いたように、一番売れて300枚、なんて世界なので、細かな作業していたら割に合わない。(But, nothing reprogram. As above best sale is 300 copies, detailed work wasn't worth.)
- アメリカでそこそこ売れたゲームの権利を買ってきて、簡単に改造するだけです。(Buy right of pretty well sold game in America, and modified easy only.)
- CD-Iは「マルチメディア機」だったので、良く喋りました。この音声ファイルを全部日本語に差し替える、というのが目標。(CD-i was "Multimedia Console", talked a lot. Landmark is these voice replace all Japanese voice.)
- すでに、声優さんに喋って貰った音声データはありました。(Actor's voice had recorded yet.)
- DAT(デジタル・オーディオ・テープ)に入っていて、秒数も元の物に合わせてある。元ファイルのファイル名と、バイト数の表もある。(Include DAT(Digital Audio Tape), number of seconds matched it to the original. Name of original files, and bytes table correspondence to original.)
- MacIIを使ってDATから音声を取り込み(この時点では48KHzのデータ)、CD-Iで使う44.1KHzにコンバートします。(Use MacII(※Macintosh II?), capturing voices from DAT(48KHz data at this point), and convert 44.1KHz data for CD-i.)
- そして、元ファイルと1バイトたりとも違わないように、正確にファイルを切り出します。(And, cut replace files accurate, not diff a single byte on original files.)
- Macには5inch MOを接続してありました。5inch MOは、650Mを記録できました。もっとも、これはメディアを両面使った場合の話で、片面は半分。(Mac connected 5inch MO(※Magneto-Optical disk, widespread in Japan at this age). It was able to write 650MB. However, one side is half size.)
- そして、このMOドライブ自体が非常に高価。ドゥーブルには当然こんな高価な機材は無く、ドライブごと借りていました。(And this MO drive was extremely expensive. Of course Atelier Double didn't have these expensive unit, borrowed from ordering agency.)
- 先に作りだした「日本語化」ファイルを、MO上で元ファイルと同じ名前で保存します。(Aforementioned "Japanese voice" files save on MO disk at same name original files.)
- 完成したら、テストプレイ。…どうやって遊んだのだろう。記憶にない。(When completed, test play. ...Hm, how did I play? I don't remember.)
- 開発用の特殊なCD-I本体とかで、MOドライブをCD-ROMに見立てて起動したりできたのかもしれません。(May use development CD-i unit, emulate MO drive to virtual CD-ROM.)
- しばらく遊んでみて問題なさそうなので、日本語化完了。全てのデータをMOに入れて、ドライブとメディアを一緒に発注元に送り返します。(No problem play a while, then completed translation. All data include MO, return to ordering agency with MO drive.)
[Many thanks to our Japanese CD-i member Gluon VAN & Wizforest]