Starmen.Net

Hi, I’m Tomato and somehow or other you found this page, which contains info about me and my current projects.

Mainly my interests are in Japan and the Japanese language, programming, and video games. I’m just some boring guy with no life who happens to know Japanese. I currently translate stuff for one of the most prominent (and perhaps infamous) Amercian companies that localizes Japanese animation into English. Try to guess which one. It’s fun!

I’ve studied Japanese for who-knows-how-many years now. I originally made this site while I was studying at a university in Japan but didn’t have the yen to go anywhere or do anything. I’ve since come back to the States, finished my degree in Japanese, and do work as a translator until I’ve got enough saved up to get back there so I can learn more. I can read approximately 2000+ kanji right now, which is more than sufficient enough for most games and other stuff that I’ve translated. Of course, if I see one I don’t recognize, it’s pretty simple to whip out the ol’ kanji dictionary. Actually, not really; the one I mainly use is pretty heavy.

I do a lot of translation, Japan, and Japanese-related work over at Starmen.Net. And I’ve done a lot of other spot translations for various folks, whether they be ROM hackers or game site people or what have you. But usually I’m too busy now to help people as much Oh well.

Enough about me, let’s talk some more about me.

This is a remake of a game me and Loco-san made many years ago, a few months after I made Tomato Boxes I think. The original was in 4 colors only, and was real simple, and extremely hard. But very fun. The remake is in SVGA gfx, with background music and cool effects, as well as rendered graphics and tons of other cool stuff.

This remake was never completed though, although it was getting really near completion. So first of all, the .exe itself is really bloated since it has lots of debug code in it. Second, the game does have lots of bugs, and it will most likely crash if you go to any of the menus (battle menus work fine though). So don’t go to any of the menus. The game also starts you off at really super high stats. Normally I think you start with 30 HP or something. Which would get you killed real quick.

Also missing from this version is random enemy encounters. They’re programmed in, but I commented it out during this build. Boss battles don’t take place yet either. Pressing some buttons will let you do some debugging type stuff, like check your location or walk through walls. I really recommend you refrain from using them because it’ll ruin the fun of the game.

So basically this is an unfinished game, and probably won’t ever be finished. But people might like to try it out anyway. If anything, just the background music and sounds is worth the time needed to download it.

That’s all really. So happy dungeon exploring

EarthBound on Virtual Boy Responses:
Sometime during the summer I was in IRC and the conversation was about the so-called “Super EarthBound” *cough*pathetic*cough*, so I thought I’d make a little parody, and update Starmen.Net’s front page with the news. I made 3 screenshots using my expertise with the EB rom to get a wire-framed effect, then turned it all red with a paint program. The results can be seen here:

Then I posted these pics and some fake news about it on the front page: Pic 1, Pic 2, Pic 3

You won’t believe it (I certainly didn’t), but Nintendo announced yesterday a sequel to EarthBound, but not for the system you would suspect! I myself can’t wait to play EB on my Virtual Boy! Now I can play it anywhere I want to get a headache!

These pics were taken straight from Nintendo’s site, but shhhh, don’t tell them

So there you have it! Make sure to check out the pics or you won’t see what you’re missing!!!

Some people believed it and subsequently posted a bunch on the forum, but most people caught on when they saw the last image. For those who didn’t, thanks for making this whole thing more enjoyable Anywho, here are some response I got shortly after: