GBA Sonic Battle Retranslated SHC2025 (USA, Europe, Japan) GBA ROM

[Spike's iconSpike]

Sonic Battle Retranslated - SHC2025 Edition By Kirbysmith Source: https://shc.zone/entries/contest2025/1332 Sonic Battle is a commonly overlooked gem in the Sonic series, featuring fun character interactions, rich characterization, a compelling story that builds upon Shadow’s backstory and Sonic lore as a whole, and a hectic yet fun battle system. Unfortunately, the official localization is fraught with translation errors, typos, inaccuracies, awkward phrasing, minor censorship, and various liberties made to the script that mess with the tone and intent of the original Japanese dialogue. In the words of Japanese translator and Sonic fan, Windii Gaylord: “a good story that was sadly mangled by the official […]

Download from Repo​

• Sonic Battle Retranslated SHC2025 (USA, Europe, Japan) GBA

 

[AkaiOkane17]

Thank you Gaylord for the translation

 

[VarianV]

Now if only they could do something about being able to stand stock still, press R over and over, and win every single fight in the entire game.

 

[TheManWithPants]

4Kids had nothing to do with the games.

Harder, yes, but not impossible, however I've learned during the years that non-PC mods are as rare as a chicken's teeth, it's a miracle we get these occasional mods and translations for console games that already have PC ports, if a game has an official PC port you can count it will be the only version to get mod support.

Honestly it's a miracle we even have people in the community that want to do any fan translations of games to begin with, regardless of PC or console versions. Sonic especially, since the fans that prefer JP are more niche. Fan projects such as decompilations/recompilations are also much appreciated, since they're bringing games that were stuck on old platforms to modern devices such as PC. I'm still in awe that we have Unleashed on PC, and soon we'll have the Advance trilogy and 06 on PC as well. Crazy times.

 

[Juiceala]

I've never played this game still trying to beat sonic advance 3 but it's nice to have an anti 4kids version of the game hopefully someone will do the same for the shaman king metroidvanias for the gba

4Kids had nothing to do with the games.

The retranslation mod is only for the PC version on Steam, as far as I can tell. I haven't heard anything of anyone trying to add those to the DC/GCN versions. Would be nice, but I imagine it would be harder to do.

Harder, yes, but not impossible, however I've learned during the years that non-PC mods are as rare as a chicken's teeth, it's a miracle we get these occasional mods and translations for console games that already have PC ports, if a game has an official PC port you can count it will be the only version to get mod support.

 

[minimug]

cool, i keep reading good stuff about this game. I will get to it one of the decades~ thank you <3

 

[vash87]

The retranslation mod is only for the PC version on Steam, as far as I can tell. I haven't heard anything of anyone trying to add those to the DC/GCN versions. Would be nice, but I imagine it would be harder to do.

 

[John Adams]

It's interesting. I never know about the changes in the US version, so it's a great opportunity to play Sonic Battle again after so many years. Thanks for the translation.

 

[TheManWithPants]

So its news to me that my favorite sonic game, Sonic Adventure 2 has a retranslation project. Any way to get the Gamecube/Dreamcast versions on here. My current device is sadly ill equipped to do these operations myself.

The retranslation mod is only for the PC version on Steam, as far as I can tell. I haven't heard anything of anyone trying to add those to the DC/GCN versions. Would be nice, but I imagine it would be harder to do.

 

[ejicolxlombarxdi]

I've never played this game still trying to beat sonic advance 3 but it's nice to have an anti 4kids version of the game hopefully someone will do the same for the shaman king metroidvanias for the gba

 

[vash87]

So its news to me that my favorite sonic game, Sonic Adventure 2 has a retranslation project. Any way to get the Gamecube/Dreamcast versions on here. My current device is sadly ill equipped to do these operations myself.

 

[TheManWithPants]

France had the uncensored version??!! damn they lucky! fuck 4Kids! wish i had the knowledge that i have now with torrenting back then so i could get the Japanese version and avoid that garbage english version.

Post automatically merged: Oct 16, 2025

really hope Windii can do a retranslation rom hack for Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 as well

The PC ports of both Adventure games have retranslation mods already, unless you mean the original Dreamcast/Gamecube versions. You can find them on Gamebanana.

You just hit the nail on the head, sad as it may be... as a long Sonic fan who's been there from the very beginning I've seen it all at this point, truth is the vast majority of Sonic fans don't even like anime and the ones that do only watch them dubbed, this is pretty much a product for the hardcore.

