Hi there, I'm a new person. Okay, introduction over. I've been spending some time in the Japanese Sonic manuals and doing some translations. There is a section near the end of the Sonic CD manual (on page 33) called "ソニックCD3つの謎" or "Sonic CD 3 Mysteries." The three mysteries deal with the Time Stones, the Metal Sonic projections and finally the devices that you destroy in the "Past" to make a "Good Future." This last section was the most interesting to me. The original Japanese text is as follows: コメカロボの謎 ソニックの前にあらわれる敵コメカロボは, 新しいものと古びたものの2系統あるようです。そして、 エッグマンの侵略を受けていないはずのかこにも、敵コメカロボがいるという事実は、現在から過去へと敵を送る、ある機会が関係しているようです。その機械をこわしたとき、 何か変化が起こる。。。？ And this is my translation: "KoMechaRobo Mystery Enemy KoMechaRobos appearing before Sonic seem to appear in two lines, new ones and old ones. And, Eggman’s invasion should not have appeared in the past also, the truth of the enemy KoMechaRobos is enemies from the present are transmitted to the past, and certain machines seem to be connected. That machine, when destroyed, what changes will happen…?" And this is how they are described on the Sonic Retro Sonic CD page: "Located somewhere in each version of the past for the first two zones of any given level is something known only as Eggman's machine, the tool for which he harvests the magical flower seeds of Little Planet and uses them to fuel his Badnik army." (Where the 'Eggman's machine' links to an article on roboticization) And: "In the past, each robot is shiny and new, as they are still being created. However, if Eggman's robot-making machine is destroyed and Sonic ventures into the "good future", not a single badnik will be seen, only the naturally occurring traps such as spikes being in his way to winning the level." Based on my reading of the text, however, the machines you destroy are not roboticizers and have nothing to do with the manufacture of badniks. They seem to be solely used to send badniks back in time. After quickly going through the manual I also can see no mention of them being called "Eggman's machine," but it was a quick flip-through. Anyway. Thoughts?
Great work with the translation! I think the Sonic Retro article is based on the author's interpretation of what's going on. I don't think it's derived from any official source. Because until your translation, much of the official text has been untranslated. It's so exciting to see that the manuals did actually explain this stuff, so again, great job with translating it.
The 2011 remake's digital manual refers to those as "Eggman's robot transporter". So yeah, they're just teleporters. Btw, I second big smile. Translations of Japanese material and manuals are always greatly appreciated.
Very informative! Any idea what the "Ko" in KoMechaRobo means? Is there some kind of pun, portmanteau or other wordplay going on? The "transmitted to the past" thing explains the in-game behaviour of the machine: Before Destroying the Machine Past: New robots Present: New robots and damaged robots Bad Future: Damaged robots. After Destroying the Machine Past: No robots Present: New robots Good Future: No robots So the present has a mix of new robots and damaged robots - the damaged robots being the ones from the past that have worn down over time. In the Bad Future all the robots have become damaged over time. By destroying the machine in the past, the "connection" with the machine in the present (which still exists) is severed, so all the robots in the past disappear and become flowers. When returning to the present, all of the damaged robots are gone and replaced by flowers, because they no longer existed in the past, so only the new robots remain. On a related topic, Masato Nishimura talked about the original intention for the Metal Sonic projectors here: https://twitter.com/Mazin__/status/1104381096282619904 メタルハンバーグてw あれはエネミージェネレータですね。壊すと良い未来になります。 メタルソニック映写機は壊しても壊さなくても特に影響ないですが、元々は小動物達がその映写機の映像でソニックを誤解して敵視して襲ってくるっていうボツネタがあって、その名残りです。
Well, コ/ko means little or small doesn't it? So wouldn't KoMechaRobo be "small mecha robot", possibly referencing that badniks are basically mini mechas "piloted" by animals (flower seeds in Sonic CD)? Just a guess I wonder if that term has ever been used by other manuals?
