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Thanks to fan translators, it's now possible to play Pandora Box and Imagineer's N64 monster-taming RPG Zool - Majyū Charmer Legend in English.
But Zoinkity, the patch's hacker, is already warning people not to expect the game to be a "Pokéclone", stating that those who "go in expecting Pokémon... will be both frustrated and disappointed."
Released in 1999, Zool (not to be confused with the Chupa Chups-loving Gremlin Graphics platform hero of the same name) is one of two games developed by the Japanese developer Pandora Box for the Nintendo 64, with the other being the party game Kiratto Kaiketsu! 64.
Initially introduced to Western audiences by IGN as a 64DD title, under the name in Zuul, it was described in an article as an RPG in the "traditional, Japanese adventure style" that sends you out exploring towns and landscapes, and apparently stressed "storyline and depth over graphics." However, as we now know, it wouldn't end up being one of the titles released for the 64DD add-on, but would instead ultimately end up receiving a more conventional cartridge release.
Zool - Majyū Charmer Legend follows the story of a young orphan whose life changes after a chance encounter with a magical beast sets him on a quest to become a legendary beast tamer. As Zoinkity notes, the game is divided into an A and B plot, with the first being based around the topic of found family, while the latter is the charmer story, allegedly characterised by "a lot of screaming shonen!! stuff with fully-pronounced exclamation marks."
As for the gameplay elements, they are again neatly split into two parts: explorable towns, where you will talk to NPCs and visit shops (navigated with a cursor), and overworlds/dungeons, where you will fight and collect various monsters.
As Zoinkity notes in the readme.txt, though, there isn't really an incentive to "catch 'em all!" for a 100% ending, with the changes being minimal and none of the creatures actually evolving (which will likely make the training mechanics somewhat anticlimactic for Pokémon fans).
In addition, the game is rather notorious for its lengthy text sections (around 59000 words in total), which led the team to have to create its own custom debug tools to translate the title and will likely turn some people off the game. Regardless, I know I'm personally excited to give it a try, and appreciative of the team (which also included the translator whowasphone404 and the Majyū namer Gabbu Hetchy) for taking the time to bring this obscure RPG to a wider audience.
You can download the patch now from romhack.ing, if you want to give it a go.