It’s taken 35 years, but an eternal (and silly) debate about one of the most beloved and remembered NES games has come to an end; all it took was the game’s original director to show up.
It retro can reach PCSteam Deck, PS4PS5, Xbox, Switch and mobiles with iOS and Androidbut the debates about games How Mega Man can go on for years; like this one NES that clarified his director.
As GamesRadar+ remembers, English-speaking gamers from Nintendo Entertainment System They have been debating an important issue for all these years:How to pronounce the ‘Bubble Lead’ weapon in Mega Man 2?
It seems that the intervention of the original game director was necessary after all these decades of incessant talks and controversial situations in the adventure.
Spanish speakers are a bit at a crossroads, especially if they don’t understand English. It all came down to the pronunciation of the second word, that ‘Lead’ has many people confused.
Especially since it can be pronounced in two different ways: as ‘led’ derived from metal or as ‘leed’ in the form of a verb meaning to guide someone forward.
Correct pronunciation has always been a topic of discussion, but long-retired director Akira Kitamura decided to put some weight on the issue.
A Mega Man 2 fan asked if he could explain the name ‘Bubble Lead’ as there are two English versions of the word and many versions of the weapon in question have been heard.
“‘Lead’ means that it guides“, Kitamura responded in Japanese via Twitter. “It’s a weapon that drags along the ground to detect danger. It’s not made of lead.🙂“, he concluded.
With this answer, it is clear that many decades-old discussions can be settled. It can also serve to better understand the translation of the game into other languages.
Mega Man director finally clarifies this issue
Although as they recall in the aforementioned media, the debate was settled ‘technically’ before it began because in the original Japanese version of the game there is no doubt that it was guide and not metal.
But as Protodude points out, “Access to the Japanese game+manual, which prevented fans from confirming the use of ‘リ-ド’ and ‘Lead’, was very limited between 1989 and the 1990s.“.
Of course, at least we are left with the good news that Mega Man director puts an end to a debate that has plagued English-speaking fans for 35 years.
