Square Localisation Through Amanda Katsurada
For readers in English gaming circles, the story starts in Japan, where Square was rethinking how its games should be adapted for Western audiences. In a recent interview, former localisation specialist Amanda Jun Katsurada, who worked at Square from 1998 to 2003, described the company’s move away from literal translation and towards cultural adaptation for titles such as Chocobo Racing and Kingdom Hearts.
Katsurada joined Square’s Tokyo offices in November 1998. She was born in Japan to a Japanese father and American mother, had little prior interest in video games, and came to the role with a background in anthropology and comparative literature. She got the job after meeting Square at a job fair in Boston, despite having no direct industry experience.
Her arrival came during a period of change inside the localisation department. She recalled the Tokyo office’s long hours and late starts, with the schedule moving from 1 pm to 11 am. Developers and localisation staff often stayed for days, working and eating at their desks, which helped create a close-knit atmosphere within the team and with some development groups.
Richard Honeywood, a lead translator at Square, was an important mentor early on. On Chocobo Racing, he had enough time to push localisation beyond word-for-word translation. The team tried regional accents and speech patterns to give characters distinct voices for English players, with a goblin given a Cockney accent and Cid speaking with a Southern American cadence.
Katsurada said this was part of a wider shift in thinking. The job title changed from translator to localisation specialist, and the work expanded to include gestures, icons, and possible legal or cultural issues in the target market. That meant checking whether content would be understood, accepted, or need adjustment for a different region, not just whether the words were accurate.
She also described how the work depended on close contact with developers. Text files were often arranged by location in the game rather than as a full script, so context could be hard to follow. Localisation staff would ask developers for clarification and play beta versions to understand the story flow and character motivations. Approachable directors, including Takashi Tokita, helped keep that process grounded in the original creative intent. For more RetroShell coverage, see our News tag.
What comes through most clearly is how Square’s approach matured during this period. The aim was no longer just to translate Japanese text into English, but to make sure the humour, tone and characterisation still worked for a new audience. That shift helped shape the way later Square releases were received outside Japan, and it remains a useful snapshot of how localisation became a craft in its own right.
