Henteko is the name of the gibberish language spoken across Little King's Story, as well as other Love-de-Lic Legacy games. In reality, the effect is created by taking recordings of real languages and splicing them in a nonsensical order. It is voice acted by friends of director and producer Yoshiro Kimura who were living in Japan, both inside and outside the gaming industry. According to Kimura, these friends included Americans, Russians, Italians, Spaniards and Germans. [1] The occasional phrase, however, is complete gibberish, such as "puchi tama puyo puyo pumoga". "Henteko" comes from the Japanese word for "odd" and is coined in the credits.
Origins of Henteko[]
Different characters speak excerpts from different languages to create their Henteko Speech patterns and words. Uncertainty of a language of origin will be denoted by an asterisk *
| Language(s) | Explanation | |
|---|---|---|
| Corobo | English | Corobo doesn't speak Henteko, but does speak fully in English in the game's opening. |
| Howser | English, Japanese | Howser's Voice Actor is shown speaking fully in English in a trailer, and Howser has a RP British accent. There are a few times when Howser says English words and phrases, most notably "King!" and "Yes sir!"
Howser also uses some Japanese in his dialogue. During the "The World is Huger" cutscene, Howser uses Japanese counters such as ひとり hitori, ふたり futari. |
| Pancho | Moos | Pancho speaks in a series of stock sound effects of onomatopoeias from the Bos taurus species. |
| Verde | ||
| Liam | ||
| Apricot | English* | Some of Apricot's vocal sounds such as sighs and giggles come directly from a trailer where she speaks English, but her in-game voice sounds much closer to an extreme RP British accent than her trailer, which sounds more American.
Some unused Apricot Henteko also includes completely English words, such as "Mm hm, right." When her Henteko is reversed, the words "Rule of Rose" can potentially be heard, which would be a reference to another game developed by Yoshiro Kimura. |
| Bouquet | Bouquet's Henteko appears to be modified from the character of Charcoal from the game Chulip, also directed by Yoshiro Kimura and also featuring a Henteko voice cast. | |
| Spumoni | ||
| Shizuka | English | Shizuka's Henteko clearly says words in English, using a Southern British accent. She says "it's a profile, but...", "in the acts he could...", "promotes" and "he could, in fact..." |
| Kokomo Pine | ||
| Ferne | ||
| Martel | ||
| Kampbell | Japanese | Kampbell, while preaching in the church, can be heard using Japanese phrases such as:
「するように」Suru you ni = "In order to do...." 「三軸に、太陽人」Sanjiku ni, Taiyou hito = "Triaxial, Person of the sun" (Possibly as a reference to the Holy Trinity of Christianity) 「なりました」Narimashita = "To have become..." |
| Skinny Ray | Spanish | Spanish players have noted that Skinny Ray seems to sound like he's speaking Spanish, although he speaks so fast that it is difficult to make out specific words. Among the possible Spanish phrases are cinco aves ("five birds"), un misterito ("a little mystery"), con un estretoque del afinador ("with the twist of the tuner") and esperando ("waiting"). |
| Mr. M | Mr. M appears to have a strong Caribbean accent. | |
| Ginger Kyde | ||
| Various Citizens | The citizens of Alpoko speak in many different languages. | |
| Giga Carpenter (Male) | Chinese | The Giga Carpenter speaks in Chinese with a distinctly Taiwanese dialect and accent:
你干嘛？我要受不了了！ nî gàn má? Wô yào shòu bù liâo le! = "What’s with you? I can’t take it anymore!" 我累得去死; 真的崩溃 wô lèi dé qù sî; zhēn de bēng kùi = "I’m so tired I could die; I’m about to break down." 我很担心哦 wô hên dān xīn o = "I'm really worried" |
| Giga Carpenter (Female) | ||
| Steel Knight | ||
| Eggan | ||
| Broadcaster | ||
| Mountie (regular) | Dutch | The Mounties speak Dutch. |
| Mountie
(important) |
The Beard General and Mountie running the Hiker Registration desk use a different voice. | |
| Craftian | N/A | The Craftians appear to speak in a non-specific babble. |
| Onii King | N/A | The Onii King's dialogue is constructed of words ending in "-nii", such as "canii", "munii" and "honii". Some of these resemble real English words such as canny, money and honey, but this is likely unintended. |
| Duvroc | Japanese | Duvroc has an Eastern European accent, but his Henteko is a mix of somewhat relevant Japanese words and phrases. For example, when Duvroc's dialogue says "Cheers!", he says 乾杯 Kanpai, which is the Japanese word for "cheers". Duvroc also uses the words 油 abura meaning "cooking oil" and あっぱれ appare meaning "magnificent" (which occurs as his dialogue is saying "magificent"). |
| Shishkebaboo | French | Shishkebaboo's dialogue contains real French words such as "Bonjour", "Merci", "Très bien" and "Comment allez vous", and his Henteko voice pronounces these all accurately. These translate as "Hello", "Thank you", "Well done", and "How are you?", likely to perpetuate the character as a French stereotype. This is also unchanged in the French version. The rest of his Henteko is spoken in a French accent with a lisp. |
| Omelet | Spanish | Omelet says the Spanish words and terms "subterránea", "cellular", "estar", "tren en movimiento", "desconectar", "paisajes" and "aunque la conexión". It appears that Omelet's Henteko is constructed of a spliced recording of a person talking about being on an underground train, and therefore their phone is disconnecting. |
| TV Dinnah | Korean | TV Dinnah's introduction cutscene features English speakers saying their lines. However, his own Henteko is seemingly Korean. It appears that he is talking about someone insulting him and setting up a plan to isolate them and "eat their liver", in a tone almost like a dramatic reading of some kind of play. |
| Long Sauvage | Russian* | While the language is certainly Slavic, it is hard to definitively conclude whether it is Russian. It is possible that he is saying Russian words such as тишина tishina ("silence") and старинное starinnoye ("old"), but it is not clear since Sauvage's dialogue is spliced quite heavily. |
| Jumbo Champloon | Japanese | Jumbo Champion says the Japanese equivalents of all of the gibberish words from his dialogue.
算数 sansū = "Arithmetic" バスケ basuke = "Basketball" 風呂掃除 furo sōji (bath cleaning) = "Bathroom" シャーペン shāpen (mechanical pencil) = "Pencil" ピーマン pīman = "Bell peppers" ハンバーガー hanbāgā = "Hamburger" 腹ペコ harapeko = "Hungry" |
Names in Henteko[]
Within the Henteko Speech, several characters appear to have consistent pronunciations of their names. These pronunciations are based on the Japanese versions of character names and do not change between regions.
| Pronunciation | |
|---|---|
| King | King |
| Alpoko | Alpoko |
| Onii King | Onii King |
| Duvroc | Doba-rocku |
| Shishkebaboo | Sheeshee-kapapoo |
| Long Sauvage | Long voo-sarge |
| Jumbo Champloon | Jumbo Champloon |
Credits[]
The following staff members are credited as Henteko Voice Actors in the end credits:
- Brad Holmes
- Rika Ishibashi
- Yoji Sato
- Benjamin Perry
- Minako Kobayashi
- Solome World
- Jui-Lien Hung
- Momiji
- Mekdelawit Nemoto
- Karim Hanan
- Mariko Iino
- James Kay
- Dehee Joung
- Cornelius E. Gajentaan
- Louis Lamarre
- Eduardo Rico
- Pasha
- Ivan Gavrenko
The following staff members also appeared in a live action form during TV Dinnah's opening cutscene:
- Ludovic Touitou
- Aurelia Destobbeleer
- Louis Lemarre