The day you have been waiting for has arrived. Death Crimson 2: Meranito no Saidan for Dreamcast has finally received a fan translation. It’s time to break out the light guns. If you have one.
I’ll be honest with you, this is the first time I’ve heard of the game, but I am fascinated. Death Crimson 2 is the 1999 sequel to the 1996 Sega Saturn title, Death Crimson. Both games were exclusive to Japan.
The fan patch is unusually extensive. While most lightgun games could be played without knowing Japanese, Death Crimson 2 features cutscenes and text that tell a narrative. Not only has dialogue text been translated, textures have been redone to correct typos and cutscenes feature translated subtitles. The altered textures not only translate environmental text, but also fix misspellings of English words to better align with the sequel, Crimson Blood OX, which was released in North America.
The team also added an “Extras” menu that features music, videos, and translated fan messages that were posted on the developer’s website.
Death Crimson 2 is a lightgun game, but like many at the time, it can be played by moving a cursor with the joystick. The translation’s Github readme gives some details on compatibility.
As for the game, is it any good? Uh, no. The series is considered kusoge in its homeland, and that poor quality is what earned it a cult fanbase. In fact, in announcing the release of the fan translation, team member Derek Pascarella refers to it as such. However, if I taught you anything, it should be that crappy games are still worthwhile. For that matter, I typically play House of the Dead 2 simply to hear its abysmal voice acting.
The fan translation of Death Crimson 2: Meranito no Saidan is available on Pascarella’s Github page.
