Moon light Saga translations

The MSX turbo-R game Moon light Saga (1996) has finally been translated from original Japanese text. Both to English and Spanish. And the best is, the game and its translations are free to download from our database.

Games written for MSX turbo-R are few, and that's a shame. Such a wonderful machine capable of doing powerful MSX software. It probably came too late to the scene to really matter. Never the less, in 1996 developer Maple Yard released his turbo-R only RPG Moon light Saga. The game features smooth scrolling in all directions, FM and MIDI music and makes good use of the R800 CPU and SRAM features. It could easily be a masterpiece... who knows.

Due the massive Japanese texts, it never got a foothold on Western grounds. Until now.

This role playing action game finally got translated to English and even Spanish by MRC users Manuel Pazos and Takamichi. Takamichi also provided a scan of the original manual, which we included in the game download section while Manuel added the game maps too. All of this is free to download from our software database. Now is the chance to get this game running in full motion and enjoy every little bit of fun the game brings. So both packages contain:

The IPS patch file for each DSK.
A DISKROM for the MegaFlashROM SD + SCC cartridge which let us play the game without having to change the disks manually. In order to save the game we need a real disk and press "0" key when game ask for it. To install the diskrom, type: OPFXSD dskromls.rom /i1
Game maps.

Game time!

Relevant link: Download the original game and manuals
Relevant link: Moon light Saga English translation patch
Relevant link: Moon light Saga Spanish translation patch

Commentaires (52)

Par raulsantacruz

Hero (604)

11-11-2020, 17:57

Thank you very much to Manuel Pazos and Takamichi!!!

Par Grauw

Ascended (10821)

11-11-2020, 18:08

That’s super awesome! Despite owning a copy since Sunrise distributed them in the 90s, I never really played it beyond the beginning. Now I can finally play the game and understand what’s going on! Thank you very much!

Par Manuel

Ascended (19683)

11-11-2020, 18:33

Fantastic, and yeah, finally! Super cool, I'll definitely play it.

Par Imanok

Paragon (1200)

11-11-2020, 18:47

Congrats guys! Thank you very much for your effort!

Par knm1983

Hero (578)

11-11-2020, 19:05

Thank you very much for this great job, we are going to enjoy this game a lot.
Thank you very much again.

Par LaDolceDols

Expert (98)

11-11-2020, 19:38

Great Takamichi and Manuel! Thanks a lot.

Par M-A-D-M-A-X

Expert (128)

11-11-2020, 19:52

Congrats !

Par DrWh0

Paladin (842)

11-11-2020, 20:07

Great!

Thank you very much!!

Par tfh

Prophet (3430)

11-11-2020, 20:37

Thanks for these translations :-)

Par meits

Scribe (6573)

11-11-2020, 21:01

Thanks a lot... I'm very curious... I guess I'll have to start file hunting for the game disk(s) now

Par [D-Tail]

Ascended (8263)

11-11-2020, 21:29

Thank you very much Manuel and Takamichi! I will enjoy this very much!!

Par Manuel

Ascended (19683)

11-11-2020, 21:48

I wonder, is there a plan to translate the manual as well, to get the background story? Or is that available somewhere?

Par turbor

Hero (529)

11-11-2020, 22:03

This is great news! My sincerest thanks to Manuel and Takamichi.

Par alexito

Paladin (761)

11-11-2020, 22:07

Thanks Takamichi and Manuel for make one of my dreams comes true.

Par tfh

Prophet (3430)

11-11-2020, 23:07

Meits wrote:

Thanks a lot... I'm very curious... I guess I'll have to start file hunting for the game disk(s) now

ROFL!
The ready made/patched disks can be found you know where indeed!
But the original game disks are available here on MRC, see the news post.

Par Manuel

Ascended (19683)

11-11-2020, 23:33

Note that you can soft-patch with openMSX (e.g. from command line openmsx -machine turbor mls1.dsk -ips e_mls1.ips or with Catapult or from the console: diska mls1.dsk -ips e_mls1.ips) and then save/export the patched disk image with diskmanipulator like this in the console:
diskmanipulator savedsk diska mls1_en.dsk

Par Takamichi

Hero (651)

12-11-2020, 05:45

Manuel wrote:

I wonder, is there a plan to translate the manual as well, to get the background story? Or is that available somewhere?

I'm working on it. Meanwhile you can Google/DeepL/whatever automatically translate the text based manual here. I also prepared the bug workarounds to save you from crying.

