History Woolseyism / Videogames

* The Brazilian translation of the Creator/LucasArts heaven/hell sim ''VideoGame/Afterlife1996'' is just as hilarious as the original, as well as translating well some English figures of speech. For instance, the Heaven reward "Humble Pie" becomes the local idiom "Bread Baked By The Devil", "St. Quentin Scareatino" is "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carandiru_Penitentiary Carandiruim]]", and the descriptions of Hell-enhancing structures made by an UngratefulBastard reference local things such as Coffin Joe and "a crowded camp in Ubatuba during a rainy holiday".

** In the games since 1991, the original 大魔王 クッパ ''Daimaō Kuppa'' ("great demon king Koopa") has been rendered ''Bowser'' in most Western localizations, while ''Kuppa'' or a variation on the name has been kept as Bowser's only name in Japan and Korea. Whereas ''Kuppa'' is the Japanese word for 국밥 ''gukbap'' (a Korean soup with rice--Creator/ShigeruMiyamoto wanted specifically to name him after a Korean dish), the name ''Bowser'' (which doesn't really mean anything in common English[[note]]Though in British English, it's used for [[http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bowser tanker trucks]][[/note]]) has no real relation to ''kuppa'' or ''gukbap'' in sound or meaning.[[note]]Humorously enough, one Doug Bowser later joined Nintendo of America as its vice president of sales and marketing, quickly working his way up to his current role as the company's president, succeeding Reggie Fils-Aimé.[[/note]] (Interestingly, Bowser's only name in Korean isn't the original ''Gukbap'', but 쿠파 ''Kupa'', [[RecursiveTranslation a phonetic round-trip translation from Japanese]].) ''Kuppa'' isn't abandoned though, as it has been refashioned as the name of the Koopa race and as Bowser's surname ''Koopa''. Though ''Bowser'' is never used in Japanese, it has become unthinkable that Bowser's name in English should be anything less than ''Bowser'', making this one of the most enduring (and endearing) Woolseyisms in video games. "Bowser" has been given a nod twice in the Japanese games: in ''VideoGame/MarioKartWii'', one of the motorcycles, shaped like Bowser's head, is called the '''Super Bowser''' (changed to Bowser Bike or Flame Runner for other regions). In ''VideoGame/MarioKart8'', the downloadable Bone Rattler is called the '''Bowser Trike''' in Japanese. And in a double-case of Woolseyism and FridgeBrilliance, the name Bowser and its association to motorbikes can be rendered in similar pronunciation to the Japanese term "'''''Bōsō'''''zoku", the name for rowdy gangs in Japan that are associated with, you guessed it, motorbikes.

** Birdo's infamously ambiguous gender identity is made more overt in the ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'' English manual. In both cases, the character is said to be a male who "thinks he's a girl," but only in the American version is their name made part of this identity. In the Japanese instructions, Birdo's name is given as "Catherine" and it says they'd rather be called "Cathy" — which is a perfectly normal nickname for someone named Catherine. In the English manual, however, their name is given as "Birdo," but "they'd rather be called 'Birdetta'" — which implies Birdo is a more masculine name. Birdo's gender identity premise was eventually phased out and today, Birdo is just canonically female. The transition was smoother in Japan, however, given she'd always used a female name.
** At the end of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3''[='=]s English translation, Princess Toadstool says "Thank you, but our princess is in another castle! ... Just kidding!", an obvious reference to Toad's infamous line from the first game. In the Japanese version and later ports of the game, she has a more serious, typical line. Nintendo of America also gave Koopalings names based on U.S. popular culture, though they weren't even named in Japan until ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld''.[[note]]Even then, the player had to stick around to the very end of the end credits to find them[[/note]]

* A Woolseyism appears in the ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' series with the name Dr. Weil. In Japan, he is known as Dr. Vile, [[OneSteveLimit which is awfully close to the name of]] [[VideoGame/MegaManX another character]], so they changed it to Weil. If pronounced using German phoenetics, it would be heard as "vile." In addition, his name also referred to Dr. Ray Kurzweil, a futurist who, besides giving the idea of Singularity, also talked about cybernetics a lot. Considering what Dr. Weil turned out to be by ''Mega Man Zero 4'' (as well as implied to be the case in ''Mega Man Zero 3''), the name actually fits. Note that in the Japanese version of ''VideoGame/MegaManX'', Vile is called VAVA, making Dr. Vile not a violation of the OneSteveLimit.

* The name ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' itself is a Woolseyism; the series is called ''Akumajou Dracula'' (literally "Demon Castle Dracula") in Japan (except for ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDissonance Harmony of Dissonance]]'', ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaAriaOfSorrow Aria of Sorrow]]'', and ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaLamentOfInnocence Lament of Innocence]]''). Specific examples pertaining this series include:
** An early, minor Woolseyism took place in the translation of ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIIIDraculasCurse'', as the main character "Ralph C. Belmondo" became "Trevor Belmont." ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaCurseOfDarkness Curse of Darkness]]'' gives the impression that the Japanese adapted the name "Trevor" in the Japanese canon when one chooses to hear the Japanese voice track. In truth, he is still called Ralph in Japan. They simply rerecorded the Japanese dialogue so that the Japanese actor says Trevor instead of Ralph (confusing, isn't it).

** The second Halloween event parodying ''VideoGame/GhostsNGoblins'' is originally named "The Great Pumpkin Village" in Japan, whereas it had been named as "Ghouls and Pumpkins"[[note]]Ironically there are no ghouls in the event as they are introduced in the game a year after the event's original run in Japan.[[/note]] in English server. This reflects the reference game's DubNameChange in the west as it is named "Demon World Village" in Japan.

* Not as much of a ''change'', but the main character of ''VideoGame/SpaceChannel5'' is named "Ulala." It is the official pronunciation for the name "Urara," which is a common name in Japan, but in English, most characters pronounce it as "Ooh-La-La"... which is often what people say about attractive women. Conveniently enough, that's quite a part of the game, too! FridgeBrilliance on the part of the developers?

** The games are absolutely filled with squid-based puns, and the American localization team managed to find a good replacement for near enough every one, and amped up the TotallyRadical (for instance, the "On Fire" win streak rank on the European version became "SO HAWT!!"). But more so, they helped [[spoiler:DJ Octavio]] get his BestBossEver reputation in the first game by replacing his fairly standard villain banter in the Japanese and European versions with borderline JiveTurkey speech patterns and puns about electronic music, of which he has a [[PungeonMaster surprisingly large amount.]]
** This continued in [[VideoGame/Splatoon2 the sequel]], though to less universal praise due to one of the major changes being that to [[https://www.reddit.com/r/splatoon/comments/awlevs/off_the_hook_fun_facts_trivia_and_localization/ Pearl and Marina's relationship]]. The original Japanese gives them a SempaiKohai relationship wherein Marina openly idolizes the older Pearl and is nothing but respectful to her. Meanwhile, while Marina is still shown on occasion to hold Pearl in high regard, the American version has their on-camera dynamic as VitriolicBestBuds, with even the ''Octo Expansion'' being host to some lighthearted banter between them.

** ''VideoGame/TouhouFuujinrokuMountainOfFaith'' has a great example when Marisa says she could recite all the digits of pi before reaching the mountain. In the Japanese, she recites a mnemonic which sounds like "Three one four one five nine (etc)." In the translation, she recites a Touhou-themed version of a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piphilology#Examples_in_English famous English mnemonic]], where counting the letters in each word gives the digits of pi:

** Of note are Grit and Sami, who's names were originally Billy and Domino respectively in Japan, who were changed not only to sound more unique but also as a case of a GeniusBonus. Anyone from the military will recognize "GRIT" as the mnemonic for fire control orders which is used to issue firing orders to a squadron over a radio[[note]]G for Group, as in who will fire, R for range, the distance to the target, I for indication, how the target's location will be described, and T for type of fire, as in how they will fire at the target[[/note]], which is a rather fitting name for a sniper. Anyone familiar with history will recognize Sami as a reference to Sammy L. Davis, an infantry war hero of the UsefulNotes/VietnamWar and recipient of (among other awards) the Medal of Honor, which is well-fitting for a [=CO=] who specializes in infantry tactics.
** The biggest difference between [=COs=] happened in ''Dual Strike''. In Japan, the main character is John, a no-nonsense do-gooder who's always wearing huge headphones for communication purposes. He's pretty heroic, but also [[StandardizedLeader pretty bland.]] The translation process turned him into Jake, a TotallyRadical everyman who really likes his music and his hip young-people lingo, culminating in a scene where he gives a heartfelt motivational speech, then mutters "...word" at the end. [[WarHasNeverBeenSoMuchFun Considering the tone of the rest of the game,]] [[BunnyEarsLawyer this version of the character fits in much better]] with the rest of the cast. "Get the plates, 'cuz you just got served!" indeed.

* In ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars Original Generation'', one of the original character, Giado Venerdi, was originally supposed to be Italian. When translating the game, Atlus took one look at his portrait, a dark-skinned man with dreadlocks, and [[DreadlockRasta took de obvious route, mon]]. Likewise, in the second game, when [[RobotGirl Lamia Loveless]] comes in, Atlus changed her stitch into SpeechImpediment, because directly translating her messed up grammars in English would be really messy to the audience. It still works. And while Sanger's MidSeasonUpgrade is subject to endless debate due to the [[SpellMyNameWithAnS translated names of both the character and his mecha]] (both of which are [[MisBlamed more similar to the intended translation than what the fans call them]]), Atlus is immediately forgiven after the mid-chapter usage of the title card [[BreakingTheFourthWall confuses the hell out of Vigagi]]. See it at around 4:30 [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgaCMhTxkEg#t=4m30s here]].

** In ''VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies'', the second area's stages spell the word "FRIENDS". The Spanish stage names spell "AMISTAD" ("friendship"), the French stage names spell "COPAINS" ("friends"), the German stage names spell "FREUNDE" ("friends"), the Italian stage names spell "AMICONI" ("buddies") and the Chinese stage names spell "卡比與新星同盟/卡比与新星同盟" ("Kirby and Star Allies").

* One of the bosses in ''VideoGame/KirbyPlanetRobobot'' is Meta Knight, who was [[UnwillingRoboticization converted into a cyborg soldier]] by the villains. In the Japanese and Korean versions, he had the fairly self-evident name "Meta Knight Borg"; the English, French, German, Italian and Spanish translations instead dub him "[[{{Pun}} Mecha Knight]]". A later mass-produced model of Mecha Knight is called 強化量産メタナイトボーグ (''Reinforced Mass Production Model Meta Knight Borg''), which is changed in English to the snappier "Stock Mecha Knight".

* ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear Xrd'' features clever English dub translations for the stanzas in Slayer's haiku in his Instant-Kill Attack, all while maintaining the poetry's five-seven-five structure. Some of the more clever translations include:

* A non-translation example, with the South Korean release of ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear XX #Reload'', which featured an entirely new soundtrack by native rock band N.EX.T. Despite Ishiwatari's original soundtrack being so beloved, many consider the N.EX.T soundtrack to be excellent in its own right. Special mention goes to Robo-Ky's theme: while in both the original and Korean soundtracks, it's just a distorted version of Ky's theme, the Korean version is considered to be an overall better track, while the original version is more [[SensoryAbuse headache-inducing to listen to for too long.]]

** In ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheForgottenLand'', the level names spell out "NEW WORLD". In Spanish they spell "NUEVO MUNDO," and in Italian they spell "NUOVO MONDO," both of which are direct translations, and they use extra letters the level's names to make them work.

** In ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheForgottenLand'', the level names spell out "NEW WORLD". In Spanish they spell "NUEVO MONDO," and in Italian they spell "NUOVO MONDO," both of which are direct translations, and they use extra letters the level's names to make them work.

** In ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheForgottenLand'', the level names spell out "NEW WORLD". In Spanish they spell "NEUVO MONDO," and in Italian they spell "NUOVO MONDO," both of which are direct translations, and they use extra letters the level's names to make them work.

* A standout example comes from a song title from ''Kirby: Triple Deluxe''. The final boss's second phase has a theme called "Kyōka Suigetsu"[[note]]狂花水月[[/note]] in Japanese, which means "Madness Blooms and the Moon Reflected in the Water". It's based on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_Flower,_Water_Moon a Japanese saying]] that refers to unattainable beauty. The song was initially translated on Miiverse as "Moonstruck Blossom". "Moonstruck" has several meanings: "glowing in the moonlight", "unable to think properly" (as in "lunacy"), and [[spoiler:"hopelessly lovesick", which suits the boss at hand]]. The original soundtrack release and later games that feature this music track instead use the name "Fatal Blooms in Moonlight".
* One of the bosses in ''VideoGame/KirbyPlanetRobobot'' is Meta Knight, who was [[UnwillingRoboticization converted into a cyborg soldier]] by the villains. In the Japanese and Korean versions, he had the fairly self-evident name "Meta Knight Borg"; the English, French, German, Italian and Spanish translations instead dub him "[[{{Pun}} Mecha Knight]]".

!!Examples By Genre:

** Fur Step Island from ''Bowser's Fury'' on Switch: this location was called '''Остров Тыгыдык''' (Ostrov Tygydyk). "Tygydyk" is a Russian web-originated onomatopoeia for a cat audibly stomping, often in the middle of the night, when such a sound is unwanted. Other examples include:

* A whole lot of Nintendo games that enjoyed the honour of getting an official NOE translation into Russian, are subjects of this trope. Since 2011, when Nintendo Russia was officially established, many games on all then-current platforms from Wii to Switch were fully localised. Moreso, even objects from past games that were never localised themselves received a Russian name, often with a pun, when they appeared in multiple universe spanning games like ''Mario Kart'' and ''Super Smash Bros''.
** Fur Step Island from ''Bowser's Fury'' on Switch: this location was called '''Остров Тыгыдык''' (Ostrov Tygydyk). "Tygydyk" is a russian web-originated onomatopoeia for a cat audibly stomping, often in the middle of the night, when such a sound is unwanted. Other examples include:

** ''Paper Mario: Color Splash '', Huey, whose name is a pun on the word Hue, was named '''Ведёркин''' (Vedyorkin), which stands for Bucket, with a russian suffix -in added.

[[folder:''Animal Crossing'']]
* This is present all over the place in ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'', due to Nintendo Treehouse's desire to make sure that an English-speaking player would have the same kind of experience as a Japanese-speaking person would if they were playing ''Animal Forest'' or ''Animal Forest +''. This ended up working so well that Nintendo of Japan themselves were impressed enough to retranslate the game into Japanese and give it a Japan-only UpdatedRerelease as ''Animal Forest e+''.
* ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossingNewHorizons'':
** Nook's (in)famous currency Bell is called '''Динь''' (Din'). Din' is a Russian onomatopoeia for a bell ringing.
[[/folder]]

* Many American and European ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' fans still prefer "Robotnik" over the Japanese "Eggman", even after the name Eggman got transplanted into the Western continuity in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure''. It doesn't help that the former was extremely well established prior to ''Sonic Adventure''. So much so that as of ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'', Robotnik is his official name worldwide (though he's still only referred to as Eggman).
** In most games, he is now refered to as Dr. Eggman, but there are a few references here and there. In ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' and ''VideoGame/SonicChronicles'', he refers to himself as Dr. Robotnik, but gets the name Dr. Eggman from everyone else. Also in ''Sonic Adventure 2'', while he's delivering his speech, the name Dr. Robotnik can be seen on the scrolling text on the screen along with Dr. Eggman. His grandfather and cousin were called Gerald Robotnik and Maria Robotnik, respectively, and his manufacturing company in ''VideoGame/SonicRiders'' is Robotnik Corp. Due to all this, the bad doc is now known officially as Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik, where Eggman is usually an insult used to illustrate how much respect the cast has for him.
*** Yuji Naka himself [[http://web.archive.org/web/20040124111152/http://www.sega.com/sonic/globalsonic/post_sonicteam.php?article=nakainterview explained it all]]. Real name is Robotnik, pseudonym is Eggman.
** Also in ''Sonic the Hedgehog'', Fang the Sniper's name was toned down to Nack the Weasel in America and Europe. However, the North American and European versions of ''Sonic Gems Collection'' refers to him as Fang in all games that included him, and in ''Sonic Generations'', there is a wanted poster of him that refers to him by both names.[[note]]Interestingly, Nack was actually going to be his Japanese name, but it was deemed too similar to '''Knuck'''les and was changed, only to be re-used in the English version afterwards.[[/note]]
** A non-translation version with the western release of ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehogCD'', which included an entirely new soundtrack by members of the Sega Technical Institute. Nowadays, there's common arguments over which soundtrack is the superior one (the original sounding more upbeat and techno, while the western version is more atmospheric and even downright creepy and ominous at times,) so the 2011 UpdatedRerelease included the option to select either of them.

* The Brazilian translation of the Creator/LucasArts heaven\hell sim ''VideoGame/Afterlife1996'' is just as hilarious as the original, as well as translating well some English figures of speech. For instance, the Heaven reward "Humble Pie" becomes the local idiom "Bread Baked By The Devil", "St. Quentin Scareatino" is "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carandiru_Penitentiary Carandiruim]]", and the descriptions of Hell-enhancing structures made by an UngratefulBastard reference local things such as Coffin Joe and "a crowded camp in Ubatuba during a rainy holiday".

