Wizardry I - II - III on SNES - Translated by fans.

Hey all. I'm sure some of you know about this, but I recently saw that there was a fan translation of the Wizardry I II III game for SNES. It is a port of the PC games and was originally in Japanese, but you can simply download a patch for the rom and you can play it in English.

I plan on playing through the first game in the series and eventually all 3. I will post some things I find interesting as I play through them. I am a huge dungeon crawl fan and love Elminage Gothic, which many say is directly inspired by the first 3 Wizardry games. So, this should be fun. Even better is that I have the game patched on my tablet for late night gaming while relaxing in bed.

Then again, how relaxing can an extremely punishing dungeon crawler be? Guess we'll find out.

Yes, I played this a long time ago. Its not 100% but its pretty good. Didn't play it too long tho as it just had this weird vibe to it. I guess I was missing a different kind of nostalgia.

It is interesting to note that Knight of Diamonds accidentally on purpose became the first game expansion because it initially required you to import your characters from the first game. This was fixed in later releases after fan outcry.

FYI, I believe the same collection was released on PS1 and Windows as the "Llylgamyn Saga". The Windows version also has a translation patch iirc, so there's really no need to mess with an SNES emulator.

How do you type TILTOWAIT in NES?

Wizardry and zork games are what got me into PC gaming, but I must admit I liked the NES versions more because they had walls instead of wire frames.

Good old wizardry, thieves dagger, marmusa blade, tiltowait, taking one step at at a time in every direction trying to map out a totally dark area on graph paper, spending hours trying to get 1 low level character to the 8th or 9th level to bring your party back out alive.

Yeah dark souls is hard but I've never had to start it completely over because I Died and couldn't get my guy back like in wizardry.

Oddly enough, back then, I never seemed to mind.

I've heard much about the Wizardry versions for the NES but never seen them myself, maybe GoG or steam will get them one day for us all to enjoy. I know I'd play them on my computer.

I didn't realize that the game would need to be mapped to be played effectively. So, does anyone have any tips on what paper I should buy? How about general tips on making the maps themselves? Pen, pencil, marker? I would like to hand map the game and play that way and will be playing the SNES version, so any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated. I will be doing this while relaxing in bed, so simple paper and a pencil should work fine, right?

Fluent said:

I didn't realize that the game would need to be mapped to be played effectively. So, does anyone have any tips on what paper I should buy? How about general tips on making the maps themselves? Pen, pencil, marker? I would like to hand map the game and play that way and will be playing the SNES version, so any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated. I will be doing this while relaxing in bed, so simple paper and a pencil should work fine, right?

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You don't have to I just loved the game and did. I mapped the PC version but if I remember correctly they're the same 20x20 grid.

I would just recommend playing it for a while if you decide you like it enough and want to map it, you could, or just peek on the Internet, an option I didn't have when I mapped it.

I will say though it's a grueling task to map it. You can just use regular graph paper 1 step=1 square and all maps are 20x20 squares. The difficulty though is that there's pits that drop you down a level, areas that are pitch black, 1 way walls, tiles that will teleport you and tiles that will turn you when you step on them.

So it literally becomes take a step map it. When it's dark you take a step,map it, then step back and turn, take a step, map it, if it's a wall turn 180, step and map it. In other words it's a pain in the a**.

I also mapped it for the teleport spell. You put in your x,y coordinates and it would teleport you to that square but if it were a wall or void it would be game over and you had to build a new party and start from scratch. This became the main reason after a while because I played it so much I could navigate it blindfolded, new the teleports and pits and whatnot.

Oh, and it's 0-19, not 1-20. Found that out the hard way.

During my brief sojourn with Wizardry I on the C64 a couple of years ago, I used photo-copies of the Might and Magic map pad from my original boxed edition of the game.
A little crude in its mixing of classic titles, but practically speaking it does the job.

I know I will like the game. I'm a big, big fan of Elminage Gothic, and that game is based on the first 3 Wizardry titles. I love dungeon-crawling, so that's not the issue. I guess I'll just grab some decent graph paper, a pencil and start my journey.

Well, not yet. I started a game of Etrian Odyssey on my tablet. That should be a fun dungeon crawler to play with for awhile. When I get a chance I will start the Wizardry trilogy.

Thanks for the responses!

JDR13 said:

FYI, I believe the same collection was released on PS1 and Windows as the "Llylgamyn Saga". The Windows version also has a translation patch iirc, so there's really no need to mess with an SNES emulator.

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Thanks for this info. I will likely choose this version to start my playthrough with.

Oooh, it has an automap feature! Neat. PS1 version it is. Thank you VERY much!!

Hmmm, I thought Wizardry I - II - III on SNES already had an english translation built right in though you have to enable it somewhere in that nest of nipponese menus. The PC & PS1 versions are very similar except for a HUGE graphical feature - the PS1 version has a MUCH larger 3D window than the PC version so that remains the recommended port. As for its difficulty- well, I saw a guy on youtube who seemed like a veteran RPG player almost literally tearing his hair out trying to play the SNES version due to it being so hardcore. So with that in mind, I would just like to end this post with: May God be with you, brave brave Sir Fluent.

JackOfOwls said:

Hmmm, I thought Wizardry I - II - III on SNES already had an english translation built right in though you have to enable it somewhere in that nest of nipponese menus. The PC & PS1 versions are very similar except for a HUGE graphical feature - the PS1 version has a MUCH larger 3D window than the PC version so that remains the recommended port. As for its difficulty- well, I saw a guy on youtube who seemed like a veteran RPG player almost literally tearing his hair out trying to play the SNES version due to it being so hardcore. So with that in mind, I would just like to end this post with: May God be with you, brave brave Sir Fluent.

