Accessible Japanese exclusive Game Boy games?

[cartman]

Hi, wich games were made to this system that can be played by Westerners who don't know any Japanese? I know there is a fuckton of games that never made it outside Japan, but wich ones of these are non-rpg?

I know of 3 games:

Noobow
ZAS
Trip World

Any ideas?

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

I believe that it was available in Europe as well, but Vib Ribbion is one of my favorites that never made it to the US.

And it doesn't require anything more than a small menu translation guide to get going.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vib-Ribbon

[cartman]

yeah but that one is for Playstation. I'm asking for the Original Game Boy with the grey cartridges.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

yeah but that one is for Playstation. I'm asking for the Original Game Boy with the grey cartridges.

LOL

My bad, missed the word "GameBoy" in your post. It's too early for me to responding to things.

So as not to fail in contribution to this thread, here is what looks to be a fun Shin-Chan platformer for Gameboy. Quite certain that it never made it to the US.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMshaI2hQHg&feature=related

Also R.I.P. Yoshito Usui!

[cartman]

good find, thanks.

Any more?

[pseudonym]

Trip World was released in Europe too.

[ccovell]

Definitely Chalvo 55.

You might have already seen this, but I made a page recommending some obscure or Japanese-only gems:

http://www.chrismcovell.com/gbgems.html

[cartman]

yeah i've come across it at some point, later it led me to buy noobow:)

Any more games?

[Shellshock!]

Check out this article for some shoot'em-ups:

http://blamethecontrolpad.com/gbshooters/gbshooters.htm (http://http://blamethecontrolpad.com/gbshooters/gbshooters.htm)

[Shellshock!]

Check out this article for some shoot'em-ups:

http://blamethecontrolpad.com/gbshooters/gbshooters.htm (http://http://blamethecontrolpad.com/gbshooters/gbshooters.htm)

[Aussie2B]

Well, define "accessible" for yourself. Even RPGs are playable without knowing Japanese with a little effort. Are you looking for games that completely lack Japanese text, or is there a certain amount you'll tolerate?

I recommend TwinBee Da!, although I would suggest the colorized version available only in Europe over the b/w version available in Japan.

[Shellshock!]

I recommend TwinBee Da!, although I would suggest the colorized version available only in Europe over the b/w version available in Japan.

Yes, because it's an original TwinBee game instead of a port. Also, there's a remake of it in the PSP TwinBee collection.

[fahlim003]

A decent platformer by Jaleco which never saw a western release is Banishing Racer. I found a copy locally and tried it out to see what it was about. Turned out to be a car/automotive inspired platformer (like Tryrush Deppy) and a decent one at that. You drive across America a la Turbo OutRun and you can even chain enemies. If you can find it, it's definitely a good pick-up.

[Parodius Duh!]

Hammerin' Harry if you can find a copy. Trip World is awesome but stupidly hard to find.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Ganbare Goemon Hoshizorashi Dyamites Arawaru is completely playing even if you don't know any Japanese.

You can read about it and 24 other games on my top 25 GameBoy/GameBoy Color list I wrote a little while ago.

http://satoshimatrix.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/top-25-gameboygameboy-color-games/

[Aussie2B]

Yes, because it's an original TwinBee game instead of a port. Also, there's a remake of it in the PSP TwinBee collection.

The remake feels so different that it's almost like a new game, so I'd still recommend the original game even if someone has the PSP collection.

[cartman]

Well, define "accessible" for yourself. Even RPGs are playable without knowing Japanese with a little effort. Are you looking for games that completely lack Japanese text, or is there a certain amount you'll tolerate?


A little effort? If i know nothing about the story i don't see how they can be played at all. Sure i can run around and accidently do the right thing, but what kind of gaming experience is that?

The ammount of text isn't the most important, but the fact that the game can be played without understanding it.


I recommend TwinBee Da!, although I would suggest the colorized version available only in Europe over the b/w version available in Japan.

TwinBee Da!! was released in Europe under the name Pop'n TwinBee.

[cartman]

Ganbare Goemon Hoshizorashi Dyamites Arawaru is completely playing even if you don't know any Japanese.

You can read about it and 24 other games on my top 25 GameBoy/GameBoy Color list I wrote a little while ago.

http://satoshimatrix.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/top-25-gameboygameboy-color-games/

yeah but that one is for gbc, I'm talking about original game boy only.

This series does have 2 titles on the original game boy however. But there are some rpg elements and i couldn't find out what to do.

And how did you get color on super mario land:confused:

[cartman]

Hammerin' Harry if you can find a copy. Trip World is awesome but stupidly hard to find.

that would be "Daiku no Gen-san: Robot Teikoku no Yabou", right?

