Many games have a "suicide" attack where you die and inflict damage on the enemy. In Dragon Quest, the main attack of this form is called "Kamikazee" in English (a clear nod to what Americans called the suicide pilots during WW2). But in the original Japanese, the attack is called "メガンテ". What does this mean/reference that means anything relevant to "self-destruct attack"?
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3Most Dragon Quest spell names, in Japanese, are whimsical made-up words without a clear connection to what they do. A couple are onomatopoeia which probably inspired the English translation's choices (like Mera to Frizz), but Io for example has no obvious connection to explosions.– AngelosCommented Feb 13 at 18:52
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1 Answer
A quick search comes up with the meaning behind the spell :
The name comes from the spell being so powerful, you will be shocked.
You see, there is a phrase in Japanese, 目が点になる, which translated means shocked or stunned, but the literal translation is "one's eyes become dots" (like how comics draw surprised people). The characters are then shuffled to create the spell: me ga ten ni naru → me ga ten → me gan te.
Can't verify this has been officially explained, though since so many sites mention this, I would think it has to have been mentioned in a strategy guide or somewhere.
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@sundowner I figured as much! But I didn't have the time to go looking for it. Such an おやじギャグ haha– JimmyCommented Feb 14 at 2:14