Yeah, many of them don't really see Sonic as a 'Japanese' character, since there's a lot of western influence over the series. They see him more as an American cartoon character, and tend to prefer Sonic either be like Mickey Mouse/Looney Tunes, or something along the lines of Star Wars/Indiana Jones/Marvel/DC. I feel like a lot of western fans don't really like what Sonic actually IS, but rather the 'idea' of the character, and tend to only enjoy the games through that lens. There's still a bunch of 90s Sonic fans that still insist on calling the character 'Robotnik' and will get angry at you if you call the character 'Eggman', which is what his name always was in Japan, and they hate the idea of the Sonic cast interacting with humans because they weren't around in the Genesis/MD era. Sonic's success in the western market has always been a double-edged sword in that regard, and it doesn't help that the series never really took off in Japan.

 

[Scotty Scotty]

France had the uncensored version??!! damn they lucky! fuck 4Kids! wish i had the knowledge that i have now with torrenting back then so i could get the Japanese version and avoid that garbage english version.

Post automatically merged: Oct 16, 2025

really hope Windii can do a retranslation rom hack for Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 as well

The reason why the French dub of "Sonic X" is uncensored was it was produced BEFORE 4Kids acquired the license.

There's already a Retranslation mod for SA1 that can be found on Game Banana. Not sure about SA2 tho.

 

[EcchiL0verMan]

Maybe one day there will be an English dub with all the scenes that were removed restored, and have the script be massively changed. It would even have all the swearing intact from the Japanese and French versions. It genuinely pisses me off that France got the uncensored version of Sonic X but not America. Makes no sense. Fuck 4Kids and fuck the FCC!

France had the uncensored version??!! damn they lucky! fuck 4Kids! wish i had the knowledge that i have now with torrenting back then so i could get the Japanese version and avoid that garbage english version.

Post automatically merged: Oct 16, 2025

Windii have retranslated every game in the series so far and even some of the official rereleases of Sonic X, I trust their work.

really hope Windii can do a retranslation rom hack for Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 as well

 

[TravisSpeed]

I still think this game is trash. So many repetitive battles. I really hate how you have to fight the same character TWICE. Also some battles in this game are pure bullshit. Like the Knuckles bar fight and the battles in Cream’s story.

Git gud

I mean, it can be a little repetitive at times but that rather makes me think that you are not exploiting the game combat well, but whatever is up to each person.

 

[Graves Ruinwalker]

I never thought I'd ever say this but... thanks Gaylord!

I suddenly get nostalgic by that one ... not in a positive sense but still somehow nostalgic . Nothing to blame there.

 

[Juiceala]

Probably won't ever happen. It was a miracle we even got the JP version on Bluray, and it took 20 years for that to happen. I'd imagine most English-speaking Sonic fans would skip a new English dub of Sonic X because they're already attached to the 4Kids version and that voice cast. A lot of them even get defensive if you even bring up the JP version to them, and get weirdly upset if you say you prefer the JP voices in the games too. There would be a bunch of meltdowns on social media if X got redubbed with the current English voice cast from the games (or anyone other than the original 4Kids cast), lol. Even if they somehow brought back the 4Kids voice cast, there would probably still be whining because they genuinely prefer the changes 4Kids made to the show simply because that's what they grew up with.

You just hit the nail on the head, sad as it may be... as a long Sonic fan who's been there from the very beginning I've seen it all at this point, truth is the vast majority of Sonic fans don't even like anime and the ones that do only watch them dubbed, this is pretty much a product for the hardcore.

 

[TheManWithPants]

Maybe one day there will be an English dub with all the scenes that were removed restored, and have the script be massively changed. It would even have all the swearing intact from the Japanese and French versions. It genuinely pisses me off that France got the uncensored version of Sonic X but not America. Makes no sense. Fuck 4Kids and fuck the FCC!

Probably won't ever happen. It was a miracle we even got the JP version on Bluray, and it took 20 years for that to happen. I'd imagine most English-speaking Sonic fans would skip a new English dub of Sonic X because they're already attached to the 4Kids version and that voice cast. A lot of them even get defensive if you even bring up the JP version to them, and get weirdly upset if you say you prefer the JP voices in the games too. There would be a bunch of meltdowns on social media if X got redubbed with the current English voice cast from the games (or anyone other than the original 4Kids cast), lol. Even if they somehow brought back the 4Kids voice cast, there would probably still be whining because they genuinely prefer the changes 4Kids made to the show simply because that's what they grew up with.

 

[Juiceala]

Yes, that's correct. There were some licensed songs used for the broadcast version of Episodes 26 (Kotoba ni Dekinai) and 52 (Natsu no Hi and Midori no Hibi). The Japanese DVD release removed them likely due to TMS/Sega not wanting to pay anymore licensing or royalty fees on those songs, and sadly, these changes carried over to the US SD-BD release of the JP version from Discotek Media.

