Top games to play in Japanese
I'm beginning to get into importing, even though my favorite types of games tend to be RPGs. At present, I'm mainly looking to build a Famicom/Super Famicom collection, though I'm planning on getting a Neo Geo AES as well. My Japanese, however, is much too limited.
Do any of you have some suggestions for awesome Japan-only games that a non-Japanese speaker could still play without difficulty?
Cheers!
My top suggestion due to its infinite perfection is Fray, either for MSX2 or PC Engine CD
game kicks ass.
Aetherbyte: PC-Engine and more homebrew
when you say "much too limited" does this mean you know some japanese? if you know some japanese, you could probably get through a lot of RPGS if you know the menu system- you can just use a story translation for the meat of it.
i see far too many people say "my japanese isn't good" when they actually dont know an ounce of the language.
If you get a Famicom Disk System, I *cannot* recommend enough the game 愛戦士ニコル (Ai Senshi Nicoru/Nicol [Love Fighter Nicol]). It's positively my favorite 3rd-party FDS game, and even edges out a number of the Nintendo 1st party games.
oh I must have missed where you said Mainly looking for FC....
hmm
I second aclbandit's suggestion in that case.
Ladystalker for SFC is pretty good
Brandish doesn't require much Japaneseing.
Hyper Iria was pretty fun. (I like the music)
Cacoma Knight is addicting, and obnoxious
^^All SFC titles
Also, the Sailor Moon games, if youre into Sailor Moon. The beat em up is pretty legit.
are we ruling out games that are also English released like Castlevania?
and excluding RPGs due to text heaviness, what are your next favorite kind of games.
Last edited by Arkhan; 01-18-2010 at 10:05 PM.
Aetherbyte: PC-Engine and more homebrew
Well, I took it my first two years in college, and this was during a time when both of my roommates were Japanese international students, Japanese is largely what was spoken in the house we shared. That, and then there was all the damn Japanese TV their friends from home sent them.Originally Posted by walrusmonger
However, after I moved out, I didn't keep up with it. I'm a burnt out third year in grad school now, so it's been about 5 years. So I'm going to say, yes, I know SOME and there's probably more hidden somewhere under all the junk that constitutes my graduate education, but not really. I've forgotten the majority of my hiragana and katakana (my kanji, on the other hand, always sucked) and right now off the top of my head, I can only string a few sentences together verbally.
I wouldn't rule out games also released in the US if there was an appreciable difference between the two or you could say that in your opinion the Japanese version was better.
Favorite game genres beyond RPGs? I love platformers, action/adventure, fighting games, simulations, etc.
try gaia saver too!
and I guess maybe Musya, but that games a bit weird.
Aetherbyte: PC-Engine and more homebrew
I suppose it all depends on your actual level of Japanese knowledge... but there are TONS of Famicom games that are fully playable even without knowing a word of Japanese (In fact, basically everything except RPG's, quiz games and mahjongg games should be easy enough). However, if you're going to get into any Japanese stuff, I'd recommend at the very least getting to know kana well. If you can learn hiragana and katakana, you will be able to get through 95% of the menus in games, as they're usually just transliterated english. Unfortunately, I'd say most RPG's are out of range until you get fairly fluent... as mentioned, you might be able to get through the menus and play the game, but without the storyline, it seems like a hollow experience to me. Luckily, space limitations mean you won't see a whole lot of kanji in Famicom games, though Super Famicom will be a different matter altogether.
In any case, here's some Famicom games I would recommend that don't require any real Japanese knowledge:
- Joy Mech Fight
- Yume Penguin Monogatari
- B-Wings
- Atlantis no Nazo
- Binary Land
- Pooyan
- Devil World
- Tower of Druaga
- Mappy
- Galaxian
- Dig Dug
- Pac-Land
- Star Wars (Namco's version... completely different than the NES version)
- Quarth
- Gradius 2
- Parodius
- Kid Dracula
- Yie Ar Kung Fu
- Antarctic Adventure
- Twin Bee
- Goonies 1 (We got the sequel in North America, but not the original)
- Ninja Jajamaru-kun
- Chack'n Pop
- Pirate Ship Higemaru
- Arkanoid 2 (Preferably with the paddle controller)
And here's some Super Famicom games I'd recommend:
- Super Tetris 2 + Bombliss
- Parodius
- Godzilla: Kaijuu Daikessen
(Yeah, I don't know as much about SFC stuff...)
--Zero
Here's a (short) list of SFC games I certainly wouldn't mind owning.
