~Notes by Filler~

Hoshi wo Sagashite - The Story of Mio, (a.k.a. "Searching the Stars"), is a adventure game for the Sega Mark III, the system that was sold as the Sega Master System in the US, Europe, and Brazil where it was fairly successful. It was not as successful in Japan. Less than 100 games were ever released for it there and most were snatched up for overseas localization.
 
The Story of Mio is one of the few games that was never translated and released overseas. It's hard to know why, but perhaps it was simply the nature of the game play. A text-command driven adventure game may not have fit the image of the SMS. Regardless, The Story of Mio is an interesting sci-fi story that many gamers of the time would probably have enjoyed playing.
 
For me the project started in March of 2004 when I took it upon myself to make a table file and try dumping a script for this game. I must have mentioned it to the late ChrisRPG because he emailed me on 06-16-2004 about a post Paul Jensen made in this thread http://www.smspower.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=11454#11454 on SMS Power. He had done a lot of work dumping and translating the script like myself. I got in touch with Paul around July. He was very helpful and did a lot of spot translating and editing on the script.
 
Chris was very busy with real life and the Slayers project among others. Not a lot happened on the project for a couple of years and Chris' health issues finally got the better of him. He passed away late in 2007. Chris was a really good person that a lot of bad things happened to. I appreciate the time that Chris spent and will always remember the eagerness with which he lent a hand on more that just this project.
 
About 6 months later I began seeking help for the project but it wasn't until August of 2009 that I was approached by Steve Seehorn who had already done a lot of programming work on the game and was conveniently seeking translation assistance. I was able to provide him with a completed script and things progressed very quickly from there.
 
I'd like to thank Steve for bringing this project to a satisfying and long awaited conclusion. I'd like to thank the late ChrisRPG for his precious time and effort. I'd like to thank Paul Jensen for his initial translation attempt and his excellent translation and editing assistance. I'd like to thank EienNiHen for translation assistance, and any others from Romhacking.net who may have helped out. And thanks to you for taking the time to read this readme and for playing our localization of this classic game.
 
Below are some points of interest regarding the translation.
 
- I still haven't beaten "Loretta's Portrait"...
 
This is a reference to a SG-1000 adventure game called "Loretta's Portrait".
 
- This must be the flavor of my overworked brain. Ah, I'm exhausted...
 
This seems to be a pun on the word "noumiso" which means brains/brain. It is spelled 脳味噌 and the middle kanji is "aji" or "flavor". So what is actually said is something like "This aji must be the "aji" of my suffering "noumiso". Ahh, how exhausting...". (Thanks to EienNiHen for the kanji) (Steve- I changed it to "I'm exhausted" since I couldn't figure out how to make the pun make sense to english speakers.)
 
- ミオのこうばん (Mio ni kouban) Casting pearls before Mio...
 
This is a variation/pun on the idiom "Neko ni kouban", which is something like "Giving gold to a cat". It has the meaning of "casting pearls before swine" or "not offering things to people who can't appreciate them.". (Thanks to Tomato and BugCatcher for info on this)
 
- Ah, if that's the case, it's on Space-Hari main street.
 
This was written in katakana as "supehari". It seems to be an obvious reference to one of Sega's popular games, Space Harrier. (Steve- I changed this to "Space Harrier Club" for the description of a night club since a street name would either be Main Street or Space Harrier Street, it wouldn't be both, and Space Harrier Street wouldn't fit in the space alloted for menu items anyway.)
 
-This isn't fantasy zone. It's (I'm) alive.
 
This may be (Steve- is definitely) a reference to another game, "Fantasy Zone".

Steve- There are also references to Pengo (another old Sega game) and Phantasy Star (Motavia, Dezoris and Palma are all planets from Phantasy Star).
 
Cheats
 
If you input the password "tesutotesto..." (test test) repeatedly until the end, you will open the sound test screen where you can hear all 10 songs from the game.
 
Note: After the patch is applied, "tesuto" = SMT
 
If you input the password "owarimitai" (I want to see the end) 3 times, Game Miki-chan appears and says "owari wa jituryouko de mitai ne!"  (Get to the end on your own!).
 
Note: After the patch is applied, "owarimitai" = ErnfPB


~CREDITS~

FILLER- Translation
STEVE S.- Hacking

Please email me (Steve) at armamentarmedarm@hotmail.com if you find any problems or glitches.