A group of fan translators has released a new English patch for the 1988 Japanese Famicom Disk System RPG Aspic: Curse of the Snakelord (originally titled Aspic: Mahebiou no Noroi). So if you enjoy checking out obscure Japanese RPGs or playing classic Famicom Disk System games from days gone by, you might want to take a closer look.
The translation was published only yesterday and is the work of the hacker BlackPaladin, and various other contributors. It translates the original Japanese text for the character dialogue, item names, and monster names into English, as well as the subtitle screen, in-game intro, and ending text. This essentially means it's easier than ever for those who can't read Japanese to understand what's actually happening on screen.
In case you've never heard of the game before, you should probably know that Aspic: Curse of the Snakelord is a sequel to Xtal Soft's earlier RPG Lizard from 1984, taking place after the events of that title.
It also features a bunch of different perspectives, including some top-down and first-person exploration, as well as a side-on view that is activated during combat.
Here's the description of the story from Romhacking.net:
"You play the role of Samson, the hero who set out to find the Book of Truth to uncurse the princess of Okalf Castle. Upon returning to the castle, Samson learned that the king received a message from a wizard with a proclamation. The wizard claims he can uncurse the princess with his magic but must be brought to Suna. While the wizard did uncurse the princess, he had plans to offer her as a bride to Aspic the Snakelord. Samson, now, must embark on another journey to rescue the princess and slay Aspic. However, Aspic does have one trick up his scales…"
In addition to the game, you can also download a translated manual too. This is available as a PDF along with the BPS and IPS files. You can download the patch from Romhacking.net. More information is available on its readme.txt.