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Shining Wisdom - The Grand Adventure of Hero Mars
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Shining Wisdom - The Grand Adventure of Hero Mars (シャイニング・ウィズダム ～ 勇者マルスの大冒険) is an official novelization of the Shining Wisdom game, written by Sou Kamishiro (more known for his work on Mobile Suit Gundam Wing light novels), illustrated by Hiroshi Kajiyama (character design of the original game and other classic Shining games), and published by Logout Bouken Bunko. |
Unfortunately I could not finds scans of this book, and as you can imagine of obscure collector items like this, the sales out there are quite pricy and don't always ship to my country. In short, it will be hard to get my hands on it. I still felt compelled to translate the few pages I found out there. Of course, take these translations with a grain of salt, some words are cut off from the pics so I had to make educated guesses or just mark the blanks, and I’m obviously missing context, although it seems to be just a novelization of the game’s plot. I've put notes comparing the game and novel version of each scene.
Also note that the narration is first person from Mars' POV, so we get some thoughts from a Shining boy for a change.
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[…] he made an exaggerated shocked face. “You really surprised me. You weren’t just getting help from an elf, you have more mental fortitude than the average person as well. People like you are what we fear the most,” he said, though he didn’t sound frightened at all. The frog man watched over as the princess walked out of the room, then turned back to me. “But I look forward to your next efforts. Do prepare some great fun for us,” he said, and left the room as well, looking back at me for the last time and waving goodbye. “See you around!” Stop mocking me! I wanted to shout, I tried with all my might. Ugh… I clenched my fists. […] |
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Notes:
- Banbo’s lines here are taken almost word by word from the game here, with only some small wording differences. I still preferred to retranslate them on my own instead of copying the EU version though. The same goes for all the following pages as well;
- Another minor difference in this scene is that in the game, these lines come by after Satera has already walked off, while here she’s still in her room;
- Judging by this page at least, Banbo does not seem to be hopping around like in game as well. Though since the narration is Mars’, he might just be too angry or sleepy to acknowledge that the enemy is not only mocking him but also doing backflips during that;
- Note also that Mars is wearing some extra garb in the picture, this is likely because at this point he’s still a guard at the castle and hasn’t yet been promoted to special boy who adventures as he pleases.
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Before I could ask the fairy what did she mean, she began to fly in circles around my head. “We fairies are forbidden from defying the laws of nature, but this much should be fine […] So? Do you remember what happened?” Remember what? She continued to talk with a mysterious expression. “You went to the Royal Crypt to rescue the princess, right? So, did you defeat Pazort there?” “No way!” I couldn't have defeated him. That frog man from before released some sort of smoke that knocked me out, I think. And the princess, they cast a spell on her- That’s right, she was turned into a swan. That’s terrible, I can’t help but worry… But I’d seen the princess safe and sound in the castle. Wait, no! With a shock, I finally understood. That was a fake, a mage named Karry, who had transformed into the princess. This is what I had to remember no matter what. The fog in my mind had finally cleared. But as I realized how dire things were, I froze, unable to think of anything. |
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Notes:
- This isn’t in the game at all! In game, because Mars is the silent protagonist, he just watches fake Satera waltz into the castle and fool everyone and gets promoted as a result. Upon reaching Gudo Valley and meeting the Fairy, she immediately explains how to help the real princess, implying Mars does know the whole situation, and stayed quiet because ???;
- So yeah, it makes perfect sense that the novel changed/elaborated things a bit, and Mars apparently suffered some sort of confusion/memory block after those events;
- Also, as you’ll see through the next pages, the Fairy teams up with Mars for the rest of the adventure, which. Makes so much more sense. Makes the ending work so much better. Would make the game so much livelier. I honestly feel robbed, they robbed me of a friend here :(
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“Oh, that swan… The poor thing is under a spell, no? Come to me. I can remedy that.” The old man - no, the hermit of the Thousand Year Tree - stared at the swam, beckoning for her to come forward. The swan looked at me then the fairy, who gave her a nod. She went to the hermit with unsteady steps. “You just need to endure it a little longer, there’s no reason to be scared, girl,” said the hermit gently while patting the swan’s head. He started to chant magical words, low as a whisper. Then his hand began to glow. The light grew into a sphere, covering the swan’s head. “Hyah!” With the hermit’s shout, the sphere expanded further, enveloping the swan’s whole body, and then it burst in a flash. As the light faded out, who stood there was no longer a swan, but Princess Satera. Her clothes had been dirtied after everything she went through as a swan, but she was just as beautiful as she looked like when I first saw her in her room, no, even more beautiful up close. “How do you feel?” asked the hermit, sounding very proud of himself, “are you back to normal?” “I… Yes, I’m back. I’m really myself again, right?” |
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Notes:
- Again, the dialogue is mostly lifted from the game, with only a few changes in punctuation. Also, the Fairy is here.
