The Shining Force 3 Translation Project is a fan-based project engaged in the translation of the Sega Saturn game  Shining Force III.

Although Sega did release Shining Force III in English in the US and UK, it was actually only the first scenario. The game is actually comprised of three scenarios, the latter two only having seen a release in Japan. By this point in time, the Sega Saturn was at the end of its life and Sega never planned to released the final two scenarios in English. Because the game was to end with scenario 1 for the English speaking world, Sega deliberately changed much of the end of the story in order to reach some kind of conclusion and not let on to fans that they had in fact only played one third of this epic title.

The game script was originally translated to English by a group known as the Aspinia Team some years ago. Their typed translation was made available on Shining Force Central and has been used by fans to understand the events of the latter scenarios, but of course, fans worldwide still clamoued for a translation patch. The Aspinia Team’s original translation would prove to be the basis for the translation patch effort. 

For many years, English speaking fans of Shining Force III dreamed of translating the second and third scenarios, but efforts seemed futile. The game’s files incorporated a sophisticated compression method. For many years various fans tried to crack the code, with varying degrees of success, but none made a translation possible… that is until early in 2005 when a software developer, going by the name Knight 0f Dragon wouldn’t let the dream die. With much effort and some assistance from the Saturn hacking community, he was able to develop a program that would allow the Japanese text to be replaced with English. Thus the Shining Force III Translation Project was born…

Volunteers joined the effort to create an English patch for Shining Force III, to correct the translational errors in Scenario 1, but more importantly to provide a complete English translation of Scenario 2, Scenario 3 and the Premium Disc (which was only issued to those who sent a proof of purchase from each of the 3 scenarios to the games’ creators, Camelot).

Many, many people from literally all over the world have made this translation project possible. Read about them on the credits page.

The Shining Force III Translation Project is dedicated to completing the unbelievable task of delivering a high quality translation patch to fans worldwide who have waited over a decade to play this game entirly in English.