****** Flashback Legends (unfinished project) ~ English translation patch ******   
   ***   From the Let's-See-How-Much-Schoolboy-French-We-Remember Dept.   ***   

Flashback Legends was to be the third in the Flashback series, a Game Boy Advance 
side-scroller in the style of the first game, but it was left incomplete when 
Delphine, the developer, went bankrupt in 2002. A prototype ROM image was later 
leaked, with all language options producing French dialogue (and menus and item 
names in English). If you should come by the magisterially named 'Flashback 
Legends (France) (En,Fr) (Proto).gba', this IPS patch will enable the 'English' 
option on the language selection screen actually to produce an English version of 
the game's dialogue.

This is a translation patch only; it does NOT fix any of the prototype's many 
glitchy, dummied or absent elements. The game's text is fully Anglicised, but 
much of it isn't actually implemented in the prototype; it's uncompressed and 
almost pure ASCII, though, so it's easily read with a suitable hex editor. If 
you manage to un-dummy any of it, you'll almost certainly find the alignment is 
wonky.

Owing to the state of the prototype, the game cannot be completed (and features 
like the password entry and difficulty selection screens are nonexistent); thanks 
to http://www.gameanyone.com/game/GBA/2449.html we know it's possible to advance 
to the next level at any time by pressing all the GBA's buttons at once (although 
this may be awkward under keyboard-controlled emulation). Consequently there is 
no sense in which the patch could be 'fully tested'. Insofar as Flashback Legends 
can be played through, however, this patch will let you play through it in English.

Whoever leaked this to the public doubtless hoped to show us where the series might
have gone, rather than letting Delphine's final labours go to waste in concealment.
I hope this translation expands its audience in like spirit.

   ***   Translation Notes   ***

[* = apparently not activated anywhere in the game as it exists]

No major changes seemed required in the interests of idiomaticity (just minor 
details like turning 'you'll be cooked' into 'you'll be toast'), and since the 
script is short and and as self-explanatory as one could expect from an unfinished 
game, there isn't much to note:

Mandragore ~ I'm led to believe Fade To Black (the second game in the series) kept 
this form for the English version; I'd otherwise have changed it to Mandragora.

2H/UT ~ Presumably TU in the original is 'Temps universel', i.e. Universal Time 
(U.T.).

...needs no introduction... ~ If I've misunderstood anything in the French script, 
this is probably it. The original literally means 'I don't present the famous Agent
Conrad to you'. Sic.

* Never has one seen, never will one see ~ According to 
http://www.comptine-enfants.com/jamais-on-n-a-vu-jamais-on-ne-verra-508.html this 
is from a nursery rhyme. Since it's dummied, there's no contextual information to 
help me decide how to translate it, so I've opted for the outight literal. Its 
position in the surrounding text suggests it's an item description, but there 
doesn't seem to be any item name that corresponds to it...

* Professor Salisbury's narration seems to include a solitary past historic 
(tombèrent), which is an unusual detail in speech...

* Bon courage ~ instead of trying to settle on an English replacement, I left this 
little message from Delphine as it was. 
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=24779 has some suggestions should 
you desire them.

   ***   Gameplay Suggestions   ***

UP     - <normal> jump, pull yourself up
DOWN   - crouch
A      - toggle combat and normal modes; 
         <inventory> view item description
B      - <normal> run (hold B and press left or right), 
         short jump (hold B and press up), use lifts (hold B and press up or down);
         <combat> shoot; 
         <inventory> select item
L      - throw a stone if you've selected it
R      - get gameplay hints in the first level when the corresponding icon appears,
         if you've enabled this in the pause menu
SELECT - access/cancel inventory
START  - pause menu

+ Conrad jumps to some high ledges automatically, given a run up; many of these 
  can't be reached with manual jumps.

+ There's a jump early in New Eden that seems to be possible only if you run right,
  then turn Conrad around while running to let him jump to the ledge.

+ The game is full of annoying enemies on ledges who'll shoot you straight off 
  given half the chance. You're meant to hang off the ledge, or hang around below 
  it, until the guard turns his back; this can take a while and is still fiddly. 
  So you may wish to note...

+ Conrad's health is stored at 0x0201f204 in RAM.
  "That's not a gameplay tip, it's a cheat!"
  "This isn't a finished game, it's a prototype with game-stopping bugs."

+ If you want to play properly, get used to performing forward rolls (while 
  crouching) with your gun drawn. 

+ Items are sometimes glitchy: note in particular that to open one gate in the 
  first level, you MUST open your inventory, select the keycard with B, THEN use it
  on the terminal with B, otherwise you won't be able to progress. In later levels 
  you'll find 'empty' cells sometimes aren't.

+ Most of the gates don't display properly, so they look open, but in reality 
  aren't.