The lost found

In 2021, The Hidden Palace acquired a prototype version of Burning Rangers. It's dated only two months from what is supposed to be the game's completion date, but it's different in a lot of ways.

Here we'll look at my favorite features of the game, the survivors and the e-mail system, and how they looked before being finished.

There are 108 survivors in final version of the game. The prototype doesn't let you actually rescue very many of them, but the game data also has 108 different names and portraits.

Their portraits are more or less unchanged in the final version. The creator of the Burning Rangers Tribute, Andreas Scholl, extracted the images for me and I made the mosaic shown here. You can see the I mosaic made from the final version's images on Twitter.


The prototype's data shows that most of the survivor names had been picked out already, but quite a few changed before the game was released. The image shows the missing ones in red, the ones with minor changes in yellow, and the unchanged ones in green. Here are some of the changes:

  • Anne and Cynthia Tracy had their first names changed to Meg and Diane

  • Bella, Michael, and Owen Rocha had their last names changed to Eastwood

  • Keiko, Nami, and Manabu Champlain became Kanako, Manabu, and Naomi Parton

  • Ellen Kelley, whose friend Dana sends a message in the final game, has the name "Ellen&Danna"

Just a handful of survivor e-mails are included in the prototype. You can find them in the game data: MAIL.BIN is compressed using PRS. The text data is encoded using the Shift JIS scheme.

The last message says:

Please give me some interesting sentences soon.
---> Mr. Nagamichi
Kana-chan is the best!
Nagasaku is great too!
By Nobuaki Yamazaki

"Mr. Nagamichi" is presumably Yasuhiko Nagamichi, who is credited as one of the game designers. Nobuaki Yamazaki is credited as one of the programmers. Who are "Kana-chan" and "Nagasaku?" The best theory is that they're both J-pop singers: Wakabayashi Kana and Hiromi Nagasaku.

Below are the rest of the mails in the prototype, along with approximate English translation. I don't think these have appeared anywhere else, so I hope you enjoy this look into what would become Burning Rangers. Some notes:

  • The messages attributed to Curt Eisler in the final are given to Willhelm Waitz in the prototype.

  • The Curt Eisler/Willhelm Waitz sequence has three messages in the final, but four in the prototype

  • The message attributed to Rose Bergman in the final is given to Ava Ileo in the prototype.

Curt Eisler (Japanese)

助けていただきありがとうございます。やけどもほとん
ど治り、明日から仕事に復帰することになりました。あ
んなにすごい炎の中で僕たちを助けに来てくれた、その
姿を見て勇気がわきました。私は今後、防災システムの
研究に力を入れて頑張ります。みなさんも事故にはくれ
ぐれも注意して、お体に気をつけて頑張って下さい。


Curt Eisler (Translated)

Thank you so much for your help. My burns are almost healed and I will return to work tomorrow. I was so encouraged by how you came to our rescue in the midst of such a huge fire.

I'm going to start researching disaster prevention systems. Please take care of yourselves and avoid accidents.

Richard Wells (Japanese)

炎に包まれ、地獄と化したプラントで自分の危険もかえ
りみず、救助活動を行う姿、ものすごくカッコ良かった
です！…もしあなたたちの活躍が無ければ、プラントの爆発は免
れなかったでしょう。
すべての人の命を救ってくれた事、感謝します。

Richard Wells (translated)

It was really cool to see you risking your lives to rescue people. Our plant had become an inferno!

If it weren't for you, the whole place would have exploded. Thank you for saving all of our lives.

Franz Otto (Japanese)

いや～あんときゃまいったよ！まさか博士があんなもん
育ててるなんてなぁ。あのジジイとんでもない野郎だと
思ったけど、聞けば死んだ奥さんの形見の花を研究中の
事故だったらしいじゃねぇか。
まあ、博士も悪気があったわけじゃねえし、あんたらの
おかげで、俺達も助かったし、後はプラントの復旧作業
さえ済めば万事解決ってとこかな。ほんとありがとよ！
今度、連絡するから飯でも一緒に食いに行こう
ぜ！もちろん俺のおごりでよ！

Franz Otto (translated)

Oh my god! That was terrifying. I can't believe the doctor was raising something so dangerous.

At first I thought that the doctor had gone mad, but then I heard that it was all an accident. He was doing research on the flower his late wife had given him.

Thanks to you guys, we were saved. Now all that's left is to restore the plant. Thanks a lot!

Wilhelm Waitz (Japanese)

バーニングレンジャーってカッコイイっすね！オレ、感
動しちゃって、バーニングレンジャーに入れないっすか
ね？体力には自信あんだけどな。試験とかあんの？
あったら教えてよ？

Wilhelm Waitz (translated)

I'm so impressed by the Burning Rangers. You're too cool!

Can I join the team? I'm confident in my physical strength. Is there a test? Let me know if there is.


