In 2023, gamers are spoiled by professional dubbing of games. Sounding is done by entire teams of eminent actors, giving out the product at the level of dubbed films. However, a couple of decades ago, everything was completely different – the official localization of video games could be counted on the fingers. It was the heyday of pirated transfers.
The beginning of the 90s, among other things, opened up a whole new world of video games for young and not so people. Yes, some guys used to feel pretty good on Soviet computers and just emerging clones ZX Spectrum, however, computer games began to get widespread closer to the middle of the decade. But just getting the game, copying it and distributing it was not enough. And although gamers eager for entertainment were ready to sweep anything off the shelves (just recall the numerous cartridges for Dendy in Japanese), the language barrier still played a role. People longed for localization.
The acute shortage of licensed products was more than compensated by entire creative artels of pirates who mercilessly practiced either in wit, or simply trolling unlucky customers. And although the final result of the dubbing by “professional actors” was very different from the original intention of the game developers, some examples of this “creativity” inscribed the name of their creators in the museum of video game history.
Warning: some of the videos below contain foul language
Of course, the first thing that comes to mind is a masterpiece of localization Kingpin: life of crime from company “Fargus“. This is exactly the case when the abundant use of obscene vocabulary makes the game only better.
Just look how skillfully the actors get into the image, and how pale the original looks after this extravaganza.
Agree, there is still something magical in Russian folk mate, especially when it looks so organically in a game developed in the USA.
This translation became so popular that other pirate offices tried to convince a potential buyer – their voice is better than “Fargus“! But you and I know that they were wrong.
No less famous was the voice acting “Fargus»Competitive shooter Unreal tournament 1999 year. As the saying goes, “Tanya bent down in an ax. Aptly throws the Indian Egor “.
A cult in narrow circles simulator of a thief Thief 2: the metal age, thanks to the company “7th Wolf” also managed to find a piece of Russian color. It is not clear what exactly the voice actors were guided by, giving the conditional medieval European guards Caucasian color. But it turned out worthy.
In general, foreign accents are almost impossible to adapt in localization, and in our time, when any carelessly abandoned word is able to stir up racial conflicts, all the more so.
Studying the heritage of gallant pirates, sometimes you ask yourself: what were the respected authors of this localization smoking and who could have thought of translating the name of a gloomy first-person shooter with dismemberment and blood Blood as “IN AND. Lenin: First Blood? Yes, and provide appropriate scoring.
The plot of the resurrected protagonist, who defied a powerful deity, turns into some kind of absurdity. But apparently this companyFargus“And sought.
The authors did not forget about the memetic phrases (which were in circulation at the time of the release of the game, of course).
Pirates added a piece of the Russian soul to the harsh everyday life of the American police officer Max Payne. Appreciate mastery of performance.
Missing stars from the sky a member of a large family Resident Evil Gun Survivor would not be worth your attention if not for the actors of the studio Paradox, for some reason, decided to endow the protagonist with the features of a provincial gopnik.
The guys from the same studio are responsible for the translation of the quotes. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Is official localization capable of giving us such talented actors?
For example, the owner of a store with an unusual accent.
Every wizard should have fifty berti bols bil ver ver bin melons, right?
Well, enough magic from us. A little-known game based on the movie “Apocalypse” with Bruce Willis It is noteworthy in that it has a plot that absolutely does not intersect with the original source and “Petrosyan” voice acting, which brought four adherents Apocalypse. Something at the level of “Brotherhood and the Ring” or even higher.
General studio Paradox it was marked by some monstrous amount of “localized” games, leaving almost every indelible mark of “quality”. That’s the humble nurse Lisa Garland from the first Silent hillApparently, she came to this city straight from Ukraine, and the main character clearly grew up in a disadvantaged area.
Not escaped the “professional sound” and the original Resident evil. I never managed to recognize the authors of this beautiful localization, but they tried, really.
Many people remember a rather popular translation. Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness from the office of “SPK”. And although he really stood out against the general background, it is completely incomprehensible why the hell the authors decided to parody Leonid Volodarsky, “Ogusaviv” completely neutral voices of the original.
If we recall the localization of RTS, the memory of every real old-school gamer will inevitably pop up the famous “Brain” – a literal translation of the name of the unit zerg Overmind. But not only this is worth praising the pirates: a lot of interesting things can be found in dubbing. In general, the work of The Seventh Wolf was done at a decent level, but when voiced by General Duke, something clearly went wrong.
And if this can be attributed to a commonplace mistake, then in localization Starcraft: Brood War the voice of the same General Duke acquired certain “southern” notes.
But this is not the most interesting. While we were enjoying this whole holiday, work on our own national dubbing was in full swing in the neighboring country of Ukraine Starcraft. It turned out interesting.
And now there will be a cleaner thing “Faust” Goethe. What popular game do you think this description belongs to?
“Once three New Russians gathered in the country to have some fun with their new girlfriend – a girl from“ not from here. ” This experiment and completely natural desires led to contact with unknown matter and transfer to the past – several thousand years ago. Their souls moved to the Thief, Warrior and Mage, who will survive in this world with “concepts” that are different from the present. Nevertheless, the transfer of matter affected not only the state of three friends, but also slightly altered the surrounding inhabitants, teaching them to communicate by hair dryer and living by the cruel “concepts” of the Beginning of the Great Section. “
That’s right – it’s Diablo. More precisely, “Brother»From the studio Kudos.
Among other advantages, the authors themselves note the following:
- more than three hours of fraternal speech and video;
- realistic 3D graphics on the engine from Blizzard;
- Big Bratkov Encyclopedia (history of the country).
Passion is so high that you can’t get rid of gifs – watch the video.
The fact of the existence of this localization is remarkable in itself. It was not enough for someone just to voice (albeit in a “rich” manner) gloomy and bloody Diablo. Pirates got confused not only by writing their own plot, but also by rendering videos with stunning 3D models.
The desire of customers to play in their native language is understandable, and the pirates of the 90s tried to satisfy the demand as much as possible. The market situation was such that all the cream was collected by the one who managed to put the translated product on the shelves before everyone else, so the quality of localization was far from always a priority. Same “Fargus“In the late 90s, he began to release games in various publications, marking with a gold seal exactly those that were voiced by” professional actors. ” Such is the simple reason for the appearance of numerous “spent” transfers – as always, money was all the fault.
By 2023, the situation with full localization into Russian became incomparably better, but still imperfect. Huge costs are required this time by the work of really professional actors, a sound engineer, a layman and other specialists – not every AAA-game is able to repel such budgets. Therefore, many games are left without Russian-language dubbing.
Not wanting to put up with the situation, the lovers themselves took up this difficult process – the result was numerous fan voices of completely different games. It even got to the point that “mechanical” translations — that is, voiced automatically by the robot — began to use certain popularity. And if you compare a similar mechanical voiceover with the examples listed in this article, I will choose the second. Yes, they are funny, ridiculous and stupid, but at least they have life in them. Not to mention the contribution that their authors made to the history of domestic gaming.
