VIP 4 2018 - That was fun

[Arctangent]

yoshi's having fun in a dirty hole

[Dragon Fogel]

So someone in the comments linked to the older video of this level where raocow stumbled onto the null sprite glitch (not sure off the top of my head which of the two previous runs that was), and that video included both:
-falling down the pit with the vine but catching it below the screen to save himself
-dying due to accidental flying at the muncher run near the end

They just ended up happening in a different order.

[This Eye o' Mine]

That part with the star and the cape is pretty treacherous.
Like Morpheus says: "Everybody falls the first time."
Or in raocow's case the third time apparently.

Translator's note:

A Boon from the Heavens
No, that pun obviously wasn't in the original title, but come on, it's too good to pass up. Give us one moment where we can be a bit clever in the naming.

What a Dirty Swamp...
As pointed out in the video, people might remember the incident referenced in the level name from a level in VIP 2. However, the significance of this scandal to the 2ch community was somewhat misrepresented in the translator note at the time, as VIPpers didn't actually uncover more pornos that featured Tadano. Rather, films starring a look-a-like were made, presumably to cash in on the scandal, and the memes spawned interest in gay porn that later ended up spawning a new subculture, which proliferated on Nico, where people would watch and discuss such films.

[Zach808]

I remember having a lot of trouble with the fragile block years ago, but in my recent playthrough it only took a couple tries. Huh. Well, I liked the gimmick. It's like trying to carry a flimsy piece of glass through the level which everyone wants to break to get at what's inside.

Boon From The Heavens is just silly, but I love it. I actually had a lot of trouble licking the key at the end, though. It probably isn't that hard, but I guess I still don't understand Yoshi's tongue.

That storehouse, though... How in the 9 hells is anyone supposed to find that without a guide? This isn't the only time this happens, either. I call this Storehouse Stupidity part 1.

[Leet]

That storehouse, though... How in the 9 hells is anyone supposed to find that without a guide? This isn't the only time this happens, either. I call this Storehouse Stupidity part 1.

I figured it out instantly. I'm not sure what's so objectionable about it.

[Dragon Fogel]

You find it by looking down the left column of the message block nonsense text and seeing that it reads "L+START" (or L-Japanese character-Start in the Japanese version).

This is not exactly an obscure method of hiding a message.

[This Eye o' Mine]

How in the 9 hells is anyone supposed to find that without a guide? This isn't the only time this happens, either.

I know exactly what you're referring to, and I'll just say... I'd hold my horses on that bit of criticism.

[Bean]

This is not exactly an obscure method of hiding a message.

If MacGyver can do that as a plot twist, so can this game as a level exit!

[Whimsical Calamari]

episode 5 now because wow this was a long week.
i'll get to 6, 7, and 8 on Saturday whoops

DailyMotion run
hooray! (continued) - March 7, 2008
3:02 - Black & White
5:32 - Chuck House

Time, my nemesis! - March 8, 2008
0:00 - Blue(?) Switch
GO BACK

short and gimmicky :/ (continued) - March 6, 2008
3:52 - Rex

YouTube run
graphical madness (continued) - January 6, 2009
3:23 - Black & White
5:24 - Chuck House

malfunctions - January 7, 2009
0:00 - Blue Switch
GO BACK

take care of your friends :) (continued) - January 5, 2009
3:39 - Rex

...why did 2009cow think he needed to fly for the ghost house secret? that's an odd one

When rao said he had a lot of trouble "for some reason" on the blue switch, I did not expect the nonsense that I got in the DailyMotion run. What an incredible chain of events that was. And yet further proof that the use of rewinds and savestates was kind of a detriment, based on how much confusion and frustration it built.

And what an ...interesting... solution for the Rex ending, dailymotioncow.

sorry, i got nothing, these were some quick levels and i'm out of think for the week

Oyster->2018
Not Forgetting Our Gratitude For You For All Eternity -> Black and White Cave -> Black-and-White Cavern (editor's note: HOW)
The Bull Without a Neck's Haunted House -> The Headless Chuck Ghost House
Bewildering Blue Switch -> The Hectic Blue Switch
Drabon's Nest -> Rex Nest

[Leet]

Not Forgetting Our Gratitude For You For All Eternity -> Black and White Cave -> Black-and-White Cavern (editor's note: HOW)

This sounds like they got their names mixed up. There's a level later on that has a name closer to Oyster's translation.

