Happy Salvage
released on Aug 31, 2000
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So I finally completed this today (April 16th 2023). Feels like the end of an era. And I'm oddly emotional about it.
To give some background - I'm a casual learner of Japanese. I've been teaching myself it for a long time now. Happy Salvage is the first ever game that I've played from beginning to end solely in Japanese. I read and (tried to!) understand every sentence I came across. I took hundreds of pages of notes and never rushed ahead. I read random NPC dialogue, did side-activities whenever they were available, and generally played it as I would any normal game. It is a bit difficult to attribute a numerical value though, as my experience with HS was much more 'edutainment' than as a standard video game. I went through it all at a snail's pace and got stuck often, because my Japanese is far from fluent. But I would say, all in all, I enjoyed my time with it. There's no way I could've reached the end credits if I hadn't.
So why play through all of Happy Salvage I hear you ask? This super obscure PS1 visual novel that, I assume anyway, most likely flopped in its homeland. After all, there are many other Japanese games that are far more sought after when it comes to being translated so that Western audiences can enjoy them. Well... it all just fell into place to be honest. I happened upon Happy Salvage in some random Youtube video that I was watching; the theme being about PS1 games that never made it overseas. A brief clip of HS was shown and it immediately stood out to me. The tropical locations, the bright visuals and the underwater exploration definitely appealed to me, and so on a whim I downloaded it (through nefarious means >:D). Upon booting it up for the first time, I quickly realised that Happy Salvage was a good match for my intermediate level of Japanese. It wasn't too verbose, the prose was hardly elaborate, and the story generally moved along at a good pace. I also noticed that all the dialogue and narration in the game had subtitles provided - there are no voice-only cutscenes if memory serves - which was perfect for me because my reading skills far exceed my listening skills. And also, if you think about it, isn't it generally a better idea to play a Japanese game that's likely never to be translated than one that is? I dunno - makes sense to me!
Anyway, to give a brief synopsis/description of what Happy Salvage is. It's about 65% visual novel, 35% underwater action/adventure game I would say. You play as Wataru Nanami, a university drop-out who inherits a salvaging company when his dad and uncle go missing. They've racked up a debt and it's up to Wataru and his cousin Marina to pay it off. You do this by diving underwater with a partner and using various tools to scour the ocean floor for valuable items which you can then sell off. There's a lot more to the story though, with Wataru and his gang investigating an ancient culture that has several ruins underwater ripe for exploration, while also making friends and developing bonds, all of whom have their own emotional baggage.
Of course, this premise mostly serves as an excuse to set Wataru up with a harem of adoring ladies, all eight of which have an invisible meter of sorts that you build up affection with as you progress.
They are...
Marina - Wataru's cousin and the main heroine of the game. She's generally a good lass, though quick to anger. It is weird that the vanilla girl in this game happens to be the main character's cousin. I'm not sure how romantic their relationship can get because I didn't pursue it, but... yeah. Ignorance is bliss.
Looly - The very chirpy and enthusiastic granddaughter of a former monarch of one of the game's islands. She's royalty of sorts, and gets to go on diving expeditions despite only being 10 years old because she's rich and, well, because this is some anime shit. Not nearly as precocious or annoying as you would assume. Being just a kid, she's not as involved in the story as some of the other cast members, which suits me fine, because I'd rather the game not have any of that loli nonsense at all. Again, I don't know how her route is resolved by the end, and I'd rather keep it that way!
Elissa - A tomboy and mechanical prodigy who constructs most of Wataru's toolkit and salvaging equipment along with her grumpy grandfather. Blighted by some generic brittle bone condition, she has a fragile disposition and seems the most tragic of the cast. I really liked Elissa by the end to be honest.
Miranda - The classic tsundere. A rival salvager to begin with, she's hostile towards Wataru and anyone else wanting to help her. Wouldn't you know it though, she has a heart of gold and an ailing little brother to keep alive, and joins Wataru's team after realising the true power of friendship and all that bollocks. A predictable arc, but she's another likeable presence.
Ranai (or is it Lanai?) - A spirited tribeswoman who can communicate with animals and for some reason has a gigantic belt substituting as a bikini top. She's a bit demented and I'm not sure how much of that is intentional.
Alma - A doll/cyborg constructed centuries prior that had broken down on an abandoned mobile island before being discovered by Wataru's crew and fixed by Elissa. Yes, it is as absurd as it sounds. She doesn't engage in any diving. As you would guess, Alma becomes less detached and more sentient/human-like as the story progresses, though it's done in a subtle and gradual manner. Her backstory and flashback scenes can be genuinely moving, despite how silly her character may seem on paper.
Panache - A missionary and the daughter of the priest on the game's hub island. Like Alma, she doesn't do the whole diving thing for some reason. Very quiet and soft-spoken, literally so. Her voice recordings are very low in the mix for some reason and it's hard to make out what she's saying at times. You have to go through a specific set of tasks to 'unlock' her route, so I'm thinking she might be a bonus character or something of that ilk. She's a cool lass either way.