Kotoba ni Dekinai got replaced with an instrumental version of Hikaru Michi for Episode 26; Natsu no Hi was replaced with the full vocal version of Hikaru Michi, and Midori no Hibi was replaced with Event: The Last Scene, from Sonic Adventure 2's soundtrack for Episode 52. Online Fansubs are the only way to preserve the original broadcast version of those episodes.

Other licensed songs like Live and Learn in Episode 38 were left intact, at least.

I grew up and already have the original release so I'm good, and I know Natsu no Hi and Midori no Hibi were replaced in later re-releases, sad really as these songs are awesome.

Maybe one day there will be an English dub with all the scenes that were removed restored, and have the script be massively changed. It would even have all the swearing intact from the Japanese and French versions. It genuinely pisses me off that France got the uncensored version of Sonic X but not America. Makes no sense. Fuck 4Kids and fuck the FCC!

Yeah, no... never happening, never could, never would, never should, if you realize how different these versions are you would know it is impossible to do so without acquiring crazy tone of expired licenses and rerecording all the dialogue, you have a bigger chance for SEGA to rerelease Jet Set Radio Future tbh (spoiler, it ain't happening).

The situation far exceeds the US, I live in Asia and despite being lucky of growing up with the JP version thanks to the perfect timing of me learning about the internet and torrents just when the show started airing in Japan, even we got the butchered 4kids version, literally every region that isn't Japan or France got the 4kids version, we usually get anime uncensored here, Digimon Adventure, Boku Doraemon, Bakugaiden Bomberman, Detective Conan, Mazinger Z, Hai Aku Desu, Chibi Maruko chan, Captain Tsubasa, rarely did we get anime localized from English here, 4kids ruined it for everyone, at least the US got an official uncensored subbed version, the rest of us had no such luxury.

 

[Frickinfrik]

Agreed with everything 100%, I don't think most people just realize how different Sonic X is in Japanese (and French) compared to the other versions, it's like the difference between Justice League theatrical release vs Snyder Cut, it's a whole different show.

An example of a cut content btw is the scene in Sonic Adventure 2 when Dr. Eggman captures Amy Rose and threatens Sonic to either surrender the chaos emerald or the girl's a goner, I was not a big fan of how Sonic X made Sonic at first go "meh, do what you want, I don't really care for her that much" it felt out of character, later I've discovered this is an unused line from the Japanese script for the game, this was in the game initially, I'm glad they took it away though tbh, it just feels out of character to me.

Also, regarding missing songs I assume Natsu no Hi is also missing? It is my all time favorite song in Sonic X but I heard some of the later re-releases didn't include it.

Maybe one day there will be an English dub with all the scenes that were removed restored, and have the script be massively changed. It would even have all the swearing intact from the Japanese and French versions. It genuinely pisses me off that France got the uncensored version of Sonic X but not America. Makes no sense. Fuck 4Kids and fuck the FCC!

 

[TheManWithPants]

Agreed with everything 100%, I don't think most people just realize how different Sonic X is in Japanese (and French) compared to the other versions, it's like the difference between Justice League theatrical release vs Snyder Cut, it's a whole different show.

An example of a cut content btw is the scene in Sonic Adventure 2 when Dr. Eggman captures Amy Rose and threatens Sonic to either surrender the chaos emerald or the girl's a goner, I was not a big fan of how Sonic X made Sonic at first go "meh, do what you want, I don't really care for her that much" it felt out of character, later I've discovered this is an unused line from the Japanese script for the game, this was in the game initially, I'm glad they took it away though tbh, it just feels out of character to me.

Also, regarding missing songs I assume Natsu no Hi is also missing? It is my all time favorite song in Sonic X but I heard some of the later re-releases didn't include it.

Yes, that's correct. There were some licensed songs used for the broadcast version of Episodes 26 (Kotoba ni Dekinai) and 52 (Natsu no Hi and Midori no Hibi). The Japanese DVD release removed them likely due to TMS/Sega not wanting to pay anymore licensing or royalty fees on those songs, and sadly, these changes carried over to the US SD-BD release of the JP version from Discotek Media.

Kotoba ni Dekinai got replaced with an instrumental version of Hikaru Michi for Episode 26; Natsu no Hi was replaced with the full vocal version of Hikaru Michi, and Midori no Hibi was replaced with Event: The Last Scene, from Sonic Adventure 2's soundtrack for Episode 52. Online Fansubs are the only way to preserve the original broadcast version of those episodes.

