DEAD OF THE BRAIN - An Obscure 31 Year Old Japanese Horror Game Gets a Full English Translation!

DEAD OF THE BRAIN - An Obscure 31 Year Old Japanese Horror Game Gets a Full English Translation!
You need a PC-98 emulator to play Dead of the Brain (Neko Project 21 is recommended.)
The new translated Dead of the Brain ROM is available here: archive.org/download/nec-pc-9...
More info about the translation here:
www.romhacking.net/translatio...
#DeadoftheBrain
00:00 The Zombie Cat & Graveyard Chase
11:59 The Gruesome Police Station
29:26 Clearing Out Zombies in the Hotel
01:02:05 Comforting Cathy
01:09:15 Cain Saves The Day (Again)
01:16:14 Doc's House
01:28:19 A Perilous Escape
01:34:23 Showdown At The The Hospital
01:44:56 The Finale

[@AlphaBetaGamer]

This is a PC-98 game that was released in Japan only in 1992 (and never saw a western release). There was a machine-translated patch that was released in 2019, but it wasn't very good. This new 2023 translation is a lot more faithful to the original so players can finally experience the weirdness that is Dead of the Brain. I've made a some changes to the layout of the screen, edited out some unnecessary dialogue and made a few changes to streamline it a little and make it KZbin friendly. n the original layout the text and main viewing area are significantly smaller. It's a point and click adventure/visual novel hybrid that takes some wild twists along the way. The story is entertainingly crazy and the pixel artwork really holds up! It's a wild ride, hope you like it! :)

[@fozzibab]

Awesome. Thanks for providing the video and link to the game. This is one I've gotta play myself, though.

[@drackflame951]

Wait So it was released in Japan...but there was no ports or bringing the game to the West side? Bruh point and click adventure games we're VERY ADDICTIVE in being played a lot man Miss those kinds of games

[@AlphaBetaGamer]

@@drackflame951 Yeah it was never released outside of Japan (probably because it's quite a niche game). Big respect to the translators, it must have taken forever to do!

[@ledraco4820]

Game is a bit mature but good game

[@AlphaBetaGamer]

@fozzibab Have fun! One word of warning - there are some areas (like the police station) where you need to click on every single object multiple times to proceed (I edited stuff like that out of the video as it just wasted a lot of time).

[@Mid-iala]

Cole's morals lmfao "Man, Cathy's really sad. Should I really be holding her though?" *casually cheats on his girlfriend anyways*

[@karlsylvain]

hahah i noticed that! he slept whit sheila, then just banged cathy for fun in the next scene!!

[@_Jay_Maker_]

Man, we need more PC-98 translations because God have mercy, the art in some of these games is legitimately insane.

[@TPkarov]

Yes, more people need to contribute in pc98 community, i think i will some day

[@sebastiantafoya3609]

Once there is a good ai that translate japanese there will be a nuclear amount of visual novels getting translated, so we can only hope they get it sooner rather than late.

[@thereseclairecreates]

RetroArch has an AI translation feature which I'm hoping to use to be able to play PC98 games in English! Yes, the biggest appeal to me was the art. The bit though is a lot of it is in hentai 😅

[@BNK2442]

Cool. I love when these old forgotten games find their way to the present.

[@CommanderBohn]

Anything PC-98 is certified soul.

[@AlphaBetaGamer]

I've only just discovered PC-98 emulation. I'm really impressed though. I'm looking forward to checking out more games! :)

[@bud389]

@@AlphaBetaGamer90% of its catalogue is just visual novels.

[@CommanderBohn]

@@AlphaBetaGamer You won't be disappointed.

[@CommanderBohn]

@@bud389 The looks however beat any modern vn.

[@frds_skce]

​@@AlphaBetaGamerPlay Bible Black or something, ABG. Honestly, I got a long list of PC-98 classic but this one is a masterpiece

[@70rn]

There's something about this kind of music that somehow adds to the surreal, dream-like atmosphere games from this era have.

[@georgemiller4272]

Agree, PC-98 has some cool OSTs in general. I really love the Policenauts intro for example: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gGmtooCXrNZ3ecU

[@Rayitolaser569]

PvZ vibes

[@NorthStarBlue1]

Doc: "Cole you dolt, my serum only revives the brain, that's why my gun didn't stop him like the zombies in that movie!" Also Doc, 5 minutes later: "Oh no, I've shot this zombie everywhere except in the the brain and it's still coming! I don't understand how this can be!"

[@einholzstuhl252]

Fun Fact: In Horror Films the average IQ decreases by 10 Points every time someone dies and sometimes suddenly explodes when only one person is left

[@southanime]

The professor is not very bright. He is a brilliant necromancer, but man does he fumbles at basic common sense.

[@AntipaladinPedigri]

27:15 I love the fact that even scientists resort to the tried and true "I saw it in a movie once" combat training technique

[@geroldgrimel4811]

1:58:08 I love how the terminator patiently waits in awe while this drama slowly unfolds.

[@rezuankhalid5407]

This old Japanese game had 4 movies piled up in one go. The early scene was in fact based on Re-animated, the cat was dead and revive by injection. And then, Returned of the Living Dead, at the graveyard scene chased by zombies. The last two was even more weirder, government conspiracy and Terminator involved in it. 😵‍💫

[@guy38853]

OMG!!! I've been trying to find this game again forever. Couldn't remember what the name was.🎉🎉🎉Started watching a LP of it of a fan made English translation years ago but never finished it. Thanks for this gem of an upload ABG.

[@candybrain9600]

The art and animation for this is really good in my opinion.

[@m0-m0597]

Because done by a professional

[@candybrain9600]

@@m0-m0597 👍

[@G0thCrayon]

Hells yeah, mate! I watched Slowbeef's videos a few years back when he first started translating it -a lot of love went into localization. It's a classic that thankfully had new life breathed into it, and I'm glad you gave it some time in the light.

[@fhistleb]

I sincerely love how this game starts, it is such a great zombie game that sadly falls apart at the end.

[@Eisenwulf666]

yeah that whole terminator bit was too much, but hey, at the time it was fresh i guess..

[@frankfrankerson782]

The japanese do seem to love mixing things up in ways that make no sense.

[@bubblegumxo]

​@@Eisenwulf666I would think the same thing, but it actually kind of surprises me that the first Terminator came out in 1984! But this was released the same year as Terminator 2, coincidence or not. 😂

[@Znewts]

When I saw that one of the characters name is Sheila, I began reading all the text boxes in an Australian accent.

[@FromAmericaToJapan]

How did the town get taken over in 3 minutes and they already given themselves nicknames and have a group like they been months fighting zombies lol 😂

[@SmokeymcJoint420]

That's one thing I noticed, there is no sense of passage of time, but like you said it's like months have gone by.

[@FromAmericaToJapan]

@@SmokeymcJoint420 I like how they talk about getting sushi at a restaurant at the end like the zombie outbreak never happened and town is back to normal lol 😂 I’m like what? They still have sushi?! Lol 😂

[@TomatoTomato911]

few possibilities. 1.The strange cat was reported, the cat was in the lab, so maybe it was seen outside before doc found it. it might have already infected and died. 2.possible secret agencies were spying on doc and stole some sample and were preparing for an outbreak, might be coincidence or theyight have cams in the lab and initiated the plans with bodies on standby. anything wrong doc gets the blame. or the serum can spread via air particles and increased coverage.

[@V0YAG3R]

@@SmokeymcJoint420 Also the dialogue is very contradictory, the doc knows that the brain is the only thing alive in zombies then proceeds to waste an entire clip on a zombie hitting anything but the brain 💩

[@DailyPaily]

This game is 30 years old. Lovely !

[@jackdbs]

Thank you very much for playing this game with the translation I worked on, but damn you should've went looking for a better font lol.

[@AlphaBetaGamer]

Haha, great work on the translation! I didn't even know it was possible to change the font. This is the first time I've tried PC-98 emulation so I'm a bit of a noob at it!

[@TevinBlair]

I have a question for Jack here: Any Plans for fully translating the Other Game Too?

[@jackdbs]

@@TevinBlair Maxwell (aka CrookerWine, who translated the script of DOTB1) doesn't want to, she doesn't like the game.

[@TevinBlair]

@@jackdbs I see well are there any other Games that the Both of you plan to bring English Version Patches to in the future? And do any of them come out this year or 2025?

[@jackdbs]

@@TevinBlair Cosmic Psycho just began work, and I'm trying to figure out hacking for Misty Blue

[@grumpyoldwizard]

That beginning is straight out of Reanimator.

[@m0-m0597]

Sounds dope

[@MAJR172]

Sweet, I remember finding a translated lp years ago. This game and it's sequle are insane man

[@jacob98674]

Ooh! Haven't seen a playthrough of this for a few years now! Awesome!

[@bubblegumxo]

The amount of affinity I have for point and click games cant be put into words. Even better when it's horror themed! There's something about point and click games too that just inherently creeps me out. Even in non horror based ones like Deja Vu. Also I like how their first reaction is to run into a graveyard 😂.

[@mellowyello1478]

I remember when Slowbeef used this game as an example on how to do translations. Legitimately surprised it took this long to get fully translated, tbh

[@AshleyRiot]

Rhere was an old machine translated one from 2019 but it was not popular or well liked at all. This new one started in June or July of last year.

[@clavilenoelaligero579]

"That's an awful way to die, even for an officer of the law"

[@Jimov]

Yeah I caught this too. Snide comment 😂

[@lean79]

This reminds me a lot of Re Animator. The movie from 1985, based on the short story by H.P Lovecraft. And Return of the living dead from 1984.

[@alexbrinzan9061]

This feels like the creator of CURSED made another game in the 80s.

[@kylehyde89]

I love how it went from zombies to terminater

[@AlphaBetaGamer]

Yeah, that was a wild twist! Still not sure how that happened!

[@AntipaladinPedigri]

The drug contained super calcium that made his bones much, much stronger. Like metal.

[@Davtwan]

I remember this. The seriousness and parodying nature of this whole thing gives such a whiplash lol.

[@stanstnstn]

Seems to be based on 1985 'Re-animator' movie. Which itself is based on Lovecraft's novel from 1922 I do remember the scene with cat 😊

[@m0-m0597]

Interesting

[@dr.scrapjack2045]

The opening scene where the doctor reanimates, kills and reanimates again the cat to prove that the drug works is very similar to the one in Reanimator. Definitely a major inspiration.

[@CircleOfTheSeptagram]

I hope we get more translations from the PC98 and other Japan only computers! Thanks to the translators, and thanks to you, ABG, for showcasing it!

[@thereseclairecreates]

WOW I am legitimately blown away by how smooth the animations are and genuinely grotesque the scenes are and how scared and tense it all made me feel!

[@MathewSan_]

Great video 🔝👍

[@temporary67315]

That’s some good Japanese blast from the past! Thank you for this gift!

[@BULLHOGBEATS]

i thoroughly enjoyed this

[@AntipaladinPedigri]

1:22:05 damn, is this font bad. I thought the text said he was hacked instead of mocked.

[@tahlenri]

The font is fine....except for the M. I see the tiny dip that makes it an M but it's so tiny it may as well not be there. What a terrible design for a letter!

[@KenTails]

I kinda like tne style of tnis font personally (it's nice and spooky n stuff), but yean it's nard to read for sure!Lowercase l kinda looks like t, and n looks too nucn like n.

[@AntipaladinPedigri]

Don't forget the n that looks like D

[@BebehCookieIcecream]

Amazing stuff for a game so old. It really gripped me

[@kittybuns1226]

Do you know there was a man in Haiti that was thought to be dead but was alive because of a voodoo doctor. The voodoo doctor used a poison made from pufferfish and used the man as a slave. He told his sister from the time that his slave master died and he escaped.

[@brockly7916]

THANK YOU FOR THE GOLDMINE OF ROMS

[@jordanmatthew6315]

Oh hell yea, this was my fav on the lets plays. :D

[@gelzamangitzaman1482]

Thx for the translation its a great game

[@AntipaladinPedigri]

44:58 "he was my best friend" Wasn't there something at the beginning about him blackmailing Cole into coming or else he'd tattle about him and Sheila cheating on some dude?

[@Jimov]

Haha exactly what I though!! 😂

[@joshuamohlman]

The music used for this game is so soothing yet catchy at the same time

[@julies3837]

I just found out there is a second game after this one.

[@karisu4598]

Oh man, this brings back memories!

[@CalacaRoja]

I really love the influence of George Romero's latest movie (1992) and Terminator II. The game has a second part with Alien involved, lol.

[@The_Novu]

11:11 "Stephen King" Lmao

[@Blue_Jasmin]

That robot design was pretty sick

[@maxpierce8414]

GOD DAM !!! ive been wanting to play this game for years

[@9Godslayer]

I'm glad Cole was able to calm Cathy down by holding her and _clearly did nothing else._

[@AlphaBetaGamer]

He's VERY good at hugging! :)

[@avalonjustin]

I don't know what you're talking about. He was just holding her, in bed, in her underwear😆

[@siege-79]

Love this ❤

[@bubblegumxo]

That finale...I didn’t think he'd actually **SPOILERS** Shove the grenade into his mouth where you clicked 😂. Damn this was more entertaining than I expected, I actually ended up watching it all. Did they ever make any other games like this?

[@chandranapier2259]

lol at the woman telling you that you’re a good person right after you cheat on your girlfriend with her. She does come back to save you later but still… yikes 😂

[@DD-cf2iv]

Lol what do you expect tho? She wanted to get funky with him during a zombie apocalypse. She wanted a man by her side after her boyfriend died.

[@chandranapier2259]

@@DD-cf2ivshe could have easily gotten another guy. I know, zombie apocalypse but guy is ultra shitty for not even mentioning he had a girlfriend who we see in the next scene getting assaulted. Takes two to cheat, even as everyone’s brains are getting eaten.

[@AntipaladinPedigri]

4:01 wow, so glad the cat didn't hurt you when he attacked, better revive him and have it happen all over again!

[@Shiggedy]

Oh, wow. I remember watching Slowbeef going through the code on the ROM for this years ago. He was working on replacing the original Japanese text with a translated English script. Is this the same project?

[@palchristianandersen9086]

First thing I thought of too, but it says it's by WINE in the name of the file.

[@jackdbs]

I asked Slowbeef if he was fine with it, and he said it was ok as he basically dropped the project three years ago.

[@jameson7276]

why are m's and n's the same? Clearly inspired by Reanimator, also. Very cool.

[@xxuberxjasonxx3456]

I'm ultimately astonished that they've never forgotten that game at all

[@SuperMiIk]

Oh i need this

[@m0-m0597]

The art is fantastic

[@solarprophet5439]

The only proper response to an officer asking to come in is, "Not without a warrant." The police are NOT your friends. Be polite, be respectful, but do NOT let them in. Don't even answer the door or talk to them at all, if you can help it. Sucks that it's come to that, but that's the world we live in now. If they'd done that, none of this would've happened. Just saying.

[@frankfrankerson782]

If only the doctor simply said "Sorry officer, no step on snek" and didn't allow him in.

[@Krystalmyth]

PC-98 is a treasure trove of games so many can't even touch due to a language barrier...

[@mattkrovic2909]

Totally cool!! Sweet!!!

[@petitemasque5784]

It was so obscure that inspired Resident Evil and especially RE2 along with Alone in the Dark. Mikami looks more and more like a hack.

[@AntipaladinPedigri]

56:38 "your hentai state" I hate this font.

[@pianicata4]

1:15:57 i noticed that if you refuse to take her with you,you will get buggy texts at doc's house and you wont proceed further at any way

[@RagnarokAvatar]

Can't wait for the sequel to get an english translation

[@AntipaladinPedigri]

18:37 there are bloodstains on the carpet. We're going to check if Annie is okay. She's been bit by, she's been struck by a smoothie criminal

[@WolfyFancyLads]

Game: This is a zombie game! Death! Rapey bandits! Zombies! Blood! Horror! Also this game: 1:32:34 Comical chase scene!

[@Acesahn]

What a crazy game! I love the art.

[@Mrjacharles]

Dang this looks stylish ... also sick beats! :D

[@potterinhe11]

I feel like the reason the Cops Dioloug was solowed down is because he's a forener.

[@zerosdeath]

Where is the best/safe place to get Neko Project 21?

[@datemasamune2904]

I never expected to actually see an actual old game here.

[@remembernavarro5344]

Makes me think of World of Horror, wonder if this was an inspiration.

[@AngelCopout]

This game was in a PC98 pack I downloaded a fww years back. Love the translation efforts especially for such an underrated system but I think I'm gonna force myself to play in JP if I pick it up again to practice my vocab.

[@markusbenyamindiredja4174]

I wish someone could change the fonts for the dialog. Barely could tell between "h" and "m".

[@fetus1686]

such good intro

[@amiableapparition]

Oh fun! I played this a while back. Its a short but funny romp. The animation is killer. Hope they translate the sequel someday! By the way is this a new patch that has censored pixelart? I streamed this and had a lot of oops moments where I had to cover up pixel boobs throughout my playthrough. My version was older.

[@bubblegumxo]

It indeed was edited somehow as someone just posted a video of this uncensored.

[@amiableapparition]

@@bubblegumxo oh well props on the editing! I guess they took the in game cgs and edited them then put them back in. 🤔 I saw the font was different too so, didn't know how much was on their end

[@mrcreepypastaigotapastatop4461]

I wish they remaster this game make it more scarier and amazing like this one.Give them great ideas and constructive criticism.

[@fideliodoom]

11:10 Stephen King’s name on the grave 🪦

[@teknomax7883]

Did I just witness the zombie of frikkin Stephen King start a zombie apocalypse?? (Pay attention to the tombstone at the beginning)

[@Saku19]

Anyone have any recommendations for games like this?

[@gusteau8433]

NOW that is a game!

[@Parasiteve]

One of my favs

[@avalonjustin]

Weird game, not the genre I'd expect to be in a point-and-click adventure! Thanks for the video!

[@frankfrankerson782]

PC-98 games always have such interesting art.

[@SeanMcGehee]

The music is astounding! Also door knocking is my least favorite sound in the world

[@fluffymilkpudding]

DAMN, CATHY

[@AntiSerpent]

*HAI ALPHA! :3*

[@AlphaBetaGamer]

HAI SHAUN! :)

[@m0-m0597]

NO THIS IS PATRICK

[@MrLego3160]

love them pixels. pc98 style is still beautiful.

[@TPkarov]

PC-98 world is so wonderful ❤😊

[@ungabungus01]

Here's what I don't get Spoilers Was ghoul a zombie with a metal shell and fake skin or just a terminator? Seems like that was lost in translation, the way he spoke it sounded like he was a zombie but he's definitely a snatcher or terminator from the looks of it.

[@JohnCharb87]

11:27 It seems like Stephen King career died in this timeline. Or any videogame concepts involving his works are dead and buried.

[@damonstuart6821]

They hade a good choice of font here, hagnificent

[@ninjab33z]

Im only 3 minutes in and, while im enjoying it, i have to mention how annoying the font is for m. I keep reading it as n and having to double check!

[@Wnick1996]

I'm glad that such an old game is given this much love. This just screams J-horror

[@Jimov]

It might just be a "lost in translation thing" but the script is so goofy at times 😂 And how the hell does Cole think the professor is a friend? He literally blackmails him at the beginning!! 😅 Some friend.

[@tommylakindasorta3068]

Seems like Cole is a bit "dead of the brain" himself.

[@LunalovaniaGaming]

This game goes from 0 to 100 so fast lmao. 😂✌️🤝✨️

[@matosz23]

Japan really is good at making horror. Ghosts, demons, bizarre stuff, unit 731.

[@SuperMiIk]

No one ever wants to talk about that last one

[@Noperare]

Nanjing 1937

[@georgeofhamilton]

Bataan 1942

[@udnmo9274]

そういえば64天安門を話したがらない国があった気がする

[@ungabungus01]

​@@udnmo9274based also

[@vurhn2009]

I watched this long ago on a KZbin channel by NintendoComplete, very nice game.

[@chetbaker83]

@AlfaBetaGamer, did you mean to write "31 YearS old videogame" ? The "S" is just missing. ☺😓

[@AlphaBetaGamer]

Hi! No, "31 Year old videogame" is correct. No "S" is required.

[@chetbaker83]

@@AlphaBetaGamer you mean this is the original title and the Japanese author wrote it in an incorrect English? Why do you say it is correct? I'd really like to know the reason. At least I'd learn something new, since I'm not an English native speaker. PS: Now I now why the way you wrote it it's correct, I just studied the grammar for this case. So I'm sorry, I didn't know this grammar rule, which appears to be a non-sense to me. Anyway, since it a rule, we don't question it, right? 😊

[@swaynemaster101]

pretty sick game, I like it