It's important to know that MLS' original developer hasn't forgotten about it at all. For instance this Elkador song he composed for the Augmented Reality Girls Trinary anime he developed a few years ago shares the same Elkador universe.

Par Manuel

Ascended (19683)

12-11-2020, 10:47

Fantastic, thanks a million!

Par Zandig Slaytanic

Resident (44)

12-11-2020, 14:31

Wow! This is excellent.
Thank you for taking the time and dedication on this project. Much appreciated.

Par Randam

Paragon (1431)

12-11-2020, 15:21

Thanks Manuel en Takamichi for the tremendous job you did on this great game. It is a great accomplishment to have this great game in English now.

Are there any plans to also translate the 2 disk Moonlight Saga SuperStyle (was that what it was called?)?

Par Takamichi

Hero (651)

12-11-2020, 17:39

Randam wrote:

Are there any plans to also translate the 2 disk Moonlight Saga SuperStyle (was that what it was called?)?

I don't know if the Super Style was the official or colloquial title of the promo featuring a gallery where Gaia works as the curator. I wasn't thinking about that but it will be easy. How about you giving a try?
I am also looking for the first three installments of "World Travel in Elkador" on the main manual page 18 because it's the 4th episode. Ealia should have distributed three episodes about the Elkador geography earlier and I presume one came with Super Style.

And to all of you, as Luka might say, I'm flattered

Par journey

Hero (577)

12-11-2020, 19:10

I use MSX Turbo-R ST + MFRSCC+SD

I've done OPFXSD dskromls.rom / i1
then launched DSK files (both from MM and SofaRun)

I've tried several times and in different ways, but when I launch the game it goes into BASIC..

where am i wrong?

Par Manuel

Ascended (19683)

12-11-2020, 19:25

Takamichi wrote:

Meanwhile you can Google/DeepL/whatever automatically translate the text based manual here.

I found a lot of stuff there, but not the text based manual, so I must be overlooking it. In which folder is it?

Quote:

I also prepared the bug workarounds to save you from crying.

Found that one, good to know! I already experienced the issue with the notification sign. I walked blindly back to the village to work around it.

Par Guillian

Prophet (3529)

12-11-2020, 20:36

journey wrote:

I use MSX Turbo-R ST + MFRSCC+SD

I've done OPFXSD dskromls.rom / i1
then launched DSK files (both from MM and SofaRun)

I've tried several times and in different ways, but when I launch the game it goes into BASIC..

where am i wrong?

The DSKROM controls the DSK emulation when the DSKs are flashed as ROMs.
You have to load them using /D option:
OPFXSD E_MLSSYS.DSK /D0
OPFXSD E_MLS1.DSK /D1
OPFXSD E_MLS2.DSK /D2

Par Randam

Paragon (1431)

12-11-2020, 20:54

@takamichi. I don't fully know if it was the official name either. A translation for it might also be interesting since there are some nice things in it. I bought Super Style back in the day on a fair. I will try if I can find it and if it has some additional documents like you said. If I find it, I will share it.

And yet again thanks for all the efforts you and Manuel put in!!

Par Chadwick

Resident (39)

13-11-2020, 03:40

I get past the intro in openmsx and select to play the game and the screen just goes black and doesn't do anything. I don't get a prompt to change the disk or anything? I've selected the FS-A1GT and fmpac.

Par Takamichi

Hero (651)

13-11-2020, 05:20

Manuel wrote:

I found a lot of stuff there, but not the text based manual, so I must be overlooking it. In which folder is it?

This one. The MLS manual is too intricate to express graphically in .txt format.

Par journey

Hero (577)

13-11-2020, 08:28

Guillian wrote:

journey wrote:

I use MSX Turbo-R ST + MFRSCC+SD

I've done OPFXSD dskromls.rom / i1
then launched DSK files (both from MM and SofaRun)

I've tried several times and in different ways, but when I launch the game it goes into BASIC..

where am i wrong?

The DSKROM controls the DSK emulation when the DSKs are flashed as ROMs.
You have to load them using /D option:
OPFXSD E_MLSSYS.DSK /D0
OPFXSD E_MLS1.DSK /D1
OPFXSD E_MLS2.DSK /D2

Thanks Manuel!