Mario & Wario (SFC) - Cute puzzle-platformer with mouse control.
Do-Re-Mi Fantasy (SFC) - Solid cute platformer available on Virtual Console.
Magical Pop'n (SFC) - You know... I may just have a thing for really cute platform games.
Violinist of Hameln (SFC) - Anothe... you get the idea.
I don't know an ounce of Japanese, yet I play RPGs almost exclusively and have fought my way through several RPGs (and a dating sim!) that were in Japanese. So I'd actually suggest you try playing a few good Japanese RPGs to see if you'd be able to enjoy them without understanding them. Some good ones:
Aretha 1 & 2 (SFC)
Elfaria 1 & 2 (SFC)
Getsufuu Maden (FC) - more like an action-adventure but still
Majin Eiyuuden Wataru Gaiden (FC)
All of these can be played without knowing Japanese. I'd also suggest Ladystalker for the SFC but you WILL need a walkthru at a few points. There's one puzzle, for instance, where you have to read the book titles in the correct order.
As for some non-RPGs, I'll second DoReMi Fantasy and Violinist of Hameln for the SFC. Splatterhouse and Dracula-kun are two favorites of mine for the FC.
Why would you want to play RPGs if you have no flipping idea what is going on and youre just stumbling around clicking until you progress.
seems kinda pointless.
Aetherbyte: PC-Engine and more homebrew
Shush! You'll summon Aussie2B with that kind of talk.
But yeah, I agree. There's a crap ton of SFC RPGs I'd suggest if he was looking to buy a reproduction or was willing to use emulation. But it frustrates me if I don't know what's going on, and relying on a walkthrough for the whole game would just feel like I was having my hand held. Not fun.
I am currently playing famciom wars - if you are familiar with the gba advance wars games the language is no problem at all.
Super Famicom Wars is equally manageable - but that one will be a bit pricey.
When I come home from a long day in Hell, there's nothing I'd rather reach for than a fire-brewed bottle of Styx Beer. Made from the filthiest waters from our own River Styx. Styx Beer is a third more toxic than any other regular beer. The worst beer - the filthiest beer - the deadliest beer. It's Styx Beer!
yeah, following the step by step walkthru faq is kind of like playing mahjong with the hint key pressed down the entire time....
Aetherbyte: PC-Engine and more homebrew
I've gotten into arguments before over this in RS chat, some pretty heated. I'm not sure I even want to respond. I suggested some RPGs that are easy to play and FUN without knowing what the storyline is. Trust me, you can make it through them without knowing Japanese. They're also cheap, so OP can pick one up and try it. If it's not for him, he's only out $5 at most.
Here's my thoughts on playing RPGs and not understanding what's going on:
1) I can usually suss out some sort of storyline, particularly for newer games (SFC and so on).
2) I can make up my own story as I play along.
3) I'm interested in the world that the game creator(s) made, whether I full understand it or not. Yeah, there are some that are just lazy visually, those can be boring. It all depends on the game.
4) I actually really like turn-based RPGs as something to just pick up and mess around with and play. They're platformers or shmups to other people. I like the gameplay. Maybe that makes me an anomaly, I don't care.
5) My favorite part about RPGs is the adventure. You want to see what's around the corner, over the hill, past the ocean. That's what really interested me.
6) It can make an easy game harder.
Which is why I only suggested using it in certain places.
I vote for Adventure Island IV and Super Mario Bros. 2 (J).
MS Pac-Man
Rockman and forte( sfc) , cant go wrong with a old school mega man game? Personally like this version better than the gba version.
Super parodious(sfc) - any of them , great shooters
Clock Tower (sfc)- Its a horror survival game , the game is based on trial and error. Though you miss out on the story if you dont emulate it with a english translation however the story isn't necessary to enjoy this game.
U GAIZ JUST DONT LIKE CHANGE , (builds a artificial foundation here)
Hm...it's really hard to think of the top games to play "in japanese" rather than english...or do you just mean the best Japanese games for SFC that you can play without needing to understand the text? I guess it's a little confusing.
The best games to play in Japanese are the ones that are expensive in the states but cheap in Japan ^_-
Final Fantasy V is a must-have. There's not too much text, and there's actually a great translation of the ENTIRE script (in a very readable order), so you wouldn't have too many issues.
Sonic Wings is a fantastic vertical shmup. I've had a lot of fun with that one.
Mother 2 is an obvious choice. You can either pay $15 for a boxed Japanese one, or $100+ for a boxed US version.
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