marcus american video game developer known english localization video game spent youth united_states dropped college japan wife years returned college united_states began work center eventually worked japanese english game localization projects worked translator writer accurately translate game western audience sought stay true script given latitude script weird wanted added american cultural allusions considers localization highest achievement worked nintendo left work developers including established partly cloudy games friends runs mobile games studio following fan community came fans mid press began greater interest work planned write book game development release project reply nintendo discouraged pursuing idea early life career raised traditional middle class family dropped college married moved japan late 1980s planned stay months stayed years returning united_states returned college began work customer service game assistance center washington wake work class schedule considered graduation nintendo worked games later transitioned work translated nintendo japanese games english western audiences standard time worked department direct contact headquarters gave wide decision making latitude worked coming project january took nintendo localized tenth game script moving project game roughly translated japanese translator received paper script translation japanese writer worked english script mood message intended game original development team found task translating outsider view american audience hardest localization nintendo want direct translation american version script recalled given latitude script weird wanted sought stay true original text translation communicated game creator directly humor office jokes worked way script alongside cultural allusions comedian spinal tap outside game script game text includes item weapon names combat prompts writing contains multiple easter eggs character names character named daughter born development taking day birthday recalled working days straight weekends remembered workload large recalled grinding hours day localization process took months credited game tone helped manage magnitude project remembers game positive heart wrote glass half kind game asked favorite contribution final work remembered character mother described choice ridiculous thing picked original reviewer wrote translated praised game humor period following release game english localization found praise localization reviewer described japanese english conversion notch time found localization funny clever evocative american development team devastated release poor critical response sales recalled game reception hurt appearing simplistic age revered graphics quality felt game changes rpg formula rolling meter fleeing enemies ignored following years time game virtual console felt game aged worked nintendo games left later worked studios established partly cloudy games friends company contracted microsoft developing real time strategy facebook game named robot apocalypse runs mobile games studio described games worked career forgettable eventual popularity satisfying cited example wedding proposal text appreciated following fan community approached booth penny arcade expo explained involvement game announced press began greater interest work planned book game development release project reply nintendo discouraged pursuing idea plan profit book felt owed fan community dedication response said plans continue ongoing dialogue community told thinks finest accomplishment credits
Marcus Lindblom