A new fan translation has just dropped for Lupin the 3rd: Pyramid No Kenja, giving players the opportunity to play the 1998 Japanese-exclusive action-platformer in English for the very first time (h/t: Sega Saturn Shiro).
Developed by Vantan International in collaboration with the publisher Asmik, Lupin the 3rd: Pyramid No Kenja, as the title suggests, is based on the Lupin the 3rd manga/anime series created by Monkey Punch (real name, Kazuhiko Katō).
It focuses on the story of the gentleman thief Lupin the 3rd and his two friends, Ishikawa Goemon XIII and Daisuke Jigen, who learn of a newly discovered pyramid and set off in pursuit of its treasures. Upon arrival, the three are immediately chased inside by Inspector Zenigata, who arrives in a squad car, and end up splitting up at the very first junction. Players are then given control of Lupin, tasked with navigating the pyramid's various floors, sneaking past or attacking enemy guards, and avoiding deadly booby traps to regroup with their friends and find the riches they originally came for.
The new translation patch is the work of Vermillion Desserts, who, as Sega Saturn Shiro notes, posted a tease for the project on YouTube on February 18th.
Under that video, they suggested that all the level names, the pre-level Fujiko tips, and all the cutscenes had been translated, but said they still needed to complete the post-level score screen and the save screen before they could release it. It seems, however, they've now finished this work and released it on the website romhack.ing for others to download.
Something we should note is that it is currently unknown whether the translation is AI-generated.
In a post on the Romhacking.net forums, as spotted by Sega Saturn Shiro, Vermillion Desserts has previously stated they use "AI and machine translating in their hacking", but given there is no AI disclosure on the Romhack.ing page and no readme.txt or credits available, it's unclear if that applies here too, or if they had the help of an actual translator.