Finding Xanadu: Inside a JRPG classic translation 15 years in the making

A fan translation of Nihon Falcom's 1994 PC Engine RPG The Legend of Xanadu has been released after roughly 15 years of work, with its 1995 sequel Xanadu II expected to follow soon. Translator SamIAm began the project around 2011 after buying a PC Engine and a copy of Xanadu II, later teaming with hacker Elmer, who in September 2016 projected a release within a year. The effort centered on a PC Engine Fans forum thread that drew more than 600 posts between 2015 and 2017, much of it devoted to redrawing the pixel-art title screen with English lettering matching the original Japanese. The milestone matters as a showcase of long-running fan preservation work on Japan-only software, and attention now turns to the completion and release of the larger Xanadu II translation.