I had to change the sequence to:

OPFXSD E_MLSSYS.DSK /D1
OPFXSD E_MLS1.DSK /D2
OPFXSD E_MLS2.DSK /D3

Because D0 was not accepted. I had to enter a number from 1 to 9

Par Guillian

Prophet (3529)

13-11-2020, 09:25

Yes, you are right.
Disk 1 = /D1
...
Disk 9 = /D9

Par Takamichi

Hero (651)

13-11-2020, 10:19

Chadwick wrote:

Did you try to run the system disk still zipped? In that case openMSX thinks the disk is write protected therefore the game hangs. Please unzip.

Randam wrote:

A translation for it might also be interesting since there are some nice things in it.

The issue is that I don't have the message source for it unlike the MLS itself. However the MLS message scripts are stored as is in the .dsk file so if the promo's are stored in the same way, they can be restored.

Par Manuel

Ascended (19683)

13-11-2020, 13:07

Chadwick wrote:

No fmpac needed, the machine has a built-in MSX-MUSIC.

Par Chadwick

Resident (39)

13-11-2020, 17:07

Takamichi wrote:

Did you try to run the system disk still zipped? In that case openMSX thinks the disk is write protected therefore the game hangs. Please unzip.

No i had unzipped them and move them to a separate folder. I haven't had this happen before that i can recall. Its very strange. I'm now just running a FS-A1GT machine with no extensions.

Par dan

Master (248)

13-11-2020, 19:23

thank you soo much, takamichi and manuel. will format a floppy disk again!

Par mesiasmsx

Prophet (3455)

13-11-2020, 21:22

Thanks Takamichi and Pazos! I love it!

Par karloch

Prophet (2159)

13-11-2020, 22:30

Finally we will be able to enjoy Moonlight Saga Thank you Manuel, thank you Takamichi!

Par Takamichi

Hero (651)

14-11-2020, 08:16

Chadwick wrote:

Takamichi wrote:

Did you try to run the system disk still zipped? In that case openMSX thinks the disk is write protected therefore the game hangs. Please unzip.

No i had unzipped them and move them to a separate folder. I haven't had this happen before that i can recall. Its very strange. I'm now just running a FS-A1GT machine with no extensions.

So your openMSX runs MLS fine if there is no fmpac extension but hangs with one? That's strange. My openMSX runs perfectly with it. And I played MLS with real GT + real FM-PAC perfectly. There must be something wrong about your FM setting. If you definitely want to save to PAC, try "pac" extension without FM. FM-PAC & PAC work exactly same with MLS.

Par Takamichi

Hero (651)

14-11-2020, 15:26

Randam wrote:

@takamichi. I don't fully know if it was the official name either.

@guillian sent me its manual's scan. I confirmed Super Style is indeed the promo's official name I also found World Travel in Elkador episode 1 and 2 there.

Par Chadwick

Resident (39)

15-11-2020, 17:50

Takamichi wrote:

It doesn't run with either. It hangs with any setup including with / without the FM PAC or pac. I took the Pac off according to Manuel's recommendation. I wonder if there is some issue with the emulated machine itself".

Oddly i got it to work fine on the blue msx online emulator. I could not get it to work any other way. Thanks for responses and your hard work on this. If there is any thing you think i should try with openmsx please let me know.

Par Manuel

Ascended (19683)

15-11-2020, 19:19

It works fine in openMSX here, with just a plan FS-A1GT. Chadwick: you're using the latest openMSX? If not, which version?

Par Chadwick

Resident (39)

15-11-2020, 21:36

It is the latest version, 16.0

Par Manuel

Ascended (19683)

15-11-2020, 23:40

OK, what exactly are you doing to run it?

Par Chadwick

Resident (39)

16-11-2020, 15:23

I open Catapult. I am selecting the Panasonic FS-A1GT under MSX type (no extensions). Placing the MLS system disk in the disk A drive and clicking start.

Par KdL

Paragon (1485)

17-11-2020, 22:35

I have the original game here. Never played. But now I can finally play it. Thanks!!

Par Manuel

Ascended (19683)

17-11-2020, 23:43

Chadwick wrote:

I open Catapult. I am selecting the Panasonic FS-A1GT under MSX type (no extensions). Placing the MLS system disk in the disk A drive and clicking start.

What if you try openMSX directly, without Catapult? (Maybe you're accidentally selecting something?) For example on the command prompt, or via the OSD menu or via the console.
Or what if you try the ST machine? (Maybe something in the persistent memory/SRAM of the GT machine?)

Par Colemu

Hero (544)