[[folder:''Pokémon'']]
* In the Japanese version Dark Type Pokémon are known as the "EVIL" type, which pretty much goes against the theme that Pokémon aren't evil, only the humans that misuse them are. This is changed in the English version where the type is Dark and literally invokes the DarkIsNotEvil Trope. The generation after the type's introduction ended up introducing a Pokémon that contradicts the "evil" naming, as Absol warns people of disasters before they happen, even if it does tend to take the blame for them once they happen anyway. This did however have the knock-on effect of occluding the reason for why Dark Type Pokémon are weak to Fighting Type attacks: the latter is based on heroic "face" fighters in ProfessionalWrestling, so it makes sense that they'd be strong against "evil" Pokémon. The loss of this meaning in translation has resulted in a large contingency of western fans believing that a Light Type should be introduced as a counterpart to Dark, interpreting the meaning behind the latter as referring to literal darkness rather than heel wrestlers.
* In all main games, it is possible to purchase medicines for your Pokémon to improve their stats. In the Japanese version, the medicines were compounds like taurine (an antioxidant used in treating blood pressure disorders) and bromhexine (a chemical used in some cough medicines to dispel mucus). These names had no relationship to the statistical benefits of using the medicines (for instance, how would taking indometacin, an anti-inflammatory medicine, improve your [[{{Mons}} monster's]] Speed?). In the English version, the translator decided to change them to vitamin and mineral supplements, which, as they permanently increase stats, seems more sensible. It also meant the medicines could be renamed to things that made sense with what their effect on the Pokémon was, even if only in terms of association -- Protein (which builds muscle) for Attack, Iron (which is a strong-sounding metal used in protein synthesis) for Defense, Calcium (which is needed to build strong bones and teeth) for Special Attack, Zinc (used in homeostasis) for Special Defense, and Carbos ("carbohydrates", energy-giving compounds) for Speed.
* ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'':
** The translator, Nob Ogasawara (a member of the Website/SomethingAwful forums), edited much of the NPC speech in the game to [[AscendedMeme include Internet slang]]. The player character is repeatedly called a "noob" by other trainers, "for the win" is used at least once, one Galactic Grunt threatens to [[AttackItsWeakPoint hit the player's weak point]] while another Galactic Grunt complains about getting "owned" by the player, and a clown even exclaims "A winner is you!". This is appropriate, as ''D/P'' was the first game to use Nintendo's Wi-Fi service, and most friend codes are traded via the Internet. They also have a few {{Shout Out}}s to the Something Awful forums (''"My Pokémon is fight!"''). And a ShoutOut to a Something Awful forum ''member'' as well. A goon did a LetsPlay of ''Pokémon Crystal'', starring a character named Roxy, whose main Pokémon was a Wooper. On Thursdays, you can go to the TV station and fight an interviewer/cameraman pair in a double battle. The interviewer uses a Wooper, and the interviewer's name is Roxy. It kind of helps that both the interviewer and the female PC from Crystal both have blue hair. Ironically, half the memes that made it into the games will probably get you probated or banned if you actually attempt to use them on the forums themselves.
** The same bloke, in a ''Let's Horribly Break Pokémon Blue'' thread, said that translating ''mori no yōkan''[[note]]yōkan is a jellied dessert, and also a homophone for the Japanese word for "Manor"[[/note]] to "Old Chateau"/"Old Gateau" was his doing, and, that if he was localizing ''[[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Gold/Silver/Crystal]]'', he'd call the [=RageCandyBar=] ("Rage Manjū" or "Rage Rice Cake" in Japanese) "Cake of Rage" (the latter being mentioned after about half a page of making fun of said item, calling it the "angersnack")[[note]]the [=RageCandyBar=] is linked to the Lake of Rage, making it a rhyming pun[[/note]].
** And again with ''[[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Diamond/Pearl/Platinum]]'', there is the case of Fantina/Melissa. Once again, like the ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' example above, is a textbook case of appeal dissonance (Westerner's names sounding exotic to Easterner's ears). It's stated that Fantina is not from the Sinnoh region, or for that matter, whatever country the Pokémon games are set in. So, in the original Japanese, she's given a Western sounding name: Melissa, and uses GratuitousEnglish in her speech. When localized, they kept the "foreigner" aspect of her personality, but changed it so that she now drops French phrases and expressions in her speech (e.g. "Très bien!" and "___ how you say, "___").
** Also among the characters of the Sinnoh games, the villain Akagi is changed in most translations to a sun-themed name, usually a sun god, to keep with the celestial theme-naming of Team Galactic. In the English and Spanish versions, his GoodCounterpart, the Champion Shirona, is changed to a moon goddess to reflect their duality. In the English version, their names are Cyrus and Cynthia respectively, the latter not only referencing the moon goddess Artemis, but also alliterating with Cyrus' name.
** There's also the case of Looker's codename. In the original Japanese, his name is the English word, "Handsome". In the English versions, his name still keeps the meaning of Handsome, but also has to do with the fact that he's a detective.
* The names of about 3/4 the Pokémon themselves are Woolseyisms, translated to all sorts of [[PunnyName punny names]] in every language that the games are released in. The exceptions are most legendaries (who the creators try to fit as many languages as possible), and other Pokémon with multilingual puns (such as Pikachu). Another good example is Rhydon, who was named Sidon in Japan: "Si" means rhinoceros, and "don" comes from the Greek word "ὀδούς" (meaning "tooth"), most widely known for its use as a suffix in dinosaurs' species names. Therefore, the translators could make a name with the same vowel sounds and pun.
** The legendary birds, Artic'''uno''', Zap'''dos''', and Mol'''tres'''. Their Japanese names are rather boring English words relating to their types: Freezer, Thunder and Fire. In fact, a large portion of Generation I Mons have simple English words for Japanese names, which were changed in English and other languages ("[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Lizard]]" to Charmeleon, "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Ghost]]" to Haunter, "Strike" to Scyther, etc.) Also, "Zenigame", the water starter, has a name that simply means "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin river turtle]]" in Japanese; you may know it better as "[[PunnyName Squirtle]]".
** Articuno and Zapdos' French names are "Artik'''odin'''" and "Elec'''thor'''", as in the Norse gods, and Moltres' is "Sulfu'''ra'''" as in the Egyptian god; the other part of their names referring more obviously to their element. The last of these is also in a non-optional location in its first appearance (Cinnabar Island can be surfed to from Pallet Town to skip Seafoam Islands, the Power Plant is optional entirely, and Victory Road must be completed to beat the game). Later in the series, it STILL had some sort of difference in location (when it wasn't roaming or obtained through a portal, anyway); in ''[=FireRed=]'' and ''[=LeafGreen=]'', it was in the Sevii Islands instead of Kanto, and in ''[=HeartGold=]'' and ''[=SoulSilver=]'', it still isn't in Kanto, being in Johto. A [[https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uzanto:Amika_Babilfrenzo/Pokemon fan-made Esperanto translation of the original 151 Pokémon names]] (in common usage by speakers of the language) reuses the French names for the trio but instead translates Moltres as "Bru'''loki'''", making the theme more cohesive.
** In French, Fushigidane/Bulbasaur is known as "Bulbizarre", which is actually a much more faithful translation to the original Japanese (the original name means "Isn't it strange?" which reflects on the fact that [[CartoonCreature no one can tell what kind of animal it's based on]]), and essentially combining both the Japanese and English names while ignoring [[InformedSpecies the English translation's implication that it's a dinosaur despite looking nothing like one]]. The unofficial Esperanto translation adapts the name as "Bulbizaro" and derives the whole line's names from the French translation.
** In German, Charizard is known as "Glurak", which combines "glut" (ember) and "Drache" (dragon), alluding to its design, but the spelling of the latter is corrupted into "drak", a dragon (or dragon-like creature) in Slavic mythology that had a flame at the end of its tail just like Charizard and its pre-evolutions.
** In most languages, Noivern's name is simply a combination of the respective words for "noise" and "wyvern" (including in English). The German translation is quite a bit more creative by naming it [="UHaFnir"=], a bizarrely capitalized combination of "UHF" (ultrahigh frequency) and "Fafnir" (the dragon from Myth/NorseMythology), which is quite a similar choice to the legendary birds' French names.
** As of ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'', there is a similar example to the legendary birds' English names -- the Dark[=/=]Dragon line of Pokémon are called D'''ein'''o, '''Zwei'''lous, and Hy'''drei'''gon, this time counting in German.
** In ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'', the Pokémon Audino is derived from "audio" (it uses its earlobes as stethoscopes) as well as "I dunno". This is pretty much the same thing in its Japanese name, Tabunne -- "Tabun ne" means "maybe", but is also derived from "tabun", meaning "many are heard" (or "mimitabu", meaning "earlobe"). Other translations use similar wordplay, based on an expression along the lines of "maybe" (or in German, "Oh, yes!"; in French, "no but yes", a common expression too) while containing a hearing-related pun.
** A couple more examples: Ononokus became Haxorus in the English version, which retains ax- and dinosaur-related puns while inserting LeetLingo. And in the French version, Desumasu/Yamask was translated as "Tutafeh", which not only contains "Tut-" as in Tutankhamun but is also a play on "tout à fait", which means "indeed". Its evolution, "Tutankafer" (Cofagrigus), managed to keep the same syllables and add another pun: Tutankhamun + "tant qu'à faire", a colloquial expression meaning something along the lines of "might as well".
** Komatana and Kirikizan were modeled after a mix of Japanese bandits known as ashigaru and movie villains known as kaijin and their names are blade-related puns[[note]]"Komatana" comes from "komagire" ("small pieces") and either "katana" ("sword") or "kogatana" ("knife"); "Kirikizan" is a combination of "kirikizamu" ("to slice/mince") and "zan" ("to cut/slay")[[/note]]. Naturally, the localization team knew that western audiences wouldn't be as familiar with this, so instead they gave them a ChessMotif and one that fit ''perfectly'' with the family's general behavior. Komatana, a small, weak Pokemon that [[ZergRush attacks opponents in large groups to make up for a lack of physical strength]], became ''Pawniard'', combining the words "pawn" and "poniard" to keep the blade pun from the original name. Kirikizan, the [[LargeAndInCharge larger, more strategic Pokemon]] who leads Komatana/Pawniard hordes and has the highest authority among them, became ''Bisharp'', with not only a fitting chess themed name but one that has an even ''better'' blade pun. This also fits the design motif of the BigBad of ''Black'' and ''White'', Ghetsis, who uses a Bisharp and has a cape modeled after the rook chess piece.
** The French translators of ''Black'' and ''White'' seem to have had a field day with some of the PunnyNames, which basically mash two words together into a brand-new pun, all related to the Pokémon in some way.
*** The [[{{Troll}} oh-so-popular]] Stunfisk became "Limonde" in French: "limace" (slug) + "onde" (wave), combined in a way that sounds similar to "limonade" (lemonade), possibly referring to the color of Stunfisk's fins, and "l'immonde", meaning "the disgusting one".
*** Excadrill had a similar clever translation with "Minotaupe": "mine" + "taupe" (mole), one letter off "minotaure" ([[OurMinotaursAreDifferent mino]][[Myth/GreekMythology taur]]).
*** Finally, Bouffalant was translated as "Frison": "frisé" (curly) + "bison", and one letter off "frisson" (shiver/shudder in fear, since, y'know, a big angry buffalo [[FunnyAfro with an Afro]] is scary).
** Even the English translators got in on the act with similar wordplay to the above French examples:
*** In ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'', the Grass starter's final stage is called "Chesnaught", which combines "chest" and "juggernaut"/"dreadnought"/"Argonaut"[[note]]as in a team of Greek heroes led by Jason or the Toronto-based Canadian football team[[/note]] and sounds like "chestnut".
*** Turtonator, introduced in ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'', is an explosive turtle. Its name is a portmanteau of "turtle" and "detonator", but sounds like "Franchise/{{Terminator}}". Its German name, "Tortunator", has similar roots but isn't quite as punny with respect to that last point.
** The French names for Muk and Grimer are Tadmorv and Grotadmorv ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Pile 'o snot and Big pile o' snot]] respectively).
* ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'':
** While the names for most trainers in Nimbasa's sports grounds seem rather random in Japanese and English, German players can encounter Smashers [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steffi_Graf Steffi]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serena_Williams Serena]], as well as Strikers [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehmet_Scholl Mehmet]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesut_Özil Mesut]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lothar_Matthäus Lothar]].
** As a ShoutOut to the French-Canadian soap opera/téléroman ''Series/LeCoeurASesRaisons'', all the nurses and the doctors in the French translation of ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' are named after characters from this show: Infirmière Ashley, Infirmière Drucilla, Docteur Brett... As most of the names are usually random, this is particularly enjoyable, and may have been a nod to French-Canadian fans due to ''Black'' and ''White'' being the second-ever set of French Pokémon games released in Quebec as well as France/Belgium.[[note]][[AmericansHateTingle This didn't help endear the French translation]] [[{{Irony}} to many of them, though]], since it wasn't enough to make up for the [[IncrediblyLamePun stink]] of names like the above "Tadmorv"[[/note]].
** Opelucid City is known for having two completely different appearances depending on the version: In ''Black'', it's futuristic and is said to be "a city of rapid change"; in ''White'' it's steeped in the past and honors history and traditions. Probably the best name one could give this city in reference to these two aspects is its French name: Janusia. Janus being the Roman god of beginnings and transitions, usually depicted with two faces: one facing the past, the other facing the future.
* In ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'', Xerneas and Yveltal's signature moves are called "Geo Control" and "Death Wing" in Japanese. The English translation changes these to the more poetic- and powerful-sounding "Geomancy" and "Oblivion Wing"; special mention goes to the latter, which may have also been an enforced application of NeverSayDie and ''still'' came out sounding cooler.
* ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'':
** Solgaleo and Lunala's signature moves have the fairly prosaic Japanese names of "Meteor Drive" and "Shadow Ray", respectively; the localization turns them into the far more impressive-sounding "Sunsteel Strike" and "Moongeist Beam".
** Guzma's [[MemeticMutation memetic]] way of referring to himself, "your boy Guzma", is actually a rather brilliant translation of his choice of [[UsefulNotes/JapanesePronouns personal pronoun]]. ''Ore-sama'' carries an arrogant, presumptuous tone that this use of slang conveys perfectly.
* The Italian translation of ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire]]'' had a little too much fun with naming some trainers. Featuring people like Mysterious Sisters [[Anime/MajokkoMegChan Bia]][[note]]Italian name of Meg[[/note]] and [[Anime/SallyTheWitch Sally]], Ace Duo [[Anime/FutureBoyConan Lana and Conan]], and Worker [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gio._Ansaldo_%26_C Ansaldo]].
* The Pokémon Pidove and its evolutions are pigeon/pheasant-like birds who frequently have an ability that guards them from defense-lowering attacks, called "Pigeon Breast" in Japanese. Aside from how many kids and childish adults would be snickering at the fact that the word "breast" is in a Pokémon product, the name feels awfully generic too. In the English translation, it was changed to "Big Pecks", which mixes a bird-themed pun with a little ShownTheirWork--the pun is that "pecks" (as in, something birds do with their beaks) sounds like "pecs" (as in, pectoral muscles, which are also breasts) and birds in real life do in fact tend to have very large pectorals (this assists them in flight, as it makes flapping easier).
[[/folder]]

* In later ''Kirby'' games, a common trend is for each world to have an AlliterativeName; when the first letter of each world is put together, they spell a thematic word. For the most part, these are appropriately translated for each game, using words with similar meanings.
** In ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand'', the worlds spell the word "CROWNED". The Spanish world names spell "CORONAR" ("crowned"), the French world names spell "PARFAIT" ("perfect"), and the German world names spell "KROENEN" ("crown", with the O-umlaut substituted for "oe").
** In ''VideoGame/KirbyTripleDeluxe'', the worlds spell the word "FLOWER" (or "FLOWERED", if the final world is also included). The Spanish world names spell "FLORALES" ("floral"), the French world names spell "FLEURIE" ("blooming"), the German world names spell "BLÜHEND" ("blooming", this time using the U-umlaut in its alliteration), and the Italian world names spell "FIORENDO" ("blooming").
** In ''VideoGame/KirbyPlanetRobobot'', the worlds spell the word "PROGRAM". The Spanish world names spell "PROCESO" ("process"), the Italian world names spell "SISTEMA" ("system"), and the German world names spell "ROBOBOT".
** In ''VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies'', the second world's stages spell the word "FRIENDS". The Spanish stage names spell "AMISTAD" ("friendship"), the French stage names spell "COPAINS" ("friends"), the German level names spell "FREUNDE" ("friends"), and the Italian level names spell "AMICONI" ("buddies").

** While he calls almost nobody by their actual name in any scripts, in the original Japanese he [[PungeonMaster calls the main cast by punny nicknames]] that make little sense in English. In the internation alversions, has the quirk of calling the main characters by their surname followed by "-dono" (an archaic honorofic basically meaning lord/lady), and nobody's sure if he's being sarcastic or not. Apollo even quips that he's been watching too many samurai flicks.

[[folder:''Chrono Trigger/Cross'']]
* The GoldfishPoopGang in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' were named after condiments (Vinegar, Soysau, and Mayonne) in the Japanese version. This was deemed not very intimidating, so they were changed to rock stars ([[Music/OzzyOsbourne Ozzie]], [[Music/GunsNRoses Slash]], and [[Music/RedHotChiliPeppers Flea]]) instead. However, the name scheme is quite common for their designer, Creator/AkiraToriyama, whose work was still obscure in the U.S. when the game was released. Fans argue over whether this was actually a good change or whether the names would have been left alone had ''Manga/DragonBall'' been more popular in the U.S. at the time.
** This created something of a problem when the Japanese version of ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'' actually included a main character named Slash that was supposed to be a rock star, which could have been handwaved if they hadn't also included an optional boss fight with the aforementioned GoldfishPoopGang in the same game. This led to his name being changed Nikki, a reference to [[Music/MotleyCrue Nikki Sixx]], in the English version.
* The ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'' team deserves a medal for how well they handled translating some incredibly long names in the face of space constraints. "Snakebone Master Jakotu", for one example, was changed to the similar "Lord Viper" (just "Viper" on the character menu).
** More dubiously, ''Chrono Cross'' used an on-the-fly accent and dialect generator. Instead of writing actual dialog for all the characters, they wrote it once and ran it through the generator. (Given that the game had LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, this saved a lot of time, effort, and disc memory for the developers, but this also resulted in some cringe-inducing accents--for example, Poshul's terrible, terrible lisp.)
* The gurus in ''Chrono Trigger'' were originally named Gasch, Hash, and Bosch. Woolsey changed them to the [[TheThreeWiseMen biblically influenced Belthasar, Melchior, and Gaspar]], much more appropriate for three old wise men.
* Magus leaps to mind. His original designation in Japanese was "Maou" (魔王 Maou, "Demon King"), denoting his position of leadership over the Mystics ("Demons" in Japanese, natch). You'll notice it isn't a name (since you later find out it's [[spoiler:Janus]]); it's a TITLE. Due to Nintendo of America's rather puritan rules for translation requiring the removal of any religious references or references to alcohol, his "name" was changed from "Maou" to "Magus," Latin for "Magician." Obviously, still not his name, and perfectly encapsulates his role in both his society and the party (he's the most powerful user of Black Magic in the game, and the only one who knows magic without having to be taught beforehand). The DS version splits the difference by giving him the title of "Fiendlord" (as the Mystics are called "Fiends" in the DS version) while keeping "Magus" as his personal alias.
* The way Frog [[YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe speaketh]]. In the original, he spoke in normal Japanese, and in a rather blunt manner. In the DS version, he lost his accent, but remained quite polite. It was quite baffling that no one else in 600 A.D. talked like this, and that he used to speak normally before his transformation. However, many old school fans mourned the loss of the accent.
** The sudden accent could be interpreted in a Watsonian way as Frog overdoing things slightly in his attempts to [[TakeUpMySword become a great knight to avenge Cyrus]].
* The DS version ''corrects'' one of the less enjoyable "Woolseyisms" -- the conversion of "[[RazorWind Kamaitachi]]" to "Slash", mucking up the solution to the PuzzleBoss Masamune/Granleon ([[spoiler:the move interrupts its charge, because it's the wind, whoosh!]]). This was quietly retranslated to "Wind Slash".
* "Masamune," indeed. Which brings up the peculiar notion of a famous Japanese swordsmith crafting a distinctly European broadsword. The change of the sword's name from "Grandleon" mystifies to this day.
** The sequel establishes that the Masamune is such a powerful weapon of destiny that it's in fact a SwissArmyWeapon that adepts itself to the style of its chosen user, hence why the "Mastermune" is such a radically different kind of weapon from the original Masamune/Grandleon.
* According to ''Chrono Cross'' translator Richard Honeywood, several lines of expository dialogue in Japanese created plot holes (not entirely surprising for a game with an insanely complicated plot and tons of dialogue), and so were changed for the English version with direct input from writer/director Masato Kato. (The localization team also wrote a program to auto-generate accents for the LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters so that they only had to translate the script ''once''.)

