About the Game

Developed by Natsume during a period of high-quality NES productions, this level-based title is known for its technical sophistication. Notable features include the use of parallax scrolling in the second room—a feat often considered beyond the standard capabilities of the NES—complete with transparent shadow effects layered over the background.

The game is based on the shounen manga by Osamu Tezuka. The story follows Sharaku, a boy whose personality shifts from mild-mannered to aggressive when the bandage covering his third eye is removed. Gameplay mechanics revolve around a summonable spear used for combat and platforming, while enemies attempt to hinder progress by re-applying bandages to Sharaku’s eye.

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Translation Team

• Mansour – Lead translation, font design, title screen design/conversion, and RTL text flow programming.

• R-K – Text and image insertion, title screen decompression, tile map modifications, programming, and additional graphics.

• Stardust Crusaders – The original English translation, which served as the foundation for this Arabic project.

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Technical Features

• Restored Content: The game contains unused scene text likely intended for levels cut during original development. These segments were restored and appended to the endings of existing levels. The game engine was reprogrammed to support six lines of text per scene to accommodate the expanded narrative.

• Right-to-Left Support: A global programming solution was implemented to reverse all in-game text for right-to-left (RTL) flow, replacing the original per-box text rendering system.

• Compression Analysis: The title screen utilized a tile map compressed in RLE format. Through analysis using the Mesen emulator, it was determined that the compression used two specific byte types: (70) for repeating values and (71) for ascending numerical sequences. This discovery enabled the modification of the title screen and other compressed assets, allowing for the insertion of a custom Arabic Ruq’ah script title.

• Multiple Variations: The project includes three distinct variations: a version using Eastern Arabic numerals, a “Spacetoon style” version featuring cultural adaptations, and a direct translation faithful to the original source material.