Black and White demo reveals several English names: Mall tour gives new localizations

[BulbaBot]

Black and White demo reveals several English name: Mall tour gives new localizations

The demo revealed that Darumakka is localized as Darumaka, Shell Blade as Razor Shell, Grass Mixer as Leaf Tornado, Devastate as Incinerate, Nitro Charge as Flame Charge, Sekka City as Icirrus City, and Dragon Spiral Tower as Dragonspiral Tower.

Read more on Bulbanews

 

[Faye Scarlet]

Re: Black and White demo reveals several English name: Mall tour gives new localizati

Yo, those don't sound bad at all. I like those names! Razor Shell especially. Sounds real badass, moreso than "Shell Blade".

 

[sunyshore]

Re: Black and White demo reveals several English name: Mall tour gives new localizati

not sure if this information would be nice to add or not, but this is the exact same location the BW demo set up in pokemon centers in japan had, and you met the same pokemon, battled cheren with starters, etc. exactly the same. interesting!

 

[Cross Poison]

Re: Black and White demo reveals several English name: Mall tour gives new localizati

and Dragon Spiral Tower as Dragonspiral Tower.

Thats fucking terrible, this is ruining the very meaning of Pokemon, how dare they make such a mockery out of our fanbase, thats it, I'M BOYCOTTING THE GAME.

 

[Yabukuron]

Re: Black and White demo reveals several English name: Mall tour gives new localizati

Thats fucking terrible, this is ruining the very meaning of Pokemon, how dare they make such a mockery out of our fanbase, thats it, I'M BOYCOTTING THE GAME.

Sacasm's great and this joke is fun when not overused, but I swear at some point someone's gonna get infracted for this.

 

[Falconwing]

Re: Black and White demo reveals several English name: Mall tour gives new localizati

Really, I don't hate any of these changes, I'm just wishing that Shell blade hadn't been changed.

 

[Joshawott]

Re: Black and White demo reveals several English name: Mall tour gives new localizati

I understand Flame Change; most kids wouldn't get the "Nitro" part. Leaf Tornado is a more accuracte description of the attack. I wish Shell Blade had stayed though; oh well, I'll live.

Also, I would have thought Icarrus would have been used for Fukiyose City, not Sekka; although I see the awful Ice pun (lol Icarrus).

 

[Cross Poison]

Re: Black and White demo reveals several English name: Mall tour gives new localizati

Sacasm's great and this joke is fun when not overused, but I swear at some point someone's gonna get infracted for this.

Sorry, I thought it would seem a bit overkill. I was just immatating some fans who make a big deal out of everything.

 

[Bittersweet]

Re: Black and White demo reveals several English name: Mall tour gives new localizati

... wait, why do you 'wish' it was Shell Blade instead of Razor Shell? What on earth is the difference.

I'm not too fussed about any of these changes. Most of them are just making stuff easier for a Western audience. "Icirrus City" is also a cool name.

 

[Joshawott]

Re: Black and White demo reveals several English name: Mall tour gives new localizati

... wait, why do you 'wish' it was Shell Blade instead of Razor Shell? What on earth is the difference.

I'm not too fussed about any of these changes. Most of them are just making stuff easier for a Western audience. "Icirrus City" is also a cool name.

The sound. Besides, Shell Blade makes more sense when you consider the Samurai theme of the Oshawott family.

 

[Yabukuron]

Re: Black and White demo reveals several English name: Mall tour gives new localizati

Sorry, I thought it would seem a bit overkill. I was just immatating some fans who make a big deal out of everything.

Yeah I know, but when you overuse a joke it becomes less funny.

It's like, it's funny the first, the second, maybe the 10th time, but then it gets too much and yeeeah.

It's just me I guess. I just saw it and thought, this is gonna get someone in trouble sooner or later and I didn't think it was worth it.

 

[Grave-E]

Re: Black and White demo reveals several English name: Mall tour gives new localizati

Is it just me, or does this generation have an unusual amount of pointless name changes? As if Nitro Charge, Shell Blade and Grass Mixer even needed to be altered.
It's not so much that I'm complaining, but moreso the fact that I'd just like to know what on Earth goes through their heads when they localise these games. Someday, I'd really like someone in the fandom to bag an interview with these guys...

 

[Noivern]

Re: Black and White demo reveals several English name: Mall tour gives new localizati

I think there are reasons for the name changes. Sometimes, just translating won't cut it - the player has to understand it, too! Also, the new names fit the moves better in my opinion.

 

[Shinneth]

Re: Black and White demo reveals several English name: Mall tour gives new localizati

I understand Flame Change; most kids wouldn't get the "Nitro" part.)

I was gonna say, as a lot of kids are into wrestling (y'know, the fake kind) they'd at least recognize the word "nitro" from WCW Monday Nitro (that's how I recognized it, anyway).

... Then I realized not only has that show been dead for a decade, but even at this point 2001 is too early of a period for any of today's kids to recall.

 

[CynthiaLover]

Re: Black and White demo reveals several English name: Mall tour gives new localizati

I think there are reasons for the name changes. Sometimes, just translating won't cut it - the player has to understand it, too! Also, the new names fit the moves better in my opinion.

