Update #2 (Tue 27th Feb, 2024 14:00 GMT): We're admittedly a little late to this, but the hacker Yuvi and translator SnowyAria have finally published part two of their translation patch for Madou Monogatari 123.
The patch was released earlier this month on February 22nd, and once again can be played on the PC-9821 AP2 or an emulator like Neko Project with save state support enabled.
To accompany the announcement, Yuvi thanked those who helped to test the patch and also offered an explanation for why it took longer than initially anticipated:
"For how badly I wanted to get it out a lot sooner, this version presented some new challenges we didn't have in 1. However after what seemed like an eternity of staring at assembly. We got it! Thank you so much to everyone who helped test, troubleshoot and get this released!"
You can grab the patch now from Github or romhacking.net, if you want to give it a try.
Update #1 (Mon 3rd Jul, 2023 15:30 BST): The English translation patch for the first part of Madou Monogatari is now available on GitHub.
The patch from the hacker Yuvi and translator SnowyAria has been tested to work on the PC-9821 AP2, but should you want to emulate the game instead, the pair recommends using Neko Project with save state support enabled. This is because manually saving the game requires players to enter a data floppy, something which can become a bit of a nuisance over time.
You can find more information here. We'll keep you posted once the patches for parts two and three are available.
Original article (Wed 28th Jun, 2023 11:30 BST): If you're a fan of obscure Japanese dungeon crawlers, then we have some exciting news. A group of translators and hackers are currently in the process of translating Compile's Madō Monogatari 123 for the PC-98 into English for the very first time.
Originally released for the MSX in 1990, Madō Monogatari 123 was later ported to NEC's PC-9801 the following year, with this version featuring more gruesome and realistic enemy designs than the original. It follows the young girl Arle Nadja (who later became the main star of Puyo Puyo) on three separate adventures — the first of which sees her scale a tower to complete a magic exam.
All three of these adventures were later remade for the Sega Game Gear as separate games, with the first part also receiving further remakes for the Turbo-Grafx-16/PC-Engine and Sega Mega Drive in 1996.
The fan translator SnowyAria announced the project yesterday on Twitter but actually alluded to the translation the day before by posting a vague teaser featuring the main protagonist Arle.
According to SnowyAria's tweet, the work on the first adventure is now finished, with the project currently undergoing playtesting. It is expected to release next week, with translations of the other two parts set to arrive over time.
We'll give you an update once it is released!