Video game recommendations for reading Japanese?

I am starting to get into playing games in Japanese. I am not sure what to start with… But on my list is:

  • Stardew valley
  • Famicom Detective (gamegengo has this as number 1 game to learn from, but not sure how difficult it is)
  • Pokemon Sword / Shield maybe (I love Pokemon)
  • Digimon Survive (like a VN)
1 Like

The problem is that the game is …not my cup of tea. I bought it for language learning, but I can’t bring myself to actually play this :frowning:

Pokémon is good, but learning all the attacks and names is also very exhausting.

3 Likes

Legends Arceus and Scarlet/Violet don’t have a “Kana/Kanji” choice. They are Kanji with Furigana, like all Nintendo First Party games now.

1 Like

Do you have any visual novel reccomendations?

There’s a nice list here but personal opinions matter too :slight_smile: Beginner Japanese Immersion Material - Morg Systems

Famicom Detective Club The Girl Who Stands Behind was actually the first game I finished in japanese it is pretty easy. If you are interested in games like that give it a try.

1 Like

Thank you!!!

What software do people use for OCR, if you use that?

I got it from Fangamer: Legends of Localization: Passport to UNDERTALE

If you’re from Europe it’s also on their european store, it could be cheaper for you to order from there with regards to shipping and such.

SimCity 4, Civilization, Ara Fell

Gonna add here that while most Pokémon games are very beginner-friendly, Legends Arceus is full of N1 grammar, so rather different audience when using it for language learning lol

I have no idea what is part of „N1 grammar“. I formally studied Genki 1 and parts of Genki 2 and just looked up other grammar points whenever needed.

I gave up on playing Pokemon in Japanese in general, the names and terms are all a bit too annoying for not that much actual interesting reading practice.

I know that feeling. I remember trying out Pokemon Red in Japanese ages ago and it was just mindnumbingly boring. Not even the idea that I was finally playing something in the original language could carry it.

I could get through Dragon Quest 1 and 2, also very dull games in kana only, but not that. I’ve since played through FF6 as well as Seiken Densetsu 2 and 3 too. There is something interesting about seeing cartridge space evolve, opening up more space for saving kanji on a cartridge and seeing the language becoming more complex that way with older systems.

1 Like

I‘m also playing FF6 in Japanese now, but the Pixel Remaster, which uses the exact same script, with a few added Kanji and vastly better readability. It‘s a lot more engaging.

Ace Attorney is also really good practice in Japanese, I just miss all the humor :joy:.

2 Likes

Nice, I decided to play through the Pixel Remaster of 1 instead of the Famicom original because it injects some kanji into the script to make it flow much better too. It’s really funny how you’d think kana only would be easier to read. But after a while that’s definitely not the case. You really learn the hard way why kanji is necessary.

1 Like

Kana only is a good challenge in it‘s own right, too. To understand Kana you really have to KNOW the words. With Kanji I can often just deduce the meaning without having the actual word in my active vocabulary. :see_no_evil:

2 Likes

This topic was automatically closed 365 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.