[[folder:''Final Fantasy'']]
* One for the series as a whole: The knightly job class noted for wielding [[BladeOnAStick Blades On Sticks]], doing a lot of [[DeathFromAbove jumping]], and having a prominent dragon motif is named in Japanese 竜騎士, ''Ryuukishi'' lit. Dragon Knight. This, however, does violence to the character limit, and thus translators opted for the PunnyName of Dragoon. Granted ''real'' military dragoons were light cavalry who made extensive use of firearms and didn't come into play until long after the armoured lancers depicted by Final Fantasy Dragoons were obsolete, but even ''then'' it's fitting as the Dragoon's main benefit is being able to deal same damage from the back row and avoiding counterattacks by remaining out of reach from the enemy... very much like the ''idea'' behind firearms.
* TheHero of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII'' is one フリオニール, lit. ''Furioniiru'' and usually romanized as "Frioniel". However, he has always been ''localized'' as "[[DubNameChange Firion]]", which has the twin benefits of fitting within the game's character limits and not sounding bizarre, awkward, and unwieldy to an Anglophone.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'''s original English translation is usually remembered as being something of a fiasco.[[note]]Contrary to popular belief, Ted Woolsey was not involved with the game and was in fact hired by Square ''because'' of the shoddy translation.[[/note]] However, this translation did have a diamond in the rough that actually became a series mainstay: in the Japanese version, the recurring enemy/summon of the Magus Sisters were named Dogu, Magu, and Ragu. This was changed to Sandy, Cindy, and Mindy for the English version.
** Replacing Tellah's angsty question, "And just what do I have wrong!?" with the famously terrible insult, "You spoony bard!" was, in fact, a Woolseyism. It just wasn't a very good one. But exactly for [[SoBadItsGood that reason]], it became one of the most [[MemeticMutation memorable and beloved]] lines in the series.
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears'', the way they handled the names of Cecil's brother and Cecil's son probably counts. Despite what some fans think, the name is actually ''not'' the same in Japanese--Golbez's is rendered as セオドール, ''Seodooru'', and Ceodore's as セオドア, ''Seodoa''. Neither of these map to the "standard" Japanese rendering of Theodore, which is シオドール, ''Shiodooru'' though Golbez's is the closest.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV Advance'' has a fairly ridiculous English translation, fitting the lighthearted tone of the game (and being a massive improvement of the previous translation), with things such as Gilgamesh saying [[Film/ThePrincessBride "Inconceivable!"]] after being defeated, or Bartz commenting that a defeated enemy crab has been served.
-->- '''Gilgamesh''': "Enough expository banter! Now, we fight like men! And ladies! [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs And ladies who]] [[{{Bifauxnen}} dress like men!]] For Gilgamesh...''[[Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers It's morphing time!]]''"
** In the Japanese version, the name of the protagonist is "Battsu" (バッツ), but the first popular fan translation turned this into "Butz", which is how he was known for quite a while. This was changed to "Bartz'' in the English UsefulNotes/PlayStation version for [[CleanDubName obvious reasons]].
** There is also a nameless NPC scholar who comments, "[[Series/ReadingRainbow Take a look, it's in this book!]]" And then there's Homer's "I Am So Smart" song from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' being paid homage to by one of Bartz's childhood friends. There's also the Gladiator's special attack, which "when successful, [[AttackItsWeakPoint hits [enemies'] weak points]] for massive damage". The "Whip" weapon features the description "Best used [[Music/{{Devo}} when problems come along]]." The description for the Dancer class mentions [[Music/MichaelJackson Blood on the Dance Floor]].
* The most famous example of Woolsey's handiwork is probably ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI''. It's also his most effective example. Unlike the GBA re-releases of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'', Square Enix chose not to redo the English script from the ground up, but rather expand upon Woolsey's work.
** Terra Branford was originally named "Tina" in the Japanese version. While "Tina" no doubt sounds sufficiently exotic to Japanese speakers, it's not very evocative to English speakers, so Woolsey changed it. The earth connotations of her new name also unintentionally created a parallel with the other heroine, Celes.
** The game's antagonist, Kefka, was given dozens of new lines, many of which were absolutely hilarious and excellently established his character as a misanthropic nutcase. (Notably, this got him RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap in the West -- he was perceived as a laughing idiot in Japan, but became one of the game's most popular characters in the U.S. and Europe, mostly due to the Woolseyisms). [[GoldfishPoopGang Recurring comic relief]] Ultros got a similar treatment.
** The ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI Advance'' remake for the game, released twelve years later, contains an {{NPC}} [[TakeThat who takes a shot]] at [=RPGOne=]'s FanTranslation of the game which was far more literal -- and not nearly as entertaining. The ''Advance'' version also changed a few of Kefka's lines, giving him wisecracks he did not have in the SNES version. Though a bit more contested, Kefka's line "son of a submariner", to "son of a sandworm". Both work in the context, but there are no submarines in the game. There's also Kefka's "HATE HATE HATE" speech, which oddly enough, was referenced in the English translation of ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'' several years later, since in the Japanese version he says "dammit dammit dammit" instead of "hate hate hate", making the leap pretty easy.
** Perhaps even more well known than the 'Son of a submariner!' quote was [[spoiler: Darryl's grave, in the World of Ruin.]] Viewed backwards, the headstone read, 'The World Is Square,' which was Square's advertising slogan at the time.
** The Woolseyisms to Kefka's dialogue made his lines, in addition to more hilarious, also a lot more horrifying and creepy. For instance, in the scene where he kills General Leo, due to [[NeverSayDie obvious restrictions at the time]], Kefka remarks that, when reporting to Gestahl about the success, he'll also mention that he merely had to "exterminate a traitor", making the delivery a lot more creepy than simply saying dispose. Similarly, when the Esper reinforcements arrive at Thalmasa shortly thereafter, Kefka remarks when they arrive "I'd say you're all charged up, boys and girls...or whatever... Say, remind me to show you my [[PoweredByAForsakenChild Magicite]] collection someday! You might see a few familiar faces!!!", which makes what he does to the rest of the Espers shortly thereafter enter horror territory, as he's basically telling them that after killing them that he'll show them the other Espers that he also killed. In the original script, as well as the Advanced Remake's script, Kefka merely reacts to their arrival in a similar fashion to a young child's reaction to a surprise birthday party.
** The name of "Espers" for the summoned beasts was another Woolseyism--in Japanese, they were called ''genjū'' (幻獣), which roughly means "phantom beast"[[note]]("phantom" as in "imaginary" or "a figment")[[/note]], a term used in many other games in the series. You wouldn't generally find this word in a Japanese dictionary, even though it is used in several other fantasy/sci-fi contexts; it may have ''itself'' been a Woolseyism coined for Creator/JorgeLuisBorges' ''Book of Imaginary Beings''. Though the actual reason for the name change was to get around the six-character limit (five for menus), the new name was appreciated for being unique. Later FF localizations have similarly deviated from the Japanese term to great effect on the script (Eidolon in particular, which was even used in later ''Final Fantasy IV'' translations) and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' re-used it as a homage.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'':
** There's an [[UrbanLegendOfZelda urban legend]] that the two principal characters in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' were originally named "Kuroudu" and "Arisu" -- somewhat incorrect supposed Japanizations of the English names "Claude" and "Alice". As the story goes, the translation team re-Anglicized the Japanese names to arrive at "Cloud" and "Aeris" so they would sound less prosaic in English. Of course, they were meant to be Cloud and Aerith all along; the developers wanted to evoke the English words "cloud" and "earth". But the fact that the rumour still survives makes it a strong example of the original Woolseyisms' impact on later games and their fans.
** Cloud's ultimate attack was called "Chōkyūbushinhazan" which translates as "Super-Ultimate War God Supreme Slash". This sounds absurd in English and murders the character limit, so it became "Omnislash". Interestingly, "Omnislash" may have been referenced in the Japanese ''Dissidia'', as before he executes the attack Cloud yells out "''Subete o tatsukiru!''", literally meaning "Slash through everything!"
** Cloud's penultimate LimitBreak, "Finishing Touch", is one to its original Japanese name, "Garyou Tensei", an idiom that means just that, putting the finishing touches on something.
** You can say [[BlindIdiotTranslation a lot about the quality of the game's translation]], but the game does a decent job of [[CulturalTranslation translating Japanese speech patterns to equivalent English ones]]. Cloud's [[InferioritySuperiorityComplex egotistical pronoun use and tendency to rely on verbal clichés]] is turned into 90s disaffected understatement; Aerith's TotallyRadical city-''gyaru'' speech is turned into blunt but girly dialogue; Sephiroth's formal speech is translated to him using a wider and more precise vocabulary than any other characters; Cid's hickish accent and depressive attitude is turned to fluent, curmudgeonly swearing; and so on. Red XIII starts off talking in pretentious SpockSpeak and ends up talking in the blunt tones of a little boy, a decent representation of his [[UsefulNotes/JapanesePronouns pronoun switch]] in the original Japanese. More extreme overhauls were making Yuffie talk in ValleyGirl slang and Barret talk in [[JiveTurkey occasionally ill-judged AAVE]].
** The notorious swearing that was [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny shocking when the game first came out]] was [[SpiceUpTheSubtitles added by the localisers]].
** At the end of the game, before facing Sephiroth, Cloud says "Let's go" in a kind of blunt, passive, weedy-sounding way ("''Iku yo.''), causing Cid to yell at him for sounding weak, and Cloud to correct himself to the imperative ("''Iku ze!''") to sound tougher. Since English lacks the tricky little politeness nuances which make this possible, in the English version, Cloud instead says "Alright everyone, let's mosey," preserving the {{Bathos}} while also working in a reminder of Cloud's hickish background. English speaking fans of the game often quote this scene as a favourite just because of its sheer quirkiness; Japanese ones tend to regard the scene as a mildly cute character beat, if that.
** During the storming of the Shinra building, Cloud and Barret share a dialogue in which Barret admits he misjudged Cloud and apologises, and Cloud isn't particularly impressed. This sequence appears in either the elevator or staircase depending on whether the player had chosen to [[TheWindowOrTheStairs sneak into the building or break in]], and the Japanese version used the same exact text for each. The English version, while translating the scene fairly accurately, did so slightly differently depending on player choice, so that Cloud came off as more passive and detached if you chose to sneak in ("Who cares if you're impressed...?") and more aggressive if you'd chosen to break in ("Who cares what you figured?!").
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'', in order to give the impression of the game being done as if it were a brand-new, modern game (rather than relying on NostalgiaFilter), features purposefully radical re-localisations of things that have been consistent in all prior ''VII'' media. Attack names have been changed to give them a more dramatic and serious tone (e.g Climhazzard is now Ascension), a lot of weirder enemy names have been fixed (such as Chuse Tank becoming Terpiscolt), and Cloud's CatchPhrase has been changed from the traditional/literal "not interested" to "nope", said in a distinctive, rising tone to express the playfulness of the original Japanese formulation. It's worth noting that this last tweak would not be possible in the non-acted original game.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' translates Fujin's single-kanjii speech into her speaking single word sentences [[NoIndoorVoice in all-capitals]], making her come off as an odder and more amusing character, as it seems less natural in English for someone to reply to something just by saying "RAGE."
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' localized the protagonist's name from Jitan to Zidane. The origins of the name are unclear (it was most likely supposed to be "Gitan", French for gypsy, and with his last name Tribal it would have been a PunnyName).
** Incidentally, his name became Djidane in France to avoid the confusion. Probably because djinns are not far from gypsies in the French imagination.
** The Spanish translation also changed it to "Yitán". If we keep in mind that Zinedine Zidane was playing in Spain during the time the game was released in Europe, Eduardo López (the game's Spanish translator) probably thought it was better not to distract the players imagination.
** The Italian translation of the game changed his name to "Gidan" for the same reason, as Zinedine Zidane played for several years for Juventus FC
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' had several notable ones.
** The localization changed the protagonist's name from Tiida to Tidus. Tiida is Okinawan for "sun", but it doesn't sound masculine to the Western ear, and the ocean connotations of "Tidus" are hardly inappropriate.
** The English version had many other changes made [[LipLock to fit the lip movement of the characters]] -- thanks to that, "shibito" (corpse -- though in context, more along the lines of "zombie" or "ghoul"; the ''VideoGame/{{Siren}}'' series uses the word in the same manner) became "unsent" (which is a very good word given the setting of the game), "inorigo" (Child of Prayer) became "fayth" and "shokanju" (summon beasts) became "aeons", among others. The words chosen by the English version were very well accepted though. The lip problem also led to many sentences ending with "You know?" in the English version, among other small line changes.
** [[spoiler:In the game's finale, originally Yuna just thanks Tidus (for protecting her), while in the English version, she says she loves him (since "I love you" fits the lip movements for "Arigatou" better than "Thank you"). Saying "I love you" fits far more with the story and relationship between the two, and also causes Yuna's desire to see Tidus in the sequel to be more fitting]].
** Since most of the game is framed as Tidus recounting everything from the start of his journey up till Zanarkand, his character development is supposed to be seen slowly throughout the game in his attitude towards the world and setting. In the English version, James Arnold Taylor has Tidus narrate in a deeper sounding take on Tidus, which he did to contrast Tidus at the start to how he was at the point where his recounting ends. This results in Tidus' character development being far more notable in the English version, as we can hear James' performance slowly change still but with the frame of reference of his narration to go off of.
** Originally, Wakka didn't have a Jamaican accent at all in the Japanese version. Creator/JohnDiMaggio began talking like that when he began voicing him, resulting in Wakka getting his now iconic accent.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' in Japanese is perfectly ordinary modern Japanese. ''Final Fantasy XII'' in English is in pseudo-Early Modern English, which lends the entire thing a much more dramatic air. "Higashi Darumasuka Sabaku" is literally 'East Dalmasca Desert', but in English it's 'Dalmasca Estersand'. Except for Vaan and Penelo, the rest of the game's cast speak in AntiquatedLinguistics (the Occuria go further and speak in FloweryElizabethanEnglish). Thanks to excellent translators and actors, however, they ''never'' sound cringy or awkward.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'':
** The names for the classes in the Paradigm shift are described from more of a gameplay standpoint in Japan. In Japanese, they translate to Attacker, Blaster, Defender, Enhancer, Jammer, and Healer. In English at least, they're translated to appear more like military roles, so they're Commando, Ravager, Sentinel, Synergist, Saboteur, and Medic (respectively). The French version use both literal translation and Woolseyism for the Paradigm: Attaquant (Attacker), Ravageur (Destroyer), Défenseur (Defender), Tacticien (Tactician), Saboteur and Soigneur (Healer). A lot of the character's lines are also Woolseyied in order to make the characters sound closer to each other (dropping a pronoun, using a French pun or expression...).
** German translators decided to do.... something completely different! You get to choose a 'Brecher' (Breaker), 'Verheerer' (Devastator), 'Verteidiger' (Defender), 'Heiler' (Healer, both close to the original for once), 'Augmentor' (something nobody ever uses) and 'Manipulator' (means pretty much what the English word means). Oh and for the record, the thing with Orphan being a... well, orphan? The translators made him Orphanus.
** The Spanish localization changed, to varying degrees, a lot of words in the game. Most of the classes' names are completely different, and all end up with ''-or'', making them sound like positions in a squad: 'Castigador' (Punisher), 'Fulminador' (Fulminator), 'Protector' (the same word in English), 'Inspirador' (Inspiring, a bit creative), 'Obstructor' (Obstructive, somewhat fitting for the role) and 'Sanador' (Healer). They also renamed a lot of enemies and objects to make them sound less of a mouthfoul, like Baldanders (Barthandelus) or Minerva (Menrva). And there's totally unrelated names with interesting reasons, like 'El Piasa' (translated name of The Proudclad, based on a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piasa Native American mythical creature]]) or 'Lanza de Nimrod' (translated name of Taming Pole, one of Fang's weapons, based on the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimrod biblical hunter]]).
* Twice now, Creator/SquareEnix has used the word "éclair", French for lightning, as the name for something. And in both instances it was changed to something that wouldn't bring to mind pastries for the English version. In ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'' it was Larxene's signature knives, changed to Foudre, French for thunder. And in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' it was [[spoiler:Lightning's real name, changed to Claire.]] The latter change becomes even better when you consider that, as a GeniusBonus / BilingualBonus, [[spoiler: the name "Claire" ''means'' "light", which Lightning asks the others to call her once she starts growing closer to them. It's a touching, if somewhat subtle, way to emphasize her character growth throughout the storyline, while still contributing to the translated script in a positive way. ''VideoGame/LightningReturnsFinalFantasyXIII'' took it and ran with it through Lumina, whose name is the plural form of "lumen", the Latin word for light. [[GeniusBonus Because Lightning and Lumina have the same name, just in different languages]], the latter's name foreshadows her true nature as Lightning's EnemyWithout.]]
* A Kefka-related woolseyism also occurred in ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy''. After Zidane beats Kefka and demands to know where Bartz is, he originally states in the Japanese version that "the mouse [Bartz] is in the... [face closeup] PAWS [face zoom back] ...of the enemy!" The dub makes the line a lot more hilarious by having Kefka say "I'm afraid the mouse is [face closeup] '''SMACK!''' [face zoom back] ...dab-in-the-middle-of-enemy-territory!"
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' also had a very clever and tongue-in-cheek localization team, sneaking in references to ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' ([[MemeticMutation "Be silent, and take my gil!"]]) and ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' neatly into the setting of Eorzea.
* The Italian translation of ''VideoGame/WorldOfFinalFantasy'' gets some fun and replaces the bio for the Black Chocochick with a reference to ''WesternAnimation/{{Calimero}}'', playing on the fact that both are black chicks wearing a cracked eggshell on their heads.
-->- '''Black Chocochick (English Mirage Manual entry):''' A chocochick with black feathers. Even their bones are black, just like a certain rare breed of chicken. For whatever reason, just their eyes are red. Allergies, perhaps?
-->- '''Black Chocochick (Italian Mirage Manual entry):''' A dark-feathered chocochick. Loves staying outside, playing tag with his friends and going in the woods to play hide and seek. Sadly, everyone hates him only because he's small and black. It's an injustice, it is!
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'', when it was localized, went through this for almost the entire script due to the way the setting was. In Japanese, the writing and script was fairly normal as far as how things were explained, meaning that while characters might have been written in different Kanji styles, the script was straightforward. When the game was being localized, the script was adjusted to be more Shakespearian and dramatic, resulting in some [[{{Narm}} cheesy lines for sure]], but also a script that feels more fitting for the world. When the PSP remake came along, the script was also adjusted again to be more fitting for the times by removing some of the more awkward translations.
* In the Japanese version of ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy2015'', characters simply called out the name of their chosen Summon's signature attack. In the English version, on the other hand, each character has a unique phrase for each Summon.
-->'''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV Y'shtola]]''' (summoning Ramuh): Levin, be the agent of your retribution!\\
'''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV Cecil]]''' (summoning Bahamut): A dragon's fury knows no bounds!\\
'''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX Zidane]]''' (summoning Alexander): Do unto these creeps as they did unto us!

