E.X. Troopers
Image: Capcom

The Lost Planet series arguably isn't as well known as some of Capcom's earlier successes but has attracted a loyal fanbase nonetheless for its memorable setting and its third-person action-shooter mechanics. In the years since the first game - released in 2006 - it has even spawned a couple of spin-offs, with the most notable of these being 2012's E.X. Troopers for the 3DS and PS3.

E.X. Troopers was released exclusively in Japan back in 2012 and 2013; that's despite Capcom filing U.S. and European trademarks in 2011. As a result of this, western players had to resort to importing the game and trying to overcome the language barrier if they wanted to enjoy it for themselves.

Now, though, after 7 years of development, a dedicated team of fan translators has finally released English-language patches for the spin-off, letting a wider audience of players enjoy the game on both systems.

The people responsible for the project include the project coordinator Etokapa, localizer Phenomenal Flea, and the programmer IcySon55. There's also an extensive list of special thanks available on the Fan Translators International webpage, which thanks those involved with support, playtesting, and reverse-engineering efforts.

According to the IcySon55's post on the Fan Translators website, the translation faced many hurdles over the years with the group having to reverse-engineer the game's files, overcome the engine's limitations, translate over 17,000 individual Japanese lines, and replace hundreds of speech bubbles in pre-rendered videos. To add to this, it had to do this across two systems simultaneously, which sounds like a truly monumental task for the team to undertake.

In case you're unfamiliar, E.X. Troopers features a much more cel-shaded, anime-esque aesthetic than any of its predecessors. This extends to the characters too, who exhibit more exaggerated, larger-than-life personalities than any mainline counterparts. Like the games that preceded it, including Lost Planet and Lost Planet 2, the story again takes place on the hostile EDN III, an ice-age planet that humans attempted to colonize after Earth had become too uninhabitable.

If you want to try out the patch for yourself, you can find the details on the Fan Translators International website.

Have you tried out the patch? Let us know what you think!

[source fantranslators.info]