Japanese games for the Sega Saturn

[Don Gloton]

Hi!

I´m studying japanese and I use sega Saturn games to practice. My level is Phantasy Star 1 and little else. Well maybe Shenmue for the Dreamcast too, but no more.

I´d like to know if someone knows of any games with a simple vocabulary level to keep on with my studies. Of course I mean rpg or adventures not plattforms games which have virtually no text.

Thanks a lot.

 

[Berty]

I know how you feel,

I studied Japanese for 7 years at school, but i gave it up for a few years so now i can hardly remember any of the Kanji characters which are essential in playing the games.

All i can suggest is Bio Hazard for the saturn (resident evil) because it has all english voices but with stuff written in hiragana and katakana, like clues, however it is hard sometimes to understand the katakana as i cant find an english equivalent for some of the sounds.

Playing games in english then playing them in japanese sometimes helps because you then at least know how the game works so you can spend your time familiarizing yourself with the translation. Good simple examples of this would be to play SF Zero 3 in MAME, then the JAP version on the Saturn.

As for RPG's i am at a loss, they all seem to have fairly high japanese language requirements. maybe try shinning force 3? or PDS.

Hope that this helps,

 

[Don Gloton]

Thank you very much.

I guess I´ll be looking for Biohazard.

Shining Force is very difficult. At least episode 3.

Someone else?

 

[M3d10n]

Run away from Shining Force 3 until you get deeper in your studies. It abuses of polite language, uses no spaces between words, and makes heavy usage of Kanji sometimes.

I strongly recommend you Grandia. It makes sparse usage of kanjis (lotsa hiragana), and even uses katakana in japanese-only words (usually slangs, or cursing, or just to emphatizate certain words - like CAPS-). Also it uses spaces between words and the font is big, easy to read. It's perfect to pratice Japanese in the beginner level.

Also, find Bomberman Fight! (the 3D isometric one). While not an RPG, it has lotsa dialogue before and after the battles, all fully voiced and written. It's interesting because each character has a different way of writing. Bomberman's is the normal hiragana/kanji text. There's a character that abuses kanji. Another one only speaks in hiragana, and the robot ones only speak in katakana, and so on. Very good for praticing.

 

[DBOY]

The more complicated the game the more you'll learn. If you want to learn a shitload of Japanese jus tplay through Langrisser I through V.

Hope you have GOOD dictionaries that include archaic military terminology

 

[Azazel]

Well if your going to try to avoid heavy Kanji gmaes you could try something like terra Phantasica as I don't think it uses a lot of Kanji.

Some other games that were released in english on other system but are Japanese only releases on the Saturn that you could practice are Y's 1 and 2 on falcom Classics 1, Dragon Slayer Legend of Heroes 1 on Legend of Heroes 1 and 2, Vandal Hearts, Gensosuikoden, Grandia, and Langrisser 1 on Langrisser Dramatic Edition.

Personally I kind of perfer Kanji heavy games like Black Matrix, Soul hackers, Langrisser as their much easier to understand than stuff that is written mostly in Hiragana

 

[Don Gloton]

Hey thanks everyone!!

Now that I have finished my exams I´m going to look for those games and keep on practising.

Thanks again. See you.

 

[Saitou]

I am studing japanese too, but I had only 3 classes

I think You must continue with the Phantasy Star games.

They are quite simple.

In PS 1 Collection you can choose between text in hiragana or Katakana, what make it very easy to understand.

Taking advantage of this subject, anyone knows if there is a way to patch Ps Collection with an english text, once it was already translated?

 

[Azazel]

Well it's probably doable to hack PS Collection insert a english translation and reburn it and play it but it would be a lot or work and I doubt anyone would go through all the trouble.