[[folder:''Fire Emblem'']]
* In general, the series has a habit of changing character names that sounded awkward when romanized (like Leyvan, Asseray, Bole, Lofa, Chap...) to better-sounding ones. (Raven, Artur, Boyd, Rolf and Brom, respectively) A full list can be found [[http://serenesforest.net/general/localisation-changes/names/ here.]]
* ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade Blazing Blade]]'', being the first game officially released in English, started the trend. Among other things, [[AgeLift Lyn's age was changed from 15 to 18]] (which many players agree makes more sense) and TheGreatOffscreenWar between dragons and humans went from being called the "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Dragon - Human War]]" to "The Scouring".
* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragon'', if you've lost so many units that you don't have enough left to deploy for the next map, you'll be given generic units. In the British version, they have normal names. However, in the American version, some of their names are insulting puns directed at the player like Owend, Lucer, and Auffle. Some of them had numerically inspired names (Unil, Dua, Trim), and the rest had vaguely Roman sounding names, like Augustus, Antony, and Julius. Some of the names were also [[SpellMyNameWithAnS completely changed in translation]] to mixed reviews by the fandom. Maji and Saji to Cord and Bord is generally accepted, while Sheeda/Shiida is generally preferred to Caeda.
* ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar Genealogy of the Holy War]]'' and its midquel ''Thracia 776'' named most of the major characters after figures in Celtic or Nordic mythology, which were rendered into Japanese. Many of these characters were made available as [=DLC=] in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Awakening]]'', and are usually given the original myth names. (Diadora, for example, returned to Deirdre). On the other hand, some of them got even weirder than they were before--Rackesis, which is probably from the Greek Lachesis, got turned into "Raquesis."
* Another example from ''Genealogy'' (though this is from fan translations) is Sigurd's "You dastard!" line when [[spoiler: Arvis betrays him at Bahara]]. Less knowledgeable players might have thought he was supposed to say "bastard," but the former is actually a real word (it's the root of the word "dastardly"), and in medieval cultures it meant pretty much the same thing that "bastard" means now, minus the [[BastardBastard paternity implications]]. Later games, like ''Awakening'', alternate between the two as something of a MythologyGag.
* In ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn]]'', the BlackKnight's survival replaces a PhlebotinumBreakdown HandWave with [[ILetYouWin Ike being allowed to win]] for reasons that mesh well with the existing story. In the original, the Black Knight's warp powder malfunctions, teleporting only his spirit and leaving his body behind, meaning he was weakened in his fight with Ike, and he regains his true power when his spirit returns after the defeat. In the English version, during the climactic battle, Ike reveals that his father's sword arm was crippled years before (this detail always existed), a fact that the Black Knight didn't know. Since the Black Knight's true goal was to surpass his teacher (Ike's father, Greil), this revelation makes the Black Knight realize that his victory was hollow -- he was fighting a weakened man, and never got to experience Greil's true ability. He allows Ike to win in the hope that Ike will someday become as powerful and skilled as his father, and become a substitute he can test his skills against.
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'':
** The game has a set of weapons that give their wielder a large bonus to accuracy and evasion while fighting an enemy who is using the same type of weapon. In the Japanese version, these weapons had fairly bland and repetitious-sounding names, e.g. "Axe-breaker axe." The english version instead named them "Superior" weapons, e.g. "Superior Axe", which works as both a description of their unique benefits and a description of the weapons' high stats.
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'':
** The localization took some steps to tone down the blatant StoryBranchFavoritism of the Japanese version in the localization. Originally the Japan-inspired Hoshido was always portrayed as in the right and the Europe-inspired Nohr as evil and warlike, and siding with Hoshido was presented as the morally-right choice while siding with Nohr had the protagonist constantly regretting their decision. The localization not only toned-down the Avatar's moments of angst on the Nohr route, but made the Hoshidan royals more flawed. Ryoma in particular becomes more of an HonorBeforeReason BloodKnight in the localized version, as opposed to the IncorruptiblePurePureness he was originally, while Camilla's {{Yandere}} and VillainousIncest traits on the Hoshido route were turned more into MyBelovedSmother. The lyrics of the Birthright and Conquest-specific verses of the game's main theme were also modified to reflect this: the originally fully-optimistic Hoshido verse adds a line foreshadowing a major tragedy later in that route, while the originally pessimistic, DarkIsEvil Nohr verse was changed to lean more towards GoodIsNotSoft.
** The child characters usually have far more platonic supports and often end with them "Dating" rather than getting married.
** Soleil's support conversations with a male Avatar were changed in the localized versions to avoid UnfortunateImplications. Soleil's primary quirk is that, although she can talk to men with no problems, she becomes extremely nervous to the point of losing consciousness around women. To try and remedy this, in the Japanese version, male Corrin slips a potion into her drink that causes her to see all men as women. This is treated as a good thing in-story. In the localized versions, Soliel instead has a [[LipstickLesbian very obvious preference for the ladies]], and Corrin (consensually) blindfolds her to perform a visualization exercise, letting her imagine women as men. Additionally, most of Soliel's possible marriages were rewritten to her gently turning the guy down in favor of being PlatonicLifePartners instead; the only guys she can marry are a male Corrin (necessary, since she's one of Kana's potential mothers, and helped by the above change) and Forrest (a WholesomeCrossdresser).
** Similar to Soleil's supports, Selena and Odin's supports in Japanese have her imply that Selena hypnotized Odin into loving her and didn't think to tell him until much later. The localized translation made it so that Selena confesses this to Odin, but Odin reveals that he knew it all along and went with it, thus [[AuthorsSavingThrow really avoiding]] some UnfortunateImplications.
** Peri's supports with Xander in the Japanese version deal with her insecurities over not using {{Keigo}} around him. Their B support has Xander instructing her in the proper use of "desu" and "masu", and Peri's [[StylisticSuck extremely bad attempts at following his advice.]] This would be impossible to replicate in English, but the localization keeps the focus of the supports the same by changing keigo to just "formal language", and Peri's hilariously bad gratuitous use of "desu" in the B support was changed to hilariously bad YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe.
** Nohrian knight Benoit's name was changed to Benny, serving as both a variation on the original and avoiding the [[Wrestling/ChrisBenoit uncomfortable associations]] with the original name. The new name fits the character much better, sounding as cute and gentle as his personality to contrast his [[FaceOfAThug appearance]].
** Hisame was seen as a largely forgettable character, only really being the straight man to everybody else's funny-one act in ''some'' supports. One gag in the Japanese version is that he acts like an old man because he... pickles vegetables. This [[LostInTranslation makes no sense unless one happens to be in the know]], so Nintendo of America made it a little more palatable by making his love of pickles into an obsession, while still letting Hisame be his usual self with most people.
** Azura's class is normally translated as something like ''Singer'' or ''Songstress''. In the German translation, it becomes ''Skaldin'', which was a female bard in medieval Germanic countries, which fits the Norse mythological themes attached to Nohr.
%% ** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' continues this trend in rather ''large'' amounts. Just check its YMMV page.
%% Zero Context Example. Please expand on it before uncommenting.
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'':
** Dorothea teases Edelgard about an opera being written about her life in their C Support. In the Japanese version, she just [[ChewingTheScenery yells a few lines dramatically]]. In English, she actually ''sings'', and [[TheCastShowoff her voice actress pulls off opera singing incredibly well]]. Edelgard still reacts with surprise, and this translates over - instead her surprise being that Dorothea actually did it, rather than what she was saying.
** From the same game, Petra's manner of speech. Petra's initial quirk is that she is a princess from Brigid, and thus not too familiar with the language of Fódlan. In Japanese, she pauses as if to think of the appropriate word to finish a sentence. Unfortunately, this would be seen as ''annoying'' to an English audience, and could potentially cause a voice actor to be paid to say nothing. So, in order to get the point across, Petra is a StrangeSyntaxSpeaker and [[LiteralMinded doesn't understand common English idioms and expressions]].
** Bernadetta's B support with Byleth reveals her father is the cause of her social issues and her shut in nature by forcing her to practice being a "quiet and subservient wife". In Japanese, this type of logic is essentially her being groomed to be a YamatoNadeshiko, a traditional belief in how a perfect wife is supposed to be; quiet, submissive, etc. This makes Bernadetta's social issues make sense from a Japanese script by showing how her father was so traditionalist that he ended up abusing her. However, the YamatoNadeshiko trope and type doesn't make sense from a western perspective and for many would not explain why Bernadetta behaves the way she does. Thus when the game was localized, an extra line was added that stated her father tied her up to a chair and left her alone for hours, which makes her abuse and personality make more sense, while still framing her father as being out of touch. In fact, this change was so well liked, that when it was removed without explanation in the patch that came with the second DLC pack, [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks players were furious]], as they felt it lessened the impact of the abuse.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:''Kirby'']]
* In later ''Kirby'' games, a common trend is for each world to have an AlliterativeName; when the first letter of each world is put together, they spell a thematic word. For the most part, these are appropriately translated for each game, using words with similar meanings.
** In ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand'', the worlds spell the word "CROWNED". The Spanish world names spell "CORONAR" ("crowned"), the French world names spell "PARFAIT" ("perfect"), and the German world names spell "KROENEN" ("crown", with the O-umlaut substituted for "oe").
** In ''VideoGame/KirbyTripleDeluxe'', the worlds spell the word "FLOWER" (or "FLOWERED", if the final world is also included). The Spanish world names spell "FLORALES" ("floral"), the French world names spell "FLEURIE" ("blooming"), the German world names spell "BLÜHEND" ("blooming", this time using the U-umlaut in its alliteration), and the Italian world names spell "FIORENDO" ("blooming").
** In ''VideoGame/KirbyPlanetRobobot'', the worlds spell the word "PROGRAM". The Spanish world names spell "PROCESO" ("process"), the Italian world names spell "SISTEMA" ("system"), and the German world names spell "ROBOBOT".
** In ''VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies'', the second world's stages spell the word "FRIENDS". The Spanish stage names spell "AMISTAD" ("friendship"), the French stage names spell "COPAINS" ("friends"), the German level names spell "FREUNDE" ("friends"), and the Italian level names spell "AMICONI" ("buddies").
* A standout example comes from a song title from ''Kirby: Triple Deluxe''. The final boss's second phase has a theme called "Kyōka Suigetsu"[[note]]狂花水月[[/note]] in Japanese, which means "Madness Blooms and the Moon Reflected in the Water". It's based on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_Flower,_Water_Moon a Japanese saying]] that refers to unattainable beauty. The song was initially translated on Miiverse as "Moonstruck Blossom". "Moonstruck" has several meanings: "glowing in the moonlight", "unable to think properly" (as in "lunacy"), and [[spoiler:"hopelessly lovesick", which suits the boss at hand]]. The original soundtrack release and later games that feature this music track instead use the name "Fatal Blooms in Moonlight".
* One of the bosses in ''VideoGame/KirbyPlanetRobobot'' is Meta Knight, who was [[UnwillingRoboticization converted into a cyborg soldier]] by the villains. In the Japanese and Korean versions, he had the fairly self-evident name "Meta Knight Borg"; the English, French, German, Italian and Spanish translations instead dub him "[[{{Pun}} Mecha Knight]]".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:''The Legend of Zelda'']]
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'':
** Ganondorf and Ganon's full names in the [[AllThereInTheManual Manual]], Ganondorf Dragmire and Mandrag Ganon, were actually added into the English translation: In the original Japanese version, he was identified simply as Ganondorf and Ganon.
** In the game itself, the contents of the Book of Mudora were itself the result of Woolseyism (in the Japanese version, it was treated more like an instruction booklet than a book containing various lore).
* In the English version of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'', Midna's dialogue to Link [[spoiler: right before she breaks the Mirror of Twilight is "Link, I...see you later." Some translations of the Japanese imply that the drifting "I..." wasn't in the original version. Considering that a lot of fans have interpreted the evocative statement to mean she was going to say or confess something very emotional and heartwarming (the most obvious being "I love you" or something similar), it can mildly alter a player's view of Midna and her relationship to Link.]] With or without the change, the scene is one of the most emotionally charged in the game, though. Also, in Japanese, Midna just says "bye" before [[spoiler:breaking the mirror]]. In English, it's turned into a MeaningfulEcho of her CatchPhrase.
* A good example comes from ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages]]''. The name of the character who fixes the broken Tuni Nut (itself an example, having to be renamed from "Minomu Nut" to keep the whole palindrome theme of Symmetry Village going) is Repair, in GratuitousEnglish, in the Japanese version. This sounds pretty silly in English, so for the English version of the game his name was changed to Patch, which has the same meaning and is a legitimate English name to boot.
** The Tokagejin ("Lizard Folk") were renamed the Tokay (like the gecko) in translation. They also originally had a PokemonSpeak VerbalTic of "toka" in their speech, which was removed because Western audiences don't find it quite as endearing... but retained as a sound effect whenever they speak.
** Another example is in the counterpart game ''Oracle of Seasons'': the Uura ("Hidden") race and kingdom was renamed Subrosia, from the Latin ''sub rosa'', referring to the archaic use of a rose to mark a secret society's meeting place. A secondary rename was given to a character from that race: the Uura Urara ("Beauty") was renamed to Rosa the Subrosian, preserving the pun of a hidden place and a pretty girl.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:''Persona'' and other Atlus games]]
* In ''VideoGame/Persona3: FES'', the two game modes, called "Episode Yourself" and "Episode Aegis" was changed respectively to "The Journey" and "The Answer" in the localized version. Considering the theme of the story, this a much welcomed change compared to the rather Engrish names the original version used. Furthermore, the ultimate Persona, Orpheus Kai, which means "Reborn" or "Custom", was changed to Orpheus Telos. Telos is the Greek word for "goal" or "purpose." Similarly, Lucifel, the Angelic form of the demon Lucifer, had his name changed to "Helel" (the Hebrew name of the fallen angel) out of necessity to differentiate it from the demonic form of Lucifer.
** Additionally, in the original game, the period of time during which the team fought the Shadows was originally called "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Shadow Time]]" in the Japanese release. The American localization changed this to the much more ominous-sounding "Dark Hour."
** One of the social links is related to playing an MMO. In the Japanese version, the MMO was based off the original two ''Megami Tensei'' games for the Famicom, which were never released outside Japan. In the English version, all of these references were changed to refer to the earlier ''Persona'' games (or in one case, [[VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne Nocturne]]), all but one of which were released in America.
** The soft drinks in vending machines. What was a Japanese-only drink turns into Starvicks (An unusual blend of coffee and cough syrup), 1up, Fountain Dew (an unusually yellow drink), Dr. Salt, and the [[Series/TwentyFour Bauer]]Bar, which lets you keep going for 24 hours!
* ''VideoGame/Persona4'' continues the tradition of P3's translation by retaining important Japanese honorifics and certain cultural concepts (though the manual includes a handy glossary), while taking their own spin on certain other things that aren't as essential to plot or characterization, such as:
** Again, the soft drinks are all reminiscent of American beverages, though there's less variety this time around. Sadly, "[[Series/BattlestarGalactica1978 Cylon]] tea" didn't return.
** The cartoony mascot bear character was called "Kuma" ("bear") in the original. The English translation changed his name to "Teddie," as befitting a cute, cuddly bear. In addition, he originally had a VerbalTic of ending his sentences with "-kuma," while in the translation, he resorts to un-"bear"-able puns, to the same effect.
*** "Sensei! That was senseitional!"
** Mr. Morooka, the hated homeroom teacher, is known to his students as "King Moron." Apparently, the nickname he bore in the original Japanese was "Morokin", a play on his full name, Kinshiro Morooka.
** Finally, your character can benefit from some Woolsefying of his own when he takes a part-time job as a translator. Occasionally, you'll be given a choice when you run into something culture-specific, like children's dialogue or humor, and have the choice of creatively fudging the translation to retain the intended effect, or just do a BlindIdiotTranslation. You get a chance to be paid much, much better if you do the former...though there's also a random chance of [[{{Macekre}} failing]] and getting paid much less.
** A sidequest of reading novels added a TakeThat to ''Twilight.''
** There's a scene where Chie compares Naoto's family to the Kuzunoha clan, who play a prominent role in the ''Devil Summoner'' games as well as ''VideoGame/Persona2''. In the original Japanese release, the comparison was actually to the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosuke_Kindaichi Kindaichi]] [[Manga/TheKindaichiCaseFiles family]]. Nevertheless, this off-the-cuff Woolseyism has given fruit to a lot of EpilepticTrees.
** Similar to the ''FES'' example above, the extremely {{Engrish}}-y Junes jingle "Everyday Younglife Junes" was changed to "Every day's great at your Junes," containing the same number of syllables.[[labelnote:*]]"Junes" is three syllables in the original Japanese jingle, pronounced "Joo-neh-su"[[/labelnote]]
* ''VideoGame/PersonaQShadowOfTheLabyrinth'' went out of its way to [[BilingualBonus create a new Japanese-language pun]] to accommodate for the change to Teddie's name mentioned above. During an event where the cast [[AlternateCharacterReading joke about the kanji in eachother's names]], the P4 protagonist comes up with a kanji reading for Kuma, since his name is normally written in Katakana. In Japanese it's "scary demon", while the English version uses the kanji for "hand" and "dirt/filth" to get "Te-dei". "Dirty hands" arguably fits [[LovableSexManiac Teddie's character]] ''far better'' than the Japanese joke did.
* ''VideoGame/Persona5'':
** Some of the very game-y sounding GratuitousEnglish interface terms were changed overseas: the "Baton Touch" mechanic became the more accurate "Baton Pass", "Co-Op's" became "Confidants", more fitting for the theme that each of them has a secret that you learn over their personal storyline, the "CHANCE!" text that appears when initiating a pre-emptive attack becomes "AMBUSH!", and the command for a basic melee attack was changed from "Sword", a name which doesn't even make sense when only a couple party members use swords, to "Attack".
** The [[SuperMovePortraitAttack critical hit cut-ins]] are accompanied by onomatopoeia kanji that read as "buchi", meaning "[[RageBreakingPoint to snap from anger]]". "Buchi" is used often in manga, but English has no real equivalent sound effect (or UnsoundEffect, as it were), meaning there's no real way to translate it. Instead, the English version opted to replace the kanji with a pair of stylized exclamation marks, managing to fill roughly the same space on the UI as the original kanji and still slickly fit in with the rest of the game's distinctive art style and menu design.
** In the Japanese version, Futaba Sakura's codename in the Phantom Thieves is "Navi", short for "Navigator". This is a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin pretty simple codename]] compared to the somewhat more thematic names of the rest of party, and it also appears redundant on the Japanese UI: her codename of "Navi" appears right next to the indicator that she's the navigator... which is also "Navi". This was changed in the English version to "Oracle", which not only is a bit more in line with the rest of the party and fixes the UI silliness, it works as a reference to her Persona's advanced scanning abilities allowing her to practically see the future. [[spoiler:This also plays into the Egyptian theme of her Palace]].
** The "Ask the Phantom Thieves Channel", a website run by a fan of the party used to keep tabs on sidequests and see how the group is affecting public consciousness, became the "Phantom Aficionado Website" - or as it's more commonly referred to, the "Phan-Site" - in the English version. Besides being a clever pun, the localized name is more accurate to the fact the Thieves themselves aren't maintaining the website.
** The school principal is unnamed in the Japanese version. While his lack of name makes sense in Japanese due to differences in language conventions and the context of all of the scenes he appears in, him being unnamed in English would have likely sounded awkward. To combat this, his name became Principal Kobayakawa for the dub.
** In the Japanese version, each section of sidequest dungeon [[EldritchLocation Mementos]] is rendered with very literal meanings corresponding to shortcomings of humanity: "Harmony-robbing path", "Temperance-robbing path", etc. These would likely have sounded awkward if translated completely, so instead, the localization uses titles from the [[UsefulNotes/{{Kabbalah}} Qliphoth]]. "Harmony-robbing path" becomes "Aiyatsubus", meaning "instability", whereas "Temperance-robbing path" becomes "Chemdah", referring to greed. The changed names sound far more thematic than the simple names in the Japanese version, [[spoiler:and it also foreshadows the Gnosticism elements that come into play near the story's finale, along with the name of the final dungeon - Qliphoth World]].
* In another Atlus example, the Japanese version of ''Devil Summoner: VideoGame/RaidouKuzunohaVsTheSoullessArmy'', set in the 1920s, had most of the characters speaking modern Japanese (aside from some characters, like Raidou's ancestors, who used very archaic language). The English translation, however, has them using slang appropriate to the time period. Of course, it's ''English'' slang. Try not to think about it too hard.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Role-Playing Games]]
* ''VideoGame/BraveFencerMusashi'' has several moments of this, especially [[YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe any time Steward Ribson talks.]] Many of his lines have added voiceovers, so you actually get to listen to him say things like "Thou art beeth correcteth!"
* ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireII'' is well known for its absolutely awful translation, any word with more than 4 letters is either changed or get some letters cut. Thanks to this, some of the main characters got name changes, like, Bosche Doggie became Bow, Rinpoo Chuan became Katt, Aspara Gus became Spar and [[OverlyLongName Eraku Hoppe de pe Tapeta]] became Jean, and unintentionnally enough, they are even better. [[MeaningfulName Bow's weapon of choice is crossbow]], and [[CatGirl Katt is perfect for a feline fighter]], [[PlantPerson Spar sounds better and more androgynous than Aspara]], and Jean? He [[HilariousInHindsight presents himself with his long japanese name and then says "But you can call me Jean."]] You can tell Capcom had no idea how to translate it but they still made a clever joke, the OverlyLongName is funny and fits with his RoyalBlood, while "Jean" works well since he is a french guy stereotype.
* ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'':
** As the setting of the game first appeared in an Estonian-language book, the name "the Pale" to refer to the RealityIsOutToLunch entropic field slowly swallowing the inhabitable world is a localizaion that was invented by the original writers themselves. The term in Estonian means 'Grey' or 'Hall', a word with a connotation of drab [[WhyWeAreBummedCommunismFell end-of-history]] mundanity, in the sense of a depressing office corridor or a bleak post-Soviet industrial estate. "The Pale" literally means a vague color, but also evokes the phrase 'beyond the pale', in which 'the pale' means 'the normal, acceptable society'. However, the phrase 'beyond the pale' originated as a description of areas beyond the control of British occupiers in, originally, Medieval Ireland, and later similar areas surrounding British empire outposts in India and elsewhere. This adds in a specifically colonialist allusion, fitting in with how colonization of The Pale led to Elysium's version of the Age of Sail and the [[CapitalismIsBad rise of capital as the only available system]].
** Russian localization:
*** At the beginning of the game, Klaasje refers to your AmnesiacHero as 'officer', making him first ask if he is a military officer, rather than if he is a Chief Executive Officer. In Russian, the word for a police officer, a military officer and a chief executive officer are totally different words. The localizers eventually went with an old-fashioned word referring to a policeman, which literally means 'chief', can be used to mean 'chief of a business department', but is more commonly used to colloquially refer to a driver - adding an implication that Klaasje is aware that the protagonist [[AlcoholInducedStupidity drunk-drove his car into the sea]] before losing his memory, and is teasing him about it. The obscurity of the word also helps explain why it is that your player character doesn't understand what it means.
*** Throughout the game, people insult your cop by calling him a pig. This was changed to the Russian term of abuse for cops, 'musor', meaning 'trash', with small rewrites to suit (e.g. instead of Alain mentioning the cops sniffing around in the mud for clues, like pigs, he says the cops are digging around for some trash on them, because that is their natural element). This works extremely well for The Pigs, a mentally ill woman whose body is covered with hoarded police-themed trash pulled out of disposal, and also with the NonStandardGameOver where your cop seals himself in a trash container, because it's where he belongs (in the original English version, the achievement for seeing the scene is ''already'' called "Real Musor").
*** The name of the Skill "Shivers" is translated as a Russian word that literally means "Trembles", a word that means the response to cold weather (the main way the skill is used in the game), is also the word for the alcohol withdrawal symptoms that in English is usually called 'shakes' (which is also relevant to your alcoholic player character), ''and'' has connotations of an old Soviet poetic cliché about the 'tremble of the Revolutionary flag'. As one of the most significant Shivers checks in the game is [[spoiler: a vision of an imminent Revolution that Klaasje is trying to bring about]], this revolutionary allusion adds some interest.
*** The name of the Skill Savoir Faire is translated as a Russian word that literally means "equilibristics", or an unnecessarily sophisticated name for tightrope walking. This suits how Savoir Faire is both the skill for physical agility (jumping, dodging, evasion) and for flashy acts of social cool and panache (hustling, tricking, showing off) - the metaphor of 'walking a tightrope' meaning to negotiate a tricky social situation is the same in both Russian and English. The needlessly fancy name for the skill is necessary for the joke in the Thought Cabinet Skill "Detective Costeau", where insisting against all logic that your name is actually Raphael Ambrosius Costeau gets you +1 in Savoir Faire because it "sounds fancy... and you are definitely sure what it means".
** In the original, Endurance's induction into Fascism is based on your hatred of '[[InUniverseFactoidFailure wömen... Men of Wö]]', seeing them as a tribe of hostile barbarian invaders. In Spanish, it's translated as "''Fémininas... Minas de fé''" ("miners of faith"), and Endurance instead sees them as hostile foreign resource extractors. This fits better with the political situation in Revachol (where foreign governments are exploiting it) and for the way the protagonist conflates his misogyny with religion by imagining his ex as [[CrystalDragonJesus the holy mother figure Dolores Dei]].
* ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' has a few. Most obvious to are their handling of the terms "Makai" and "Tenkai." Their literal translations are the awkward-sounding "Demon World" and "Heavenly World" and they don't have very good equivalents in English -- Hell and Heaven aren't quite the same thing. So they translated Makai as "The Netherworld" -- although not even close to a literal translation, this does a good job of evoking the appropriate imagery. Similarly, they made up the term Celestia for Tenkai, for the same reason.
** Another example is translating Maou as Overlord. Overlord is ''much'' closer to the connotations carried by Maou than the literal translation, "Demon King", and is a much more familiar and less awkward term in English.
** The battle cries used during certain attacks. The best example is probably Laharl shouting "Bite the dust!" before finishing his "Overlord's Wrath" attack.
** Also, Champloo becoming essentially Emeril in the dub, or the Mexican Orcs.
** The Prinnies saying [[VerbalTic dood]]. The original version had them ending the last word of each sentence with a "-ssu" sound (a slurred form of the traditional "desu"), but for some reason Atlus decided that mispelling [[TotallyRadical "dude"]] would be funnier. NISA tried a similar stunt when they changed Yukimaru's "de gozaru" to "zam" in the sequel, but it never really caught on.
** In the original Japanese, Laharl's father's death was attributed to choking on a Dark Manjuu. In the English version, the food was changed to a Dark Pretzel, likely attempting to invoke HilariousInHindsight with then-President George W. Bush's choking on a pretzel and briefly passing out.
* ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'':
** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestII'': Laurasia was called "Midenhall" in the original NES port, perhaps to better jibe with the vaguely Saxon/Nordic names used in the first game. Ditto "Sulmatria" to "Cannock". The odd one is actually Moonbrooke, which is consistent across both languages (though the Japanese sources are often a bit inconsistent about whether the final "e" is included).
** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'': The English name Xenlon goes quite well with the character, as she's basically a Lawyer-Friendly Cameo of Shenron of ''Dragon Ball Z''. They even look similar.
** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVIII'':
*** There is a type of enemy called the "One Knight Stand" and a bar in one town entitled the "Cock and Bull".
*** Hero's boomerang skill increased! Hero is now a [[IncrediblyLamePun baby boomer]]!
** The DS translation of ''VideoGame/DragonQuestV'' featured this in spades, with such monster gems as the spear-wielding "Pokesperson," the genie "High Djinnks," the goat demon "Moosifer," and the similar boss "Bjorn the Behemoose." The apparently gratuitous name-changes for actual human characters have gotten rather mixed reviews, though, as this was something American audiences thought we'd long since gotten past.
** This practice of puns and phonetic accents has been put into just about every DS Dragon Quest game (as well as the 3DS version of the seventh game).
** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVII'''s remake also incorporates the accents into the translation - such as the residents of Gröndal having Swedish accents or L'arca having Italian accents. It also makes Nottagen even more hilarious to hear them speak in ValleyGirl speech.
** Square-Enix even carried on the tradition in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestXI''. Because ''Dragon Quest'' comes off as childish and cartoony to some western audiences for its brightly-coloured and highly stylized visuals, they decided to just ''embrace'' it. They even carried on Nintendo's tradition of accents with towns - such as Hotto having haiku, Gondola having [[OohMeAccentsSlipping fake Italian accents]], Snorri having [[WhatTheHellIsThatAccent Scandinavian accents]], Sylvando having a Spanish accent, etcetera. Additionally they carried on with the puns, even making some of them into shout outs (Such as the monster whose painting becomes more complex with every person she captures named "Dora-in-Grey"). Fortunately it wasn't ''quite'' as heavy as ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'' or ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIX''.
* ''VideoGame/DragonsCrown'' has a fair few references in the quotes given off by dead bodies, such as references to ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' ("I've made a huge mistake") and ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'' (The infamous "arrow to the knee" line).
* An in-universe example can be found in ''VideoGame/EveOnline'', in the [[http://www.eveonline.com/background/potw/default.asp?cid=13-08-07 backstory]] of the voice of the ship's computer, which is the voice of a poet who adapted a wholly religious poem for a wholly secular society so perfectly that the original writer declared that he would consider any attempted censorship against her translation to be an attack on the original work as well.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyLegendIII'''s translation removes "The" from sentences at times. This makes it seem like a BlindIdiotTranslation... although in [[FridgeBrilliance hindsight]], the characters occasionally referring to "The Talon" as "Talon" as if it is a person actually makes it a clever form of foreshadowing. [[spoiler: Since Jupiah, Arthur's father, has his brain piloting [=Talon2=] -- so in a way it ''is'' a person.]]
* In ''VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn'', the villains have ThemeNaming based on playing cards (Spade, Heart, and Ace) in the Japanese version. In Western translations, this wasn't exotic enough, so the villains are instead named after the Tarot (Blade, Chalice, and the Arcana). This caused a second set of renames, as one of the heroes was named "Crown" in the Japanese version, and Crowns are a name for the Tarot suit of Coins, causing potential confusion. Crown's name was changed to [[PunnyName Rief]], and his sister [[WinterRoyalLady Noble]] became Nowell. This created HiddenDepths for one character: Tyrell, who's usually seen as unintelligent, can see the obvious connection between Heart and Spade. In the American version, he suddenly reveals his knowledge of tarot cards to point out the connection between Blados and Chalice. The European version removes this by simply having him comment that their names sound similarly odd.
* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'':
** Nearly all Keyblades in the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series have GratuitousEnglish names, and while sometimes the name works, often times the name will be streamlined, if not outright changed, into something that sounds cooler to English ears. "Oath's Charm" to "Oathkeeper", for example, or "Gaia's Bane" to "Ends of the Earth". As for the few with Japanese names, there's a Keyblade with a name that translates to "Passing Memories", in English it's known as "Oblivion".
** [[spoiler:Xion's attack]] at the end of ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'' had one line which relied on UsefulNotes/JapanesePronouns. [[spoiler:In the Japanese version, Xion, despite looking like Sora, uses "Atashi" confirming that she thought of herself as female. In the English version, the line was restructured into the third person "Now it's time for this puppet to play her part.", not only keeping the gender implications but indicating the isolation she felt from what she wanted to what role she had to play.]]
** The Japanese version ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'' had Sora saying that the Keyblade is the [[{{Narm}} "key to everyone's smiles."]] In English it becomes [[NarmCharm "the light in the darkness, a chance to make everyone happy."]]
* Version 2.00 Deluxe of ''VideoGame/LiveALive'''s FanTranslation gives each chapter a separate font, something not found in the original Japanese version, while the kung fu chapter has the names of characters and moves in Chinese instead of Japanese. Some of the chapters were also translated by Clyde "Tomato" Mandelin, whose ''Mother 3'' fan translation is one of the most well known and contains several Woolseyisms itself.
* The Working Designs translations of ''VideoGame/LunarTheSilverStar'' and ''VideoGame/LunarEternalBlue'' were chock full of Woolseyisms. You could run into Austin Powers, have a debate with an NPC on why kids love Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and other such malarkey. It gave the games a unique charm, although there is some argument amongst the fanbase as to whether the game would have been better served with a more faithful translation. The pop culture references Working Designs added is usually polarizing with fans, but one thing that is highly agreed on is the English lyrics to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROt6hC7WWio the boat song]] in Silver Star Story. The English version of the song was not a translation, but used brand new lyrics written for the localization, but still got the exact same feelings and message across. [[MemeticMutation If Shii's song is any indication]], even some Japanese fans loved the English version. When the song was given a more literal translation for TheRemake Lunar: Silver Star Harmony, fans were NOT happy.
* The same thing happens in ''Franchise/MassEffect'', where translators are constantly kept updated to reflect changing linguistic patterns and many languages are impossible for some species to actually speak unassisted. The obvious example are the Spectres, which functions as an acronym that makes perfect sense in English, which would mean someone working on the translations put effort into figuring out a proper equivalent based on the meaning the actual, alien word carries in its own culture.
** Another example is Omega: It's mentioned that every species calls it by a name that reflects their cultural attitude towards the place: the asari name for it translates as "[[{{Mordor}} the heart of evil]]", the salarian name as "[[CityofSpies the place of secrets]]", the turian name as "[[WretchedHive the world without law]]", and the krogan name it as the "[[WorldOfBadass land of opportunity]]". The human name is of course no different--Omega is essentially "the end", which accurately describes how most humans view it.
** While we're on the subject of ''Mass Effect'', the Russian version calls [[HealThyself medi-gel]] "panatselin", a portmanteau of "penicillin" and "panacea" that invokes the Russian verb "tselit'", an archaic word for "to heal".
* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'':
** In the Japanese versions, a subspecies of monster is called "-monster name- Subspecies". The English translation adds ColorfulThemeNaming as most of the time Subspecies are simply color pallete swaps visually, making them more unique from their normal species and helps a lot when diffrentiating between the subspecies of a monster that has more than one. They range from the simple Purple Ludroth to the more unique Stygian Zinogre. Nargacuga, one of the monsters with more than one, has Green Nargacuga and Lucent Nargacuga in relation, though the original Japanese just uses "Nargacuga subspecies" and "Nargacuga rare species".
** The games also have tons of jokes and references in the dialogue, that are changed to be region specific. 3 Ultimate, for example, even pokes fun at translations, having a Felyne named Neko. Or rather, Neko (Means "cat"). Neko himself makes sure to tell you that it means "Tiger of the Far East" and you might believe him, if his name tag didn't have the translator's note. The captain of the Argosy, who uses GratuitousJapanese, also gets in on the fun by helpfully informing you that [[MemeticMutation 'keikaku']] [[Manga/DeathNote means 'plan']].
** In ''4 Ultimate'', monsters that have overcome by the [[TheVirus Frenzy Virus]] are known as "Extreme" monsters in Japanese. To the Western ear, it just sounds like an attempt to make the series look more [[TotallyRadical X-TREME!!]]. The localizations instead refer to them as "Apex" monsters, as in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apex_predator apex predators]], as in "these things are at the top of the food chain and are going to freaking murder you."
** The Monster Name themselves run on puns and other meanings to convey certain aspects of the monsters. Naturally, this wouldn't translate well to other languages, so they again have region specific names. Of particular not is one of the times a more, but not completely, direct translation worked. A certain monster had the japanese name of Jinouga, which the localization team went to work as usual to try to come up with a name that works better in English. Unfortunately, a piece of merchandise featuring the monster was already released with an English name, which was an alternate romanization from Jinouga, and they went with it because it worked, gave the monster a unique name and directly translated one of the root words instead of simply romanizing it, making it convey the same meaning it always intended to and bringing fierce, powerful imagery to mind. The monster? The Zinogre.
* From the ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER}}'' series:
** From ''VideoGame/EarthBound'':
*** In [[JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind Magicant]], Ness wears a different outfit to symbolize his childlike innocence. In the original Japanese this was no outfit at all, while in most localizations it was his pajamas.
*** One other change was changing the signs of the "Bar" to "Cafe". Kids aren't allowed inside bars in the states, thus it makes little to no sense for Ness to be going into a bar for items, but a "Cafe" doesn't have such an age restriction due to the fact they don't sell alcohol.
*** The two types of iron obstacle blocking your progress around the world, both of which require a specific device to erase them from your path, differ depending on region, with the names of the object-erasing devices being changed to match them. In the Japanese version, the iron obstacles are statues of an octopus and a type of Japanese doll, called a kokeshi, which are removed with the 'Octopus Eraser' and the 'Kokeshi Eraser' respectively. The octopus, the creator elaborated, is an interpretation of being lost and not knowing what to do as having your path blocked by an octopus, while the kokeshi is for a pun: Octopus in Japanese is "Tako" and eraser in Japanese is "keshi", so after you get the Tako Keshi you get the Kokeshi Keshi. Since these don't make sense in English, the octopus statues were changed to pencil statues and the kokeshi statues were changed to eraser statues, meaning that you need a "Pencil Eraser" to erase the pencils and an "Eraser Eraser" to erase the erasers.
** In ''Mother 2'', there's a pun about "[[Anime/HeidiGirlOfTheAlps Alps no Shoujo ___ji]]" (Hai/Iie). Because the pun couldn't be preserved or recreated in English with the same title, ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'', replaces the pun with "A [[Music/TheBeatles Beatles]] song, ___terday" (Yes/No).
** From ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER 3}}'''s FanTranslation:
*** The head of the game's FanTranslation, Clyde "Tomato" Mandelin, has a position at Creator/FUNimation, so it only figures that said fan translation would have a few examples of Woolseyisms. For just one example, at one point in the original Japanese, a sunbaked pig says that the name of a famous Japanese ham company came to him in a dream; in the translation, he says that the words "Oscar" and "Mayer" appeared instead.
*** A lot of the enemy names were made into puns, in keeping with the comedic feel of the ''MOTHER'' series. A short list: Einswine (a brain-augmented pig), Navy SQUEAL (an aquatic Pigmask soldier), and the Squawking [[Film/ArmyOfDarkness Boomstick]] (an exploding chicken head on a stick).
*** The name of Yokuba (one of the game's major villains) being changed to Fassad is considered by many to be a Woolseyism. Yokuba came from yokubari, meaning greed, something most English-speaking players wouldn't get. Fassad comes from facade and fits remarkably well with the character. [[BilingualBonus Fassad is also Arabic for "corruption,"]] which makes it fit even better, especially since the character in question is dressed like a stereotypical ArabOilSheikh.
** This also happened with ''VideoGame/EarthboundBeginnings'', all of which were done with Itoi's supervision and approval.
*** In Japanese, the towns were named after [[ThemeNaming holidays]], ie Mothersday, Easter, Halloween, et cetera. This was seen as juvenile rather than welcoming, so they were given different names. Perhaps one of the best is changing "Halloween" to "Spookane", which [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spokane,_Washington is the name of a city in Washington]], and still keeps its theme-naming intact.
*** "Tinkle" (the name of the school where Lloyd is found) is changed to "Twinkle Elementary School", which avoids the unfortunate name in Japanese.
*** Many other changes were done due to [[PragmaticAdaptation space constraints]].
* ''VideoGame/NieR'' employs Woolseyisms pretty liberally. A few examples:
** The main enemies of the game are shadowy black and yellow monsters, called "Mamono" (demons) in the original japanese. The localization calls them "Shades" instead, which sounds a lot more unique. Fittingly, the Shades' leader in the original japanese is called "Maou" (demon king), and rendered as "Shadowlord" in the localization.
** One of the characters in the game is a magical talking book. In the original japanese he is simply called "Hon Shiro" ("white book"). The localization opts for the much more personal and mysterious-sounding Grimoire Weiss (which means the same thing, "weiss" is just german for white). This also led them to having to change a joke; in the original, the book dislikes being called "Shiro" because it is a common dog's name in Japan. The translation instead makes his insistence on being called by his full name a part of his arrogance and self-important attitude.
* ''VideoGame/OctopathTraveler'':
** The speech of H'aanit and her people is derived from [[https://www.reddit.com/r/octopathtraveler/comments/918roq/on_haanits_dialect_a_brief_analysis_of_its_noble/ a combination of]] [[UsefulNotes/HistoryOfEnglish Old, Middle, and Early Modern English]]. This is present solely in the English translation of the game, as all other versions (including the original Japanese VO tracks) have H'aanit and others from her village speak modernly. This change is one of the most divisive elements of the game, with vocal defenders and detractors. On one side, you have those who love the choice and believe it to be a charming way to illustrate how isolated H'aanit's small hunting village is from the rest of the continent, admiring the writing team for trying something so ambitious. On the other, you have those who think it is an unwarranted and unneeded decision on the part of the localization team that's annoying at best and a game-ruining experience at worst, with some hating H'aanit's character as a result and/or pointing to it as the reason they stopped playing. And then there's the subset of detractors who think that the localization team didn't lean into the idea hard ''enough'' (in practice, H'aanit's speech mostly boils down to adding a lot of extraneous "n"s to her verbs) and mostly think it comes across as a bit half-baked and pointlessly distracting.
** In the original Japanese, Lianna seems to be the only person Ophilia refers to without honorifics (by comparison, she uses "-san" on her fellow travelers). The closeness Ophilia and Lianna have is conveyed in the English version by having them call each other [[AffectionateNickname "Anna" and "Phili"]].
* The long-awaited official English localization of ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarOnline2'' has some cunning changes to the game's names and dialogue that help it stand out:
** The EldritchAbomination species referred to in the Japanese version as "Darkers" are renamed "Falspawn", which not only sounds appropriately menacing, but also helps to illustrate their link to Dark Falz.
** In the Japanese version, each Dark Falz had a title that is written in both kanji and katakana, with the katakana name spoken while the kanji name is shown on text. The English localization consolidates the two together to form fittingly grandiose names for the Dark Falzes. Dark Falz Elder, for instance, is named "Elder the Gargantuan".
** The planet of Harukotan is divided into two civilizations, literally translated as "White Territory" and "Black Territory". The highly-lauded English patch that was developed by fans before the official English version's release renamed them to "Shironia" and "Kuron", incorporating the Japanese words for "white" and "black" into their names. The official translation goes in a different direction, naming the civilizations the "Daybreak Province" and "Nightfall Province".
* ''VideoGame/RecettearAnItemShopsTale'': The game became a surprise hit and sold over a hundred thousand copies in America (the translators were expecting ten thousand at best) partially due to the high quality of the translation, which was [[ShoutOut/RecettearAnItemShopsTale filled to the brim with shout outs]] while still keeping original game's feel -- [[{{Moe}} cute]] but not [[TastesLikeDiabetes cloying]] -- intact. This is pretty much Carpe Fulgur's MO, according to their FAQ. They aim to work closely with the creators to capture the feeling and humor of the games. It also has a rather high rate of people that played the demo deciding to purchase the game. The normal conversion rate is around 10%. ''Recettear'''s was over ''50%''.
* In ''VideoGame/RivieraThePromisedLand'', a number of character and item names were changed by Atlus to reflect the game's overarching Norse influences; for example, main character "Ecthel" was changed to "Ein", and his sword "Excellion" was changed to "Einherjar".
* ''VideoGame/SakuraWars'':
** While [[VideoGame/SakuraWars1996 the first game]] never made its way to the west, there is an unofficial FanTranslation, which adds its own little touches that help the dialogue stand out. Among the gems in this translation are the pet names some of the Imperial Combat Revue give to Ogami, such as "Chief" for Kohran, "Boss" for Kanna, and "Mon Frere"[[note]]French for "My Brother", from the Japanese "Onii-chan"[[/note]] for Iris.
** ''VideoGame/SakuraWarsSoLongMyLove'' changed two of the characters names for the game's overseas release. Rikarita Aries was renamed to Rosarita Aries (Rosita, for short), which not only is an actual given name in Mexican Spanish, but is also the name of a type of beans, fitting the character's BigEater traits. Sagitta Weinberg, meanwhile, is renamed to Cheiron Archer, "Cheiron" being derived from a centaur from Greek mythology. The Sagittarius constellation resembles a centaur holding a bow, so the StellarName theme still applies. In addition, the MiniMecha used by the New York Combat Revue are renamed from the unwieldy "Fenics" to the simple, yet still thematically appropriate, [[FunWithAcronyms Super Telekinetic Assault Robots, or "STARs"]].
** For most of the series's history in English publications, the term for MiniMecha was simply "spirit armor". ''VideoGame/SakuraWars2019'' spices up the term by rechristening them "Spiricle Strikers".
* ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana'' is rarely mentioned as a case against Woolsey's overall quality, because it was a pretty bad job. Not even the Sprite's gender was kept straight. The reason for this is, [[http://hg101.kontek.net/localization/localization.htm in Woolsey's words]], "that game nearly killed me", largely because he was given exactly ''thirty days'' to get the script from initial translation to completion. Not just, like, drafting, but ''inserted''. According to an interview, he had to "nuke" roughly 40% of the game's text just to get it to fit the cartridge.
* In the US and EU releases of the first two ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'' games, the [[ButNotTooForeign half-Japanese, half-Russian]] male lead's name is changed from pseudo-Russian ForeignSoundingGibberish (the awkward-as-hell "Urmnauf") to Yuri, a name that's authentically both Russian and Japanese... even if the two countries normally use them for differing genders (male in Russia, female in Japan).
* ''VideoGame/TheTaleOfFood'': Many changes are made when the game is translated and dubbed into the Japanese localization.
** Some characters make full use of the variety of UsefulNotes/JapanesePronouns; case in point Yángzhōu Fried Rice who just uses the mundane ''wǒ'' 我 in the original is given the very rare, very stilted pronoun ''bansei'' 晩生 in the dub.
** Mapo Tofu is given a KansaiRegionalAccent.
** Eight-Treasure Duck with Glutinous Rice has a VerbalTic of "quack quack" in the original Chinese versions, but in the Japanese dub it's translated to "kamo", a pun on ''kamo shirenai'' (maybe) and the Japanese word for "duck".
* ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'':
** The De-Jap version of ''VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia'' is considered as a whole to be this to certain people, mostly older fans, because of the inclusion of adult humour (including the [[MemeticMutation memetic line]]: "I bet Arche fucks like a tiger.") and for translating "Ragnarok" [[NeverLiveItDown properly]] when the official version didn't.
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'': Genis and Raine's original names are "Genius" and "Refill" respectively. The English translators understood these names would sound incredibly stupid in English and changed their names to similar sounding, but not completely obvious, names instead. The English version of the Gamecube release, rather than translate the song, chose to use an orchestral score for the opening instead. Many people preferred the epic, cinematic feel of the English version's opening over the J-Pop, and some were upset the Japanese song was used in the re-release. In particular, the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOKSxOxNY6E heroic version]] is considered a much better fit for the scene where [[spoiler: the rest of the party saves Lloyd from Yggdrasil]] than the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Xix1mfJmQ8 Japanese]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNJdDvZ_rdY versions]]
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfHearts'': Kohak Hearts' name was changed in her cameo boss battle to the much more sensible "Amber Hearts" in the English release of ''VideoGame/TalesOfGraces'' (as her name is based off of the Japanese word for amber and "Kohak" is both odd to say in English and sounds masculine). Sadly, this change was reversed in the official English release of ''VideoGame/TalesOfHearts''.
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia'':
*** In the ending, Leia decided to return home and work at her families inn. When the sequel came out, this was retconned with almost no mention of this, as she starts the game off as a reporter for an unexplained reason. The localization team had the benefit of the sequel being out when localizing the script, so they merely changed a bit of Leia's wording in the finale to have her say that she would be temporarily helping around the inn. This makes her job as a reporter more natural than in the Japanese version, where its mostly joked that she is now a reporter.
*** The localization did this to the Final Boss's plans to address issues with it. [[spoiler:In the original Japanese, he tried to destroy an entire world (admittedly to save his own) and came off looking like a truly massive KarmaHoudini when the only consequence was a beatdown from the player. The English version changed his plan to annihilating the other world's dangerous technology regardless of who gets in his way or the suffering that will result in its absence. The final conflict was subsequently turned into a more legitimate case of BothSidesHaveAPoint that also nicely expanded on Gaius's similarities to Milla.]]
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia2'':
*** In game there is a popular stuffed toy for kids that is mentioned off and on and plays a somewhat large role in Elize's Character Episodes. In the original Japanese version of the game, the toy's name was Banish. The name didn't make much sense, leading to the localization team changing it to Bunniekins, which is still a silly name but sounds a bit more legit as a name given to a toy for children.
*** The protagonist Ludger's special ability was originally called Corpse Shell, a rather strange name that had no meaning. The localization team changed the name to Chromatus instead, which thematically fits better as it contains roots in the word Chronos, who was the Greek God of Time, and whose name was used in said game for one of the main antagonists, Chronos.
** The English dub for ''VideoGame/TalesOfZestiria'' changed the name of the spiritual beings from Divines to Seraphim, which makes more sense with the messiah elements of the game since Divines is simply too abstract of a term while Seraphim has a direct association with angels. They also changed Hyouma, the name of the evil demonic beings, to Hellion, which better fits with the games themes as Hyouma simply meant something to the effect of Devil, whereas Hellion refers someone causing harm.
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfBerseria'':
*** The name of the Fifth Empyrean was originally Kanonushi, which roughly means "[[SpeakOfTheDevil the lord whose name shall not be spoken]]". The localization team changed it to Innominat, which means Nameless in latin. This fits the naming scheme of the other Empyrean's better, and also helps with the signifiance of the name.
*** The name of the special Daemon's like Velvet was simply kuuma, roughly meaning consuming demon. The localization team changed it to Therion, a Latin word meaning either wild animal or savage beast, which better represents the nature of what said Daemon's are, and helps distinguish them from the normal Daemons.
* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'':
** Whimsun gets a name change in the Japanese translation to "Nakimushi." ''Nakimushi'' idiomatically means "crybaby" in Japanese, but [[PunnyName literally translates to "crying bug".]]
** Snowdrake speaks with heavy ''[[KansaiRegionalAccent Kansai-ben]]'' in the Japanese translation, due to the Kansai dialect's association with comedy acts.
** Mettaton's "cooking show" ''Cooking With A Killer Robot'' gets the wonderful translation of ''さつじんロボのキラキラキッチン'', ''Satsujin Robo no Kira Kira Kitchen.'' Literally this would mean something like [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast "Homicidal Robot's Sparkling Kitchen,"]] but the word ''kirakira'' here pulls double meaning as the onomatopoeia for "sparkling" [[StealthPun and the homonym of "killer."]]
** Unlike every other main character, Papyrus's dialogue is written top to bottom, right to left, the "traditional" way Japanese is written, most likely to highlight his rather grandiose way of speaking.
** In Japanese, a common response to a bad joke is to say it's "cold" (''samui''), meaning the Japanese translation got to add a couple of extra gags in the snowy area before Snowdin, notably during Sans's bad jokes and the fights with the wannabe comedian Snowdrake.
** Japanese ''Undertale'' fans spent a lot of time [[SeriousBusiness debating]] as to whether Sans would use [[UsefulNotes/JapanesePronouns ''boku'' or ''ore'' as a personal pronoun]], only to be shocked when previews of the official translation [[TakeAThirdOption showed him using ''oira'']], a lesser known Japanese pronoun among English speakers that typically is associated with characters with rural roots or "country bumpkin" types. This caused waves in the Japanese fandom that came to be known as "''oira'' shock". It also helps that Snowdin, the area he lives in, is rural-ish itself. [[spoiler: It also is a clever way of showing how Sans tries to project a loser-ish, slacker image. During the "Lost Souls" fight and segments before he fights you on the worst route, he switches to ''ore.'']]
* Alexander O. Smith's work on ''VideoGame/VagrantStory'', the first ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney Ace Attorney]]'' game, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' is rarely passed over in reviews of the game, usually being held up as some of the most successful Japanese-to-English translations. At least when they're not being criticized for PurpleProse.
** Apparently, this sentiment is echoed in Japan as well--he was asked to provide the English lyrics for the two vocal songs on ''The Skies Above'', the second album by Nobuo Uematsu's band The Black Mages.
* Several Woolseyisms in ''VideoGame/ValkyrieProfile''. Most notable was the change of Ahly's name to "Hrist," as the latter is a {{valkyrie|s}} in Norse mythology.
** ''VideoGame/ValkyrieProfileCovenantOfThePlume'' actually translated the original, modern Japanese into dated English. The result was that the localized version had a very great deal more immersion and atmosphere than the original.
** Some of the Woolseyisms in ''Valkyrie Profile'' were actually ''correcting'' a few mistakes. Such as switching Freya and Frey around and changing a few enemies' names. Such as Azuratosa to Akhetamen, which sounds a little more Egyptian, and Jdwallace to Genevieve, the latter of which actually ''means'' something.
*** For those who are curious, Genevieve is the patron saint of Paris in Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Still not quite... accurate (Genevieve is a vampire seductress in the game), but it at least beats ''Jdwallace''.
* A non-script example. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zhWmDrF3Ew Here's]] the original intro to ''VideoGame/WildArms2''. Unfortunately the lyrics were notoriously hard to translate without butchering either the meter or language. Solution? [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-5WOV2YRGU Axe the lyrics altogether]] and use a trumpet and acoustic guitar instead. It worked out, as many players actulaly ended up enjoying the instrumental version ''more'' than the original Japanese version.
* ''VideoGame/TheWitcher'': The English adaptation is generally very good (at least the Enhanced Edition), but a truly inspired piece of translation was renaming the characters Jaskier (Buttercup), Magister (Schoolteacher) and Baranina (Mutton) to Dandelion, Professor and Ramsmeat.
* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' probably has ''way'' more than these few examples, but these are the obvious ones. All the characters use modern American teenage slang properly (i.e. "TotallyRadical" is avoided except in one intentional case); Beat goes even farther with a stereotypical "gangsta" speaking style, whereas in Japanese his speech is simply rather rough and impolite.
** Impolite speech in Japanese is ''very'' hard to translate into English, because the polite and impolite versions literally mean the same thing; however, using the impolite version in an appropriate setting connotes familiarity or intimate friendship (depending on how impolite you go), while in an inappropriate setting, it connotes disrespect, disgust, or hatred. Thus, "gangsta" speech is actually a really good analogue.
** The ''entire game'' was saturated with slang, which may or may not be a good thing for you. Even a certain button labeled simply "run from battle" in Japanese was edited to say "Gotta bounce!"
** Even the title is subject to this. The original Japanese translates to, approximately, "What a wonderful world this is." It's the typical positive "enjoy life" message that doesn't lend itself to a lot of deep thought. The localized title, in addition to sounding more ominous and dire, becomes a reflection of the main character's asocial attitude, staying in his own "world," while leaving everyone else out.
--->'''Hanekoma:''' "Listen up, Phones! The world ends with you. If you want to enjoy life, expand your world. You gotta push your horizons out as far as they'll go."
* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'' uses this to preserve a dick joke, of all things. In the original Japanese, Nia calls Zeke "Turtle Head", which is an innuendo in Japan, but doesn't mean much to the English speaking audience. So in the translation, she calls Zeke (who wears an eyepatch) a "one-eyed monster."
* For many, the {{Bowdlerization}} of a scene in ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'' was this. In the original version Albedo's torment of MOMO included self-mutilation via a knife - cutting his arm and his head off. The American version replaces this with him instead ripping his arm and then his ''head'' clean off. This actually manages to make it even ''more'' unnerving. The bone-crunching noises, combined with him ''breaking his neck'' add to the creepiness.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Others]]
* Working Designs's work with ''VideoGame/ThunderForce V'' involved taking the on-screen boss descriptions, which were already in GratuitousEnglish in the Japanese version, and rewriting them to read more smoothly. The boss of Stage 2, [[Music/IronMaiden Iron]] [[ShoutOut Maiden]], for instance:
-->'''Japanese version:''' "It was [[TheUndead dead, but alive at the same time]]." \\
'''North American version:''' "Alive but dead, it fears nothing and decimates all." ''(Your ship's computer still reads the Japanese version text, however.)''
* ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana'' is rarely mentioned as a case against Woolsey's overall quality, because it was a pretty bad job. Not even the Sprite's gender was kept straight. The reason for this is, [[http://hg101.kontek.net/localization/localization.htm in Woolsey's words]], "that game nearly killed me", largely because he was given exactly ''thirty days'' to get the script from initial translation to completion. Not just, like, drafting, but ''inserted''. According to an interview, he had to "nuke" roughly 40% of the game's text just to get it to fit the cartridge.
* In the US and EU releases of the first two ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'' games, the [[ButNotTooForeign half-Japanese, half-Russian]] male lead's name is changed from pseudo-Russian ForeignSoundingGibberish (the awkward-as-hell "Urmnauf") to Yuri, a name that's authentically both Russian and Japanese... even if the two countries normally use them for differing genders (male in Russia, female in Japan).
* Planet names in the European version of ''VideoGame/{{Meteos}}'' were heavily Woolseyised compared to their American counterparts (often straight transliterations from the Japanese planet names), giving them a more Greek or Latin feel. Example substitutions include "Gigantis" for "Yooj," "Aetheria" for "Brabbit" and "Insomnis" for "Dawndus."

