SD3 And Emulation

by Dan Duett

Having heard much debate lately over videogame emulation, I thought I would like to add my two cents on the issue. This also pertains largely to the Complete Translation of SD 3.

SD 3 is a fantastic game. The graphics have undergone a massive improvement since the first Secret of Mana, and any quick glance at a screen shot can reveal that. This is a game that would have been even a bigger success than the original, had it ever been released here. The silly part about it is that it was two-thirds translated by Square when they decided to can the US release, so they could instead release Secret of Evermore. Yes, Secret of Evermore. I bought the damn game, and I'll be the first to admit that it is far less enjoyable than Seiken Densetsu 3.

Now anyone who is involved in the emulation world, such as myself, and particularly the translation world, knows that the translation of Seiken Densetsu III is a massive achievement. This was a project which took over a year in itself and its history included many failed attempts. Now someone finally comes along and translates the game, not to make profit, or gain attention, but to simply bring a game over to the States that should've been here 4 years ago. To top it off they overcome several complicated problems in the translation project, and even perform a better translation than many Squaresoft games of today? How can one say they're at fault? They should be congratulated for doing something that shouldn't have been needed to be done.

Do I consider owning or playing ROMs illegal? Not really. I know they are, but I bought my share of SNES games while the system was in its prime and the games were in distribution. I considered myself a big supporter of not only Squaresoft but also Nintendo "back in the day".

I also know that most of the ROMs I own were never released in the US, such as "Treasure Hunter G", "Bahumut Lagoon", "Front Mission", and "Romancing Saga 3". Its a real shame these games were never released in the US in the first place! Considering that SNES games are no longer in production, one might ask, "What's the harm in downloading a game that I can't find or buy?". Well, in my opinion, there really is no harm.

Who downloads most of these ROMs, and their translations (if they're lucky enough to ever be translated), Americans, such as you and me. Was there ever a market in America for these games in the first place? No. Is Squaresoft or any other company losing money off of me playing SD3? Not at all.

The videogame world in general needs to seriously rethink their policy on emulation. If someone downloaded a ROM of Zelda 64, I could understand where someone at Nintendo would be mad. They have every right to, because someone is playing the game rather than buying a game that is still in production and distribution. But downloading classics from SNES and Nintendo and other early systems that are no longer available? What's the problem?

And also, with many new systems coming out utilizing the DVD format, which is also compatible with many computers, perhaps emulation is a smart idea. Think about it, let's say my PC buddy Billy always wanted to play my Dreamcast games, but he didn't want to purchase the system. Billy and others like him are within an audience that is unreachable to the Dreamcast market. Even though Billy would like to purchase some of their games (consequently giving SEGA $$$), he simply doesn't want to buy the system. And therefore, he doesn't purchase games!

But let's say that Billy obtains an emulator for Dreamcast (before I get massive emails on this, NO! I know of no such Dreamcast Emulator, merely an example!) and loaded it onto his computer. Then he could purchase these games and play them. Through emulation, Sega has reached a member of an audience that was previously unreachable, one that they could not sell to. But thanks to emulation, Sega makes more bucks! If they wanted to make even more, they could release their own licensed emulator. For any videogame company to pass up emulation is to throw money away, because people will emulate games regardless of if its backed by the videogame company or not.

So, in conclusion, do I believe that anyone who plays SD 3 in ROM form is breaking the law? No. They're simply playing a game that should've been played a long, long time ago.