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I survived 80 hours and counting in Elminage Gothic, so this game shouldn't bother me too much.

I don't know if the PS1 version has been tweaked, but it seems rather easy thus far. The worst pitfall I've found are traps blowing up in my thief's face, either killing multiple party members (exploding box trap), or poisoning my thief which then leads again to death. Haven't really ran into buzzsaws of enemies...yet. I've only explored the first floor of the dungeon thus far and it's mostly things like slimes, kobolds and the like.

Overall the PS1 version is a great port and it's made even easier with the endless automap feature. It is basically Elminage Gothic, both in looks, style and even under-the-hood systems. I see myself spending a lot of time with it.

Thanks for the comments!

Fluent said:

I survived 80 hours and counting in Elminage Gothic, so this game shouldn't bother me too much.

I don't know if the PS1 version has been tweaked, but it seems rather easy thus far. The worst pitfall I've found are traps blowing up in my thief's face, either killing multiple party members (exploding box trap), or poisoning my thief which then leads again to death. Haven't really ran into buzzsaws of enemies…yet. I've only explored the first floor of the dungeon thus far and it's mostly things like slimes, kobolds and the like.

Overall the PS1 version is a great port and it's made even easier with the endless automap feature. It is basically Elminage Gothic, both in looks, style and even under-the-hood systems. I see myself spending a lot of time with it.

Thanks for the comments!

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It's not necessarily the combat being difficult, although it will get much harder. The difficulty comes in when you get wiped on level 5+ and now have to get them out. That's a b****, but in a fun way imo.

sakichop said:

It's not necessarily the combat being difficult, although it will get much harder. The difficulty comes in when you get wiped on level 5+ and now have to get them out. That's a b****, but in a fun way imo.

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I find the best way to handle this is just save often. I never really had to go through this scenario in Elminage Gothic because I saved after every encounter.

Fluent said:

I find the best way to handle this is just save often. I never really had to go through this scenario in Elminage Gothic because I saved after every encounter.

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Not sure about the PS1 version your playing. I played on apple 2e. There was no manual save function in the dungeon (it automatically saves on exit, quiting or death)so If you got wiped your guys are stuck in the dungeon going back to a save wasn't an option then.

The next time you start the game you characters would be listed as "out", I believe. the only option is to try and get a single guy (you can only take people out if you have party slots for them) down there to get 5 out then try to get the last one after you resurrect them or start over.

Also you could fail the resurrection attempt which would turn your guys to ash and then if you fail again your character is lost forever. Furthermore the longer your guys are left in the maze theres a greater chance gear will be taken from them or they can even be eaten and unrecoverable.

I played the game off a 5.25 floppy though so maybe it's changed now? I suppose on PC you could backup your save before playing but that wouldn't seem right to me.

sakichop said:

Not sure about the PS1 version your playing. I played on apple 2e. There was no manual save function in the dungeon (it automatically saves on exit, quiting or death)so If you got wiped your guys are stuck in the dungeon going back to a save wasn't an option then.

The next time you start the game you characters would be listed as "out", I believe. the only option is to try and get a single guy (you can only take people out if you have party slots for them) down there to get 5 out then try to get the last one after you resurrect them or start over.

Also you could fail the resurrection attempt which would turn your guys to ash and then if you fail again your character is lost forever. Furthermore the longer your guys are left in the maze theres a greater chance gear will be taken from them or they can even be eaten and unrecoverable.

I played the game off a 5.25 floppy though so maybe it's changed now? I suppose on PC you could backup your save before playing but that wouldn't seem right to me.

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Now that is truly hardcore (and cool!).

The PS1 version has been simplified. You can save anywhere and there are 2 save slots! Generous.

Not only that, but you get the persistent automap function and enhanced graphics. Sure, not quite as hardcore as the original (and I would play the original today, too!), but still quite fun.

I found Elminage Gothic to be a bit easy due to the constant saving available. But eh, what can ya do? I'll give the original games a shot with a mapping tool someday.

Fluent said:

Now that is truly hardcore (and cool!).

The PS1 version has been simplified. You can save anywhere and there are 2 save slots! Generous.

Not only that, but you get the persistent automap function and enhanced graphics. Sure, not quite as hardcore as the original (and I would play the original today, too!), but still quite fun.

I found Elminage Gothic to be a bit easy due to the constant saving available. But eh, what can ya do? I'll give the original games a shot with a mapping tool someday.

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Yes, It was hardcore. It worked though I think because the game was short. If you know your way you can get to the end game in 10 minutes or so assuming your strong enough to survive.

Could you imagine nowadays dying near the end of a game after 100 hours and having to start all over. No thanks.:lol:

sakichop said:

Yes, It was hardcore. It worked though I think because the game was short. If you know your way you can get to the end game in 10 minutes or so assuming your strong enough to survive.

Could you imagine nowadays dying near the end of a game after 100 hours and having to start all over. No thanks.:lol:

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That would be rough, but I do like a risk\reward save system. ☺

Bummed to hear wiz 1 is a short game. Hoping the trilogy itself is a good length.

Fluent said:

That would be rough, but I do like a risk\reward save system. ☺

Bummed to hear wiz 1 is a short game. Hoping the trilogy itself is a good length.

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It's short if you know where your going. It should take a decent amount of time but Being able to save anywhere and auto map will surely shorten the game but you have a trilogy and there are 8 total so I have no doubt you'll get your fill.