Japanese Title: リンダキューブアゲイン (Linda Cubed Again)
Genre: Monster-hunting RPG
Source language: Japanese Patch language: English
Original Platform: Playstation Original developer: Alfa System Original publisher: SCEI Original Release Date in Japan: September 25, 1997
Patch file
Readme
-01. About Linda³ Again
-02. Content Warnings
-03. Original Game Credits
-04. Sing-along Lyrics
-05. Patching Instructions
-06. Patch Notes/Warnings
-07. Translation Project Credits
Project History:
Esper and I started some years ago, maybe 2014? A lot of projects came in-between, but I hope that stands more as a testament to how wild the insides of this game are on a technical level. Please give Esper a huge round of applause for making such a gargantuan effort really sing.
Our Request:
There are many relief efforts going on at the moment. For one, Doctors Without Borders is currently working to send relief to countries hit hardest by global warming, apartheid and more.
For the endangered species in the world, consider donating to animal conservation efforts like WCS.
For the planet we call home, Earthjustice is matching all monthly donation subs made through January 31st, 2024 for the entire year!
A recent game jam just ended for a Palestine Relief Bundle expected to come out soon, so let’s keep an eye on it.
Because this is a Japanese RPG, let’s remember the devastating Noto earthquake. Check local consulate websites or charity platforms you trust to help those who lost their homes and livelihoods earlier this month.
Consider volunteering to help the displaced in your community. Look up local church, shelter and charity efforts. Be a Ken or a Linda. If you stand to benefit at all from this patch release via journalism or streams, etc., use that platform to help others.
Game Summary (from official website): It all started in the summer of AMD 1991. Previously, it had been discovered that a massive meteorite, dubbed "the Grim Reaper", was fast-approaching the planet of Neo Kenya. Its collision date was set to the summer of AMD 1999, which meant only eight years remained for all life to evacuate.
As the Federation scrambled to execute a migration plan for the human populace, a life boat from outer space, the Astro Ark, descended. The Federation wasted no time approving the absurd, untested and all-around unsafe Project Astro Ark, where one young man and one young woman would each be selected to pilot the Astro Ark as human representatives. Their mission? To capture one male and one female from each animal species on the planet to join them! And so, their greatest challenge yet begins...
"Linda Cubed Again" is a hunting RPG set on the planet of Neo Kenya. The player character, Ken, is tasked to explore the landscape and hunt down as many animals for capture within the time limit as possible.
Along the journey, three unique storylines (Scenarios A, B and C) weave together to paint a bigger picture of Neo Kenya and all it has to offer. Each scenario adds new excitements to the table while giving characters to show all sides of themselves, making Linda Cubed Again a true-blue psychological thriller. Don't believe us? Play the game and see these stories unfold with your own eyes!
The most straight-forward way to capture animals is to battle them first. In battle, you simply attack animals until they stop resisting. However, if you overdo it, the animal will either run away or explode! Battlefields surround the player on all sides, so it's near-impossible to run away if all your exits are blocked off.
Thankfully, there are other ways to capture animals outside of battle. You can even buy them in shops, bid for them in auctions, commission proxy hunters to search for them and even set traps. Use every tool at your disposal to save all of Neo Kenya's wildlife!
("You're a public servant, not a 'hero'." -- Shoji Masuda)
Once you've captured your animals, you have to register them on the Astro Ark! When you register animals onto the ark, not only will Ken and Linda's stats improve, but they'll also learn abilities from said animals that will help them in battle and on the field later!