[cartman]

A decent platformer by Jaleco which never saw a western release is Banishing Racer. I found a copy locally and tried it out to see what it was about. Turned out to be a car/automotive inspired platformer (like Tryrush Deppy) and a decent one at that. You drive across America a la Turbo OutRun and you can even chain enemies. If you can find it, it's definitely a good pick-up.

looks pretty good actually, great addition.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

yeah but that one is for gbc, I'm talking about original game boy only.

This series does have 2 titles on the original game boy however. But there are some rpg elements and i couldn't find out what to do.

And how did you get color on super mario land:confused:

I didn't. All the screenshots of GB games in "color" are the either Super GameBoy pallets or the "auto coloring" of the GBC.

[cartman]

I didn't. All the screenshots of GB games in "color" are the either Super GameBoy pallets or the "auto coloring" of the GBC.

could you find out the exact one for the SML? I have both the SGB and GBC and i can't remember it being like this.

[Aussie2B]

A little effort? If i know nothing about the story i don't see how they can be played at all. Sure i can run around and accidently do the right thing, but what kind of gaming experience is that?

The ammount of text isn't the most important, but the fact that the game can be played without understanding it.

I don't know Japanese, and I've played through many imported RPGs, just as countless other gamers have done. It's the strategy games and sims where it can get tricky, but a traditional RPG is usually easy peasy. If you've played a few in English, you already know the drill. You go to a town, talk to everyone, go to a dungeon, clear it, find your way to the next town, rinse and repeat. If the game is fun otherwise, it doesn't matter if you miss out on the dialogue.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

could you find out the exact one for the SML? I have both the SGB and GBC and i can't remember it being like this.

Upon bootup of a GBC with Super Mario Land inserted, press left to change the pallet to blue, or press down + B to change to yellow. Simple as that.

[Brianvgplayer]

I have played a few GB imports.

-Pocket Puyo Puyo Tsuu is extremely good. The menus are in Japanese, but the gameplay doesn't require Japanese to play. The game itself, like other games has a bit of a learning curve for combos, but like other color matching games (or shade matching, which are actually easy to tell apart even on b/w GB) is simple to play. The game has pieces of two similar to Dr. Mario, but is combo based against a computer, no objects to destroy to complete a level, and it takes 4 pieces next to each other to make them disappear, not just horizontal and vertical.

In other words, similar to Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (which was a localization of the original Puyo Puyo). One difference in Tsuu is that it allows for counters against the oppoents garbage, which makes things a bit more balanced.

-Sagaia. Pretty much a GB remix of Darius. No branching paths, but the gameplay is very well done. No JP text to worry about either.

-Twinbee Da! Very nice GB shmup as mentioned in previous posts. No text to worry about. Not JP exclusive since it was released as "Pop 'n Twinbee" in EU, as well as on one of the EU Konami GB Collections.

[Cauterize]

Definitely Chalvo 55.

You might have already seen this, but I made a page recommending some obscure or Japanese-only gems:

http://www.chrismcovell.com/gbgems.html

Came here to post your list ;) It's a great list I've been slowly using as a mini shopping list :)

[Zipperwitz]

Cave Noire (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWIww7YMR4c) and Ninja Spirit (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jf5bZxlohA) haven't been mentioned.
Ninja Spirit especially, is damned awesome.
There's quite a few others... Burning Paper (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjRor4C09Ek) is brilliant too.

[klausien]

X or Ekkusu is a 3D game by Argonaut that is totally playable without Japanese knowledge. It looks really cool as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyjU4MtonZM&feature=related

I second Sagaia. It is a nice little version of Darius for the GB that is downsized in a way that reminds me of Konami's early output on the system.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI3ud-dQTjo&feature=related

[Zipperwitz]

Nettou Samurai Spirits: Zankuro Musouken (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIOd4P7eJXQ) (Samurai Spirits) was Jap exclusive... probably best beat em up on the console imo. Huge sprites.

[theclaw]

that would be "Daiku no Gen-san: Robot Teikoku no Yabou", right?

I think that's a sequel. Lesser known GB games can be rather annoying to track down, even if inexpensive when found.

[Black_Tiger]

If Gameboy Color games count, Magical Chase GB is an extremely accessible, fun and impressive Japanese exclusive-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZSZ7gVj4N4

[Gameguy]

I second Sagaia. It is a nice little version of Darius for the GB that is downsized in a way that reminds me of Konami's early output on the system.
It's a good game, but it should be mentioned that it's not a Japanese exclusive. I personally have a Chinese version.

[csgx1]

KOF '96
Real Bout Fatal Fury

Both decent fighters with surprisingly excellent controls for the gameboy.

[cartman]

I have played a few GB imports.

