Aretha II English Language Patch V0.91



Introduction:

	Japanese Developer:				Japan Art Media Co., Ltd.
	Japanese Publisher:				Yanoman Corporation
	Japanese Release:				December 02, 1994
	English Patch Production:			Dynamic-Designs



Dynamic-Designs Patch History:

	V0.90:  Initial Dynamic-Designs Release:	February 24, 2020
	v0.91:	Release to fix a bug stopping you	February 26, 2020
		from pregressing past a certain
		point. Also a handful of text
		fixes.



Dynamic-Designs Production Credits:

	Project Coordination:				Wildbill
	Hacking/Tools/Bug Fixing:			Bongo`
        Assembly: 					Bongo`
	Translation:					Filler
	Translation Support:				Eien ni Hen
	English Graphics:				Taskforce
	Story Writing:					Wildbill
	Final Script adjustments			Taskforce
	Alpha Testing:					Taskforce
	Beta Testing:					Draken, MariusB, and Bwah117



NOT FOR SALE INFO

This game in English or patch to make it English is
NOT for sale under any circumstances!  If you paid
for this game in any way, including in a cartridge,
demand your money back immediately!  File a complaint
with your credit card company and/or paypal as well!
Especially if you obtained this game in cart form!



Overview (adapted from https://www.mobygames.com/game/snes/aretha-ii-ariel-no-fushigi-na-tabi):

The game continues the story of the young princess Ariel.
After she rightfully regained her throne, people enjoyed
a peaceful life under her benevolent reign. But this
peaceful existence did not last long... Two adventurers
who were wandering through mountains met a mysterious evil
being, who threatened to ruin Ariel's kingdom. After that,
the two men disappeared without a trace. Ariel's servants
reported to her about the matter. After consulting her wise
grandmother, Ariel decided to go out herself, to meet up with
her old trusty companions and to find out the origin of the new
threat.

The game is a console-style RPG - you fight random enemies in
turn-based combat viewed from first-person perspective. Enemies
may attack you from the sides, and you should pay attention which
enemy you face. A unique feature the game uses is the ability to
get special items called "souls" after battles, and then to use
them to forge your own armor.



Bugs that are still in the released translation that may or may not ever be fixed.

The save/load screens and several menu screens have graphical glitches on
real hardware and all emulators except ZSNES.  It is HIGHLY recommended
that you play this game on ZSNES only.

Character naming screen is messy but the English alphabet
works fine.  Changing to the English option on the naming
screen first makes it look proper.

Reflect spell name appears off screen during battles but can be
selected and used normally.  You will notice the curser moves
off screen.  The reflect spell can be used when this happens.

The element crystals appear on the wrong line on the menu
screen when you use the item Soul Crucible.  May also happen
elsewhere.

Sometimes a pointer ghost image might get left behind in the battle
spell menu while moving around.

During battle sometimes the text display at the top left can become
messed up only displaying 1 letter.

When you use the Aretha II Music CD item, the song list
is garbled.  It was actually in English in the Japanese
rom but Bongo` accidentally used that space for assembly
code.

Consult screen sometimes exits and sometimes doesn't.
You can manually close it just fine however. This is
an original Japanese cartridge bug.  

The Black Onyx item does not work.  This is an original
Japanese cartridge bug.

All items will not appear for sale if you have too
many items in your inventory.  This is an original
Japanese cartridge bug.



Caveat and Invitation:

In a MAJOR departure from our previous policy, we are releasing an unfinished patch. This is due
to both time factors and downsizing in the diversification of our production team. In no way are
we suggesting anything but positive support for all of our highly dedicated and hardworking
teammates in the past. It's simply that changing life circumstances for some of us have dictated
the realities of where we find ourselves today.

At this time, we active members of D-D cannot guarantee that we'll ever revise this patch in any
way. This means we may never release a Version 1.00. At the same time, we're not saying we won't.
As per usual, D-D will establish a feedback topic within the Aretha-II forum on our WWWBoard.
After receiving the patch "as-is" and playing the game, if someone comes along who really loves
this work and possesses the know-how to rectify certain technical issues, we will be standing by,
ready and willing to discuss the matter."