* Several Woolseyisms in ''VideoGame/ValkyrieProfile''. Most notable was the change of Ahly's name to "Hrist," as the latter is a {{valkyrie|s}} in Norse mythology.
** ''VideoGame/ValkyrieProfileCovenantOfThePlume'' actually translated the original, modern Japanese into dated English. The result was that the localized version had a very great deal more immersion and atmosphere than the original.
** Some of the Woolseyisms in ''Valkyrie Profile'' were actually ''correcting'' a few mistakes. Such as switching Freya and Frey around and changing a few enemies' names. Such as Azuratosa to Akhetamen, which sounds a little more Egyptian, and Jdwallace to Genevieve, the latter of which actually ''means'' something.
*** For those who are curious, Genevieve is the patron saint of Paris in Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Still not quite... accurate (Genevieve is a vampire seductress in the game), but it at least beats ''Jdwallace''.
* In the North American version of the SNES ports of ''VideoGame/FinalFight'' and ''VideoGame/StreetFighterAlpha 2'', the character Sodom has his name changed to Katana. Considering that his character is a Japanophile, the AsLongAsItSoundsForeign sword certainly seems more appropriate than the biblical reference. As well, in the same port of ''Final Fight'', the metalhead thug Damnd has his name changed to Thrasher, which many fans felt was more appropriate. These changes were most likely made due to Nintendo of America's policies regarding religious references and offensive material in games, rather than any sort of desire to punch up the translation, however.
** Woolseyisms could also be seen as the reason for the boss name shift in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' (and the rest of the series). The names Balrog, Vega and M. Bison were shifted around (what with the whole [[YouWannaGetSued "Mike Tyson might sue us!"]] mentality at the time) so that the boxer was named Balrog, the claw-wielder was named Vega, and the final boss/"dictator" became M. Bison. There is a subtle touch here: Vega the character is Spanish, and 'Vega' is a common Spanish surname.
* The ''[[VideoGame/NintendoWars Advance Wars]]'' series has had a long history of doing this: For instance, the villain of the first two games was called "Herr Böse" -- meaning "Mr. Evil/Angry/Nasty" in German -- in the Japanese game. While undoubtedly exotic to the Japanese ear, it was slightly less impressive to the American/European markets and the villain was renamed "Sturm" (meaning "storm/tempest" in German) in the English script. Many of the other CO names were similarly reworked.
** Of note are Grit and Sami, who's names were originally Billy and Domino respectively in Japan, who were changed not only to sound more unique but also as a case of a GeniusBonus. Anyone from the military will recognize "GRIT" as the mnemonic for fire control orders which is used to issue firing orders to a squadron over a radio[[note]]G for Group, as in who will fire, R for range, the distance to the target, I for indication, how the target's location will be described, and T for type of fire, as in how they will fire at the target[[/note]], which is a rather fitting name for a sniper. Anyone familiar with history will recognize Sami as a reference to Sammy L. Davis, an infantry war hero of the UsefulNotes/VietnamWar and recipient of (among other awards) the Medal of Honor, which is well-fitting for a [=CO=] who specializes in infantry tactics.
** The biggest difference between [=COs=] happened in ''Dual Strike''. In Japan, the main character is John, a no-nonsense do-gooder who's always wearing huge headphones for communication purposes. He's pretty heroic, but also [[StandardizedLeader pretty bland.]] The translation process turned him into Jake, a TotallyRadical everyman who really likes his music and his hip young-people lingo, culminating in a scene where he gives a heartfelt motivational speech, then mutters "...word" at the end. [[WarHasNeverBeenSoMuchFun Considering the tone of the rest of the game,]] [[BunnyEarsLawyer this version of the character fits in much better]] with the rest of the cast. "Get the plates, 'cuz you just got served!" indeed.
** The latest installment in the series was translated independently by Nintendo of America and Nintendo of Europe, creating two translations -- the American ''Days of Ruin'' and the European ''Dark Conflict''. While the European version is more true to the original Japanese script, including the names, the American one contained a good deal of woolseyisms, including making [[HypercompetentSidekick Lin]] into more of a DeadpanSnarker and giving AxCrazy CreepyChild Penny (Lili in ''Dark Conflict'') some extremely hilarious dialogue involving her stuffed bear. And that's not even counting that whacked-out IDS agent in mission 24. In Dark Conflict, IDS Agent = Boring and Bland. In Days of Ruin: well, it can be summed up with "Screw this, I'm getting a parachute."

