Funky Fantasy IV – 3 Years Later

Posted on by ‧6 Comments

In late 2016, I Google Translated Final Fantasy IV and called it Funky Fantasy IV. I even wrote a book about how bad it turned out and why!

Google-based translation in 2016, some before and some after Google's AI translation upgrade

Anyway, I was feeling nostalgic the other day, so I checked to see if Google Translate handles the job better after three years’ time.

The result: wow, it actually got much worse!

I think I’ll do another version of Funky Fantasy IV in a year or two. Based on what I’ve seen here, though, it won’t be as fun as our original playthough.

If you liked this, check out press start to translate, my book about the time I Google-translated Final Fantasy IV. It includes the worst/most hilarious translation mistakes, all while explaining why Google's A.I. made such terrible choices. (free preview PDF)
6 Comments
  1. Whelkman

    Did you forget to turn off “Barret Mode” when running Edge’s translation?

  2. PIAS

    What you’re neglecting to mention in these articles is that Final Fantasy IV’s script is all kana and this is not the normal way of writing Japanese and this is part of why Google does so abjectly poorly at it.

    Of course, fixing the input by adding kanji will improve Google’s output some, but not much.

    1. homogenized

      It does get mentioned in the book, though.

      1. Clyde Mandelin

        I also discuss it on the Funky Fantasy IV page itself, along with a related stream screenshot: https://legendsoflocalization.com/funky-fantasy-iv/#misc

  3. Thom K

    If you planning on a new version, Fluoride Story would make an excellent subtitle.

  4. David C

    I wish there was a rom with all of this translated gold. I’d play it.