The character "ko" is rendered in katakana in this example, which is generally used for foreign words. I wondered if it maybe was short for "converted"? But I've also noticed that in the Sonic manuals, when they want to emphasize certain words, even Japanese words, they will also use katakana almost in lieu of bold or italics. For instance Dr. Eggman always says "Washi" vice "Watashi" (for I) and it's always rendered in katakana. So, since it was kind of ambiguous to me what the "ko" meant in this context, I just left it as the Japanese rendering. So far I have gone through Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic 3, and Sonic CD, and I have not seen the term "KoMechaRobo" used anywhere else, nor the term "Robonoid" which is how the Palmtree Panic Eggman boss is described. Now, I haven't translated every word, just the story sections, character profiles, and any little tidbit that looks interesting. These are the other Sonic CD tidbits I've found. I am omitting the original Japanese text because that takes a real long time to get into the computer. :D EGG-HVC-001 Civil construction work robonoid. Both arm manipulator sections have the strength to repel Sonic’s attacks. Sonic CD 3 Mysteries? Time Stone Mystery Somewhere on Little Planet are miraculous jewels called Time Stones. When having Time Stones in hand, miraculous power is granted the say. Sonic collects all 7 Time Stones and… Little Planet resident animals… The planet where everyone is peaceful, Little Planet, now that it is being made into a huge stronghold, peace is broken and does not exist. And then at this planet, the animals get along by concealing themselves. Apparently, Sonic is who they seem to be afraid of… KoMechaRobo Mystery Enemy KoMechaRobos appearing before Sonic seem to appear in two lines, new ones and old ones. And, Eggman’s invasion should not have appeared in the past also, the truth of the enemy KoMechaRobos is enemies from the present are transmitted to the past, and certain machines seem to be connected. That machine, when destroyed, what changes will happen…? Other Notes: Special Stage Ring: Ookina Ringu (Big/Large/Great Ring) (Note that this is also what Sonic 1 calls them. Sonic 3 starts calling them "Special Rings") Time Stone colors: Yellow, Red, Light Green, Blue, Purple, Green, Orange
Interesting text, I've never thought to look at the manual after all these years. Funny what unknown information is right under our noses. Just for reference, I'm going to provide my own translation since there's parts that aren't entirely correct. Ko definitely is probably meant to be interpreted as "small" (小). Makes sense since it's a relatively small machine for what it does. Pengi's quote from Nishimura was also something I never knew either so here's a translation for that. That definitely answers a question I've had for years. I guess instead of making it lost content they kept the projectors since it looks cool or something.
"Although not in particular happens whether you destroy the Metal Sonic projectors or not, there was a scrapped idea we originally had where the small animals would mistake the projected image for Sonic and see him as an enemy, so they'd attack you." This seems to go along with the description in the manual about the animals being afraid of Sonic. Also, thanks for the more refined translation Shoemanbundy.
huh. this translation might explain the animals running around in the Past and Good Future versions of levels, which was a detail I thought was odd because it never showed up in any other game. I guess maybe in Good Futures they might've been intended to provide extra hazards...?
Animals always show up in the Good Future and never show up in the Bad Future. They only appear in the Past and Present if you destroy the Metal Sonic projector. It sounds like the original intention was that animals would always be around, but they would attack Sonic until you destroyed the Metal Sonic projector. In the final game the reward is purely cosmetic.
I'm glad this detail was scrapped to be honest. Having little ankle biter's attack you at random would have killed the pace of the game by a long shot.
So, re: Eggman's machine. The reason it was put on the wiki page way back when was because that's what it was called on The Green Hill Zone. Back when Green Gibbon! was still around and updated his page, he strived to only use the Japanese terminology for items in game. When I wrote that page...a decade ago? (oh god), I assumed that was the proper name, and had been translated by someone, somewhere. Clearly, it wasn't. I've had some suspicion that it wasn't correct in recent times, but, eh. I figured someone, at some point, would fix it if they stumbled across the real name. As to why it links to roboticization? Someone else did that. It really shouldn't, but the wiki isn't a perfect place. Just more reason for everyone to log on and fix it up for the 21st century! And yes, the rest was an interpretation of what seemed to be happening on the screen. You have a machine that seems to be functioning in the past, it's seemingly broken in the present...it's what made sense to me. But these new details from the manual certainly make it more interesting. I mean, heck. I've wanted all the Japanese manuals fully translated for a while, but since I don't speak a lick of Japanese, I'm not the person to do it. Everyone becomes focused on the prologue pages, when there could be all sorts of interesting things hiding in there, just like this was. I want to know how jumping was described in Japan ;-; Huh, funny he calls it an enemy generator. But I guess it is generating enemies and sending them into the past? But that animal idea is wild. Imagine all those -cky's you saved again and again, suddenly turning on you. It...probably would have confused everyone. Makes sense why they removed it, but I'd be curious to see it in action. If it ever was.
On a Discord server I'm on, we have a Translators Role. Perhaps it might be a good idea to implement a similar role here, alongside Administrator, Oldbie, etc., and look to attract some translators to help with the Japanese side of the franchise? I'm not sure if Windii was a member here or if their translations were brought in from elsewhere, but having someone like that on the site would be a boone for details like this, since we seem to generally have the Japanese works on hand.
*Flips through Chaotix manual* Oh look, under the Bonus Stage section I see the katakana for "Pillar energy"... Time to get to work.