Other licensed songs like Live and Learn in Episode 38 were left intact, at least.

 

[Juiceala]

The 2023 SD Blu-ray release of the Japanese version of Sonic X with English Subtitles from Discotek Media. It's not a perfect release though, as they accidentally still used some censored footage from the 4Kids version for some episodes, and it's missing the licensed music for some episodes from the TV broadcast version. Still better than the English dub, at least.

The PC port on Steam has a retranslation mod that you can grab from Gamebanana. I personally think 3D Sonic games are generally better in Japanese. Sega America always goes overboard with the localization of Sonic games for some reason, to the point where several games have almost completely different scripts between English and Japanese, so these fan translations are appreciated.

There's also fan translation mods for Adventure 1 (PC), Heroes (PC), Shadow 05 (GCN), Sonic 06 (360, PC version will probably come later when the Recomp is finished), Unleashed (PC Recomp), Colors Ultimate (PC), Sonic Generations (2011 PC version), Frontiers (PC), and Shadow Generations (PC), IIRC.

I also recommend watching Sonic X in Japanese, as it's the only Sonic show that was directly supervised by Sonic Team during its production, and the 4Kids English dub butchered it. The Sonic X adaptation of the Adventure games even included some cut story content that was originally planned to be in those games.

Agreed with everything 100%, I don't think most people just realize how different Sonic X is in Japanese (and French) compared to the other versions, it's like the difference between Justice League theatrical release vs Snyder Cut, it's a whole different show.

An example of a cut content btw is the scene in Sonic Adventure 2 when Dr. Eggman captures Amy Rose and threatens Sonic to either surrender the chaos emerald or the girl's a goner, I was not a big fan of how Sonic X made Sonic at first go "meh, do what you want, I don't really care for her that much" it felt out of character, later I've discovered this is an unused line from the Japanese script for the game, this was in the game initially, I'm glad they took it away though tbh, it just feels out of character to me.

Also, regarding missing songs I assume Natsu no Hi is also missing? It is my all time favorite song in Sonic X but I heard some of the later re-releases didn't include it.

 

[TheManWithPants]

Wait, WHAT!? Since when!?

The 2023 SD Blu-ray release of the Japanese version of Sonic X with English Subtitles from Discotek Media. It's not a perfect release though, as they accidentally still used some censored footage from the 4Kids version for some episodes, and it's missing the licensed music for some episodes from the TV broadcast version. Still better than the English dub, at least.

uh... what did they do to sonic adventure 2's story? now i'm REALLY curious about that.

i've already played through sonic battle to 100% so it's gonna be interesting to replay it, with japanese version voices too (cause why not)

on another note, watching sonic prime in japanese dub is an experience worth watching it twice (English and Japanese)

The PC port on Steam has a retranslation mod that you can grab from Gamebanana. I personally think 3D Sonic games are generally better in Japanese. Sega America always goes overboard with the localization of Sonic games for some reason, to the point where several games have almost completely different scripts between English and Japanese, so these fan translations are appreciated.

There's also fan translation mods for Adventure 1 (PC), Heroes (PC), Shadow 05 (GCN), Sonic 06 (360, PC version will probably come later when the Recomp is finished), Unleashed (PC Recomp), Colors Ultimate (PC), Sonic Generations (2011 PC version), Frontiers (PC), and Shadow Generations (PC), IIRC.

I also recommend watching Sonic X in Japanese, as it's the only Sonic show that was directly supervised by Sonic Team during its production, and the 4Kids English dub butchered it. The Sonic X adaptation of the Adventure games even included some cut story content that was originally planned to be in those games.

 

[Scotty Scotty]

"...and even some of the official rereleases of Sonic X..."

Wait, WHAT!? Since when!?

 

[Juiceala]

That Phrasing is going to make people want a SA2 Translation now.

It exists, Windii did retranslate all the games.

Here's Sonic Adventure DX retranslated mod too

Windii's Retranslation (2025) Mod for Sonic Adventure DX | SADX Mods

A Sonic Adventure DX (SADX) Mod in the Other/Misc category, submitted by SakuraSonikku

gamebanana.com

 

[Nelson2001 Nelson2001]

I still think this game is trash. So many repetitive battles. I really hate how you have to fight the same character TWICE. Also some battles in this game are pure bullshit. Like the Knuckles bar fight and the battles in Cream’s story.

If you don't like Sonic Battle and consider it a lousy Sonic Game for you that's fine because the game is not for everyone and I get the point that the game's battles are quite monotonous and repetitive and that the game's story is not its strong point depending on the characters you play.