Would someone be able to share instructions on how to play Boku if you don’t have a PS1 or PSP device? I’ve never used an emulator, so have no idea how to go about it 
Life is always busy and I don’t have the time or energy for it so I don’t participate in these WK forum book/game clubs (at least yet !) but I can’t help but peep in here just to say that you’re all in for a treat with Boku no Natsuyasumi. One of the few games I’ve played during my JP studies and it left quite an impression on me- even with language gaps and crude assumptions. Such a wonderful title.
Playing it communally I imagine is going to be a fun time. Beyond just the actual studying angle- it’ll be like telling little stories around a campfire. Hope you all enjoy as much as I did!
Also, if you’re emulating I think the game looks beautiful with a good CRT filter. I played on Duckstation and under the post-processing tab there’s a built-in option for “CRT-NewPixie” and with some tweaking to taste it really elevated the experience for me.
Work to be done but I got the basic thread up!
There’s probably someone better to tackle this than me since I’m sure most people are gonna be on emulators but as the post after yours mentioned I think Duckstation is highly regarded for PS1 emulators. I’m guessing PPSSPP is still the go-to for PSP but I haven’t used one in a while. I got on such an original hardware kick recently I’m falling out of touch.
At their most basic settings they’re pretty plug and play, but talking around them gets awkward in a forum setting like this because I assume you might need to drag in a bios file for example which to my understanding is kind of a legal gray area for copyright so you have to provide that separately, plus the copy of the game itself should, in the eyes of the law, be personally ripped from a disc you own. Nevermind that no one involved in making or copyrighting this game is interested in selling it to you and hasn’t been since the PSP era so the virtuous route is to make sure you give money secondhand to Some Random Person.
Anyway sorry I can’t be more help for now but I’d probably pick up one of those depending on which version you want, look for a setup guide which should be easy with a search, and come back if you run into specific issues from there. Hope you can get it working without much trouble 
I’ve played Pokémon in Japanese before, and I used PokéJisho for move and Pokémon names
Given that it’s likely to be a future candidate, it looks like 13 Sentinels is on offer on the JP eshop
Though given the trends shown on this site it looks like it quite regularly goes on 50% off so it’s likely this deal will roll around again before long
75% even! Quite a difference between 60€ and 15€; gotta remember that when I want to buy it.
Be careful, the -75% off is only for the western release which doesn’t include Japanese. The Japanese version is -50% off.
Given that Boku’s final week is already starting in just about a month, it might not be the worst time to start reminding people to get in nominations and vote in a little while so we can give a little more prep time for the next one to help people get their hands on the game and the like?
I kind of feel like I don’t want to win again just yet and monopolize the club too early haha, but one more thing I’d really like to play together with a club has popped into my head since the last vote so I’m debating if I do it yet or wait a round, but I’m itching to put one more nomination up there sometime.
Remember it’s a vote.. if your nomination wins it’s because it’s what most people want to play. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Especially if it’s something that you feel could benefit from playing as a group.
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
Genre: Supernatural Mystery / Puzzle-Solving Adventure
Summary:
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective is a puzzle/adventure game. It was developed mainly by Shu Takumi, the man behind the Ace Attorney Series. Game’s story centers on the protagonist Sissel, and his ghost’s struggle to discover who he was when he was alive and who killed him. The player assumes the role of this ghost, who has the ability to perform various Ghost Tricks to solve puzzles and navigate the world around him.
Availability: Nintendo DS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC (Steam), iOS and Android.
Where to buy:
Time to Beat: Approximately 12 hours.
Personal Opinion: I haven’t personally played this game yet, so I can’t guarantee it’s perfect, but everything I’ve researched suggests it is excellent. I bought the physical Switch version a while ago, and I think a gaming club would be the perfect incentive to finally start it.
Since you can advance the text at your own pace, it’s easy to stop and check specific grammar points or slang without the pressure of missing anything. The visual storytelling is also very expressive, even if you miss a specific word, the animations usually make the context clear.
Pros:
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Available on basically every modern platform.
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You control when the next dialogue box appears, which is helpful when you need to look up a word.
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The game is highly acclaimed for its writing, gameplay, and music.