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“[…] Kaipa. Strike down the one Mars says is the fake!” “B-but, my liege, that's…!” “Do it! The real one should be protected by the Royal Tiara. Now strike!!” While hesitating, the captain drew his sword and swung it at the fake princess. She dodged it nimbly, jumping away a good distance. “So this farce is done for. Yes, I am a servant of Lord Pazort, the witch Karry!” Laughing loudly, Kari seemed to flash a bluish white for a moment, before changing back to her gorgeous original shape. Light white skin gave way to blue, dazzling golden locks became a cascade of azure hair. Running her hands through her hair, Karry gave the king a challenging look. “I thought I’d be able to fool you to the very end, but you found me out. It’s too little too late, though. I got the key to the royal treasury last night, dear king. This very moment, soldiers I bewitched are stealing the Orbs of the Djinns thanks to it! With this, Lord Pazort’s dream will become true, the Djinns will be released from the labyrinths!” “That, that’s impossible! The key is safe right here…” Flustered, the king searched for it in his clothes. “It’s, it’s gone!” The king took off his luxurious royal coat, and began searching everywhere on his person. […] |
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Notes:
- Most of the dialogue is lifted from the game, though the part between the king and the captain feels a bit abridged. In game, they hesitate a lot more in attacking one of the princesses before Mars enters the room. It’s possible that things were rewritten a bit so that Mars is in the scene from the beginning, as he’s the narrator.
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I nodded at the fairy’s words. “Let’s go seal the four Djinns.” I drew my sword, and took the path to my right. *** “There are four Djinns. One for fire, water, wind and earth,” I heard the fairy explain from behind me as I ran through the narrow path. “Maybe, because the orbs were made to drain their power, it robbed them of their will as well. Pazort might be controlling them now.” “Will they attack us, then?” “They… might,” the fairy replied, clearly unhappy. “But if you defeat them, their will should be resealed in the orbs, and their true essence should return to the Shrine.” “So, I really have no choice but to fight them?” She nodded sadly in response. […] “It’s still fine. I see four huge flows of power.” “That’s a relief…” I sighed. As soon as I took the next turn in the path, the colors of my surroundings changed. Everything was deep red, as if the whole chamber was burning. Not just “as if”, with a single step into the chamber I could feel the absurd heat assaulting me. “Everything is on fire!?” “It’s the Fire Djinn.” With the fairy’s words I finally noticed it. A figure befitting of its name. In the depths of the chamber stood a giant, red as bricks, clad in armor and a helmet. […] “That's… a djinn?” It wasn’t how I expected a spirit to look like. […] Its face under the helmet looked ferocious like a beast. “The djinns don’t have bodies like ours. Because they stole power from the giant Surt, that power oozes from them and makes up their form. You could say they’re embodying that evil power.” It could be just my imagination, but I thought I saw a round flash of light from the djinn’s chest. |
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Notes:
- Original scene, as the Fairy isn’t around for the Djinn battles in game. I don’t remember these bits of Djinn lore anywhere in game as well, though it might be on some unremarkable NPC or book as most lore crumbs in this game.
- Perhaps worth mentioning, in game the Djinns are usually referred to with the word in katakana (ジン), while the novel usually uses the word for spirits (精霊), with furigana indicating the Djinn reading only in its first mention. They have been referred to as spirits in guides as well, so this is nothing new, just a stylistic choice I suppose.
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A fireball headed straight in my direction. Then a gust of wind. The only way to dodge is upwards! I jumped, but another gust of wind from above knocked me down to the ground. I managed to deflect some of the next blasts of wind and light with my sword, but their impact was still enough to have me screaming in pain. I had no idea just how deep my wounds were at that point. I couldn’t help but continue to howl in agony. Somehow I managed to get back on my knees, and in that moment Pazort came to face me. “This is all you’ve got, right?” He held his finger to my left chest - pointing straight to my heart. “Well then, give me the Orbs,” he demanded. “Even if you refuse, I can just take them anyway after killing you. But I dislike taking things by force.” “No!” I shouted while getting back on my feet. I had almost no strength left in me. It was my last chance to do anything. But I had to be ready to take Pazort down, even at the cost of my own life. “I see… Then, you give me no choice. Die.” A bluish-white light began to gather at Pazort’s fingertip. |
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Notes:
- Original scene since it’s adapting the final battle. I don’t remember Pazort having any sort of finger laser in game, and the description of light gathering for a moment reminds me of Oddeye’s beam. Not that I think it’s a reference, it’s a very generic description, I just want to crack a joke on Pazort’s mooching off the guy’s popularity as usual.
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