この前のメールなんだけど入隊試験ってまだなんすか？
オレ、あれから毎朝ジョギングと腕立て１００回やって
るんすよ！体きたえとかなきゃね！試験、ぜったい受か
りますから。あーなんか燃えてきたー！

Did you get the message I sent the other day? I've been jogging and doing 100 pushups every morning since then.

I'm going to be in great shape for the test. I'm so excited!


入隊試験まだですか？。まちくたびれちゃいましたよ。
ジョギングも飽きてきたし、腕立てもやめちゃった。

Have you sent out the test information yet? I'm still waiting.

I'm almost tired of jogging and have stopped doing pushups.

ジョギングもやめちゃいました。

I'm tired of jogging now. I've stopped that too.


Linda Wirgman (Japanese)

先日はありがとうございました。もうだめだと思った瞬
間、天使が飛んでくるのを見て、感動しました。
友達が「天使に見えたのは装備からもれる光のせいだ」
って言うんだけど、あなた達が天使の羽に守られている
事が現実となって見えたのだと、私は思っています。
それでは、今後も頑張って下さい

Linda Wirgman (translated)

Thank you for the other day. Just when I thought it was all over, I had a vision of an angel flying over me.

My friend said that I thought I saw an angel because your equipment was silhouetted by the light from the fire. Maybe so, but I still believe you are protected by the wings of angels.

Gena Austin (Japanese)

本当にありがとうございました。あの時あなたたちが必
死で探してくれなければ、私は死んでいたのかと思うと
恐ろしくて・・・
本当に感謝の気持ちでいっぱいです。あの事故いらい命の大切さ、尊さに
付きました。
その大切な命を守る仕事。とても私には出来る仕事じゃ
ありませんが、私たちに代わってこれからも活躍して下さい。

Gena Austin (translated)

Thank you so much. I don't know if I would have survived if you hadn't searched so hard for me back there.

I'm so scared, but I'm filled the gratitude. Since the accident, I've realized how precious and valuable life is. I'm not someone who can save lives the way you do, but I hope you'll keep working on our behalf.

Ava Ileo (Japanese)

みなさんには何とお礼言っていいものか。本当に素晴ら
しい救助活動でした。すごくかっこよかったです。
私も救助が来た瞬間、助かったって思えて泣けてきまし
た。本当に死ぬかと思ったから。
私は運悪く新人研修であそこの配属だったんです。何の
因果かあんな大事故が起きてしまって・・・
でも今は、悪いことばかりじゃないかなって思えてきま
した。だって実際には助かったわけだし。
またメール出します。

Ava Ileo (translated)

I just wanted to say thank you so much to everyone. It was so cool how you pulled off the rescue operation.

The moment you showed up I began crying. I really thought I was going to die.

I was a newcomer to the plant, and had just begun training. I don't know how it all happened; it was such a big accident.

I'm starting to finally feel better now. I'll send you another email later.


覚えてますか？エヴァです。前にメール出したんですけ
ど、覚えていてくれたら、とってもうれしいです。その
ときに私、新人研修を受けてるって書いたんですが、そ
れも今日で無事終わり、明日から一人前（？）の社会人
です。報告ってわけじゃないけれど、今の私がいるのは
みなさんのおかげだから、どうしてももう一度お礼が言
いたくてメールを出しました。本当にありがとうござい
ます。救助のお仕事、大変でしょうけど、お体に気をつ
けてがんばってください。助けてもらったお礼は一生忘れません

Do you remember me? This is Ava. I sent you an email before.

I mentioned before that I was just a trainee at the plant. But starting tomorrow, I'm a fully-fledged (?) member of the team.

I just wanted to say thank you again. I know your rescue work must be tough, but please take care of yourself and do your best. I will never forget how you helped me.

Peter Smith (Japanese)

事故の時はお世話になりました。博士を追ってあんなと
こまで行ったけど、あなたたちが来なければ私も博士も
死ぬとこでした。恥ずかしながら、あの時は博士の事で
必死だったため、あそこまで被害が大きくなってるとは
気付きませんでした。
あれから、博士も新しい防災システムの研究にとりかか
り始め私も研究のお手伝いをさせていただいています。
新しい防災システムが完成した時にはいち早く皆さんに
お知らせします。その時はぜひご意見お聞かせ下さい。
まだまだ、話したい事は多いのですが、博士が研究の手
を休めないので、私もそろそろ研究室に戻らなければな
りません。またメール送ります。

Peter Smith (translated)

Thanks for helping us during the accident. I would have died had you not come along. I'm ashamed for having been so reckless. I was following after the doctor and didn't realize that the damage had become so great.

The doctor has started work on a new disaster prevention system, and I have been helping him with his research. I'll let you know as soon as it's completed.

I've got much more to say, but the doctor wants me to return to the laboratory soon. I will send you another e-mail.


This is the sort of joy you can expect from close reading Burning Rangers. If you have some other obscure knowledge about the game, send it to me! I'm memory_fallen on Twitter. Thanks to Green Gibbon! and Michael Sterns for help with the Japanese on this one, and thanks to Emily for the J-pop assistance.