-Pocket Puyo Puyo Tsuu is extremely good. The menus are in Japanese, but the gameplay doesn't require Japanese to play. The game itself, like other games has a bit of a learning curve for combos, but like other color matching games (or shade matching, which are actually easy to tell apart even on b/w GB) is simple to play. The game has pieces of two similar to Dr. Mario, but is combo based against a computer, no objects to destroy to complete a level, and it takes 4 pieces next to each other to make them disappear, not just horizontal and vertical.


great addition.


In other words, similar to Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (which was a localization of the original Puyo Puyo). One difference in Tsuu is that it allows for counters against the oppoents garbage, which makes things a bit more balanced.

-Sagaia. Pretty much a GB remix of Darius. No branching paths, but the gameplay is very well done. No JP text to worry about either.

If it's just a different name, well that takes the edge of it...


-Twinbee Da! Very nice GB shmup as mentioned in previous posts. No text to worry about. Not JP exclusive since it was released as "Pop 'n Twinbee" in EU, as well as on one of the EU Konami GB Collections.

same as before.


Cave Noire (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWIww7YMR4c) and Ninja Spirit (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jf5bZxlohA) haven't been mentioned.
Ninja Spirit especially, is damned awesome.
There's quite a few others... Burning Paper (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjRor4C09Ek) is brilliant too.

good job. is it your channel?


I think that's a sequel. Lesser known GB games can be rather annoying to track down, even if inexpensive when found.

well there are only two games from this series, and this one was Japan exclusive. So i assume you meant it:)


X or Ekkusu is a 3D game by Argonaut that is totally playable without Japanese knowledge. It looks really cool as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyjU4MtonZM&feature=related

i would say it looks pretty boring. But it can be played without Japanese and that's what's important.



I second Sagaia. It is a nice little version of Darius for the GB that is downsized in a way that reminds me of Konami's early output on the system.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI3ud-dQTjo&feature=related

So how does it differ exactly from it's Western predecessor?


Nettou Samurai Spirits: Zankuro Musouken (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIOd4P7eJXQ) (Samurai Spirits) was Jap exclusive... probably best beat em up on the console imo. Huge sprites.

good find


KOF '96
Real Bout Fatal Fury

Both decent fighters with surprisingly excellent controls for the gameboy.

"Netto the king of fighters 96" was released in the West under the name "The King of Fighters: Heat of Battle". Altough it was shorterned down quite extenstively i see, so it does count imo.

good finds.


KOF '96
Real Bout Fatal Fury

Both decent fighters with surprisingly excellent controls for the gameboy.

KOF '96 was released in for the Western market, called KOF: heat of battle. However it was severly cut down, so the Japanese one could count as a stand alone title imo.

[Leo_A]

Please read a thread before hitting reply. No need for a half dozen post from the same person in a row.

[cartman]

i don't know how to do those multiple quotes.

[punkoffgirl]

i don't know how to do those multiple quotes.

That's what the "multiquote" button at the bottom of each post is. You click it on each of the posts you want to quote. For now, I'll see if I can merge all your posts together.

[cartman]

That's what the "multiquote" button at the bottom of each post is. You click it on each of the posts you want to quote. For now, I'll see if I can merge all your posts together.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPxY8lpYAUM

[MarioMania]

Mach Go Go Go

[Brianvgplayer]

cartman, you haven't heard of the Darius series (www.hardcoregaming101.net has an article)? The gb game in the Darius series, Sagaia, is JP (and China, but those releases are hard to track) exclusive, not a US/EU game under a different name.

I was comparing to the first arcade Darius, not to another gb game (there was no release of the GB Sagaia under the name Darius, though the western Genesis Darius II, a different game, is also called Sagaia). The first Darius game also had a JP only PC engine (JP tg16) version with extra levels. As someone said in a previous post, the GB Sagaia is like what Konami did with Nemesis. Similar levels and enemies from the Darius series, but with different stages and no branching paths like the original arcade Darius.

As for Pocket Puyo Puyo Tsuu, I was saying it was similar to a game released in the US (and not on GB in the US or EU for that matter) and that it was similar, but has features not in the previous games in the series (Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine for the Genesis/MD was based on the first Puyo Puyo. This GB game is the second one. There is also a JP only version of the first Puyo Puyo for GB, but it sucks due to slow gameplay and poor shading, things the gb b/w version of the sequel don't suffer from).

KOF 96 wasn't released in the US, which is also why I mentioned the GB Twinbee. Maybe you should be more specific about where you are from if you have a problem with games released in EU, but not US?

KoF 96 is cut down quite a bit from the Neo Geo version to begin with. From what I tried of the EU one, I don't remember it being even more cut down. From what info I could find and what I tried of both, KoF 96 GB and Heat of Battle seem to be the same.

