Nameless Rumia's Wiki

I'm tired of the internet!

User Tools

Site Tools


uboa

Uboa

Uboā” (ウボァー), also romanized as “Uboar” or “Uvoa”, is a death throe that was uttered by the Emperor of Palamecia from Final Fantasy II.1) The dialogue was presumably written by Akitoshi Kawazu, who went on to establish the SaGa franchise in the following year.2)

Summary

The death throe stood out in the Japanese community because, while the dialogue is indeed concise, having “uboa…” with no exclamation point at the end3) made it sound very stupid. It doesn't have the same effect in English because the game didn't release until 2003, the line has been translated in many different ways, and it takes hours for any player to beat Final Fantasy II4) due to its unique leveling system.5)

Interestingly, the Final Fantasy II prototype considered leaving the dialogue as “u.. boaa..”, but the game was never officially released. The first official translation was “Rrrraaaaagh!” in the PSX port, then this became “Ungaahhhh!” in the GBA and PSP port, which is the translation that Dissidia Final Fantasy borrows. For the Pixel Remaster port, it was changed once more to “Uraaahhh!”.

Original dialogue

Final Fantasy II (FC)
Released 1988

こうてい「この わたしが やられるとは….
しんじられ..ん…. 2どまでも..おまえに….
..おまえは いった..い な..にもの….
ウボァー
皇帝「この私がやられるとは……
信じられ……ん……2度までも……お前に……。
……お前は…いった……い、な……にもの……
ウボァー

English translations

Final Fantasy II (NES)6)
Prototype (1991)

Emperor “ u.. boaa..

Final Fantasy Origins (PS1)7)
Released 2003

Emperor: “B–But why…
Why cannot I defeat…you…?”
“Who…are…”
“y–you…?”
Rrrraaaaagh!

Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls (GBA)8)
Released 2004

Unbelievable… Defeated by…
insects like you…not once, but
twice!
Who…are…you?
Ungaahhhh!

Final Fantasy II (PSP)9)
Released 2007

The Empreror: Unbelievable…
Defeated by insects like you…
not once, but twice!
Who…are…you?
Ungaahhhh!

Final Fantasy II Pixel Remaster (PC)10)
Released 2021

Unbelievable… Defeated by insects like you…not once, but twice!
Who…are…you?
Uraaahhh!

English fan translations

Final Fantasy II (FC/NES)11)
Neo Demiforce (1998)

Emperor: I.. I was beaten
 twice..?
 How can it be!?

 Gwaaaahhhh!!

Final Fantasy II (WSC)12)
RPGONE (2002) - Incomplete

Emperor: The Light
Warriors..again are
victorious…Curse you
to Hell!

Final Fantasy II (FC/NES)
Chaos Rush (2020)

Emperor:Unbelievable…
Defeated by you…twice!
What…are…you?
Ungaaah!

Notes

  • You can hear the Emperor, voiced by Kenyu Horiuchi, shout this within Dissidia Final Fantasy.13)
    • In addition, Tidus from Final Fantasy X references this line when facing the Emperor.14)
    • For the English localization, the Emperor is voiced by Christopher Corey Smith and they use the recent “Ungaahhhh!” translation.15) Likewise, Tidus still retains the reference to this line.16)
  • An anonymous 2channel post on July 30, 2005 using the scream17) would end up giving the tentative name for a 1/64 (1.56%) chance event known as “Uboa” (ウボァ) in the Yume Nikki community.
  • Uboa on Pixiv Encyclopedia
  • Uboa on Niconico Encyclopedia
  • Uboa on the Final Fantasy Glossary

;;;;;; / ; ,.'l ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;丶;;;;;;
;;;;; l/,;;;;;,l ;;; ノl ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; i '、i ;;;;
ヽーl;ヽ,;;;;,Y,;;,ヽ ;;;;;;;;;;;;; ∧;;;;;;i,;;,iー
;;ヽ ;;;; ヾ ' '、;;;;;l,;;;;,|,;;;;,/ ,,,;;;;;;;;-ー,| ;;;
;;;;; lー,;;; '、-ーーゝiーiノ,.',,_ _,.' ;,ノ ;;;;;;
;;;;;;;;  ゝ;;;;ゝ;;;;;;;;,i;;;;;i,;;;;;;;;;;;,ー" ;;;;;;;;; ウボァー!
:::; ヾー-,.'l,ノl'、 ,.';;;;;;;ヽ,,/'、,,ヽ---、
:::::; | /_l,,-l_l_l ヾ ;;; ,.' / i l l/丶 :::;
::::::; lノヽヾ l l ^lヽー、ノl_l,l,,l,,| ,,l ;;;;::
::::::; | '、l l l l l ノ lノ ノlノ""i ;:::::::
:::::::; '、 ヽヽ ヽノ ,ノ ノ丿 /,;:::::::::
:::::::::::; ヽ ヽl lノ 丿ノノ ノ; ::::::
1)
The 'Emperor of Palamecia' (パラメキア皇帝, Paramekia Kōtei), or 'Emperor' (皇帝, Kōtei), is the main antagonist of Final Fantasy II. He was later named 'Emperor Mateus' (マティウス皇帝, Matiusu Kōtei) with the 1989 novel, which became canonical in the latter works and remakes.
2)
For reference, Final Fantasy II released in 1988 and Makai Toushi SaGa released in 1989.
3)
It should be noted that original dialogue didn't officially have the “!” at the end until the GBA remaster.
4)
Overall, you have to consider that the patience required to finish RPGs that released in 1988 isn't the same patience given to RPGs that released in 2003. This is why the GBA, PSP, and Pixel Remaster ports are recommended as they adjust the leveling system to follow a curve, allowing players to progress much faster in the beginning, while disincentivizing the 'hitting yourself' strategy (in the beginning, at least).
5)
Final Fantasy II has a unique leveling system where the stats and skills level up individually, based on what the player actually does in the battles. This system is later refined in the SaGa franchise, and replaced with the easier to understand 'job system' in some of the later Final Fantasy games.
6)
"Final Fantasy II (NES) Playthrough [2 of 2]" [7:18:03] (January 25, 2025). YouTube.
7)
"PSX Longplay [657] Final Fantasy Origins (Part 4 of 4)" [5:39:30] (August 29, 2020). YouTube.
9)
"Final Fantasy 2 PSP Walkthrough Longplay Part 2" [4:24:12] (September 19, 2015). YouTube.
11)
"NES Longplay [268] Final Fantasy II (Part 7 of 7)" [2:30:40] (September 10, 2012). YouTube.
12)
"[TheFFTVChannel] Final Fantasy II, WSC, (1/1)" [11:43:15] (November 8, 2020). YouTube.
15)
"Dissidia - Shade Impulse 19 (English)" (September 9, 2009). YouTube.
17)
"ゆめにっき 2ページ目" (July 30, 2005). 2channel /gameama/.
uboa.txt · Last modified: 2025-04-06 05:29:43 by namelessrumia