Some Unlocalized Japanese Text Made It Into Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse

Atlus has issued an official apology for a Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse mistake. It turns out some unlocalized Japanese text has made it into the final version of the game. To be more specific, two instances of untranslated Japanese lines have been found in the Nintendo 3DS game.

When offering the apology for the Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse error, Atlus explained exactly how it happened. This also explains how someone could trigger the error in their own games, if they’d so desire.

First, we’re human. This is important, so before you start writing that angry comment down below, please remember this point.

Second, and this is the funny part, it turns out our QA department is actually too good. The two instances of Japanese text left in the game happen during a boss battle near the end of the game. As you may know, SMTIV:A has partners that are permanently with you throughout the game, and you can select the partner based on what abilities they have that complement your play style. (No more worrying about a randomly chosen Walter casting Agi on demons that resist fire. WALTEERRRRRR!)

Anyhow, just like in SMTIV, partners can get attacked and knocked out. In this particular battle, partners will return after 3 turns, and the errant Japanese text only shows up if you get to a point where the boss gives you a dialogue option WHILE your partner is KO’d. Our testers, who have been with the company for quite awhile, and who are well-versed in all things SMT (I think a few of them also were QA for the original SMTIV) were so good, they never ran into the situation of having an unconscious partner during the fight, and henceforth the dialogue in question.

We never realized that there was a specific set of circumstances for the text to appear in-game, and so it never got localized. And unfortunately, it will still be in there by the time the game hits shelves tomorrow. BUT! As our QA testers and reviewers in the media have shown, it’s a relatively rare set of circumstances that will lead players to encounter the aberrant text, and hopefully won’t even be discovered by the vast majority of players. (Of course, now that I told you how to find it, you’re probably all going to go out and test it, aren’t you?)

As for a fix, Atlus is looking into a means of righting this Shin Megami Tensei: Apocalypse wrong. It doesn’t know if a patch will be possible or how long it would take, but it is investigating one. It also notes that it going through Persona 5 and its other in-progress localizations to make sure the mistake doesn’t happen again.

Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse is now available for the Nintendo 3DS.