I agree with you. Some of the names won't make much sense to people outside of Japan. When I heard the name Nitro Charge, I immediately thought of Crash Bandicoot, thanks to all those Nitro crates (boy, do I feel old). But it's mostly because some of the names won't translate very well, and may not make much sense to American players (and others). Sure, Shell Blade makes more sense than Razor Shell due to the samurai theme, but don't forget that Oshawott isn't the only Pokemon than can learn it (Shellder and Cloyster say hi), so the samurai theme can't carry over in that sense. And Leaf Tornado better describes Grass Mixer's appearance.

So, overall, the new names make more sense to non-Japanese players, especially younger kids or newcomers in the Pokemon world. So we should just accept them, as it's their choice, not ours. And in my personal view, the names just sound better.

 

[SinCosTan]

Re: Black and White demo reveals several English name: Mall tour gives new localizati

Leaf Tornado sounds too similar to leaf storm IMO. I thought Grass Mixer was a good name that could have easily kept its original title. Grass Mixer happens to roll off the tongue better when I imagine Ash commanding Snivy to use it.

Snivy! use your LEAF TORNADO! vs. Snivy! use Grass Mixer!

Opinions do vary, but I did prefer grass mixer. I think Leaf Tornado sounds really generic while Grass Mixer is just an overall better name. Now, different doesn't always equal good. Remember sap sipper? Yeah...

Also there are some English names that are better than their Japanese ones. Close Combat is better than infight and Sucker Punch is better than Surprise Attack.

Razor Shell sounds cool, although I do prefer Shell Blade. I have no idea why Gamefreak decided that Dragon Spiral tower doesn't need a space between Dragon and Spiral.

 

[Shinneth]

Re: Black and White demo reveals several English name: Mall tour gives new localizati

I do prefer Grass Mixer to Leaf Tornado (even though it DOES literally look like a leaf tornado in the game). I just assumed they changed it to get rid of the "mixer" part since it can be associated with alcohol, I think...?

That's what I first thought when I learned about Grass Mixer: I thought maybe the attack would douse your opponent in alcoholic grass juice and make the target drunk/"confused". XD

 

[The Outrage]

Re: Black and White demo reveals several English name: Mall tour gives new localizati

I think there are reasons for the name changes. Sometimes, just translating won't cut it - the player has to understand it, too! Also, the new names fit the moves better in my opinion.

Shell blade --> Razor Shell?

Herbivore --> Sap Sipper? (Herbivore's not actually a big word >_> and kind of loses some meaning there, seems more fit for bugs)

You also lose that argument if you say young children don't know what the word Herbivore means, but are supposed to get Volcarona is a pun on volcano and corona. Then there's also everyone claiming how clever the Pan- and Sim- monkeys are, not really intuitive that they're derived from scientific names for kids, yet they dumb down Herbivore and loses almost all its meaning.

Hydreigon's family? Yeah, just like Dusknoir and Gardevoir, unless you got that Hydreigon's name is derived from another language (this case German) and knew how to pronounce it, you're going to be saying it wrong all the time.

Then there's also all those "Let's take perfectly good names that are already in English and make them more difficult to pronounce!" names for Pokémon, and even if they were Japanese names, a lot of the English names actually seem harder because they insist on using extremely cool letters causing a string of them to appear that normally wouldn't in the English language.

Or you have things like Zebstrika, where I could see that string of four consonant sounds winding up to be Zebrika in a world where language isn't static, because the second (aka Japanese name) rolls of the tongue much easier.

There's also Beartic. Pun works when written, not when said. Do you say "Bear-tic" losing the arctic reference and sounding like a creature from Avatar? Or do you say "Be-artic" which itself isn't that intuitive of a pronunciation. Honestly, I've just been calling it Beatrice.

Or the Xtransceiver, which is apparently "Cross" transceiver according to Serebii. Now that wouldn't be so bad if "X" was actually pronounced "cross" but its not, or the fact that we've had X-[stat] items and X-Scissor and wasn't referred to as "Cross". A good portion of their English names aren't even intuitive.

Bianca is really the only name that pops up in my head that they could have kept the same but actually changed the name to communicate the meaning better, and worked.

 

[Ranger Jack Walker]

Re: Black and White demo reveals several English name: Mall tour gives new localizati

Well, I always thought Grass Mixer was a horrible name so I prefer the change.

Razor Shell is also cool. Shell Blade was also cool so I'm neutral on this.

Flame Charge is okay but not great.

 

[Noivern]

Re: Black and White demo reveals several English name: Mall tour gives new localizati

Shell blade --> Razor Shell?

Herbivore --> Sap Sipper? (Herbivore's not actually a big word >_> and kind of loses some meaning there, seems more fit for bugs)

You also lose that argument if you say young children don't know what the word Herbivore means, but are supposed to get Volcarona is a pun on volcano and corona. Then there's also everyone claiming how clever the Pan- and Sim- monkeys are, not really intuitive that they're derived from scientific names for kids, yet they dumb down Herbivore and loses almost all its meaning.

To be honest, literal translations are not always the way to go.

"Herbivore" sounded boring and lazy. They don't just translate. They have to localise it. One wouldn't want to end up with boring stuff in the end.