Guns N Roses Music Tour Dates: Rockman Corner: Alyson Court Talks .

When Mega Man X5 was localized, its eight Maverick bosses were given alternate names based on the titles of members of rock band Guns N' Roses. This particular change has since gone down in history as one of the more famous alterations in game localizations, ensuing years worth of line and speculation. Were the GnR names really necessary? Who, really, was responsible for the swap?

MMX5 translator Alyson Court, perhaps best known for her role as Resident Evil's Claire Redfield and supporter of The Big Comfy Couch, spent some time this evening reminiscing on her influence on Mega Man X5 via Twitter, subsequently revealing the story and truth behind the game's infamous localization:

"Apparently the localization (text editing) I did for a Capcom game is *famous*. Er, make that infamous. Who knew?" My then husband was responsible 4 text localization. He asked me 2 do it&, since he was a GnR fan, I changed the names 2b GnR references. I didn't know the game nor did I know how mad fans wld be that Id changed the characters' names. But yrs later ppl now like it!" "My ex-husband had his own company, GenAzea, which did localization for many Capcom games. I did a lot of that work.""At first my hubby laughed & liked it [the GnR names]. Thenwhen fans started complaining he got mad at me. I meant well."
Alyson, however, defends the references. Her philosophy towards localization is to make the content palatable - going so far as to find that the GnR references was all but see for a franchise with so many musical homages and tributes.

Capcom has had every chance to exchange names back to their original "canonical" titles in future X5 ports. However, to possibly write the game's historic status, Mega Man X Collection and the PC edition of X5 have Alyson's handiwork. Hey, that's OK in my book. I, for one, thought the nods were a nice little touch - brought some look to the bosses.

You can read Alyson's complete recollection over at her official twitter account here. She's been responding to fans, too, so if you have any questions or comments, don't hesitate to take her a line!

Source: acourtroom