Character Profiles (from official website):
A. Ken Challenger Voice Actor: Kazuki Yao Birthdate: December 25, 1975 Birthplace: Hospico Cell, Neo Kenya Height: 171cm Weight: 64.5kg B/W/H: 92cm, 78cm, 98.5cm Blood Type: 0 Foot Size: 25.5cm
B. Linda Voice Actor: Minami Takayama Birthdate: December 25, 1976 Birthplace: Hospico Cell, Neo Kenya Height: 170cm Weight: 52kg B/W/H: 86cm, 55cm, 84cm Blood Type: B Foot Size: 25.5cm
C. Nek Green Voice Actor: Kazuki Yao Birthdate: December 25, 1975 Birthplace: Hospico Cell, Neo Kenya Height: 171cm Weight: 64.5kg B/W/H: 92cm, 78cm, 98.5cm Blood Type: 0 Foot Size: 25.5cm
D. Sachiko Voice Actor: Rei Sakuma Birthdate: December 25, 1976 Birthplace: Camp 372, β Goba Height: 158cm Weight: 43.5kg B/W/H: 82cm, 53cm, 83cm Blood Type: B Foot Size: 22.5cm
E. Meme Challenger Voice Actor: Kazuyo Aoki Birthdate: November 13, 1950 Birthplace: Paraside Cell, Neo Kenya Height: 160cm Weight: 59.5kg B/W/H: 88cm, 69.5cm, 91cm Blood Type: O Foot Size: 23.5cm
F. Ben MacDonald Voice Actor: Kenji Utsumi Birthdate: January 1, 1951 Birthplace: HospiCo Cell, Neo Kenya Height: 166cm Weight: 85.5kg B/W/H: 90cm, 107.5cm, 87.5cm Blood Type: O Foot Size: 26cm
G. Hume Burning Voice Actor: Issei Futamata Birthdate: March 16, 1952 Birthplace: Side T, Nguna Base Height: 184.5cm Weight: 101kg B/W/H: 117cm, 90cm, 114cm Blood Type: O Foot Size: 29cm
H. Ann Aurea Voice Actor: Hiroko Emori Birthdate: June 20, 1954 Birthplace: Minago Cell, Neo Kenya Height: 166cm Weight: 48kg B/W/H: 84.5cm, 60cm, 84cm Blood Type: B Foot Size: 24cm
I. Yataro Emori Voice Actor: Takeshi Aono Birthdate: May 5, 1940 Birthplace: New Kiyoto, Monto Monto Height: 168cm Weight: 51kg B/W/H: 82cm, 78cm, 78.5cm Blood Type: A Foot Size: 25.5cm
J. Elizabeth Green Voice Actor: Takumi Kurebayashi Birthdate: N/A Birthplace: Daryl City, Land HD Height: 168cm Weight: 52kg B/W/H: 92cm, 61cm, 88cm Blood Type: A Foot Size: 23.5cm
K. Mica Panheim Voice Actor: Shinpachi Tsuji Birthdate: February 2, 1929 Birthplace: Daryl Special Economic Zone, Land HD Height: 160cm Weight: 46.5kg B/W/H: 74cm, 67cm, 74cm Blood Type: B Foot Size: 24cm
L. Gene Challenger Voice Actor: Koji Ishii Birthdate: March 16, 1952 Birthplace: Side S, Nguna Base Height: 178cm Weight: 81kg B/W/H: 98cm, 86.5cm, 102cm Blood Type: O Foot Size: 27cm
M. Beastian Elder Voice Actor: Shinpachi Tsuji Birthdate: Unknown Birthplace: Neo Kenya Height: Unknown Weight: Unknown B/W/H: Unknown Blood Type: Unknown Foot Size: Unknown
N. Gomez Litra Voice Actor: Koji Ishii Birthdate: September 15, 1953 Birthplace: Paraside Cell, Neo Kenya Height: 191.5cm Weight: 107kg B/W/H: 112cm, 94cm, 108cm Blood Type: A Foot Size: 30cm
O. Jorge Camar Voice Actor: Yoh Kitazawa Birthdate: July 28, 1951 Birthplace: Mages City, Euro III Height: 174cm Weight: 59.5kg B/W/H: 78cm, 76cm, 76.5cm Blood Type: A Foot Size: 26cm
P. Ponkotsu Smilly Voice Actor: Kazuya Ichijo Birthdate: October 1, 1947 Birthplace: Unknown Height: Unknown Weight: Unknown B/W/H: Unknown Blood Type: O Foot Size: 27cm
Official Linda Cubed Home page: http://www.alfasystem.net/game/linda/
Linda Cubed release history:
a. Linda³, released for PC Engine SUPER CD-ROM on October 13, 1995 for players 18 and over. Developed by Alfa Systems and published by NEC Home Electronics.
b. Linda³ Again, a remake of the PC Engine original, now with added features and story enhancements, released for PlayStation on September 25, 1997. This version was later ported to the Japanese PlayStation store as a classic title in 2007.
c. Linda³ Complete ("Linda³ Kanzenban") released for Sega Saturn on June 18, 1998, with slight tweaks based on Linda³ Again.
For those curious, the largest story changes and censors do take place with the release of Again. Some story elements, character names, presentations and even animal designs are changed or removed entirely. Despite popular belief on the English side of the fandom, the differences between Again and Complete are minimal in comparison. For a more differing experience, we invite you to play the original Linda³ from 1995.