[Zach808]

Oh, so THAT'S where the solution to the green storehouse is. All this time I thought it was flat-out impossible without a guide. I guess not having the translation makes that secret a lot harder than it needs to be.

As for the blue level, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that raocow got through it so fast, but I guess raocow at his weakest is still way better than me when I'm doing well.

[This Eye o' Mine]

Tags: still haven't, figured out, the thread title gimmick

Heh, it would be pretty hard to completely confirm it, but I think you can make a pretty accurate guess about the nature of it before the game is done.

Not Forgetting Our Gratitude For You For All Eternity -> Black and White Cave -> Black-and-White Cavern (editor's note: HOW)

Most likely, either Oyster swapped the level names in his text document the first time around, or raocow read the name from the wrong spot. As you'll find, both names as we have them in our translation are completely accurate to the gimmicks of their stages.

Translator's Note:

The wizard is a reference to a joke often said by otaku as a form of virginity pride, which goes that any man who reaches 30 years of age without ever having had sex will turn into a wizard. In Japanese this charming man says 'oppai', which just means 'breasts' (definitely referring to his *ahem* appreciation of them, though the word can also mean 'mother's milk' in some less lewd contexts). However, it's split up to say 'o' while he's charging, and 'pai' when he releases the spell. We felt that this created a bit of anticipation as to what he was gonna say, since 'o' could just be an exclamation of surprise, with the release of the spell being the point where you realize what he is actually saying is pretty immature. In an effort to preserve that anticipation, we made the first frame say 'big' and the second frame say 'tits'.

Oyster's Pearls

The Meaning of 'Agate'
This was Oyster's name for what we had as "What a Pain in the Iggy"
And here we are, the first proper Oyster name, and one of my favorites. The original level name is 'めのうえのイギー' or 'me no ue no Iggy' which is derived from the saying 'me no ue no tanboku', which literally means 'a corn on top of your eye', just with the word 'eye' replaced with 'iggy'. This is roughly equivalent to the saying "what a pain in the [body part]". I want to say that it's also a somewhat rare expression, so I wouldn't really blame Oyster too much for not getting it. However, what probably happened is that Oyster made mistakes at a more basic level by misreading kana to the point that he turned the name into 'めのうのいぎ' or 'menou no igi", which would translate as the level name he had (in kanji: 瑪瑙の意義). Somehow this involved him dropping the 'え' ('e') and the vowel extender '―'.
Good job Oyster, we all sincerely love the way you didn't think twice about whether your translations actually made sense.
Also, would you believe that this is one of the least mangled of the bunch? Stay tuned for some that stump even me. World 3 is going to be quite a ride in that regard.

EDIT: New version 0.99 released now. Check the OP.

[Lazy_]

Tags: still haven't, figured out, the thread title gimmick

Seems to be

VIP wiki comments on currently relevant levels, translated to English.

[Lostsoldier20]

I do not recall a lot of these levels before raocow enters them. Guess that's typical for early game VIP. The levels themselves are Schrodinger. The levels exist and do not exist, until you enter and see it's a level.

And raocow still sounds so happy even in his worst situations. It feels like raocow forgets all his worries and everything and just PLAYS where usually he's conscious of the camera watching him. Here he's just bein a goof and happy and it's just so wholesome. Until this gets to the later levels and things get real, I officially rename this the Wholesome LP.

[morsel/morceau]

I would like to suggest two words to improve the translation:

MILK

BAGS

.

[LunarRainbowShyGuy]

I seem to be missing a lot of days lately. Here are my comments for yesterday's levels.

Take It! Grab Block: I like this level. Unlike other items having to carry the grab block through the level has a pretty big and meaningful impact on gameplay. The grab block is indeed fragile but I found that if you just go slowly and take things one enemy at a time it's not too bad.