Pop 'n Twinbee GB (though this EU name is the same as the completely different SNES game) and Twinbee Da!! are the same, yes, but that was my point. I missed the earlier post where you pointed that out, but I pointed it out to mention there are multiple versions, so I'm a bit surprised that you pointed out to me that they the same game with different names when that was exactly what I was saying. One thing worth mentioning is that the version in the Konami GB Collection removed the 2p mode from the stand alone cart versions.

Anyway, I'm from the US and I don't view EU games as a generic term like "western market" since they got some games that didn't reach US and vice versa. Since GB has no PAL or NTSC signals to worry about, I'm fine with either EU or JP versions of import GB games.

[cartman]

cartman, you haven't heard of the Darius series (www.hardcoregaming101.net has an article)? The gb game in the Darius series, Sagaia, is JP (and China, but those releases are hard to track) exclusive, not a US/EU game under a different name.


Probably heard of it at some point, nothing i really remember. Looking at the pictures however i see that i've never played it.


I was comparing to the first arcade Darius, not to another gb game (there was no release of the GB Sagaia under the name Darius, though the western Genesis Darius II, a different game, is also called Sagaia). The first Darius game also had a JP only PC engine (JP tg16) version with extra levels. As someone said in a previous post, the GB Sagaia is like what Konami did with Nemesis. Similar levels and enemies from the Darius series, but with different stages and no branching paths like the original arcade Darius.

you're right, i read it all wrong and thought that it was just a EU/US title released with a different name.



As for Pocket Puyo Puyo Tsuu , I was saying it was similar to a game released in the US (and not on GB in the US or EU for that matter) and that it was similar, but has features not in the previous games in the series (Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine for the Genesis/MD was based on the first Puyo Puyo. This GB game is the second one. There is also a JP only version of the first Puyo Puyo for GB, but it sucks due to slow gameplay and poor shading, things the gb b/w version of the sequel don't suffer from).

i see.



KOF 96 wasn't released in the US, which is also why I mentioned the GB Twinbee. Maybe you should be more specific about where you are from if you have a problem with games released in EU, but not US?

Well if a game made it to Japan and Europe, i don't consider it to be exclusive anymore.



KoF 96 is cut down quite a bit from the Neo Geo version to begin with. From what I tried of the EU one, I don't remember it being even more cut down. From what info I could find and what I tried of both, KoF 96 GB and Heat of Battle seem to be the same.

ok.



Pop 'n Twinbee GB (though this EU name is the same as the completely different SNES game) and Twinbee Da!! are the same, yes, but that was my point. I missed the earlier post where you pointed that out, but I pointed it out to mention there are multiple versions, so I'm a bit surprised that you pointed out to me that they the same game with different names when that was exactly what I was saying. One thing worth mentioning is that the version in the Konami GB Collection removed the 2p mode from the stand alone cart versions.

Yes but those different versions are for other platforms, right?
In that case, it isn't all that relevant.


Anyway, I'm from the US and I don't view EU games as a generic term like "western market" since they got some games that didn't reach US and vice versa. Since GB has no PAL or NTSC signals to worry about, I'm fine with either EU or JP versions of import GB games.

I don't see it that way. If a game was released in Japan and US, i don't consider it very exclusive (like those game only released in Japan). Besides it happened so damn often that it didn't even raise any eyebrows.

[SparTonberry]

One thing worth mentioning is that the version in the Konami GB Collection removed the 2p mode from the stand alone cart versions.
That sucks. I had wondering if the Konami GB Collection version of "Block Game" could link with my US Quarth, and I was disappointing to find it decidedly could not.:mad:

[Brianvgplayer]

cartman, I'm not sure if English is your native language, but you misread some of my comments.

With Twinbee, I was saying the EU GB (I used GB as the abbrivation for Game Boy) version is the same as the JP version, but was renamed to the same name as the SNES version. The only version of Twinbee Da!! and Pop 'n Twinbee I mentioned that isn't on gameboy is SNES (Super Nintendo), and only to point out that the EU GB version has the same name as that version.

Imports are still imports reguardless of whether or not the are exclusive or not. EU and US are different regions, so using a generic term like "western market" for a game that didn't reach the US can be confusing to someone who didn't know it wasn't released in the US (and there are plenty of EU games that didn't reach the US and even a few that didn't come out in Japan). I know you are asking for JP exclusives.

[lazyhoboguy]

Great thread. I just recently discovered that the gb and gbc are region free which has me excited. I was looking into the beatmania series because a guy I know got it on ps2. I was just searching about the series and discovered there is a gbc release of beatmania in japan only: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU0iiyFaO6o

I am going to buy it off ebay.