Production, Testing, and Thought Processes:

I (Wildbill) have really enjoyed my part in creating this English patch. The quality of everyone's
efforts leads me to the realization that everything we've achieved is due to a strong team effort.
It's the dedicated contributions of each member who recodes, translates, designs fonts, redraws
graphics, writes story scenes, and tests the developing product that ensures a successful conclusion.

Let us add that anyone in the world is free to pursue this "not for profit" hobby. This means that any
human who inhabits this planet has free rein to start in the same places we did and create stories and 
finished products that suit their own personal interests, motivations, and tastes.

-Wildbill and Taskforce



Patching:

Contained within this archive is an IPS (international patching system) file or a patch file in another
format for the end user's convenience that when used in conjunction with a ROM file will make the
game playable in English.

Do note, as I touched on above, that this patch is a result of countless hours of love and labor.
Hence, they are not meant to be sold at any price under any circumstance, be it in digital form or
burnt into a donor cart's ROM chip.

To patch the ROM file, one needs to procure a patcher for their preferred format, a widely available
class of programs, many of which can be found at http://www.romhacking.net/ for one source.  A few
can even be found on our download page for your convenience at
http://www.dynamic-designs.us/downloads.shtml.  Search at the bottom under utilities.  We did not
write these utilities.  We merely provide them as a convenience.

At some point, ROM sites may upload pre-patched ROMs of our Aretha II translation. Obviously, Dynamic
Designs cannot endorse playing these versions.  Neither will we support resolution of any associated
problems. Moreover, pre-patched ROMs may float around the web for years.  Only by downloading
patches containing just our original work from D-D's web site may gamers obtain revisions to these
patches - if any - and take advantage of possible bug-fixes and corrections.




Information pertaining to the Aretha II ROM:

Country Japan
Internal CRC 6129
CRC32 FF63EC26
MD5 0EE181FD933BE14CFA6D323FAE03AAE3
SHA-1 1EB540648749F760EA23E6FB6C3AE3AD0B7CA1A5
SHA-256 D31EA0A6F9B3EE78A724AD500F09E5F534CACF57166FF55198FD703CA1ED6F48
ROM Speed 200ns (SlowROM)
ROM Size 16 Mb
ROM Bank LoROM
ROM Type Normal + Battery
SRAM Size 64 Kb
Internal Title ARETHA2
Company Yanoman               

Size before patching: 2.00 MB (2,097,152 bytes)

Size after patching: 3.00 MB (3,145,728 bytes)



Notes:

1. Not all ROMs will necessarily be patch-able with our file.
2. If the ROM you attempt to patch has a header, you may need to remove it.
3. A number of tools are available to remove headers: SNESTool, Smile, Toolbox, etc.  

Alternatively, most emulators support a feature called soft patching, which keeps the ROM file
intact, merging the patch data only during run time. To make use of it, make sure both the ROM file
and the IPS are in the same directory as your emulator of choice and have the same name, but not the
same extension. Do note that this is case-sensitive.  (Also, do note this soft patching is only
available using the IPS patch file, and may NOT work with the other patch file formats.)

i. e.:  ArethaII(E).smc and ArethaII(E).ips will trigger soft patching at the emulator's run time.



Emulator Compatibility:

This patched game works best in ZSNES. We only recommand ZSNES for 
your playthrough.  All other emulators and even real hardware will
present graphical glitches that don't show up on ZSNES, however the
game is still playable on those other emulators or real SNES hardware.
If you choose to ignore our recommendation, please do not report those
glitches noted in the bug section to us.



Special Thanks:

The "usual suspects"! I am shocked, SHOCKED AGAIN, that we have finally released Aretha II - English!
In the order of performing critical tasks, thanks Bongo`, Filler, Taskforce, Bwah117, Draken and MariusB!



Dedicated to Bongo`.



Readme 2020 Dynamic-Designs