Thracia 776 Crew

You might have noticed that the first half of 2019 has been rather exciting for Super Nintendo fans worldwide – with several new hardware and fan projects ensuring that the old 16-bit powerhouse remains relevant to this day and age. This latest news will do very little to dimmish such a trend because Project Exile has successfully assembled a complete English translation of the next-to-last Super Famicom cartridge ever officially released: Fire Emblem: Thracia 776.

The third and final Fire Emblem game to exclusively grace the Super Famicom started out like many late generation Super Famicom games in 1999: A Nintendo Power kiosk exclusive released in September 1999 that eventually saw a proper cartridge release in early 2000. You will not be surprised to learn it features some of the finest graphics and music ever produced for the system – with a huge story-driven campaign set in the continent of Jugdral detailing the struggles of the young deposed Prince Leif (whom you might be familiar with if you play Fire Emblem Heroes) as he tries to restore his birthright with his makeshift army of irregulars. Some unique gameplay elements like fatigue and the ability to capture enemies instead of simply defeating them help to freshen up the more traditional FE game elements.

While Thracia 776 began as a small side project within the development of Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War (whose events share the same timeline) it grew into a complete standalone game and as you can imagine. A very plot-heavy one at that. By the year 2000 – and with no pedigree established outside Japan, there was no chance Nintendo would ever commit any resources to even attempt an English translation for the overseas market. The game (along with all the rest of the series up to that date) remained impossible to comprehend outside anyone with a complete grasp of Japanese... yet twenty odd years later and several partial attempts at fan localization, Project Exile released a complete menu and script translation of the game just as the pages of our calendars turned to June 2019.

As you can imagine a project of this magnitude was not without a fair share of hurdles. You can read an extensive Interview with members of Project Exile that turned this 'impossible' feat into reality over Serenes Forest, the biggest Fire Emblem community hub for English fluent fans.

Project Exile
A Complete Thracia 776 Menu and Script Translation

Thracia 776 has long been the FE community’s white whale. Project Exile is my own attempt to finally put this English patch to bed, using the remnants of Kirb’s patch as a foundation and taking the menu translation (and considerable technical advice) from Zane.

Project Exile represents a grand collaboration between many people from across the world, none of whom have ever met in person. Our translation team consisted of people from throughout the United States, France, and Austria, who all pooled their expertise and talents to make this patch a reality. We hope you enjoy this patch as much as we enjoyed making it!

Yet another Triple-A Nintendo Super Famicom exclusive video game that many believed impossible to experience outside of having a Japanese language degree is now completely translated to English and another major effort successfully completed to the decades-old legacy of fan translation projects. A fine way to celebrate the series while eagerly waiting for the upcoming Switch entry, Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

Were you familiar with Thracia 776 back in the day? Do you own a Super Famicom cartridge or even a Nintendo Power cartridge with the game written in it? Tells us all about it in the comment section below.

[source serenesforest.net, via siliconera.com]