* Many American and European ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' fans still prefer "Robotnik" over the Japanese "Eggman", even after the name Eggman got transplanted into the Western continuity in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure''. It doesn't help that the former was extremely well established prior to ''Sonic Adventure''. So much so that as of ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'', Robotnik is his official name worldwide (though he's still only referred to as Eggman).
** In most games, he is now refered to as Dr. Eggman, but there are a few references here and there. In ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' and ''VideoGame/SonicChronicles'', he refers to himself as Dr. Robotnik, but gets the name Dr. Eggman from everyone else. Also in ''Sonic Adventure 2'', while he's delivering his speech, the name Dr. Robotnik can be seen on the scrolling text on the screen along with Dr. Eggman. His grandfather and cousin were called Gerald Robotnik and Maria Robotnik, respectively, and his manufacturing company in ''VideoGame/SonicRiders'' is Robotnik Corp. Due to all this, the bad doc is now known officially as Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik, where Eggman is usually an insult used to illustrate how much respect the cast has for him.
*** Yuji Naka himself [[http://web.archive.org/web/20040124111152/http://www.sega.com/sonic/globalsonic/post_sonicteam.php?article=nakainterview explained it all]]. Real name is Robotnik, pseudonym is Eggman.
** Also in ''Sonic the Hedgehog'', Fang the Sniper's name was toned down to Nack the Weasel in America and Europe. However, the North American and European versions of ''Sonic Gems Collection'' refers to him as Fang in all games that included him, and in ''Sonic Generations'', there is a wanted poster of him that refers to him by both names.[[note]]Interestingly, Nack was actually going to be his Japanese name, but it was deemed too similar to '''Knuck'''les and was changed, only to be re-used in the English version afterwards.[[/note]]
** A non-translation version with the western release of ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehogCD'', which included an entirely new soundtrack by members of the Sega Technical Institute. Nowadays, there's common arguments over which soundtrack is the superior one (the original sounding more upbeat and techno, while the western version is more atmospheric and even downright creepy and ominous at times,) so the 2011 UpdatedRerelease included the option to select either of them.
* Alexander O. Smith's work on ''VideoGame/VagrantStory'', the first ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney Ace Attorney]]'' game, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'', and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' (alongside Joseph Reeder) is rarely passed over in reviews of said games, usually being held up as some of the most successful Japanese-to-English translations. At least when they're not being criticized for PurpleProse.
** Apparently, this sentiment is echoed in Japan as well--he was asked to provide the English lyrics for the two vocal songs on ''The Skies Above'', the second album by Nobuo Uematsu's band The Black Mages.
* A special case for ''VideoGame/OsuTatakaeOuendan'': an entire sequel, ''VideoGame/EliteBeatAgents'', was made that transplanted the gameplay concepts to a setting (and soundtrack) that could be appreciated outside of Japan while still retaining the quirky appeal of the game that spawned it. Interestingly, the result was also a success in Japan.
* The English translation patch of ''VideoGame/LaMulana'' renames a few MSX [=ROMs=] (not the ones you download, the ones you collect in-game). ''Vampire Killer'', which has officially been released under only one other name, ''Akumajou Dracula'', gets renamed to ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'', ''Uranai Sensation'' gets renamed to ''Diviner Sensation'', and ''Hai no Majutsushi'' gets renamed to ''Mahjong Wizard''.
* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' probably has ''way'' more than these few examples, but these are the obvious ones. All the characters use modern American teenage slang properly (i.e. "TotallyRadical" is avoided except in one intentional case); Beat goes even farther with a stereotypical "gangsta" speaking style, whereas in Japanese his speech is simply rather rough and impolite.
** Impolite speech in Japanese is ''very'' hard to translate into English, because the polite and impolite versions literally mean the same thing; however, using the impolite version in an appropriate setting connotes familiarity or intimate friendship (depending on how impolite you go), while in an inappropriate setting, it connotes disrespect, disgust, or hatred. Thus, "gangsta" speech is actually a really good analogue.
** The ''entire game'' was saturated with slang, which may or may not be a good thing for you. Even a certain button labeled simply "run from battle" in Japanese was edited to say "Gotta bounce!"
** Even the title is subject to this. The original Japanese translates to, approximately, "What a wonderful world this is." It's the typical positive "enjoy life" message that doesn't lend itself to a lot of deep thought. The localized title, in addition to sounding more ominous and dire, becomes a reflection of the main character's asocial attitude, staying in his own "world," while leaving everyone else out.
--->'''Hanekoma:''' "Listen up, Phones! The world ends with you. If you want to enjoy life, expand your world. You gotta push your horizons out as far as they'll go."
* [[spoiler:Xion's attack]] at the end of ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'' had one line which relied on UsefulNotes/JapanesePronouns. [[spoiler:In the Japanese version, Xion, despite looking like Sora, uses "Atashi" confirming that she thought of herself as female. In the English version, the line was restructured into the third person "Now it's time for this puppet to play her part.", not only keeping the gender implications but indicating the isolation she felt from what she wanted to what role she had to play.]]
* The Japanese version ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'' had Sora saying that the Keyblade is the [[{{Narm}} "key to everyone's smiles."]] In English it becomes [[NarmCharm "the light in the darkness, a chance to make everyone happy."]]
* Nearly all Keyblades in the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series have GratuitousEnglish names, and while sometimes the name works, often times the name will be streamlined, if not outright changed, into something that sounds cooler to English ears. "Oath's Charm" to "Oathkeeper", for example, or "Gaia's Bane" to "Ends of the Earth". As for the few with Japanese names, there's a Keyblade with a name that translates to "Passing Memories", in English it's known as "Oblivion".
* As the creator of ''VideoGame/KatamariDamacy'' decided to leave the project when ''Me and My Katamari'' was being made, the Japanese script was therefore very dry and empty. The American translator was given the task to ghost-write the script entirely from scratch, and did so brilliantly. The King's dialogue was full of obscure literary and cultural allusions and his campness was played up to new, hilarious heights.
* In ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars Original Generation'', one of the original character, Giado Venerdi, was originally supposed to be Italian. When translating the game, Atlus took one look at his portrait, a dark-skinned man with dreadlocks, and [[DreadlockRasta took de obvious route, mon]]. Likewise, in the second game, when [[RobotGirl Lamia Loveless]] comes in, Atlus changed her stitch into SpeechImpediment, because directly translating her messed up grammars in English would be really messy to the audience. It still works. And while Sanger's MidSeasonUpgrade is subject to endless debate due to the [[SpellMyNameWithAnS translated names of both the character and his mecha]] (both of which are [[MisBlamed more similar to the intended translation than what the fans call them]]), Atlus is immediately forgiven after the mid-chapter usage of the title card [[BreakingTheFourthWall confuses the hell out of Vigagi]]. See it at around 4:30 [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgaCMhTxkEg#t=4m30s here]].
--->'''Vigagi''': What the hell was that? And what does "Episode 30" mean!?
* ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireII'' is well known for its absolutely awful translation, any word with more than 4 letters is either changed or get some letters cut. Thanks to this, some of the main characters got name changes, like, Bosche Doggie became Bow, Rinpoo Chuan became Katt, Aspara Gus became Spar and [[OverlyLongName Eraku Hoppe de pe Tapeta]] became Jean, and unintentionnally enough, they are even better. [[MeaningfulName Bow's weapon of choice is crossbow]], and [[CatGirl Katt is perfect for a feline fighter]], [[PlantPerson Spar sounds better and more androgynous than Aspara]], and Jean? He [[HilariousInHindsight presents himself with his long japanese name and then says "But you can call me Jean."]] You can tell Capcom had no idea how to translate it but they still made a clever joke, the OverlyLongName is funny and fits with his RoyalBlood, while "Jean" works well since he is a french guy stereotype.
* ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' has a few. Most obvious to are their handling of the terms "Makai" and "Tenkai." Their literal translations are the awkward-sounding "Demon World" and "Heavenly World" and they don't have very good equivalents in English -- Hell and Heaven aren't quite the same thing. So they translated Makai as "The Netherworld" -- although not even close to a literal translation, this does a good job of evoking the appropriate imagery. Similarly, they made up the term Celestia for Tenkai, for the same reason.
** Another example is translating Maou as Overlord. Overlord is ''much'' closer to the connotations carried by Maou than the literal translation, "Demon King", and is a much more familiar and less awkward term in English.
** The battle cries used during certain attacks. The best example is probably Laharl shouting "Bite the dust!" before finishing his "Overlord's Wrath" attack.
** Also, Champloo becoming essentially Emeril in the dub, or the Mexican Orcs.
** The Prinnies saying [[VerbalTic dood]]. The original version had them ending the last word of each sentence with a "-ssu" sound (a slurred form of the traditional "desu"), but for some reason Atlus decided that mispelling [[TotallyRadical "dude"]] would be funnier. NISA tried a similar stunt when they changed Yukimaru's "de gozaru" to "zam" in the sequel, but it never really caught on.
** In the original Japanese, Laharl's father's death was attributed to choking on a Dark Manjuu. In the English version, the food was changed to a Dark Pretzel, likely attempting to invoke HilariousInHindsight with then-President George W. Bush's choking on a pretzel and briefly passing out.
* The second ''VideoGame/ArtOfFighting'' game had a very peculiar English translation. All of the endings were altered in some way, resulting often in comical twists that are more fun to watch/read than both the originals and the more faithful translations to other languages.
* Jeremy Blaustein's localization of ''VisualNovel/{{Snatcher}}'' tightened up some of the more egregious plotholes, and contained the most delicious Woolseyism ever -- Neo Kobe Pizza. A comedy sequence in the game involved Gillian attempting to buy a dumpling-based food from a vendor, but Blaustein changed it to a dish consisting of a pizza dropped into soup. Fans, naturally, [[{{Defictionalization}} tried doing this with their own pizza]], to universally tasty results. A recipe even got onto Kotaku.
* The "form" Wii Remote poses in ''VideoGame/WarioWare: Smooth Moves'' get changed into more familiar-sounding names, similar to what Nintendo also did with ''VideoGame/EliteBeatAgents''. For example, the "{{Tengu}}" pose which involves holding the remote up to your nose is changed to "The Elephant". Since one of the first games using this pose involves helping an elephant gather apples, this works well. The pictures and dialogue during the narrator's speeches are changed accordingly.
* ''VideoGame/BraveFencerMusashi'' has several moments of this, especially [[YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe any time Steward Ribson talks.]] Many of his lines have added voiceovers, so you actually get to listen to him say things like "Thou art beeth correcteth!"
* In ''VideoGame/{{Ristar}}'', one of the bosses was changed from a cat into a snowman thing. In Japan, a ''nekojita'' (猫舌, lit. ''cat tongue'') is someone who can't eat hot or spicy foods. This would be lost on the average American, who wouldn't quite understand why a (blue, somewhat robotic) cat needs to be fed spicy stuff to be defeated, so they changed him into an ice creature to convey that same logic overseas.
** They also changed the Planet names to make them more indicative of their themes: [[JungleJapes Planet Neer]] became Planet Flora, [[UnderTheSea Planet Leatow]] became Planet Undertow, [[LethalLavaLand Planet Onaclove]] became Planet Scorch, [[BandLand Planet Neuos]] became Planet Sonata, [[SlippySlideyIceWorld Planet Elykiki]] became Planet Freon, and [[EternalEngine Planet Rewope]] became Planet Automaton.
* ''VideoGame/SyphonFilter'': The manual spells Anton Girdeux's last name "Girdeaux".
* ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'':
** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestII'': Laurasia was called "Midenhall" in the original NES port, perhaps to better jibe with the vaguely Saxon/Nordic names used in the first game. Ditto "Sulmatria" to "Cannock". The odd one is actually Moonbrooke, which is consistent across both languages (though the Japanese sources are often a bit inconsistent about whether the final "e" is included).
** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'': The English name Xenlon goes quite well with the character, as she's basically a Lawyer-Friendly Cameo of Shenron of ''Dragon Ball Z''. They even look similar.
** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVIII'':
*** There is a type of enemy called the "One Knight Stand" and a bar in one town entitled the "Cock and Bull".
*** Hero's boomerang skill increased! Hero is now a [[IncrediblyLamePun baby boomer]]!
** The DS translation of ''VideoGame/DragonQuestV'' featured this in spades, with such monster gems as the spear-wielding "Pokesperson," the genie "High Djinnks," the goat demon "Moosifer," and the similar boss "Bjorn the Behemoose." The apparently gratuitous name-changes for actual human characters have gotten rather mixed reviews, though, as this was something American audiences thought we'd long since gotten past.
** This practice of puns and phonetic accents has been put into just about every DS Dragon Quest game (as well as the 3DS version of the seventh game).
** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVII'''s remake also incorporates the accents into the translation - such as the residents of Gröndal having Swedish accents or L'arca having Italian accents. It also makes Nottagen even more hilarious to hear them speak in ValleyGirl speech.
** Square-Enix even carried on the tradition in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestXI''. Because ''Dragon Quest'' comes off as childish and cartoony to some western audiences for its brightly-coloured and highly stylized visuals, they decided to just ''embrace'' it. They even carried on Nintendo's tradition of accents with towns - such as Hotto having haiku, Gondola having [[OohMeAccentsSlipping fake Italian accents]], Snorri having [[WhatTheHellIsThatAccent Scandinavian accents]], Sylvando having a Spanish accent, etcetera. Additionally they carried on with the puns, even making some of them into shout outs (Such as the monster whose painting becomes more complex with every person she captures named "Dora-in-Grey"). Fortunately it wasn't ''quite'' as heavy as ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'' or ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIX''.
* An in-universe example can be found in ''VideoGame/EveOnline'', in the [[http://www.eveonline.com/background/potw/default.asp?cid=13-08-07 backstory]] of the voice of the ship's computer, which is the voice of a poet who adapted a wholly religious poem for a wholly secular society so perfectly that the original writer declared that he would consider any attempted censorship against her translation to be an attack on the original work as well.