I. Audio-visual warnings: There is possibly a slight photosensitivity warning for the ending anime cutscenes in all three scenarios. There is a heavy and rapid flashing light segment to be careful about.
II. Animal violence: By nature of the game, animals die a LOT in Linda Cubed. You can fight them in battle, or you'll read dialogue about them dying, and it's often morbid.
There is also a dog trainer who makes comments during her training segments that border on sadistic abuse. There is a generic whimpering dog audio in these segments to match this.
You can also volunteer to participate in a dog fighting arena. This is entirely optional, but you will be forced to run into and interact with characters who totally normalize dog fighting as a sport.
If you don't like hearing about descriptive bodily harm against dogs, giraffes etc, particularly harm done by enthused humans in narrative detail, this isn't the game for you.
III. Sexually Suggestive dialogue: There is heavy human vs. human violence and body horror. There is also a small deal of sexually suggestive dialogue, and sometimes off-color comments that people make about their own family members.
At least one NPC recounts statutory rape as a positive memory. Battle narration and other hunting discussions are written with a deliberately sexual undertone.
Ken and Linda have implied/fade-to-black sex scenes throughout the three scenarios when you use the Camp feature. Tissues disappear from your inventory after you see these scenes to confirm that implication. The player characters start the game at ages 15 and 16, and while it's tricky to access these camping scenes in the first three years of any of the routes in Scenarios A and B, it's still possible. They're somewhat rare scenes, but whether you see this as a bad thing or not, it doesn't hurt to be aware of them before you're like, "Oh, lol."
Perhaps the raunchiest, depending on interpretation, is actually in the Saturn version. In a scene of the Playstation version where Linda outright asks if you'd be down to "fuck around", in the Saturn version, Linda invites Ken into the same room to flirtatiously recount how they used to play doctor. No clothes actually come off in this scene and the scene doesn't have an explicit bone in its body, but it's probably the most deliberate change.
IV. Sexual Visuals: There are no hyper-revealing fanservice segments for the story heroines.
But there are adult female nude sprites in the game, and other female corpse sprites that NPCs make frequent comments on in the hospital.
There is a poster in Ben's room in the Ranger HQ that you can click to see the various girls in the story wearing swimsuits.
V. Domestic violence: Domestic violence is heavily featured in visuals and in audio throughout Scenario A. The dialogue is probably stark enough, but the audio can be enough to mess with someone. More specifically, and not optionally, you can overhear semi-realistic audio of a woman being beaten and begging the attacker to stop. I highly suggest avoiding Scenario A until you feel you are in a safe position to view that kind of content and it's on your own terms.
VI. Political Themes: The game has a lot of left-leaning dialogue in it, at least from a western definition. Linda Cubed is a game about how the world is ending, so a lot of subjects like political conspiracy, social welfare, classism, immigration, globalization, cultural appropriation, etc. are brought up casually and frequently.
The story takes place on a planet called "Neo Kenya", and Linda is half indigenous on her mother's side. You'll be introduced to Linda's dad and the conversations her parents have prove to have driven much of Linda's backstory.
Whether you're happily enthusiastic or morbidly curious to see how a video game from the '90s would tackle globalized attitudes in a dieselpunk iteration of Kenya, the game has a lot to offer, and I hope that this guide helps those who need specifics before welcoming older games of such outlier natures into their spaces.
