How Long Have We Waited For This Moment?
The Nintendo Chinese Localization Chronicle of Sorrows and Joys

--Celebrating Pokémon Sun/Moon's Same-Day T.& S. Chinese Release on the Nintendo 3DS With Happy Tears!

 Six years ago, I still wrote long articles about Pokémon.

 The Chinese localization for Pokémon Sun/Moon was officially announced on the night of Feb 26th, 2016. During that night, Weibo was filled with retweet giveaway posts, which had in fact buried this article in the fireworks of celebration. I knew that because the reader count was far lower than expected. Since everyone was retweeting giveaways during that festive occassion, this article, written 2 months in advance, was buried away from public view.

 I hope it's no big deal bring it up now, but it had already been an open secret among the "media people" that Pokémon Sun/Moon would come with Chinese support, and we have all prepared celebratory articles in advance. As this 15-thousand word article was published immediately after the official annoucement of Chinese support, it was clearly well finished prior, obvious enough for everyone.

 However, my "celebratory" article was more of a summary of Nintendo's Chinese localization history. It might have been a bit out of place for the festive mood, but in retrospect, I still think it was some decent work.

 A chronicle, of Nintendo's Chinese localization, and of the whole game industry's Chinese localization. A lot of the exact dates in this article are probably difficult to pin down, so this article also served as a good archive of all the time points I pinned down after doing lots of research.

 I never write articles for clicks or money. I just want to use my keyboard to record the history I wanted to documented.

 A major event such as Pokémon's Chinese localization is definitely worth recording, and this article is my answer.

 This article was originally published on the "种草神机" headline.

 I hereby represent you this article, remastered and unmodified

How Long Have We Waited For This Moment?
The Nintendo Chinese Localization Chronicle of Sorrows and Joys

--Celebrating Pokémon Sun/Moon's Same-Day T.& S. Chinese Release on the Nintendo 3DS With Happy Tears!

 The latest titles of the Pokémon series, Pokémon Sun/Moon for the Nintendo 3DS, have been announced with Simplified and Traditional Chinese support. Games that "supported seven languages and not Chinese" are now officially a thing of the past. The day we have long waited for has finally arrived!

 But why is everyone so excited today?
 Some may wonder, what's the big deal with just one handheld game now with Chinese support?
 For Nintendo gamers or Pokémon fans, this extraordinary excitement is nothing short of heartfelt.
 Because...
 We have waited too long for this moment! Who are "we", you ask? The gamers, the market, and Nintendo themselves, every one is waiting for this day to come!
 The day has come too late, but it's better late than never. Nintendo did not forget about us, and nor did Pocket Monsters. Oh, we should not call it by the old name "口袋妖怪" anymore. Please remember the one new name for the Pokémon franchise in the Chinese language region: "精灵宝可梦"!

 "精灵宝可梦" has been confirmed as the official name for Pokémon in Mainland China as early as 2009, and was already being popularized in the manga, anime, and merchandise markets. "宝可梦", the transliteration of Pokémon, signals the hope of The Pokémon Company wanting to unify localizations around the world. "神奇宝贝" [Taiwan], "宠物小精灵" [Hong Kong], and "口袋妖怪" [China] were all names used by early distributors or fan translations. The Pokémon franchise is working on unifiying global localizations, just like how the Doraemon franchise did. Very few people still use the outdated "机器猫" or "小叮当" localization and most all use the official name "哆啦A梦". I am certain that the name "精灵宝可梦" will also be gradually accepted by the players, because that will be the only name official Chinese localizations are presented in.

 Today, China's console game industry has been vastly different from before. We now live in an era after Microsoft and Sony released their official China consoles in succesion and large amounts of Chinese localizations came one after another. Games with Chinese support for the first time or on the same day are no longer breaking news but the norm. So for the very first time, gamers from China no longer felt themselves as second-class citizens on the video game market. However, at the same time, Nintendo, the earliest pioneer of exploring the Chinese market, has quit halfway, with its inaction disappointing lots of Nintendo fans and Microsoft and Sony earned large revenues in the Chinese market.
 The moment of utmost disappointment is the moment for a total counter strike. The awkward situation that has lasted for 2 or 3 years has finally been shattered today in one blow. Nintendo finally took this difficult yet exciting first step as well!
 Perhaps some gamers may have only remembered some conclusive statements such as Nintendo "supported seven languages and not Chinese" or that "Nintendo has abandoned the Chinese gamers". However, there is no conclusion on this planet that gets solidified in a single day. All of these statements only became the gamers' consensus after having gone through many sorrowful and joyful stories.
 Why are our support so firm? How long have we waited for? What have we been through? It all goes back to that day...

 【注意】『Pokémon X・Y』的遊戲語言可從日文、英文、意大利文、西班牙文、法文、德文、韓文7種語言中選擇。繁體中文不包含在内，敬請見諒。
 [Notice] "Pokémon X/Y" game language can be chosen from these 7 languages: Japanese, English, Italian, Spanish, French, German and Korean. We apologize that Traditional Chinese is not included.
 Source

 June 18th, 2013, a day gamers in China could never forget. It was the day when Nintendo Hong Kong made live the offcial website for Pokémon X/Y in Hong Kong, with the slogal "To a New Dimension", and a detailed introduction of the games. However, the bottom of the page read: "Pokémon X/Y includes 7 languages, Traditional Chinese not included." A Nintendo official website announcing "Chinese not included" in Chinese stirred up huge dissatisfaction among gamers in China.
 If something similar were to have happened in year 2000, there wouldn't have been that strong of a discontent among gamers. The fact that Pokémon X/Y's "7 language" went under heavy fire and even became a laughing stock was because it happened during a very particular time in history.
 What has happened throughout all these years? To understand that, we would need to revisit the whole journey from the very start. This journey, in my opinion, is a shared memory of many who were cheering and celebrating today:

·1983

 Video game consoles were starting to be widely recognized by the Chinese, with the 1993 "Subor Education System" becoming the introduction into the world of console gaming for a large number of gamers today. In this early stage, there were almost no concepts about genuine and pirated copies,as most people are gaming on multicarts and clone consoles. There were also almost no ideas of gaming in Chinese, with the exception of a few custom Chinese language cartridges made by local bootleggers, without any licencing from the original developers. During that time, video games in the Chinese language only came by chance, and weren't something people could really ask for. Therefore, there were seldom demands from people asking from games in Chinese.
 In later years, the handhelds GameBoy and GameBoy Color went into the market, and home consoles like the Mega Drive and the PlayStation gained popularity in China. While the GameBoy had an official distributor in China, Mani, few gamers really cared about it. The average GameBoy user owned less than one copy of genuine software, and it was a common phenomenon that hardware sold and software didn't. Other game consoles were completely sold as grey market imports, with lots of gamers but almost none falling into the scope the original developers.

 This was a peculiar era when genuine games are not playable in Chinese, and Chinese translations were not avaliable in genuine form. This effectively meant that "Gaming in Chinese" and "gaming with genuine copy" became contradictory concepts. Genuine copies were still collector items for higher-level gamers, with the average gamer not even having a channel to buy these games. At the time, gamers who purchased a bootlegger translation often cherished the cartridge thinking it were a genuine copy. Considering what the average gamer knew at the time, it was very natural for gamers to treat a bootlegger translation cartridge as genuine, to the extent that a lot of them became very disappointed after they later learned their treasured collection was just a bootleg.

·Late 2003

 This was a very important year for the Chinese video game market: Both Nintendo and Sony made their official debut into China. Spoiler alert, they all failed in the end.
 Nintendo had ended their contact with former distributor Mani in Mainland China for selling only hardware and no software as well as condoning piracy. In its place, Nintendo cooperated with the newly-founded iQue, and released a special China edition of the Nintendo 64--the "iQue Player" The iQue Player library included all of the major first party N64 titles, with many of them being masterpieces with large amount of text, and genuine games were sold at low prices. Sony's China edition PlayStation 2 was up to speed with the rest of the world, with exclusive games and physical editions of many masterpieces, with collaboration from third parties as well.

 Then why did they fail? Aside from the console ban and the resulting censorship issues leading to a lacking and slow release game library, iQue Player's dropping the physical media and having a purchase method too "ahead of its time" meant its library was difficult to access. In the earliest days, gamers can only purchase games at certain retail stores. iQue did added support to buy directly over the internet at home, the system was still too complex for the average gamer to operate. Buying a points card and downloading games from a server has become common today, but for gamers in China in the year 2003, it was mission impossible. As for Sony's PlayStation 2, it was entirely region locked, meaning that players were restricted to the Chinese library with an unpredictable future. Considering that modded PS2 console were much cheaper on the market at the time, the reason for PS2 China model's flop was crystal clear.
 This was the first time gamers in China had access to mainstream Chinese localizations officially released in China. Sony's plan flopped quickly, and Nintendo's iQue barely scraped by after their second year, thanks to the firm decision to release the China edition GameBoy Advance (小神游). How did the China edition GBA become a success? The true reason was it was a region free consoles that plays all genuine and pirated games, including a large number of unofficial Chinese translations.

·2003-2011

 This was the era when China's video game industry fumbled through the grey market.
 Nintendo's official Chinese presense, iQue, still existed in theory and continued to provide the market with large amounts of China edition haldhelds. The software library, however, had less than 10 games per era and sold very poorly. "Hardware sells, software does not sell" was also an accurate summary for the official Chinese presense of video game consoles. This was the case with handhelds like the GameBoy Advance and Nintendo DS, as Nintendo's home consoles disappeared entirely from China after the iQue Player, and neither Sony and Microsoft continued to have official China releases on paper and their products only circulated as imports.

 Thus came into being the huge unregulated video game import market. Game software were provided without guarantee or Chinese support, and consoles had no warranty. Gamers were also used to flashcarts and both software and hardware console modding. When Kazuo Hirai visited a video game store in China, the shopowner showed him how to mod a PlayStation Portable right at the counter, opening his knowledge to a brand new world. During that period, genuine games were still only purchased by very few hardcore fans, and most pirates could not imaginge that one day they would also become regular buyers of genuine software.

·Feb 26th, 2011

 The Nintendo 3DS was released in Japan, with the European and American releases coming soon after. Meanwhile, iQue's official website was still stuck with advertising their original DSiWare The Sea Hare.

·Dec 17th, 2011

 Sony's PlayStation Vita was released in Japan, signaling the start of the next generation handheld wars. The PSV had few games in Chinese at the time.
 During that period, both the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita had a few official Chinese language releases. Most of these were officially released in Taiwan, and gamers in China were able to play them via imports. The Chinese language library wasn't huge, but there were major titles like Persona 4 Golden. Nonetheless, games from this period were still mainly in other languages, with only a few of them available in Chinese.

·Sept 28th, 2012

 The Nintendo 3DS was officially released in Hong Kong. Five Chinese language releases were announced, including major text-heavy RPG titles and third party games. This was a great excitement for gamers in China, but with many already owning a Japanese or American 3DS with a sizable library, the region lock policy would have denied them access to the new Chinese language releases. Buying a new HongKonger unit, however, would meant relying on an unpredicatble library size. These issues eventually lead to the commercial flop of those few Chinese titles.

·Dec 5th, 2012

 The iQue 3DS XL was officially released in China, bundled with two digital titles. These two games were the only 3DS titles ever officially released in China. To avoid dealing with a lacking of distribution channels or the hassles of game approval, Nintendo decided to use a workaround, by putting Simplified Chinese localization in Hong Kong/Taiwan cartridges, officially selling them in those regions and getting them back into Mainland China via imports. These cartridges play in Simplified Chinese on the iQue 3DS XL and thus circumvent both game approval and publishing issues.

 As an unofficial workaround, these methods were not to be advertised on official websites, and had only been circulated among a small group of gamers, meaning that Nintendo's efforts were not enjoyed by many. However, it's undeniable that those were the years with the best Chinese language 3DS lineups.
 From late 2012 to mid 2013, there was almost one Chinese language release per month, with most of them also available in Simplified Chinese. This steady pace of Chinese releases lead to rumors saying that Nintendo really had a plan in action by releasing all the neccesary Chinese titles, wait for the wind of change (Console Ban Lifted), then officially market those games in China. This was Nintendo's impression on people at the time when Pokémon X & Y went onto the stage.

·January 8th, 2013

 Pokémon X & Y were officially announced on Nintendo Direct, with a simultaneous release in six languages. People always said the game was playable in seven languages, but X & Y were only shown to support six when they were first announced.

 Gamers were very happy about the annoucement, and their excitement still left a vivid impression on me. However, there were also words of criticism: Why not in Chinese? To be frank, at the time players did not expected the luxury of having Chinese language support, considering that the Pokémon series were never available in Chinese prior, so it would be impossible to have a same-day Chinese release at once. Not to mention, all of the Nintendo DS Pokémon games were available in Korean, which is not announced for X & Y. Therefore, it is very likely that the Chinese and Korean versions would be released some time after the global version, which is expected as things often start off rough.
 At the time, Nintendo HK already had some Chinese releases, but the numbers were limited as things were just starting. Thus, even with Chinese language not announced as part of the global launch languages, players would still know that they have been asking for too much even when they voiced their dissatisfaction.

·June 12th, 2013

 6 months after the announcement of Pokémon X & Y. Nintendo Korea announced on that day that the games would also support Korean, turning the sextuple language release into a septuple language release.

 This information brought excitement to the Chinese gamers, as the addition of a new language after the six languange annoucement on Nintendo Direct would mean that additional Chinese support may have been a possibility.
 At the same time, Nintendo HK were marketing the Chinese version of New Super Mario Bros. 2, and has already announced the July Chinese language release of two text heavy games, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon and Brain Age: Concentration Training. Everything seemed to be progressing in a positive direction. However...

·June 18th, 2013

 Nintendo Hong Kong announced the game as "7 languages, Chinese not included", the moment of dispair I mentioned at the start. This announcement threw gamers in China down into the dumps. Since then, "7 languages, Chinese not included" became a consensus of how Nintendo treated the Chinese market, and to some extent, a source of ridicule as well.

 Simultaenous Worldwide Launch! (Excluding some regions). It wasn't something that needed to be spelled out, but the fact it did put China explicitly in the scope of "some regions", greatly angering the gamers in China.
 The gamers have gone from dispair (Announced with six languages without Chinese)--to joy (Korean support announced, Chinese support possible)--to dispair again (Released with seven languages without Chinese)
 I'm certain that the Chinese gamers back then have all personally experienced the huge crapstorm surrounding this incident. Gamers who have strong faith that Nintendo had not given up on China and would add future Chinese support clashed with gamers who believed Nintendo had made it clear to abandon China. Eventually, everyone had to face the music and continue gaming in Japanese or English as they did before, or waiting for fan translation mods that would come out god knows when.

·Summer 2013

 The 3DS was cracked with the release of a certain flashcart [Gateway] , dealing the greatest blow on the sales of genuine 3DS software in China. The awareness of genuine software usage since the 3DS era again fell into a deadlock.
 It's hard to say if they were causually related, but Nintendo also happened to halt the development of Chinese language releases. The last physical Chinese release was Paper Mario: Sticker Stars in December [2013] , which was already finished in summer. The last first-party Chinese release was Pushmo in early 2014 (copyrighted in 2013). No Chinese language games were released from Nintendo ever since. The start of 3DS piracy aligned exactly when Nintendo stopped making Chinese games.

·December 21st, 2013

 China officially announced the lifting of the Console Ban.
 The 13-year-long Console Ban had nearly destroyed China's video game industry and gave rise to a very dark and grim market. With the console ban lifted with the founding of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, has hope finally come?
 At that time, the "7 languages" Pokémon X/Y have already released, with little concern from the gamers. Everyone was used to the fact that genuine copies of Pokémon were never available in Chinese. Gamers also accepted the fact that Pokémon X/Y might have been released too soon for Chinese support, and that the policy in China did not allow such games to releases, so they expected Chinese to be added alongside the existing 7 languages starting from the next generation.

·May 7th, 2014

 Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire, the remasters of the GBA titles, were announced. The details of language support were not yet announced at the time, so some Chinese gamers had a sliver of hope that Chinese would be added to these games. However...

·July 25th, 2014

 Nintendo HK made the same annoucenment as last time: "Pokémon Omega Ruby" and "Pokémon Alpha Sapphire" would play in 7 languages excluding Chinese.

 The gamers were both surprised and calm at the time.
 They were surprised because there was still no Chinese even with the console ban lifted and both Sony/Microsoft churning out games in Chinese.
 They were calm because Nintendo HK was radio silent for 6 months and iQue went missing entirely, so it was expected to not see any Chinese support. 平静：香港任天堂长达半年的失声，神游更是毫无踪影，没有中文是意料之中的。
  在既定事实面前，一些不服输的玩家决定向官方表达出自己的态度：

  震惊游戏界的举动——“7+1”请愿，在2014年暑假期间开始上演。中国玩家自发组织的“口袋妖怪7+1请愿”活动一经提出就席卷了游戏界，一场声势浩大的活动就这样开始了。

·2014年7月底

  美国将在8月举办官方锦标赛，有玩家提议利用这个机会向增田顺一、石原恒和表达出中国玩家对中文版游戏的愿望。此时正好是香港任天堂宣布《红蓝宝石》依旧七国语言的时机，国内玩家情绪非常高涨，仅两周时间就自发完成了请愿书的撰写和版面设计，并翻译为日文、英文，提出了相关诉求，简要分析了支持中文化的客观因素和对PM官方的商业价值。

  此外，相关网站也应声上线（http://makeawish.52poke.net/zh-hans） ，不少玩家通过绘画作品、拍摄游戏主机和游戏照片、留言等方式表达了Pokémon系列游戏增加中文的心愿，也有许多海外Pokémon爱好者表达了希望有更广泛的玩家接触Pokémon、与之享受一同联机乐趣的希望。

·2014年8月18日

  即美国当地时间8月17日。
  请愿书成功递交到增田顺一和石原恒和手中。二位表示会认真阅读请愿书，并浏览请愿专题站点的内容。石原恒和还写下了对华语地区玩家的祝福「ポケモンを好きになってくれて、ありがとう!!」（感谢你们喜欢Pokémon!!）。

  请愿事件当时在许多媒体都引起强烈反响，不乏日本国内的游戏媒体。
  Asia Popculture Today 网络杂志社此后对请愿团队进行了采访，并确认已经与日本The Pokémon Company 总部进行了沟通，收到了官方关于请愿活动的书面访谈反馈。官方透过媒体表示，粉丝的热情让人非常感动，整个公司作为整体关注着请愿的网站，请愿书也作为研讨资料而妥善保管，并且给相关部门看过了。此外，日本著名的游戏类资讯网站inside-games也撰文报道了请愿事件，可以说在国外也受到了很大重视。
  迄今为止，请愿网站统计共有25286名玩家在网站上表达了心意。

·2014年9月29日

  Xbox One国行发售。由于锁区，国行X1遭遇了和当年神游机同样的待遇——严重缺乏游戏支持。由于网络的发展，玩家更容易表达出自己的心情，外加Xbox One作为首个自贸区国行主机受到了更高的期待，因此遭遇的骂声就更大。虽然一年后默默取消了锁区，但其口碑上的损失已经难以挽回。
  尽管如此，国行X1为正规的中国游戏市场的开拓做了排头兵，也客观上带动了大量游戏厂商开始重视中国市场。尽管大部分游戏都是在海外版中内置了中文而非真的在国内审批发售，但玩家确实玩到了越来越多的中文游戏，制作商和玩家逐渐建立了互赢的信赖关系。

·2014年10月24日

  “请愿视频”正式发表，在优酷、Bilibili等视频网站传播，此后又在YouTube发布了海外版。

  这个视频并没有和其他同类视频一样，长篇大论地讲解中国游戏市场、玩家心态的变化等枯燥内容，而是非常感性地以由于没有中文而导致玩家越来越少，最后孤单的玩家找不到人一起玩这种非常特殊的视角来袒露心扉。这是每一个玩家都切身感觉到的变化，在游戏面前，没有正盗之争，什么都没有，就事论事地看游戏本身，没有中文让玩家倍感孤独。

  请愿迄今共计约18万点击量。其中，Bilibili点击量14.7万，优酷2.1万。海外版Bilibili版0.9万，YouTube版0.2万。不包含转载版。

·2014年12月29日

  “国行PS4被举报”事件。
  索尼国行发售在即，一些看热闹不嫌事大的玩家实名向文化局举报PS4不锁区，引起轩然大波。很快，索尼中国官方微博宣布原定于2015年1月11日发售的国行PS4、PSV推迟发售。
  这个举报事件本身并不一定就是延期的原因，但这件事爆发之后，全国玩家努力维护来之不易的游戏市场那种众志成城的感觉，是此前从来没有见过的。
  在相当长时间内，盗版玩家、正版玩家都是长期对峙，各执一词，各取所取，甚至在一些领域盗版完全在气势上压过了正版。但是从这次事件开始，特别是此前经历了多次国行挫折，与此同时中文游戏刚刚有所起色、国行主机也正在排除万难之际，第一次出现了大规模的维护国行、维护正版市场的集体意识。

·2015年3月20日

  索尼国行PS4、PS Vita上市。尽管国行PS也有一些问题，但总的来说并不影响手持各种版本主机的玩家都玩到中文游戏。此后越来越多的游戏宣布了中文化，主机游戏有中文版已经成为新常态。

·2015-2016

  中文游戏极大壮大。多次台湾游戏展会，一批又一批的游戏宣布首次制作中文版，甚至与日文同步。无论是大制作的3A游戏，还是粉丝向的小众，或是初出茅庐的独立游戏，可供选择的中文游戏越来越多，其中有一部分游戏甚至中文版销量在日本之上，让制作人专程来华语地区向玩家致谢。

  截止今天，据统计港服PS4共有中文游戏114个，港服PSV有115个，PS3有106个。去掉其中多平台重复的，也各有100个左右，其中虽然有许多小游戏，但更是不乏高质量、高文本量的大作。
  形成鲜明对比的是，任天堂的港版3DS毫无生气。港版中文游戏一共只有23个（包含免费游戏），其中中文实体只有14个,大多集中在2013年底之前。此后港版3DS基本都是日文、英文交替出，非常尴尬。至于中文版WiiU？玩家已经放弃了对这件事的畅想。

·2015年3月17日

  DeNA与任天堂联合发布会。公布了任天堂的手游计划和下一代游戏机NX。

  它们会有中文吗？这是中国一直玩家关心的问题。特别是DeNA，长期在中国有本土化业务，许多玩家猜测至少手机游戏能保证能被DeNA带入中国。

·2015年7月10日

  “精灵宝可梦中国大陆地区正式名称发布会”在上海召开，重申了“精灵宝可梦”是Pokémon在中国大陆的正式官方名称。

  尽管这次发布会主要关于动画版、剧场版的相关宣传，但官方兴师动众地专门为“精灵宝可梦”这个名字开发布会，明显是官方有意昭示天下译名的正统性，以彰显宝可梦在中国业务彻底展开的决心，促进玩家尽快适应正版译名。

·2015年12月29日

  DeNA宣布，手机游戏《Miitomo》将包含8种语言，目标推广到超过100个国家。这是首次“八国语言”，但是当时并没有说是哪8个。由于此前“7+1”名声响亮，在加上这次是手游，属于非常容易出中文的平台，所以相当多玩家猜测，这次的第八个语言正是中文。

·2016年2月3日

  再次失望！《Miitomo》正式宣布八国语言没中文。许多玩家始料未及，都默许这次一定会有中文了，对任天堂大为失望。特别是，说就说了，任天堂还特意画了一张世界地图，来表示本作支持的国家，不包括中国。
  不过，也有不少玩家指出，这次官方明确说是“首批发售的国家”，即今后还会支持更多国家。更重要的是，本作后来证实与Facebook、Google+、Twitter有丰富的联动，因此其如果有中文版也不是简单的翻译文本就可以搞定的事，需要重新建立特别的绑定关系。因此，即使有中文版却无法跟上首发是可以解释的。

·2016年2月16日

  香港任天堂开通官方微信公共号！

  这是非常重大的信号，因为微信和其他通讯软件稍有不同的是，几乎就是面向中国内地玩家的，比微博的影响力要高得多。尽管刚成立的微信中依然只是推送几款港版英文游戏、日文游戏，但这幕后涌动的潜流似乎已经被玩家察觉到了。
  最值得注意的是，微信公共号的主体是神游。神游已经两年多没有任何公开的行为了，许多玩家甚至猜测神游已经面临关门，但这一刻，所有谣言都宣告失效，神游不仅健在，而且还做了微信公共号，似乎有大事要急着告诉大家。

·2016年2月17日

  再次失望。《Pokémon Go》手游也宣布首批只登陆日本、北美、欧洲，随后登陆亚洲等区域，并没有明言是否有中文版。由于这款游戏利用了地理位置服务技术，而这项技术在中国是有所限制的，所以目前还无法确认结局如何。

·2016年2月24日

  任天堂官方公开《Pokémon Direct》直面会，26日开播！香港任天堂微博和微信也同步更新了预告。

  这是香港任天堂建立微博后可以说首次主动的公开游戏预告，并且配上了繁体、简体两版宣传图。国内玩家都沸腾了，一时间似乎大家都懂了。这一天真的会到来吗？

·2016年2月26日

  失望，希望，失望，希望，更失望，更希望……终于迎来了绝地的大逆转，在玩家最失望、几乎放弃了希望的时候，突然像一剂兴奋剂一样，从天而降！

  这是“请愿”请来的吗？不能这么说。
  但是“请愿”没用吗？当然有用，请愿成为了任天堂突破阻力加入中文这项决定的一个重要催化筹码，可以说请愿事件在这个漫长的过程中扮演了“证据”的角色。“什么？你怀疑中国的口袋迷如何如何？那么请看证据。”
  当初策划和参与了“口袋妖怪7+1请愿活动”的爱好者们，谢谢你们！
  《精灵宝可梦·太阳/月亮》能有中文版，是整个市场、任天堂、玩家共同努力的结果，不是任何一个人的功劳，而是所有人的功劳。你，我，所有人，大家都是。所以请一同享受这来之不易的果实吧！
  请愿，是一个众志成城的过程。不管官方最终出了中文是不是请愿的结果，最终的结局是美好的。不，这不是结局，而是一个全新的开始。
  这就像一颗元气弹，每个玩家贡献出自己的一份力量，才造就了这一切。这里，贡献的力量远远不只是请愿书上的一个签名，而且是全国玩家一起携手建立起的中国市场。大家平时购买的每一张正版游戏、每一次对正规市场的宣传、每一次对其他中文游戏的大力支持、每一次对国行的关注、每一张依然爱着游戏的笑脸……都共同组成了一个从灰色泥沼中腾跃而起的极有前途的中国市场。
  每一颗心，都充满了希望，并且希望改变现状而付诸行动的每一个玩家，都是这次大事件的直接参与者和直接受益者。
  大家都是最棒的！

  游戏没有中文，是中国玩家最大的痛。
  自从中国人开始玩游戏以来，就一路伴随着破解、汉化、图文攻略、日中对照表、连蒙带猜……也让许多玩家自学日语、英语，来打破这个难以逾越的屏障，甚至许多玩家已经习惯了如此游戏，从而对期待中文的玩家抱有不解。
  随着国家游戏政策的开放，以及世界各大游戏厂商对中国市场的察觉，越来越多的游戏都有中文了。其中有的是确确实实在中国大陆出版国行的游戏，有的则是在水货游戏里内置了中文但也确确实实让中国玩家玩到了中文的游戏。不管是堂堂正正，还是绕道供应，中文游戏能在中国市场站住脚，一方面是因为中国玩家真的需要中文游戏，另一个非常重要的方面是，这些平台在一定程度上是不锁区的。
  即使你的PS4不是国行机，你也能玩到繁体中文的游戏，甚至还有很多简体中文游戏。所以开发商不用非得费尽心思的和有关部门大作战，去做国行游戏，直接把中文放在游戏里就是了，玩家照样玩得到。
  但是任天堂不行，3DS是锁区的。而且任天堂又是非常严格遵守规矩的厂商，把中文放在日文游戏卡带里然后让中国人买水货来玩？做不到。要做就堂堂正正在中国出单独的中文版，而这些游戏在中国市场最常见的日版机里又玩不到，因此陷入了死循环。最终，为了玩到更多更快的游戏，市场选择了日版机，也有一部分玩美版机，但反正不玩港版机，更别提国行神游。
  谁不想玩中文？谁偏要玩日文？如果中文版《塞尔达传说：时之笛3D》在日版机也能运行，那它的销量恐怕能x10都不止。但在锁区面前，这些都是空谈，并非所有玩家都会买多台3DS来玩多个区的游戏。岩田聪曾在股东提问中明确的表态“就我个人而言是希望能解除锁区的”，但这明显不是他说的算。
  美国玩家也曾举办过多次类似的请愿活动，美国任天堂雷吉·菲萨米曾多次公开表示“任天堂的业务并不会因为玩家的联名请愿而做出改动”。话说得非常无情，但至少也表达出在一定的历史时期内，任天堂还是以市场调研为基准，而不以情感为准。雷吉的名言“一万个署名不代表一万个销量”更是戳痛人心，令国外玩家倍感失望。后来，部分请愿游戏在美国发售，但美国任天堂在采访中依然坚称“这是市场决定的，并不是玩家呼吁一番就可以做出的决定”。
  那么，“口袋7+1请愿”梦想成真，其背后是否也是“市场的决定”呢？
  请愿事件任天堂已经知道了，我相信没有人的心肠会硬到看了这样的信、这样的视频、这样的一组组照片还毅然决然地和中国玩家作对。任天堂答应，股东都不答应。每年的财报大会，都会有股东质问任天堂什么时候开拓中国市场，已故社长岩田聪也只好无奈的闪烁其词，说时机成熟之时如何如何。
  岩田聪不想开拓吗？不可能，神游机进入中国的2003年正是岩田聪刚上任的时期，十几年前就对中国市场觊觎已久，怎么可能如此决绝？
  七国语言加中文，其阻力之大，可能远远不是我们可以想象的。增田顺一也好、聪哥也好、君岛达己也好、股东们也好，都希望这一天能早日到来。于是，真的到来了，聪哥地下有知也会开心的。
  增加中文的难度到底在哪里？翻译吗？
  笔者两年前采访中国发行商CIRCLE Ent. CEO时，他的回答非常具有参考意义。简而言之，日本的发行商是不会考虑日本以外的用户作何感想的，美国的发行商也不会考虑美国以外的用户，因此，对于他们的切身利益而言，额外增加成本去照顾他们赚不到钱的客户，做不到。除此之外，对于游戏程序而言，如果最开始游戏就只有一个语言，那么开发后期想增加语言切换是需要大量修改程序的，这部分成本他们肯定也不愿意付。就算是统筹考虑多个国家，也要保证从一开始就让游戏在多语言下开发。
  既然发行商不愿意投入额外的成本去考虑服务范围以外的中国玩家，那么想解决这个难题有两个途径：
  1、在中国发行，这下中国的发行商总会考虑中国玩家了吧？
  2、从一开始就考虑内置多国语言，而不是中途加语言，增加成本。
  很显然，口袋选择了第二个方式。
  这是从口袋XY就开始的方式，游戏从一开始就决定内置多个语言转换。这并不是新鲜的工作模式，欧美游戏大厂早就这样了，所谓“全球工作室”，游戏从一开始就是各种语言一起做，一起发，不存在先做好一个语言然后其他国家拿过去翻译的事，所以也就实现了全球同步发售的结果。
  这下就很明朗了。XY和红蓝，从一开始就没有考虑中文，所以就算后来请愿也好、市场也好，需要游戏加入中文，也加不进去了，最终稳定了“七国语言”的局面。
  但是这次呢？“太阳/月亮”加入了中文，说明从游戏“开发之初”就决定了中文。既然如此，说明在“开发之初”之前，制作方就已经开始讨论中文版的必要性了，而那样的时间点，正好是中国游戏市场蓬勃发展的关键期。
  这期间，中国市场开始逐步从盗版走向正版、汉化走向官中，越来越多的游戏同步中文，甚至有的游戏中文版销量高于日文版。STEAM等平台的快速发展让玩家越来越乐于购买正版游戏，让正版游戏不再是“昂贵、难以购买、没有中文”的收藏品，而变为玩家自然而然的行为。这个市场变化任天堂不可能看不见，所以任天堂用《口袋妖怪》来作为任天堂在中国市场沉寂一段时间后，厚积薄发的起点，重新进军中国市场。“请愿”只是为这个滚动的石头再用力推了一把，市场格局的转化是整个推力的主导。
  这一天迟早会到来，只是比预期的稍晚了一些，但最终还是如约而至。
  他这次真的选对了游戏。
  过去的任天堂在开拓中国市场的时候，很难说进行了深入的调研，始终用对应外国人的思路看待中国人，所以每次的排头兵都是马里奥。
  一方面国内玩家对马里奥的爱戴并没有外国那样热衷，另一方面马里奥事实上属于不太依赖中文的游戏。过去的任天堂意识不到这一点，所以每次首发的马里奥国行游戏都不受欢迎，就误以为中国人不买账。
  这次，明显是有备而来，看准了中国玩家平时骂得最凶、最没指望玩到中文、而又确确实实潜在市场大到可怕的游戏——口袋妖怪——来重返中国。很可能这一战将决定未来任天堂对中国市场实力的看法。
  此时不买买买，更待何时？这次买了，以后才有的买！
  有国行3DS、港版3DS的，都来买港版，这是让任天堂见识中国玩家市场最直接的方式。可惜这两种在国内的占有率太低了，大多玩家还是日版机或美版机，希望大家贡献的销量不要被算到日本市场里啊！希望任天堂能通过观察所选语言来统计玩家人数，避免中国玩家被误以为是日本的。
  对了，别忘了有一个东西叫“港行日版”！这是香港任天堂在近两年新开发的概念，也就是在香港台湾发售的日版（运行在日版机）的香港行货游戏，也就是平时常说的“日版游戏+中文说明书”。这类游戏，价格低廉，也与中国玩家最普遍的日版3DS掌机相匹配，最重要的是这部分销量会被统计到港版市场中，而不会被放进日版市场数据里。这是非常重要的，请让日本任天堂切实看到中国玩家的行动！
  此外，3DS是可以发表Miiverse的！

  用HOME暂停游戏后，点击下屏幕右上角的Miiverse图标就可以发表截图和感言、涂鸦等！这是非常少见的日版卡里带中文的游戏，是可以合法地在外服Miiverse社区发截图的！都去那里把中文游戏截图发上去吧，这是太难得的一次直接面向官方表态的机会。
  这次的游戏实在太过难得，作为表态也好，作为收藏也好，购买一张正版游戏并不麻烦。许多玩家可能都已经破解，准备玩盗版ROM。如果说从前任天堂没有拿出足够好、足够快的中文游戏，让玩家“不得不”玩盗版的话，还算有个借口，但是这次是真没有任何借口玩盗版了。
  无论你手里是日版机、美版机、港版机、神游机，都能玩到中文的游戏，而且是全球同步，不用等汉化，全套官方正版服务，翻译品质都是官方认证，即便这样还依然要玩盗版的，你是真·没有借口了。
  这是来自任天堂亲自制作的中文游戏，相信玩过任天堂官中游戏的玩家都知道官方的水准。也许你对“精灵宝可梦”这五个字心存芥蒂，但这真的很重要吗？
  如今，3DS已经不可避免地进入了生命周期的中后期，任天堂NX已经蓄势待发，今年内就会对外公开。对此，我个人认为这次的口袋中文仅仅是一块敲门砖，是一个信号弹，是一个排头兵，是一次翻译、宣传、合作的大练兵。在3DS已经完全破解的今天，如果真的正版游戏销量不足预期，也足够为下一世代的口碑打好了基础。
  何况，现在手游横行的今天，依然在玩3DS的玩家相比都是玩家中的忠实客户，大家从内心深处都是希望这个市场越来越好而不是走向消亡。压抑了这么多年的怒火，我相信这次内置了中文的《精灵宝可梦·太阳/月亮》不会在销售成绩上让人失望的。
  任天堂经过在中国市场20多年的摸爬滚打，从一开始“万信”的纯代理，到神游的深度本土化遭遇滑铁卢，再到继续只卖硬件不卖软件，最终中文3DS栽倒在了锁区上。
  无数失败的经验并不是白费的。当下取得中文市场阶段性进展的索尼和微软，都做到了这样的模式：不符合中国玩家习惯的方式，不要；中国玩家喜闻乐见的模式，迎合；中国玩家爱玩的游戏，哪怕日本不爱玩，翻译；审核困难影响发行，不怕，出在港版里，内置在国际版里，反正你玩到就行了。国行索尼微软都照这个模式做的，并且都用实践证明了这条路是对的，是当前的客观约束下最合理的突破口，保证水货游戏里尽可能多地内置中文供国内玩家跨区游玩。至于国行游戏嘛，还要看审核快慢，出一个算一个，出不了也就算了，反正港版里有中文国行机器也能玩。任天堂似乎也突然看透了这点似的。
  过去的任天堂，对中国玩家需要的东西不够了解。
  他误以为中国玩家和熟悉的外国玩家一样，最爱马里奥，看到有马里奥的游戏就止不住的买，误以为中国玩家不喜欢一些他们眼中的非一线游戏，误以为中国玩家都非要玩盗版所以都给同捆内置了。
  殊不知国内玩家对马里奥没有想象的热衷或者说不用中文也能玩，殊不知《火焰纹章》号召力在中国比《星际火狐》高不知道多少倍，殊不知中国玩家愿意花几百块买豪华版日文实体游戏也不愿意买非常便宜的数字版中文。
  市场方面，中国玩家（无论大陆港台），根深蒂固的玩游戏不需要花钱的思想，有模拟器有烧录卡何必玩正版的思想，让任天堂的所有试水和努力都化为泡影，看不到销量任天堂就不再继续。另一方面，由于大陆的有关部门的管制，游戏做好了却发不出或迟发很久，错过商机。这些问题索尼微软遇不到吗？当然都遇到了。但他们的解决方式是让机器破解不了，此外让游戏不非要出国行才有中文，水货游戏里也放进中文，从而绕开了这些阻碍。
  可以说，《精灵宝可梦·太阳/月亮》采取的形式，是在国内3DS市场现阶段主流为日版机、国行机活跃正版用户非常少、3DS已完全破解、国内审核苛刻且无法铺货的情况下，能让中国玩家玩到中文游戏的最佳方式。倘若3DS游戏不锁区，这一天很可能会来得更早，但现在的方案也是在当前模式下能想到的最好的突破口了。
  “请愿”，是大家展示自己对游戏的爱。如今，游戏真的来了，光动嘴可是没法展示的。大家已经等了这么、这么、这么久了，在这个时候，你还会选择退缩吗？真正考验中国玩家的时候到了，用实际行动告诉任天堂，请记住中国玩家的存在！
  任天堂并没有放弃中国玩家，因为中国玩家也没有放弃任天堂。

  20多年来，任天堂在中国战盗版、战模拟器、战有关部门、战汉化组、战舆论水军、战水货、战手游、战根深蒂固的玩家心态……一路走来，遍体鳞伤，走过许多弯路，摔了数不清的跟头，你看，他又站起来了。
  过去，任天堂、市场、玩家这三角力量，彼此牵制，互不让步，才导致了任天堂近几年在中国市场的大失败。
  一方面，国家（不仅包括大陆，也包括香港台湾）对盗版游戏毫无管制，对水货走私也并无封堵；另一方面，国内玩家也更多热衷于盗版游戏，没有正版生存的土壤；再加上任天堂自己固步自封，不肯做出让步，使得中国市场止步不前，缓慢前进。
  然而，再稳定的三角也有失衡的一天，其平衡关系开始有了轻微的晃动——
  市场：索尼和微软都进来了，源源不断的中文游戏，让许多玩家第一次走向了从正的道路。国家政策也在放宽，允许了游戏机的正式运营。各大游戏公司也敞开心扉，大量开拓中文市场，中文版同步发售已不再是新闻。
  玩家：正版游戏不再是高高在上的收藏品，而变成了每个玩家用来玩游戏的必需品。正版的低价化、便利化、中文化，让破解变得没有意义，如今玩主机游戏依然满口破解的很容易被玩友看低，生态圈正在高速改善。
  任天堂：虽然之前的中文游戏销量差，机器销量差，好多人都破解烧录了。但为了未来，主动递出橄榄枝——我们还是朋友！

  三角力量，已经聚齐。未来就在我们手中，请让大家所有人的努力不要白费，抓紧这来之不易的机会吧！

~ THE END ~