* A non-script example. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zhWmDrF3Ew Here's]] the original intro to ''VideoGame/WildArms2''. Unfortunately the lyrics were notoriously hard to translate without butchering either the meter or language. Solution? [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-5WOV2YRGU Axe the lyrics altogether]] and use a trumpet and acoustic guitar instead. It worked out, as many players actulaly ended up enjoying the instrumental version ''more'' than the original Japanese version.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Gradius}} IV'', the series' name is pronounced "grad-ius", but in ''V'', it's pronounced "gray-dius", as most fans pronounce it. The title itself is a [[JapaneseRanguage Japanization]] of "gladius".
** Yu-Gi-Oh! had a card for Gradius, and was pronounced "Gray-dius" in the Anime.
** Many sources refer to the SpiderTank boss (Shadow Gear) as "Club", a mistransliteration of "Crab" Doesn't look like a GiantEnemyCrab, though.
* The box and manual of ''VideoGame/AdventureIsland'' name the DistressedDamsel as Princess Leilani, but the AWinnerIsYou screen says "You have saved your lovely Tina". The second game's manual says that Tina is the Princess's sister.
* In ''VideoGame/RivieraThePromisedLand'', a number of character and item names were changed by Atlus to reflect the game's overarching Norse influences; for example, main character "Ecthel" was changed to "Ein", and his sword "Excellion" was changed to "Einherjar".
* ''VideoGame/CaveStory'': It's probably too early to declare either of translation objectively better, but there is a vocal portion of the fanbase that prefers AGTP's FanTranslation over the more literal translation from Nicalis (which had Creator/StudioPixel's approval) for the Wiiware and Steam versions. In particular, AGTP's translation of Balrog's BattleCry ("Doryaa!") as "Huzzah!" gained [[MemeticMutation memetic]] status; Nicalis' translation of the line as "Oh yeah!" (a reference to the Kool-Aid Man) drew cries of TheyChangedItNowItSucks.
* In-universe example with ''VideoGame/FreeSpace''; when first-contact between Terrans and Vasudans leads to war, the Terrans classify Vasudan ships with an Egyptian theme. Later, after hostilities cool, the Vasudans decide that being compared to Ancient Egypt is flattering and officially adopt the Egyptian names for their gear as the proper-noun equivilents when translated. Some Vasudans even adopt Egyptian names for ''themselves'', including the Emperor (who takes the name "Khonsu").
* The same thing happens in ''Franchise/MassEffect'', where translators are constantly kept updated to reflect changing linguistic patterns and many languages are impossible for some species to actually speak unassisted. The obvious example are the Spectres, which functions as an acronym that makes perfect sense in English, which would mean someone working on the translations put effort into figuring out a proper equivalent based on the meaning the actual, alien word carries in its own culture.
** Another example is Omega: It's mentioned that every species calls it by a name that reflects their cultural attitude towards the place: the asari name for it translates as "[[{{Mordor}} the heart of evil]]", the salarian name as "[[CityofSpies the place of secrets]]", the turian name as "[[WretchedHive the world without law]]", and the krogan name it as the "[[WorldOfBadass land of opportunity]]". The human name is of course no different--Omega is essentially "the end", which accurately describes how most humans view it.
** While we're on the subject of ''Mass Effect'', the Russian version calls [[HealThyself medi-gel]] "panatselin", a portmanteau of "penicillin" and "panacea" that invokes the Russian verb "tselit'", an archaic word for "to heal".
* Another in-universe example with ''VideoGame/{{Iji}}'', where the scientists tried not to translate the names of Tasen and Komato weapons, but gave them names so that Iji could get the gist of them. It's not perfect, but it largely works. Sometimes, with weapons that don't have an Earth equivalent, they gave the guns menacing-sounding names; one of the {{BFG}}s, a fusion-powered coilgun that fires ''thousands'' of rounds per second, is called the "Velocithor".
* The English versions of ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' are filled with references to [[MemeticMutation memes]]. Considering [[{{Troperiffic}} the nature]] of ''[=BlazBlue=]'', it's definitely for the better.
-->'''Taokaka''': "Get in mah belly!"
-->'''[[MadScientist Kokonoe]]''': "I love the smell of explosions in the morning!"
-->'''Jubei''': "The 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi. [[Franchise/StarWars You will never find a more]] WretchedHive [[Franchise/StarWars of scum and villainy.]]"
-->'''Arakune''': Tha[[spoiler:t]] [[spoiler: i]]s rel[[spoiler:ev]]ent to my in[[spoiler:ter]]ests!
-->'''Hazama''': "Protip" "[[Film/TheDarkKnight Why so serious?]]" "[[Film/TheShining Heeeeeere's Terumi!]]"
** The titular [=BlazBlue=] MacGuffin is usually referred to as the less {{Engrish}}-y "Azure Grimoire" or "Blue Grimoire". [[spoiler: Alternatively, Hazama's own unique "[=BlazBlue=]" (written in different kanji than usual) is referred to as the "Bleu Grimoire".]]
* The Newcomer trailers for the 3DS and Wii U iterations of ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' feature punny phrases for each characters introduced ("[[VideoGame/PunchOut Little Mac]] [[BoxingBattler Punches In!]]", "[[VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising Palutena]] [[LightEmUp Alights!]]", and [[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Robin]] [[MagicKnight Brings the Thunder!]]", to name a few[[note]]and even broke that rule once so they could do a proper ShoutOut ("[[VideoGame/StreetFighterII Here Comes a New Challenger! Ryu!]])[[/note]]), as opposed to simply "(insert name here) 参戦 joins the battle!" (only VideoGame/{{Mega Man|Classic}}'s trailer has a splash with this phrase in both English and Japanese). This was repeated for ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'', with Chrom and Dark Samus being the only ones getting a generic "Joins the Battle!" splash.
* ''VideoGame/RecettearAnItemShopsTale'':
** The game became a surprise hit and sold over a hundred thousand copies in America (the translators were expecting ten thousand at best) partially due to the high quality of the translation, which was [[ShoutOut/RecettearAnItemShopsTale filled to the brim with shout outs]] while still keeping original game's feel -- [[{{Moe}} cute]] but not [[TastesLikeDiabetes cloying]] -- intact. This is pretty much Carpe Fulgur's MO, according to their FAQ. They aim to work closely with the creators to capture the feeling and humor of the games. It also has a rather high rate of people that played the demo deciding to purchase the game. The normal conversion rate is around 10%. ''Recettear'''s was over ''50%''.
** The second game translated by them, ''VideoGame/{{Chantelise}}'', contains the same translation style. One of the most noteworthy things they changed was the name of a character, who in Japanese was "Mirai", a Japanese word for "future." The name wound up being heavily symbolic [[spoiler: since she had concocted a plan to break the ViciousCycle of sacrifices and ultimately finish off the BigBad, but only long after her own death]], and it had originally even been the name of the climactic chapter, it wound up being changed to "Fortuna" and the chapter's name to "Fortuna Favors the Bold." [[http://www.carpefulgur.com/drakblog/?p=41 They did not make this decision lightly.]]
* In the manual for ''Iron Tank'', the boss tanks are called "[[{{Pun}} Think Tanks]]." Maybe because they're autonomous robotic tanks? Or maybe it's just due to BlindIdiotTranslation.
* The Hungarian FanTranslation of ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament'' is very liberal when it comes to taunts. Example:
-->Original: "You like that?"
-->Translation: "Guess the rubber doll doesn't [[DoubleEntendre shoot back]], huh?!"
* The NES version of ''VideoGame/DoubleDragon III'' underwent a complete script rewrite from its Japanese Famicom counterpart. The {{MacGuffin}}s of the game, the Rosetta Stones, were renamed into the Sacred Stones (since the real life Rosetta Stone was something else entirely) and the plot now involves saving Marian (err [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Marion]]) again, giving the Lee brothers some incentive for helping out Hiruko search for the Sacred Stones (as opposed to helping her out for the hell of it). Moreover, the sub-plot with Machine Gun Willy's brother Jim (the first stage's boss) as the new leader of the Black Warriors was left out completely, as it was quickly forgotten after the first stage, and the identity of Brett's murderer was changed into someone else (namely [[spoiler:Hiruko]]). The identity of the final boss is changed from a revived Cleopatra to [[SdrawkcabAlias Queen Noiram]], who is really Marion possessed by an evil spirit. Unfortunately, the localization team made no changes to the game's presentation and Marion is mysteriously absent after the final boss battle, even though the ending assures us she's fine. [[http://koti.mbnet.fi/goutetsu/misc/doubledragon3_comparison.htm Here's a script comparison]] between the Famicom and NES versions.
* In ''Shockman'' for the UsefulNotes/TurboGrafx16, the dialogue calls both Arnold and Sonya the game title. Wouldn't the latter be "Shockgirl"?
* The {{Fan Translation}}s of the ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' games toss a few out here and there. Most notably, in ''VideoGame/TouhouEiyashouImperishableNight's'' Extra Stage, a lot of wordplay is based on two Japanese terms meaning "liver" and "test of courage", which sound similar. The translation kept most of it by referring to the "test of courage" as "Trial of Guts".
** They even threw in some BreakingTheFourthWall in ''VideoGame/TouhouYouyoumuPerfectCherryBlossom'', where Reimu refers to Chen as "just a Stage 2 boss."
** ''VideoGame/TouhouFuujinrokuMountainOfFaith'' has a great example when Marisa says she could recite all the digits of pi before reaching the mountain. In the Japanese, she recites a mnemonic which sounds like "Three one four one five nine (etc)." In the translation, she recites a Touhou-themed version of a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piphilology#Examples_in_English famous English mnemonic]], where counting the letters in each word gives the digits of pi:
-->'''Marisa:''' "How I like a drink, alcoholic of course, after the light skirmish involving danmaku exchanges."
* In ''VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn'', the villains have ThemeNaming based on playing cards (Spade, Heart, and Ace) in the Japanese version. In Western translations, this wasn't exotic enough, so the villains are instead named after the Tarot (Blade, Chalice, and the Arcana). This caused a second set of renames, as one of the heroes was named "Crown" in the Japanese version, and Crowns are a name for the Tarot suit of Coins, causing potential confusion. Crown's name was changed to [[PunnyName Rief]], and his sister [[WinterRoyalLady Noble]] became Nowell. This created HiddenDepths for one character: Tyrell, who's usually seen as unintelligent, can see the obvious connection between Heart and Spade. In the American version, he suddenly reveals his knowledge of tarot cards to point out the connection between Blados and Chalice. The European version removes this by simply having him comment that their names sound similarly odd.
* Not as much of a ''change'', but the main character of ''VideoGame/SpaceChannel5'' is named "Ulala." It is the official pronunciation for the name "Urara," which is a common name in Japan, but in English, most characters pronounce it as "Ooh-La-La"... which is often what people say about attractive women. Conveniently enough, that's quite a part of the game, too! FridgeBrilliance on the part of the developers?
** The meaning of Urara is "beautiful girl." It might well be deliberate.

* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'':
** In the French version of the short ''Meet the Soldier'', the line "Unless it's a farm!" was translated as "Farms don't count!"
** The K.G.B (Killing Gloves of Boxing) were renamed [[XtremeKoolLetterz Kamarades]] Gants de Boxe (Komrade Boxing Gloves) in the French version, which not only preserves the original acronym but also throws in a Russian "[[MotherRussiaMakesYouStrong Comrade]]" joke.
** In the Spanish translation of ''[=TF2=]'', [[JarPotty Jarate]] (jar + karate) is called "Fraskungfu" ("frasco" is Spanish for "jar").
** The Russian translation of ''[=TF2=]'' makes [[HuskyRusskie The Heavy]] speak [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwVi3t2wuKk much more fluently]] than his usual stilted English, now that's he's speaking in his native language.
** The Brazilian/Portuguese version usually tries to make a translation by the book, which usually results in weapons/items sounding rather lame, but when they can't translate they improvise geniously. Here are some examples:
*** The Big Kill is changed to "Revólver bom pra cachorro", which roughly translates to [[BlindIdiotTranslation "Revolver good for dog"]]. While it doesn't make sense in English, in portuguese it's a triple pun! The expression "bom pra cachorro" is a metaphor for saying something is really good, and a dog joke since VideoGame/{{Sam|AndMaxFreelancePolice}} is a dog, it's also a reference to a Brazilian meme about a TV commercial narrator who overuses this metaphor. Even the description changes to read like one of his movie narrations!
*** The Cow Mangler 5000 was renamed to Avacalhador 5000, a mix of "avacalhar" (screw up/to annoy) and "vaca" (cow).
*** The Pain Train was renamed to "É pau, é prego" (it's stick, it's nail), a fitting name, a metaphor for fights and a reference to a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant%C3%B4nio_Carlos_Jobim Tom Jobim]] song.
*** Axtinguisher changes to "Queimachado", a mix with the words "queimar" (burn) and "machado" (axe).
*** The Memory Maker was renamed to "Filma-Dor", a pun of the words "Filma" (to film), "Dor" (pain), and "Filmadora" (camcorder).
*** They couldn't change the K.G.B. so they renamed Killing Gloves of Boxing to "Kríticos Garantidos no Boxe" (Kriticals Granted on Boxing), [[XtremeKoolLetterz the change from C to K may seem forced]] but the name is [[MeaningfulName perfect]].
*** The Tide Turner was renamed to "Descobridor dos sete mares" (Seven sea's discoverer), which not only sounds awesome, but it's a reference to the brazilian singer [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Maia Tim Maia]].
*** The [[TheMafia Deadliest Duckling]] was renamed to "Al Patino", a mix of the words "Pato" and Creator/AlPacino, referencing Film/TheGodfather.
* Aroduc, the translator of ''VideoGame/DuelSaviorDestiny'', noted various places in his translation where things either did not translate or were really lame jokes based on weird puns. Also, the literal translation of a few things were rather unimpressive considering the stature they were viewed with and thus got renamed. For example, the correct translation of Aether Relic is merely Summoned Weapon.
* The title of the sequel to ''VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors,'' ''VisualNovel/VirtuesLastReward,'' is itself a Woolseyism. In Japanese, the title of the game is written in kana (which indicate only sound and not meaning), and thus can be read two ways: "Good People Die" and "I Want To Be a Good Person." The English title was thus changed to a combination of the idioms "virtue is its own reward" and "gone to his last reward." There were quite a bit within the game's text itself as well. The original Japanese release contained many Japanese pop-cultural references which would most likely be lost on Western players. The English version contains references to Creator/MontyPython, ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', and even Music/TenaciousD. These references all work within the context of the dialogue and make it really entertaining.
* ''VideoGame/DragonsCrown'' has a fair few references in the quotes given off by dead bodies, such as references to ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' ("I've made a huge mistake") and ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'' (The infamous "arrow to the knee" line).
* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'':
** In the Japanese versions, a subspecies of monster is called "-monster name- Subspecies". The English translation adds ColorfulThemeNaming as most of the time Subspecies are simply color pallete swaps visually, making them more unique from their normal species and helps a lot when diffrentiating between the subspecies of a monster that has more than one. They range from the simple Purple Ludroth to the more unique Stygian Zinogre. Nargacuga, one of the monsters with more than one, has Green Nargacuga and Lucent Nargacuga in relation, though the original Japanese just uses "Nargacuga subspecies" and "Nargacuga rare species".
** The games also have tons of jokes and references in the dialogue, that are changed to be region specific. 3 Ultimate, for example, even pokes fun at translations, having a Felyne named Neko. Or rather, Neko (Means "cat"). Neko himself makes sure to tell you that it means "Tiger of the Far East" and you might believe him, if his name tag didn't have the translator's note. The captain of the Argosy, who uses GratuitousJapanese, also gets in on the fun by helpfully informing you that [[MemeticMutation 'keikaku']] [[Manga/DeathNote means 'plan']].
** In ''4 Ultimate'', monsters that have overcome by the [[TheVirus Frenzy Virus]] are known as "Extreme" monsters in Japanese. To the Western ear, it just sounds like an attempt to make the series look more [[TotallyRadical X-TREME!!]]. The localizations instead refer to them as "Apex" monsters, as in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apex_predator apex predators]], as in "these things are at the top of the food chain and are going to freaking murder you."
** The Monster Name themselves run on puns and other meanings to convey certain aspects of the monsters. Naturally, this wouldn't translate well to other languages, so they again have region specific names. Of particular not is one of the times a more, but not completely, direct translation worked. A certain monster had the japanese name of Jinouga, which the localization team went to work as usual to try to come up with a name that works better in English. Unfortunately, a piece of merchandise featuring the monster was already released with an English name, which was an alternate romanization from Jinouga, and they went with it because it worked, gave the monster a unique name and directly translated one of the root words instead of simply romanizing it, making it convey the same meaning it always intended to and bringing fierce, powerful imagery to mind. The monster? The Zinogre.
* ''VideoGame/NieR'' employs Woolseyisms pretty liberally. A few examples:
** The main enemies of the game are shadowy black and yellow monsters, called "Mamono" (demons) in the original japanese. The localization calls them "Shades" instead, which sounds a lot more unique. Fittingly, the Shades' leader in the original japanese is called "Maou" (demon king), and rendered as "Shadowlord" in the localization.
** One of the characters in the game is a magical talking book. In the original japanese he is simply called "Hon Shiro" ("white book"). The localization opts for the much more personal and mysterious-sounding Grimoire Weiss (which means the same thing, "weiss" is just german for white). This also led them to having to change a joke; in the original, the book dislikes being called "Shiro" because it is a common dog's name in Japan. The translation instead makes his insistence on being called by his full name a part of his arrogance and self-important attitude.
* The Brazilian translation of the Creator/LucasArts heaven\hell sim ''VideoGame/Afterlife1996'' is just as hilarious as the original, as well as translating well some English figures of speech. For instance, the Heaven reward "Humble Pie" becomes the local idiom "Bread Baked By The Devil", "St. Quentin Scareatino" is "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carandiru_Penitentiary Carandiruim]]", and the descriptions of Hell-enhancing structures made by an UngratefulBastard reference local things such as Coffin Joe and "a crowded camp in Ubatuba during a rainy holiday".
* ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'':
** ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'':
*** In the original Japanese, [[spoiler:Toko Fukawa]]'s split personality is called "Genocider Sho". When the game is localized, because Sho is a rather common Japanese name, it is changed into "Genocide UsefulNotes/{{Jack|The Ripper}}". [[spoiler:But because it's also a butch name, she occasionally switches into "Genocide [[NurseryRhyme Jill]]"]].
*** Celestia's nickname, "Celes" [[labelnote:Etymology]][[BilingualBonus which is a form of the Latin verb celare, which means "to hide"]][[/labelnote]], was changed into "Celeste", most probably because the characters rarely referred to Celes without a honorific (so she would be called Celes-san) in Japanese. She also has an obviously fake French accent and speaks in a monotone. This has the effect of making [[spoiler:her VillainousBreakdown, which has her dropping the accent in a FreakOut]] more effective.
** ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'': There's an example not in the game's dialog, but in its OST -- the investigation ThemeMusicPowerUp went from "Ekoroshia"[[note]]a pun on ''koroshiae'', lit. getting killed[[/note]] to "Kill Command", a DoubleMeaningTitle that carries a lot of {{Foreshadowing}} and FridgeBrilliance on an endgame twist. [[spoiler:The track (which debuts on Chapter 5)'s title can be read as either "being commanded to kill" (the murderer was [[UnwittingPawn unaware of the result of her actions]] courtesy of a BatmanGambit by the victim himself) or "killing a command". This is a programming term that references the premature and sudden ending of a program. The song debuts in the chapter in which an AI is executed]]. Besides, given the later reveal that [[spoiler:all of the game's events take place inside a VR simulation, the title fits every dead student to some point]].
** In ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'', Kokichi Oma spends one of his Free Time Events essentially role-playing [[Anime/YuGiOh Seto Kaiba]]. The English version adds in references to the show's infamous English-dub memes like "the Shadow Realm" and "Heart of the Cards".
* ''Tale of Food'': Many changes are made when the game is translated and dubbed into the Japanese localization.
** Some characters make full use of the variety of UsefulNotes/JapanesePronouns; case in point Yángzhōu Fried Rice who just uses the mundane ''wǒ'' 我 in the original is given the very rare, very stilted pronoun ''bansei'' 晩生 in the dub.
** Mapo Tofu is given a KansaiRegionalAccent.
** Eight-Treasure Duck with Glutinous Rice has a VerbalTic of "quack quack" in the original Chinese versions, but in the Japanese dub it's translated to "kamo", a pun on ''kamo shirenai'' (maybe) and the Japanese word for "duck".
* ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'':
** The De-Jap version of ''VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia'' is considered as a whole to be this to certain people, mostly older fans, because of the inclusion of adult humour (including the [[MemeticMutation memetic line]]: "I bet Arche fucks like a tiger.") and for translating "Ragnarok" [[NeverLiveItDown properly]] when the official version didn't.
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'': Genis and Raine's original names are "Genius" and "Refill" respectively. The English translators understood these names would sound incredibly stupid in English and changed their names to similar sounding, but not completely obvious, names instead. The English version of the Gamecube release, rather than translate the song, chose to use an orchestral score for the opening instead. Many people preferred the epic, cinematic feel of the English version's opening over the J-Pop, and some were upset the Japanese song was used in the re-release. In particular, the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOKSxOxNY6E heroic version]] is considered a much better fit for the scene where [[spoiler: the rest of the party saves Lloyd from Yggdrasil]] than the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Xix1mfJmQ8 Japanese]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNJdDvZ_rdY versions]]
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfHearts'': Kohak Hearts' name was changed in her cameo boss battle to the much more sensible "Amber Hearts" in the English release of ''VideoGame/TalesOfGraces'' (as her name is based off of the Japanese word for amber and "Kohak" is both odd to say in English and sounds masculine). Sadly, this change was reversed in the official English release of ''VideoGame/TalesOfHearts''.
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia'':
*** In the ending, Leia decided to return home and work at her families inn. When the sequel came out, this was retconned with almost no mention of this, as she starts the game off as a reporter for an unexplained reason. The localization team had the benefit of the sequel being out when localizing the script, so they merely changed a bit of Leia's wording in the finale to have her say that she would be temporarily helping around the inn. This makes her job as a reporter more natural than in the Japanese version, where its mostly joked that she is now a reporter.
*** The localization did this to the Final Boss's plans to address issues with it. [[spoiler:In the original Japanese, he tried to destroy an entire world (admittedly to save his own) and came off looking like a truly massive KarmaHoudini when the only consequence was a beatdown from the player. The English version changed his plan to annihilating the other world's dangerous technology regardless of who gets in his way or the suffering that will result in its absence. The final conflict was subsequently turned into a more legitimate case of BothSidesHaveAPoint that also nicely expanded on Gaius's similarities to Milla.]]
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia2'':
*** In game there is a popular stuffed toy for kids that is mentioned off and on and plays a somewhat large role in Elize's Character Episodes. In the original Japanese version of the game, the toy's name was Banish. The name didn't make much sense, leading to the localization team changing it to Bunniekins, which is still a silly name but sounds a bit more legit as a name given to a toy for children.
*** The protagonist Ludger's special ability was originally called Corpse Shell, a rather strange name that had no meaning. The localization team changed the name to Chromatus instead, which thematically fits better as it contains roots in the word Chronos, who was the Greek God of Time, and whose name was used in said game for one of the main antagonists, Chronos.
** The English dub for ''VideoGame/TalesOfZestiria'' changed the name of the spiritual beings from Divines to Seraphim, which makes more sense with the messiah elements of the game since Divines is simply too abstract of a term while Seraphim has a direct association with angels. They also changed Hyouma, the name of the evil demonic beings, to Hellion, which better fits with the games themes as Hyouma simply meant something to the effect of Devil, whereas Hellion refers someone causing harm.
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfBerseria'':
*** The name of the Fifth Empyrean was originally Kanonushi, which roughly means "[[SpeakOfTheDevil the lord whose name shall not be spoken]]". The localization team changed it to Innominat, which means Nameless in latin. This fits the naming scheme of the other Empyrean's better, and also helps with the signifiance of the name.
*** The name of the special Daemon's like Velvet was simply kuuma, roughly meaning consuming demon. The localization team changed it to Therion, a Latin word meaning either wild animal or savage beast, which better represents the nature of what said Daemon's are, and helps distinguish them from the normal Daemons.

*** * In ''Mother 2'', there's a pun about "[[Anime/HeidiGirlOfTheAlps Alps no Shoujo ___ji]]" (Hai/Iie). Because the pun couldn't be preserved or recreated in English with the same title, ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'', replaces the pun with "A [[Music/TheBeatles Beatles]] song, ___terday" (Yes/No).

* ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'':
** The games are absolutely filled with squid-based puns, and the American localization team managed to find a good replacement for near enough every one, and amped up the TotallyRadical (for instance, the "On Fire" win streak rank on the European version became "SO HAWT!!"). But more so, they helped [[spoiler:DJ Octavio]] get his BestBossEver reputation in the first game by replacing his fairly standard villain banter in the Japanese and European versions with borderline JiveTurkey speech patterns and puns about electronic music, of which he has a [[PungeonMaster surprisingly large amount.]]
** This continued in [[VideoGame/Splatoon2 the sequel]], though to less universal praise due to one of the major changes being that to [[https://www.reddit.com/r/splatoon/comments/awlevs/off_the_hook_fun_facts_trivia_and_localization/ Pearl and Marina's relationship]]. The original Japanese gives them a SempaiKohai relationship wherein Marina openly idolizes the older Pearl and is nothing but respectful to her. Meanwhile, while Marina is still shown on occasion to hold Pearl in high regard, the American version has their on-camera dynamic as VitriolicBestBuds, with even the ''Octo Expansion'' being host to some lighthearted banter between them.
* ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear Xrd'' features clever English dub translations for the stanzas in Slayer's haiku in his Instant-Kill Attack, all while maintaining the poetry's five-seven-five structure. Some of the more clever translations include:
** "チャンピオン" (Champion) translated to "The King's Champion"
** "エイリアン" (Alien) translated to "[[Series/TheXFiles The truth is out there]]".
** "お正月" (Japanese New Year) translated to "At home on New Year's".
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyLegendIII'''s translation removes "The" from sentences at times. This makes it seem like a BlindIdiotTranslation... although in [[FridgeBrilliance hindsight]], the characters occasionally referring to "The Talon" as "Talon" as if it is a person actually makes it a clever form of foreshadowing. [[spoiler: Since Jupiah, Arthur's father, has his brain piloting [=Talon2=] -- so in a way it ''is'' a person.]]
* Version 2.00 Deluxe of ''VideoGame/LiveALive'''s FanTranslation gives each chapter a separate font, something not found in the original Japanese version, while the kung fu chapter has the names of characters and moves in Chinese instead of Japanese. Some of the chapters were also translated by Clyde "Tomato" Mandelin, whose ''Mother 3'' fan translation is one of the most well known and contains several Woolseyisms itself.
* ''VideoGame/ProjectXZone 2'' features Sheath, an American character whose dialogue in the Japanese version is peppered with GratuitousEnglish, and whose character design is such that it would be difficult to change her nationality (and thus the foreign language she uses). The English version instead plays with the TranslationConvention, giving her broken and awkward speech to represent that, being American, she learned Japanese from Anime and video games and thus is terrible at it.
* For many, the {{Bowdlerization}} of a scene in ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'' was this. In the original version Albedo's torment of MOMO included self-mutilation via a knife - cutting his arm and his head off. The American version replaces this with him instead ripping his arm and then his ''head'' clean off. This actually manages to make it even ''more'' unnerving. The bone-crunching noises, combined with him ''breaking his neck'' add to the creepiness.
* [[GloriousMotherRussia Soda Popinski]] from ''VideoGame/PunchOut'' was "Vodka Drunkenski" originally, but was changed for the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]] release to avoid controversy. Fans ''universally'' agree that not only does "Soda Popinski" roll off the tongue much easier, but a boxer who chugs soda to boost his strength fits in alongside the magical Indian, frigging ''Franchise/DonkeyKong'', and whatever the hell King Hippo is supposed to be ''[[WorldOfWeirdness far better]]'' than a mere drunk. Hilariously, despite this his former name provided a [[VodkaDrunkenski trope name]] all the same.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'', one of [[AnIcePerson Mei]]'s taunt lines is "You have to [[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 let it go]]!". In the Italian version, amusingly, they got the reference and translated it as "All'alba sorgerò!"[[note]]"I shall rise at dawn!" in Italian[[/note]], the title of the translated Italian version of "Let it Go". Also, the "A-Mei-zing!" line was adapted as [[Series/TheBigBangTheory "Mei-Zinga!"]].
* ''VideoGame/TheWitcher'': The English adaptation is generally very good (at least the Enhanced Edition), but a truly inspired piece of translation was renaming the characters Jaskier (Buttercup), Magister (Schoolteacher) and Baranina (Mutton) to Dandelion, Professor and Ramsmeat.
* ''VideoGame/HeroesOfTheStorm'': [[VideoGame/StarcraftIIHeartOfTheSwarm Dehaka's]] "Change is upon us." line upon being picked became "Le changement c'est maintenant."[[note]]"Change is now."[[/note]] in the French dub. Not only is this a viable direct translation, it's also [[CulturalTranslation the slogan used by François Hollande when he ran for President in 2012]], thus working in a reference that wasn't there in the original.
* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'' uses this to preserve a dick joke, of all things. In the original Japanese, Nia calls Zeke "Turtle Head", which is an innuendo in Japan, but doesn't mean much to the English speaking audience. So in the translation, she calls Zeke (who wears an eyepatch) a "one-eyed monster."
* ''VideoGame/Injustice2'': At some point during the story mode, Harley Quinn derisively refers to Wonder Woman as "Wonder Bread". In the Brazilian dub, he calls her "Mara Maravilha", an real-life singer-turned-controversial-politician whose artistic name is similar to how Wonder Woman is called in Portuguese "Mulher Maravilha".
* A non-translation example, with the South Korean release of ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear XX #Reload'', which featured an entirely new soundtrack by native rock band N.EX.T. Despite Ishiwatari's original soundtrack being so beloved, many consider the N.EX.T soundtrack to be excellent in its own right. Special mention goes to Robo-Ky's theme: while in both the original and Korean soundtracks, it's just a distorted version of Ky's theme, the Korean version is considered to be an overall better track, while the original version is more [[SensoryAbuse headache-inducing to listen to for too long.]]
* Nana from ''VideoGame/AkibasTrip'' had her nickname for the protagonist (her older brother) be changed from "Nii-Nii" in the original Japanese, to a [[HurricaneOfPuns Hurricane of Bro Puns]] (i.e. Brotagonist, Brobocop,) which to many western players endeared her to them even more than the generically cutesy onii-chan from the original Japanese.
* ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'':
** Another example would be the English title of Xuanzang's event. The Japanese title was actually a reference to ''Film/ComingToAmerica''[[labelnote: explanation]]the Japanese title roughly translates to Hoshi no Sanzang-chan, Tenjiku ni Iku; ''Coming to America'' was localized as "''Hoshi no Ouji'' New York e ''Iku''"[[/labelnote]]; while many fans simply referred to it as ''Journey to the West'', when it was localized, the event was given the name "Sanzang Coming to the West", keeping the reference and adding a multi-layered pun.
** One TYPE-MOON related April Fool's joke involved bunch of idols, with one of them being a Lancer-themed band called YARIO, play on ''yari'' (spear) and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokio_(band) Tokio]]. Since the joke was referenced in the first summer event, they instead translated the band name as [[Music/BackstreetBoys Backspear Boys]], keeping the joke while making it easier for native English speakers to catch the idea.
** The second Halloween event parodying ''VideoGame/GhostsNGoblins'' is originally named "The Great Pumpkin Village" in Japan, whereas it had been named as "Ghouls and Pumpkins"[[note]]Ironically there are no ghouls in the event as they are introduced in the game a year after the event's original run in Japan.[[/note]] in English server. This reflects the reference game's DubNameChange in the west as it is named "Demon World Village" in Japan.
** On a somewhat more-serious note, Emiya ALTER has been redrawn in some official materials, and the localizers confirmed they received permission to change the infamous line dubbing him "Detroit Emiya" ("Demiya" for short) before launch. This is due to the obvious ValuesDissonance between a largely-Asian-homogenous culture and a country that actually has a sizable black minority and a history of racial tensions. Indeed, the name they actually went with, "Edgemiya", fits better, not only given his more cynical nature, but also given that Alter versions of Servants are seen as "edgy" versions of the regular ones, with this particular Alter having a very grimdark and edgy attitude about his work.
** On a similar note, the Agartha script was given a slight overhaul by the localization team due to the initial backlash received when it first came out in JP. The team altered bits of the story that seemed to fetishize the more uncomfortable moments of the story by instead playing up the horror that would naturally occur from some of those moments, and did their best to make the sheer amount of UnfortunateImplications less extreme. The story chapter is still [[BrokenBase divisive]], but its generally agreed the changes make it less uncomfortable.
** In a truly inspired bit of work, [[{{Hikikomori}} Osakabehime's]] cringeworthy otaku slang is rendered in the English version as [[GratuitousJapanese equally cringeworthy fangirl Japanese]], doubly funny or cringe since the person using it is herself a Japanese youkai and probably would not have come across it naturally. When she's trying to "put on an act" and pretend to be more regal than she actually is, this is also well-rendered as old-fashioned dialogue.
** The localization team also does a fairly good job of accounting for the time differences between the JP and NA servers by altering dialogue to account for various elements that may have been new in JP, but are already out by that point in time. For example, during the "All The Statesmen" event, Siegfried shamelessly plugs the ''LightNovel/FateApocrypha'' anime adaptation by mentioning where it can watched, since the event came out in JP during the shows run time. For NA however, the show had already been fully released and thus was available for viewing, so his dialogue was altered to allude to Creator/{{Netflix}} instead.
** The localisation team has also advanced the events from two years from the Japanese server. This is a case of RealitySubtext as the date of the age of extinction was supposed to happen with the date the final chapter release in the game (December 22 2016 in Japan, December 22 2018 in America)
** The literal translation for the natural timeline lost to the Lostbelts, "Pan-Human History," created a bit of confusion. Since "pan" means "all," why would the Lostbelts be excluded from what's basically called "All of Human History"? The localization makes this clearer by changing "Pan-Human History" into "Proper Human History." Similarly, the "Alien God" was localized as the "Foreign God," reinforcing its connection to the Foreigner class, adding a bit of thematic resonance to conversations about it, and making it sound grand and mysterious rather than matter-of-fact.
** The original title for the Da Vinci Rerun Challenge Quest was Tokimeki Alter Memorial, a reference to the visual novel ''VisualNovel/TokimekiMemorial'', which is famous in Japan. However, as the game is more obscure in the West, the localisation team changed it to... Doki Doki Alter Club. Not only is it a valid translation of the original title (Doki Doki and Tokimeki both translate to heart-pounding), it also becomes a reference to ''VisualNovel/DokiDokiLiteratureClub'', another Visual Novel with a more... infamous reputation in the West. This leads on to HilariousInHindsight, however, as there are four Servants in the Challenge Quest which each have a counterpart with their Doki Doki Counterpart (Although Arjuna is harder to pair with Natsuki).
** The Anastasia Lostbelt gave Billy the Kid a well-implemented classic Western drawl.

* While it wasn't substantially rewritten, the French translation of ''VideoGame/BlazingAngels 2: Secret Missions of WWII'' renamed many of the mission to witty wordplay and cultural references that were still relevant to the content of the missions themselves:
** The opening level "Old Secrets" (framed as the protagonist reminiscing about the game's events at a modern day airshow) was renamed "Je me souviens..." ("I remember"), which is the national motto of Quebec.
** The mission "Italian Nights Out" (involving bombing the Italian navy in the port of Taranto) was retitled to [[IronicName La Dolce Vita]].
** "Shadows of the Pyramid" was renamed "40 siècles nous contemplent" ("40 centuries look down upon us"), an allusion to a speech made by Napeoleon prior to a battle during the 1789 French invasion of Egypt.
** "Grand Theft" (involving stealing a prototype bomber) was renamed to "L'art du vol", a DoubleMeaning as the word "vol" can mean both "flight" and "theft".
** "Gladiator in the dark" (set over Vatican) was retitled to the Latin motto "Vae victis".

* ''VideoGame/OctopathTraveler'':
** The speech of H'aanit and her people is derived from [[https://www.reddit.com/r/octopathtraveler/comments/918roq/on_haanits_dialect_a_brief_analysis_of_its_noble/ a combination of]] [[UsefulNotes/HistoryOfEnglish Old, Middle, and Early Modern English]]. This is present solely in the English translation of the game, as all other versions (including the original Japanese VO tracks) have H'aanit and others from her village speak modernly. This change is one of the most divisive elements of the game, with vocal defenders and detractors. On one side, you have those who love the choice and believe it to be a charming way to illustrate how isolated H'aanit's small hunting village is from the rest of the continent, admiring the writing team for trying something so ambitious. On the other, you have those who think it is an unwarranted and unneeded decision on the part of the localization team that's annoying at best and a game-ruining experience at worst, with some hating H'aanit's character as a result and/or pointing to it as the reason they stopped playing. And then there's the subset of detractors who think that the localization team didn't lean into the idea hard ''enough'' (in practice, H'aanit's speech mostly boils down to adding a lot of extraneous "n"s to her verbs) and mostly think it comes across as a bit half-baked and pointlessly distracting.
** In the original Japanese, Lianna seems to be the only person Ophilia refers to without honorifics (by comparison, she uses "-san" on her fellow travelers). The closeness Ophilia and Lianna have is conveyed in the English version by having them call each other [[AffectionateNickname "Anna" and "Phili"]].
* ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'':
** As the setting of the game first appeared in an Estonian-language book, the name "the Pale" to refer to the RealityIsOutToLunch entropic field slowly swallowing the inhabitable world is a localisaion that was invented by the original writers themselves. The term in Estonian means 'Grey' or 'Hall', a word with a connotation of drab [[WhyWeAreBummedCommunismFell end-of-history]] mundanity, in the sense of a depressing office corridor or a bleak post-Soviet industrial estate. "The Pale" literally means a vague colour, but also evokes the phrase 'beyond the pale', in which 'the pale' means 'the normal, acceptable society'. However, the phrase 'beyond the pale' originated as a description of areas beyond the control of British occupiers in, originally, Medieval Ireland, and later similar areas surrounding British empire outposts in India and elsewhere. This adds in a specifically colonialist allusion, fitting in with how colonisation of The Pale led to Elysium's version of the Age of Sail and the [[CapitalismIsBad rise of capital as the only available system]].
** Russian localisation:
*** At the beginning of the game, Klaasje refers to your AmnesiacHero as 'officer', making him first ask if he is a military officer, than if he is a Chief Executive Officer. In Russian, the word for a police officer, a military officer and a chief executive officer are totally different words. The localisers eventually went with an old-fashioned word referring to a policeman, which literally means 'chief', can be used to mean 'chief of a business department', but is more commonly used to colloquially refer to a driver - adding an implication that Klaasje is aware that the protagonist [[AlcoholInducedStupidity drunk-drove his car into the sea]] before losing his memory, and is teasing him about it. The obscurity of the word also helps explain why it is that your player character doesn't understand what it means.
*** Throughout the game, people insult your cop by calling him a pig. This was changed to the Russian term of abuse for cops, 'musor', meaning 'trash', with small rewrites to suit (e.g. instead of Alain mentioning the cops sniffing around in the mud for clues, like pigs, he says the cops are digging around for some trash on them, because that is their natural element). This works extremely well for The Pigs, a mentally ill woman whose body is covered with hoarded police-themed trash pulled out of disposal, and also with the NonStandardGameOver where your cop seals himself in a trash container, because it's where he belongs (in the original English version, the achievement for seeing the scene is ''already'' called "Real Musor").
*** The name of the Skill "Shivers" is translated as a Russian word that literally means "Trembles", a word that means the response to cold weather (the main way the skill is used in the game), is also the word for the alcohol withdrawal symptoms that in English is usually called 'shakes' (which is also relevant to your alcoholic player character), ''and'' has connotations of an old Soviet poetic cliché about the 'tremble of the Revolutionary flag'. As one of the most significant Shivers checks in the game is [[spoiler: a vision of an imminent Revolution that Klaasje is trying to bring about]], this revolutionary allusion adds some interest.
*** The name of the Skill Savoir Faire is translated as a Russian word that literally means "equilibristics", or an unnecessarily sophisticated name for tightrope walking. This suits how Savoir Faire is both the skill for physical agility (jumping, dodging, evasion) and for flashy acts of social cool and panache (hustling, tricking, showing off) - the metaphor of 'walking a tightrope' meaning to negotiate a tricky social situation is the same in both Russian and English. The needlessly fancy name for the skill is necessary for the joke in the Thought Cabinet Skill "Detective Costeau", where insisting against all logic that your name is actually Raphael Ambrosius Costeau gets you +1 in Savoir Faire because it "sounds fancy... and you are definitely sure what it means".
** In the original, Endurance's induction into Fascism is based on your hatred of '[[InUniverseFactoidFailure wömen... Men of Wö]]', seeing them as a tribe of hostile barbarian invaders. In Spanish, it's translated as "''Fémininas... Minas de fé''" ("miners of faith"), and Endurance instead sees them as hostile foreign resource extractors. This fits better with the political situation in Revachol (where foreign governments are exploiting it) and for the way the protagonist conflates his misogyny with religion by imagining his ex as [[CrystalDragonJesus the holy mother figure Dolores Dei]].
* In ''VisualNovel/Ever17'', the dialogue options to pick one of the two protagonists are the same in original version, with the thing to differentiate being [[UsefulNotes/JapanesePronouns their pronoun of choice]]. This is not something that can be translated into English, so the dialogues are replaced with the characters' respective situations.
* VideoGame/CozyGrove has a part one character emphasizes the need for having friends with the line, "What if you get sick and need to crowdfund your appendectomy?!”. For the Spanish release, [[https://www.pcgamer.com/cozy-groves-spanish-localisation-chose-to-spare-players-the-horrors-of-us-healthcare/ this line was replaced]] with a line about needing friends for moving a couch instead. This is because Spain has public healthcare, unlike the United States.
* ''VideoGame/ExponentialIdle'': The achievement for earning ee20000$ is called "Stonks" in the English version. The Polish version changes the name to another finance-related meme that'd be more familiar to them "O, pisiąt groszy!"

* ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'':
** In later ''Kirby'' games, a common trend is for each world to have an AlliterativeName; when the first letter of each world is put together, they spell a thematic word. For the most part, these are appropriately translated for each game, using words with similar meanings.
*** In ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand'', the worlds spell the word "CROWNED". The Spanish world names spell "CORONAR" ("crowned"), the French world names spell "PARFAIT" ("perfect"), and the German world names spell "KROENEN" ("crown", with the O-umlaut substituted for "oe").
*** In ''VideoGame/KirbyTripleDeluxe'', the worlds spell the word "FLOWER" (or "FLOWERED", if the final world is also included). The Spanish world names spell "FLORALES" ("floral"), the French world names spell "FLEURIE" ("blooming"), the German world names spell "BLÜHEND" ("blooming", this time using the U-umlaut in its alliteration), and the Italian world names spell "FIORENDO" ("blooming").
*** In ''VideoGame/KirbyPlanetRobobot'', the worlds spell the word "PROGRAM". The Spanish world names spell "PROCESO" ("process"), the Italian world names spell "SISTEMA" ("system"), and the German world names spell "ROBOBOT".
*** In ''VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies'', the second world's stages spell the word "FRIENDS". The Spanish stage names spell "AMISTAD" ("friendship"), the French stage names spell "COPAINS" ("friends"), the German level names spell "FREUNDE" ("friends"), and the Italian level names spell "AMICONI" ("buddies").
** A standout example comes from a song title from ''Kirby: Triple Deluxe''. The final boss's second phase has a theme called "Kyōka Suigetsu"[[note]]狂花水月[[/note]] in Japanese, which means "Madness Blooms and the Moon Reflected in the Water". It's based on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_Flower,_Water_Moon a Japanese saying]] that refers to unattainable beauty. The song was initially translated on Miiverse as "Moonstruck Blossom". "Moonstruck" has several meanings: "glowing in the moonlight", "unable to think properly" (as in "lunacy"), and [[spoiler:"hopelessly lovesick", which suits the boss at hand]]. The original soundtrack release and later games that feature this music track instead use the name "Fatal Blooms in Moonlight".
** One of the bosses in ''VideoGame/KirbyPlanetRobobot'' is Meta Knight, who was [[UnwillingRoboticization converted into a cyborg soldier]] by the villains. In the Japanese and Korean versions, he had the fairly self-evident name "Meta Knight Borg"; the English, French, German, Italian and Spanish translations instead dub him "[[{{Pun}} Mecha Knight]]".

** ''Animal Crossing New Horizons''. Nook's (in)famous currency Bell is called '''Динь''' (Din'). Din' is a russian onomatopoeia for a bell ringing.

* This is present all over the place in ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'', due to Nintendo Treehouse's desire to make sure that an English-speaking player would have the same kind of experience as a Japanese-speaking person would if they were playing ''Animal Forest'' or ''Animal Forest +''. This ended up working so well that Nintendo of Japan themselves were impressed enough to retranslate the game into Japanese and give it a Japan-only UpdatedRerelease as ''Animal Forest e+''.

* A whole lot of Nintendo games that enjoyed the honour of getting an official NOE translation into Russian, are subjects of this trope. Since 2011, when Nintendo Russia was officially established, many games on all then-current platforms from Wii to Switch were fully localised. Moreso, even objects from past games that were never localised themselves received a Russian name, often with a pun, when they appeared in multiple universe spanning games like ''Mario Kart'' and ''Super Smash Bros''.
** Fur Step Island from ''Bowser's Fury'' on Switch: this location was called '''Остров Тыгыдык''' (Ostrov Tygydyk). "Tygydyk" is a russian web-originated onomatopoeia for a cat audibly stomping, often in the middle of the night, when such a sound is unwanted. Other examples include:
** ''Super Mario Odyssey''. Jaxi, which is a portmanteau of Jaguar and Taxi, is called '''Рыкарус''' (Rykarus). Ryk stands for "roar", as Jaxi appears as a large predatory (?) feline, and "Ikarus" is a brand of city and inter-city buses from Hungary, well-known and loved in Eastern Bloc countries.
** Same game. Shiveria, which is an obvious portmanteau of Shiver and Siberia, was dubbed '''Озябск''' (Ozyabsk), somewhat keeping a pun on shivering (in Russian, Zyabnut' means not "to shiver" i.e to tremor, but rather "to start feeling uncomfortable from cold") and dropping Siberia.
** ''Paper Mario: Color Splash '', Huey, whose name is a pun on the word Hue, was named '''Ведёркин''' (Vedyorkin), which stands for Bucket, with a russian suffix -in added.
** ''Luigi's Mansion''. Professor E. Gadd, named after a medieval English surprise exclamation "Egad", is called '''Профессор П.У. Галкин''' (Professor P. U. Galkin).  Pugat' in Russian means "to scare someone".
** ''Animal Crossing New Horizons''. Nook's (in)famous currency Bell is called '''Динь''' (Din'). Din' is a russian onomatopoeia for a bell ringing.
** ''Mario Kart 8/F-Zero''. Big Blue, a DLC track, was called '''Синеморь''' (Sinemor'), or simply Blue Sea. This name has somewhat of a kid or a bedtime story undertone in Russian, which is perfectly justifiable since ''F-Zero'' games, which have a more serious tone than ''MK'', were never localised.

* A good example comes from ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages]]''. The name of the character who fixes the broken Tuni Nut (itself an example, having to be renamed from "Minomu Nut" to keep the whole palindrome theme of Symmetry Village going) is Repair, in GratuitousEnglish, in the Japanese version. This sounds pretty silly in English, so for the English version of the game his name was changed to Patch, which has the same meaning and is a legitimate English name to boot.
** The Tokagejin ("Lizard Folk") were renamed the Tokay (like the gecko) in translation. They also originally had a PokemonSpeak VerbalTic of "toka" in their speech, which was removed because Western audiences don't find it quite as endearing... but retained as a sound effect whenever they speak.
** Another example is in the counterpart game ''Oracle of Seasons'': the Uura ("Hidden") race and kingdom was renamed Subrosia, from the Latin ''sub rosa'', referring to the archaic use of a rose to mark a secret society's meeting place. A secondary rename was given to a character from that race: the Uura Urara ("Beauty") was renamed to Rosa the Subrosian, preserving the pun of a hidden place and a pretty girl.