DIRECTOR / SCENARIO / GAME DESIGN Shoji Masuda
PRODUCER Tetsuya Sasaki
MUSIC DIRECTOR Ryoko Kihara
CHARACTER DESIGN CANNABIS
PLANNER Shoji Masuda Hiromasa Iwasaki Hiroshi Hasegawa
VOICE CAST Linda - Minami Takayama Ken & Nek - Kazuki Yao Sachiko - Rei Sakuma Hume - Issei Futamata Ann - Hiroko Emori Dr. Emori - Takeshi Aono Ben - Kenji Utsumi Meme - Kazuyo Aoki Gomez & Gene - Koji Ishii Panheim & Beastian Elder - Shinpachi Tsuji Elizabeth - Takumi Kurebayashi Smilly - Kazuya Ichijo Camar - Yoh Kitazawa
MAIN PROGRAMMER Hasegawa Hiroshi
SUB PROGRAMMER Koji Yamamoto Kazuhiro Okada
BATTLE DESIGN Kira Katsuya
GRAPHICS Masaaki Kokobu Tatsuya Nagata Kyosuke Ogami Yohei Ariyoshi Tsukino Makoto Naoya Yamada Rika Kawamoto Kazumi Fujikawa Miku Sonoda
GRAPHICS SUPPORT Koji Hisatomi Takeshi Maeda Kazutaka Katoku Toshinari Miyauchi Takeharu Shima Tomoya Ohara Koga Kenichi
SOUND COMPOSITION Takuya Yasuda
SFX DIRECTOR Takeshi Yoshida
VOICE EDITOR Yoichi Shimamura Yuji Iwata
PRODUCTION MANAGER Yuri Shibamura Susumu Chou
COORDINATOR Momonga Sobota
ANIMATION STAFF
PRODUCER Masayoshi Ozaki
ASSISTANT PRODUCER Noriko Nishinomiya
PLANNER Shigeru Yamasaki
STORYBOARD ARTIST CANNABIS
DIRECTOR Miyuki Shimabukuro
MANAGER Takayuki Ohtani
KEY ANIMATOR Akihiro Kanayama Masaaki Hosoyama Moriyasu Taniguchi Tatsuya Urano Yuichi Nakazawa Koichi Takai
VIDEO PROOFER Keiko Hagimori
ANIMATOR Saori Tomita Junko Nakada Tatsuya Uetsu Yoshitake Iwakami Kazuki Miura
COLOR CORRECTION SPECIALIST Kumiko Oka
COLORIST Natsuko Takio Kazumi Yamazaki Aki Watanabe Kazumi Hasegawa Yukiko Toida Hiroko Saito Noriko Kawada Kanae Hara
SPECIAL EFFECTS SPECIALIST Takashi Maekawa
ART DIRECTOR Mitsuki Nakamura
DESIGNER Eiji Takahashi Takashi Honda Megumi Ohkochi Seiji Miyamoto Kazuhiro Arai
CINEMATOGRAPHER Akio Kanazawa
PHOTOGRAPHER Kazuhi Torigoe Yasuhisa Endo Hiroki Sekido Saori Kibe Yasuyuki Kuroki
FILM EDITOR Falcon
SOUND PRODUCER Noriyoshi Matsuura
SOUND STUDIO Gen
ANIMATION STUDIO Studio SIGN
MUSIC STAFF
MUSIC PRODUCER Ryoko Kihara
ARRANGEMENT Kazuhiko Toyama
ENGINEER Kiyoshi Okabe (Recording & Mixing)
ASSISTANT ENGINEER Yasuyuki Fukushima
MANUAL STAFF Takashi Shiraishi (Iz)
SCEI Staff
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER Akira Satoh
SUPERVISOR Toshiyuki Miyata Yukio Nagasaki
A&R Takahiro Kaneko Kazunori Tsukatani
JACKET COORDINATOR Hironori Komiya Shinpo Tamami (SMC)
MUSIC PRODUCER Akihiko Shimizu
PROMOTERS Masashi Saeki Miroshi Matsuda
TEST PLAYERS Akira Koike Masayuki Mizuno Imai Hirokazu Sayuki Koike Kei Shimo Yuji Watanabe Mika Endo Ichiaki Tojima
SUPPORT STAFF (Patio)
KWB Masaaki Sugino Taicho matsu Daiju Celistia Piccolosuke KusaKoukan ZETA Furucchi Akage MenoshitaNoKuma XEL Yuetsu Kodama Ari-chan Tamu Ogiwara Hiroshi Funamushi Takamura Matsuda Toshiaki Kogane Yuu Takato KEY Chutaro Toshio Hashizume
PC ENGINE SUPPORT STAFF
Kenichiro Watanabe TOUTETU Yasushi Hashimoto Fuyuto Igarashi Naoki Kujiwara Yuji Sakimura Naoko Mamoda Shoichi Baba Mitsumame Shizuka Kimura Yuko Nishida Noriko Tamura Hirofumi Okada Kaguhiro Kawamoto Kazunori Maruta NAKA Ma Akitomo Sogetsu Maki Oki Double Tiger Atsushi Kappashiru Yutaka Suzuki Yuusuke Ukai Momotaro Sakura Kaman Project Yoshitoshi Tsuda
COLLABORATORS NEC Home Electronics, Ltd. Media Works, Ltd. Iands, Ltd.
A few songs make an appearance in the storyline and credits, so while we didn’t want to take over the songs impact in the game, in segments where we thought it appropriate, we included live subtitles with sing-along English versions of the tracks.
