script

Name of show:
Mother's Neon Tomato

Complete show length: 7:31-10:41

Episode 1 topic: What's on a Tomato's mind?
Into music: "Welcome to Mother3 World" Time: 3:48
Intro: 20-40 sec Min: 1-2 min
Im here with Tomato and were going to interview him on his recent rom translation and on him personally.

1. What do the companies think about what your doing?
"We know what we're doing isn't 100% legal. But even so, we try our best not to step on companies' toes. In fact, I've received a number of e-mails in the past from professionals inside major game companies giving their thanks, offering to buy me drinks sometime, stuff like that. What we do is appreciated, but in a hidden way, I think."

2. The translation patch receiving over a hundred thousand downloads in the first week of release. "The response was a lot bigger than we expected, and it was awesome how excited and positive everyone was during the project. I originally thought we'd get a couple dozen thousand downloads total, but we quickly passed the 100,000 mark after the release. With off-site mirrors and such, the real number is probably like double that. When I think about that, I'm just like, 'Damn.' It's really cool that this little project on the Internet could make so many people happy."

Into music: "Gentle Rain" Time: 4:59
Segment: Translating
Min: 1:30-2:30

3. What lead you to becoming a translator?
"I had absolutely no idea what I really wanted to do with my life after graduation. I would switch majors and still not be happy, so I eventually decided take out a loan and spend a year studying in Japan to get out of my rut. It was an expensive gamble. While I was there, I heard about some ROM hackers who needed help translating scripts, so I offered my services. The first day I started, I instantly knew I wanted to do this for a living, and after that, it became a kind of quest to constantly improve my skills. That feeling of finally knowing what you want to do is so good."

4. How do you go about translating the rom?
"There are basically two major parts of a ROM translation, whether it's for the SNES or any other system: the hacking part and the translating part. First, the hacker has to locate the game's font and produce what's called a table. Using this, the hacker can then start to locate the text data. Once it's been found and figured out, the hacker can then dump the Japanese text to a file. The translator then takes this file and translates it. The translator usually just types the translated text using something like Notepad, but for really big projects, the hacker might create a custom program to make it easier on the translator. Sometimes, a person adept at editing/revising is brought in to smooth the text out afterward. Meanwhile, the hacker alters the existing font to have English letters if the font didn't already have any. The translated script can then be inserted back into the game. Of course, it's all a lot harder and takes a lot more time than that overview suggests, and the process can vary greatly from game to game and person to person."

Into music: "Pollyanna" Time: 3:00
Min: 1-2 min

5. Do you make any money for hacking a rom?
"First and foremost, ROM translation is a hobby, not a way to earn money or stick it to the man. As an example, the central hub for ROM hacking and translating, romhacking.net, won't post translations for recent games, and in some cases, like with the Mother 3 project, we were fully prepared and willing to stop our work immediately if there had been any word from the game's IP owner. In general, I think all respectable fan translators know exactly what they're doing, and only work on translations out of love. I think companies understand this, and it's this mutual understanding that has kept ROM translators free from cease-and-desist letters."
8. Whose your favorite mother 3 Character? “I don’t know it’s hard to choose”
9. What’s your favorite scene in mother 3
“Probably when Flint finds out about Hinawa”
10. Would you like to be a translator for a mother anime if there was ever one? “Are you kidding, hell yes”
Ok that's about it, Thank you for your time Tomato and I hope to see more of your work in the future.
Ending Music Clip:"We miss you-Theme of love" Min: 3:41