A Fan Translation of The Legend of Xanadu Took 15 Years and a Custom Decompiler

The "Sacred Alcohol of Stamina to Van Buren Coffee" part illustrates why I hold those "localization" attempts in contempt. "I have unanimously decided this name/sentence/reference is boring and I'm going to change it to make it 'more interesting'".

Just translate the thing. If you add random references that weren't there it's going to alter the discourse around the game that only knows of the localization dramatically.

You may say this sounds ungrateful, but those people altering the original works are ones setting the tone of the entire Western discourse of the games they re altering. People are going to talk about the localized version and any change introduced will become part of how it's perceived and discussed. This can include both accidental and intentional changes that completely change the tone, setting or relationships of the characters within. Like the infamous DeJap localization of Tales of Phantasia that made a character particularly horny, and that intentional change has stuck even after more serious official translations came out because many people only played that altered version.

I can understand altering stuff for censorship reasons even, but those changes made to make things "more interesting" are completely one-sided fanfic tier stuff and add links that weren't there. I've found more people than you'd believe that think Castlevania is supposed to be in the same world as Lord of the Rings because the localizations renamed several items to LotR references f […]