While this doesn’t include all of the vocal songs in the game, we hope you’ll enjoy the sing-along versions of two songs included here:
“Lullaby Eperformed by Minami Takayama and Ryoko Kihara
Don't cry, Darling Rowdy, baby Darling Mine Let Mother carry you home Who knows where those Treasures in your pocket fell Out in the world on their own
Someday you will cry for them As will I When I bake a cake for you One last time
Once you're older, Brave and loving Darling Mine, Who then will you carry home?
Sleep now, Darling Pure and wild Darling Mine Think of the dreams you will see Who knows how you'll Change the world we're living in Oh, what a world that will be
Hold on to your teddy bear Close and tight Someday 'til it's time to go, Head held high
Look down, Father See my precious Darling mine O Father, carry them home
Hold on to your teddy bear Close and tight Someday 'til it's time to go, Head held high
Look down, Father See my precious Darling mine O Father, carry them home
“Linda Eperformed by Minami Takayama
Time, time and again Trying and failing Tears run down your cheek And they're beautiful Linda
Come over to me Lean on my shoulder for a while Come what-ever may, Know that you're everything I need
Nowhere to turn, I Wandered and wondered Longing to belong That's when you found me Linda
Two lost from the start Searching the corners of the world As long you're here This is the only place I'll be
Ever and always Believe me when I say I'm ready to Have and hold you Til the day that I die
Through all the good times Through all of the painful and the sad You gave me something More than I'd ever had Aa, Linda
You've made it so far Out on your lonesome That's all in the past I'll give you everything, oh
Next time that you feel that You have nowhere to turn Take my hand in yours And together we'll break free
Ever and always Believe me when I say I'm ready to Have and hold you Til the day that I die
Through all the good times Through all of the painful and the sad You gave me something More than I'd ever had Aa, Linda
Now and forever You and I can be all we wanna be Go where we want to See what we wanna see
After the heartache After all of the trials we overcame I'm not afraid, no Now that you've shown me love Aa, Linda
Notes from Esper: Just drag and drop the ISO (bin) file onto "Drag and drop ISO on me.bat". This will automatically patch the game for you.
This patch works with both Linda Cubed Again and Linda Cubed Again (Rev 1)
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For one, the game doesn’t work well on older emulators, but works well on Duckstation and BizHawk, et cetera. If you have issues with one emulator, try updating your setup.
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There may be a slight audio lag in one room. Meeting the conditions to find this room are a bit slim, and audio does play normally once started. The lag was introduced when incorporating subtitles and heavily modifying the vram to accomodate them. Most players probably WILL notice the lag. What's more, if you open your menu during song playback in this room, it's possible the menu will appear corrupted. Simply close the menu and open it again. This also will have the chance of clobbering the song subtitles in this room due to limited graphical space. That all said, it's one of the things on Esper's hit list to tinker with at a later date.
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Some formatting issues in the menu, namely Gold, might garble or wiggle around on the screen.
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There are several naming sequences in the game. For example, players can name their hunting companions. From jump street, the data affected by this is stored in the memory card data itself. Many people know that “save states Ewon’t work between patch updates for translation patches of this nature, but even proper saves to the memory card can be affected in Linda Cubed Again’s case.
For example, if a dog is named ココ in your progress from playing the Japanese version of the game, the English version of the game will probably distort and not read the same name as “KOKO E Instead, it may remain ココ or the font will simply garble where KOKO should be. We actually went through several playthroughs wondering why translations for certain things weren’t updating, and it was because the game simply would not write in the new data unless we started a new game and made a fresh save. That means scenarios had to be playtested from start several times per update.
In the event that something is wrong with that data and needs to be fixed in a patch update, it may affect said names and how they appear on screen. The game should still work, but if you jump between patch updates during a single playthrough and run into issues around anything that you specifically named in the game, you’ll have to make due or start the game over from scratch.
Nothing else so far. If you happen to find any, do screencap and let us know!
Cargodin: translation + localization, graphics Esperknight: head romhacker, graphics
Blame: font help Mr. Nobody: video editing (unused), but appreciated Mono: proofreading Gwendolyn, MatatabiMitsu, Radicaldreamerr: Playtesting
Special Thanks: Aria, Hilltop, Yuvi
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This patch is entirely fan-made and unofficial. Please do NOT redistribute this patch in bad faith- whether by pre-installed illegal roms or physical discs. Do not sell or buy this patch under any circumstances.
This was a labor of love, and those bad faith actions not only insult us, but also endangers fan translation as a whole.
Thank you for understanding.
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Compiled by Cargodin, January 2024.