Platform: PC-9801
Status: Lakers 1 and 2: Complete, Lakers 3: Future plans
Current patch: Links to the latest versions of the patch can be found on BabaJeanmel's page.
BabaJeanmel's translation project for Sei Shoujo Sentai Lakers was the first translation project I worked on to actually see release. BabaJeanmel had previously released a menu translation for the three games in the series and was looking at doing a full translation of the first one, but was running into issues with the space needed for the english text. Having developed a method to adjust pointers when inserting different length text into script files for Guynarock, I reached out and let him know I could probably adapt my tools to work with the Lakers script files as well.
Using the same methods as I did previously, I began investigating the program and how it interprets the script files. Once I worked out the bytecodes and which ones handled text and pointers, I was able to adjust my old tools and extract the script. I sent my files to BabaJeanmel so he could translate and reinsert, and my contribution to the project was pretty much done. Occasionally, he would come back to me with a bug that needed fixing, sometimes in my tools and sometimes in the original game itself. With some additional help in proofreading and graphics editing, the project was finished and BabaJeanmel released the patch in May of 2022.
Even before the first game's patch was released, we had already begun working on it's sequel. While the formats were similar to the first game, most of the bytecodes were moved around or expanded the parameters they took, so they all had to be mapped out again. Even with my Lakers 1 tools as a starting point, it still took me twice as long to adapt them and work out the bugs as the first game did. More than the complexity, the sheer size compared to the first game meant we were still discovering new bugs and issues months later as BabaJeanmel got to the later chapters of the script. This did give us the opportunity to polish some bugs that were in the original, including restoring an entire half-chapter of content the the original mistakenly skips over!