Lost Mega Man Legends Mobile Game Rockman DASH: 5 Islands Receives English Translation Patch
Not all heroes wear capes, some translate lost games
A collaborative effort by game preservationists has brought Rockman DASH: Great Adventure on 5 Islands—a long-unavailable mobile entry in the Mega Man Legends series—to English-speaking audiences for the first time. The patch, developed by translator Mega Alex and preservation group SciLab Secrets led by RockmanCosmo, revives the 2008 Japanese feature phone title, once considered lost after Capcom delisted it in 2018.
Credit: RockManCosmo
Background and Significance
Originally released episodically for i-mode phones, 5 Islands bridges the stories of Mega Man Legends and its sequel. Set across five explorable islands, the game features 35 missions, weapon crafting, and characters like Denise Marmalade from The Misadventures of Tron Bonne. Despite hardware limitations, it replicates the 3D action and charm of the mainline Legends games, which have maintained a cult following since their PlayStation releases in the late 1990s.
After Capcom removed its i-mode catalog in 2018, 5 Islands survived only on legacy devices until SciLab Secrets preserved a complete copy in 2023. The newly released English patch builds on a decade-old partial translation by Midori, with Mega Alex expanding it to include menus, NPC dialogue, and technical fixes.
Technical Challenges and Features
Creating the patch required editing proprietary file formats using hex editors, as explained in SciLab Secrets’ preservation notes. Space constraints and coding hurdles—such as adjusting string lengths to fit English text—were resolved by preservationist Yuvi, who also developed the Keitai World Launcher to emulate the game on modern Windows systems. Players can choose between “delocalized” (Rockman, Kobun) or “localized” (Mega Man, Servbot) naming conventions.
How to Play
The patch is accessible via Yuvi’s Keitai World Launcher, which supports controller mapping and screen scaling. Players are advised to frequently interact with NPCs, whose dialogue evolves between missions, and experiment with special weapons to uncover breakable walls. Audio glitches can be resolved through the in-game options menu.
Why This Matters
The restoration of 5 Islands underscores the importance of game preservation, particularly for titles tied to defunct platforms. For Mega Man Legends fans, it offers a nostalgic, if technically dated, expansion of the series’ lore. With Capcom yet to revisit the Legends franchise since 2011’s Misadventures of Tron Bonne re-release, projects like this highlight fan-driven efforts to keep its legacy alive.