Cons:
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There are quite a few terms related to crime scenes and “spirits” that might require a dictionary.
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Some characters use unusual speech fonts (see image below), which might be a bit tricky to read at first.
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Puzzle-solving is a niche genre, so it may not appeal to everyone.
Earthbound / MOTHER2 ギーグの逆襲
Genre: Turn-based RPG
Summary:
A turn-based JRPG and sequel to then-Japan-only Earthbound Beginnings (1989) in which Ness, a young boy living in a land based on the USA, leaves home to go on an adventure through strange locations, get to know quirky characters and defeat an unknowable alien threat called Giygas while facing up to the realities of growing up and becoming familiar with the real world.
Availability: Nintendo Switch Online (I believe you must download JP app from a Japanese account), Super Famicom import
Time to Beat: ~30 hours
Personal Opinion: It’s gotten in my head recently that I want to replay this because it is, to me, a serious contender for the best videogame ever made. And along with it is a desire to share all of the weird and wonderful things you encounter with more people, so here we are. I first played this delightfully strange heartwarming game sort of in parallel with my wife doing a playthrough too, and want to again have others to discuss it with.
This is the predecessor to pretty much every big western indie RPG (relevant to this club, Deltarune 
), taking place in a sort of surreal parody of the US balancing some serious plot beats with a lot of quirky humor. I have to imagine if you give it a chance, it will charm a lot of people the way it did me. And to be clear, there is no continuity from the original Mother game; I decided for this club’s purposes it would be much better to jump to 2 because 1 in isolation is not likely to land as well for people.
Pros:
- Semi-accessible to Switch users
and easy to emulate - Dialog advances at your own pace and the textboxes are fairly small; the Japanese is not difficult
- The game is just incredible, packed with unique memorable oddities and humor
Cons:
- I recall a few sections posing difficulty spikes (though certain strategies should help, which can be covered in the club)
- Unfortunately the game is (mostly) kana only
- Since the last post mentioned unusual fonts – Mr. Saturn is a small part of the game, but they use a particularly tricky one (see images dropdown)
Alright, that’s likely it from me for a while. I’m afraid kana only is going to be a huge turnoff but I’m going to believe anyway because I feel very strongly about what an incredible game Earthbound is and how nice it would be for more people who haven’t played it yet to experience it.
Ghost Trick is another I played too recently (in Japanese) to join for, so unfortunate for me if it gets picked, but it’s a very good nomination so you all should definitely consider it!
Ahhhh another great proposal!!!
Also if anyone’s curious about this, it is free to make a JP account and free to download the app. But once the app is downloaded, you open it with your normal account that has switch online
Poll #2
Closes 30/03/26
- Pokemon (gen 1)
- デジモンサバイバー・Digimon Survive
- Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky
- Paper Mario
- Deltarune
- Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
- Racing Lagoon
- 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim / 十三機兵防衛圏
- Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg
- Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
- Earthbound / MOTHER2 ギーグの逆襲
0
voters
- See the top post for links to each nomination post
- Keep in mind console availability and price ranges for yourself
What’s the rule for other clubs? Less than 15% vote gets a submission removed?
First few hours sprint and so far deltarune and earthbound are neck and neck
Earthbound vs New Earthbound
Crazy that I might possibly end up running the second club too I mean I’m super excited if it happens cause Earthbound means a lot to me.
Handily it’s on my list of game series to try out so that would be good 
I had tried watching a few Japanese let’s plays of Mother 1 before, to see what the fuss was all about, not knowing until your post that that’s not the game people are talking about. I’m now super excited to see Mother 2, and it’s probably my top pick of the 5 I voted for 
I really need to go play 1 cause I still haven’t for myself but yeah, the general reaction to that seems to be that there are a lot of good concepts but it’s rough around the edges. Mother 2/Earthbound sounds like sort of a second attempt at it that just substantially builds on what it was going for.
I played Earthbound probably a decade or two ago on the SNES after my brother recommended it - we both loved it! I definitely hope it wins…though if it does, I may need a bit of advice on how to set up a Japanese Switch account + how to combine it with a US Switch Online account, if anyone here is willing to help…