A Boon From the Heavens: Another fun level, though the off screen ceiling does bother me. At least in this case there's a good reason for there being an off screen ceiling. I'm mostly just bothered because I died to it when trying to jump off the vine (much like how raocow almost died there once). Also I was horrified when I was waiting by the secret exit and I saw the key fall into the pit, thinking I'd have to do the level over again, but fortunately you can just go back and scroll it back on screen.

Oddly Noisy Storehouse: I didn't realize there was even an exit here until I saw raocow do it (I did see the word "START" in the message box but I didn't realize the "L+" was a part of it. Anyway, I was originally just going to mention that I like that this place uses one quirk of SMW that I really like, where if the timer ticks below 100 multiple times the music will keep getting faster and faster. Speaking of the music getting faster, when I went back and 'beat' this stage I somehow managed to get a sped up victory fanfare.

What a Dirty Swamp...: Despite how basic it is I did enjoy this level. Though since I'm playing the levels in the same order as raocow I also ended up fully stocked on powerups when playing it. I noticed that the level had some koopas in it, which might have been interesting if I didn't have Yoshi for most of it.

Now for today's levels.

Totally Fun Lift Hell: I must have been having an off day or something when I played this. I died a bunch of times and decided to take a short break, then I came back and beat the entire level with only a few more deaths (but I still managed to almost die to the boss).

What a Pain in the Iggy!: A neat little puzzle level mostly revolving around having to realize you need to get a shell from the wizard. It's otherwise pretty easy but I could see some people getting stumped for a bit if they don't realize that.

Someone said that world two was probably the easiest in the game, and so far I'm inclined to agree. Other than the star world level I got through all the levels with ease. Regardless, I've been enjoying playing along so far and I'm looking forward to what's to come in world three.

[Ivy]

Why did the wizard seemingly always turn the blocks into koopas? Don't they usually have a variety of sprites they can become? Not that that's a bad thing at all, as the koopa was what was needed.

[raocow]

yellow koopa is by far the most frequent thing a wizard will create. thwimps and one-ups are a lot more rare

[This Eye o' Mine]

Since I forgot about this earlier, have a bit of extra stuff about the castle cutscene.

Translator's note:

Some of the castle ending cutscenes gave us trouble in regards to the severely limited amount of space. The castle 2 cutscene in particular was very tricky. The options given in the option box in the Japanese version were entire sentences that Boon would presumably say, which went as follows:

- Alright, nothing to do with me.
- I'll take it from you even if it means destroying it.
- Please! Let me have it!

There's obviously no way any of those were going to fit cleanly on one line, so we shortened them into one or two word commands: "Walk Away", "Demolish", and "Negotiate".

[Piesonscreations]

HUGE.

[Zach808]

Since I forgot about this earlier, have a bit of extra stuff about the castle cutscene.

Translator's note:

Some of the castle ending cutscenes gave us trouble in regards to the severely limited amount of space. The castle 2 cutscene in particular was very tricky. The options given in the option box in the Japanese version were entire sentences that Boon would presumably say, which went as follows:

- Alright, nothing to do with me.
- I'll take it from you even if it means destroying it.
- Please! Let me have it!

There's obviously no way any of those were going to fit cleanly on one line, so we shortened them into one or two word commands: "Walk Away", "Demolish", and "Negotiate".

Wasn’t there also a cutscene where the text looked like some sort of slot machine? Did you have to translate that, or was it meant to be art?

Overall, were there ever any “I AM NOT TRANSLATING THIS!!!” moments like we got with Oyster? Or did you somehow manage every bit of text?

[Sugar]

Why did the wizard seemingly always turn the blocks into koopas? Don't they usually have a variety of sprites they can become? Not that that's a bad thing at all, as the koopa was what was needed.

Image copied from

[jayScribble]

Can the probabilities of each result of the wizard magic be modifiable?

[Arctangent]

Can the probabilities of each result of the wizard magic be modifiable?

Strictly speaking, anything's modifiable with a disassembly and enough ASM know-how.

[Classtoise]

Rainwizard: Describing the science behind question 2.

Me: