Tiny Bullets, a Japan-only PlayStation action-adventure originally published by Sony in 2000, can finally be played in English thanks to a new fan translation patch.
The patch is credited to Chapu and Etokapa. Chapu handled hacking and programming, translation and QA, while Etokapa worked on graphics, the announcement trailer, proofreading and QA. The release translates all of the game's text into English, including cutscene subtitles, and is available in both PPF and Xdelta formats.
For preservation-minded PS1 fans, this is exactly the kind of smaller release that matters. Tiny Bullets was developed by Kuusoukagaku Corp and Contrail, then arrived late in the original PlayStation's life before later being reissued for PSP and PS3 through Sony's Game Archives service in 2007. It never received an official English release.
The game follows a young boy who becomes trapped in a tower controlled by a demon named Gudia. To escape, he has to fight through nine areas, solve puzzles and help warriors rescue Carla, a girl whose magical powers are central to Gudia's plan for world domination.
The translation team's own description frames Tiny Bullets as a first-party Sony PlayStation game with "some aesthetic sensibilites close to 'Zelda: Ocarina of Time', but gameplay closer to that of 'Tomb Raider'." That comparison gives the obscure release an easier hook for modern players: a late-PS1 3D adventure built around tower exploration, jumping, rolling, slingshot combat and puzzle solving.
Tiny Bullets also has a notable art connection. Its art direction and character designs were by Taketoyo Ogawa, illustrator of the Domitor Leo novel series from Kadokawa. That detail will not make the game familiar to most PlayStation owners, but it adds another reason this translation is useful for players interested in the stranger corners of Sony's Japanese catalog.
The patch notes say the release has been thoroughly tested, though the team asks players to report any errors or bugs so fixes can be made in a later update.