Roshidy - A marine archaeologist and university professor, who happened to be Wataru's teacher before he dropped out. She catches wind of his antics and reunites with him, wanting to get in on the salvaging action for her own research. Mostly an elegant and classy lady, she gets a bit hands-on once drinking is involved. She also dresses very inappropriately when it comes to diving underwater. Not that I'm complaining. Needless to say, Roshidy's intro scene set off about five different kinks in me and she's probably the best thing about Happy Salvage. Before Sadayo Kawakami, there was Professor Roshidy. You better believe this was the dame I hooked up with by the end credits.
During the course of the story, you make choices which effect who you end up with, and other systems are in place too, like how often you take someone salvaging with you and if you treat them well. Take care not to hit your partner with your speargun during a dive, because they'll remember it! And while there definitely are some creepy elements and cultural idiosyncrasies that just won't sit right with a general Western audience, I would say that one of the strongest facets of Happy Salvage is its cast. They're (mostly) a super endearing, positive, proactive bunch of do-gooders, and the game as a whole is elevated by their good will and camaraderie with each other. Yes, there are anime tropes by the dozen, but nobody here is particularly irritating, or irrational, or downright stupid. Happy Salvage has a great central cast and it was a pleasure to spend time in their company (mostly).
The underwater exploration and salvaging is the meat of the game in terms of pure gameplay. It's... serviceable at best. Losing oxygen because you came into contact with a deadly fish is a regular annoyance, but the further you progress, the more oxygen you can hold in a canister, and hostile sea life becomes less of a problem. And thankfully, all in all you don't have to spend too much time doing the whole salvaging thing. It's especially helpful to pay attention to a video walkthrough like I did for some of these sections, as there can be puzzles involved, or not-so-clearly defined objectives to partake in in order to move the story forward.
And so my time with Happy Salvage has ended. It was a lot of time. Maybe too much. But I put my knowledge of the Japanese language to use, and it got me through the game while understanding most of what was going on. And along the way I learnt a lot more too. So it feels like an accomplishment to reach the end credits. I'm a little relieved, but also saddened that it's over. The same way a lot of people are sad when a Persona game ends. It was a long trip with a lot of friendly faces, and now that it's over, it feels like there's a hole where it used to be. Barring some stressful salvaging sections, Happy Salvage is textbook 'comf'. It's breezy, good-natured and a perfect summer game. While I understand why it wasn't localised in the West due to some problematic story elements, I feel it's a shame it will never reach a Western audience. The probability of a fan translation seems low, since the game doesn't appear to be on many people's radars. But I can confidently say, as someone who played the translations of Iru!, Dr. Slump and Aconcagua, that Happy Salvage is a much better game than any of those.
If you're reading this review and you feel enticed to maybe check out Happy Salvage because of it, I sincerely hope that one day you'll get that opportunity, without a language barrier standing in the way of you doing so. It's a hidden gem that deserves a wider audience than the one it got.
To give some background - I'm a casual learner of Japanese. I've been teaching myself it for a long time now. Happy Salvage is the first ever game that I've played from beginning to end solely in Japanese. I read and (tried to!) understand every sentence I came across. I took hundreds of pages of notes and never rushed ahead. I read random NPC dialogue, did side-activities whenever they were available, and generally played it as I would any normal game. It is a bit difficult to attribute a numerical value though, as my experience with HS was much more 'edutainment' than as a standard video game. I went through it all at a snail's pace and got stuck often, because my Japanese is far from fluent. But I would say, all in all, I enjoyed my time with it. There's no way I could've reached the end credits if I hadn't.
So why play through all of Happy Salvage I hear you ask? This super obscure PS1 visual novel that, I assume anyway, most likely flopped in its homeland. After all, there are many other Japanese games that are far more sought after when it comes to being translated so that Western audiences can enjoy them. Well... it all just fell into place to be honest. I happened upon Happy Salvage in some random Youtube video that I was watching; the theme being about PS1 games that never made it overseas. A brief clip of HS was shown and it immediately stood out to me. The tropical locations, the bright visuals and the underwater exploration definitely appealed to me, and so on a whim I downloaded it (through nefarious means >:D). Upon booting it up for the first time, I quickly realised that Happy Salvage was a good match for my intermediate level of Japanese. It wasn't too verbose, the prose was hardly elaborate, and the story generally moved along at a good pace. I also noticed that all the dialogue and narration in the game had subtitles provided - there are no voice-only cutscenes if memory serves - which was perfect for me because my reading skills far exceed my listening skills. And also, if you think about it, isn't it generally a better idea to play a Japanese game that's likely never to be translated than one that is? I dunno - makes sense to me!
Anyway, to give a brief synopsis/description of what Happy Salvage is. It's about 65% visual novel, 35% underwater action/adventure game I would say. You play as Wataru Nanami, a university drop-out who inherits a salvaging company when his dad and uncle go missing. They've racked up a debt and it's up to Wataru and his cousin Marina to pay it off. You do this by diving underwater with a partner and using various tools to scour the ocean floor for valuable items which you can then sell off. There's a lot more to the story though, with Wataru and his gang investigating an ancient culture that has several ruins underwater ripe for exploration, while also making friends and developing bonds, all of whom have their own emotional baggage.
Of course, this premise mostly serves as an excuse to set Wataru up with a harem of adoring ladies, all eight of which have an invisible meter of sorts that you build up affection with as you progress.
They are...
Marina - Wataru's cousin and the main heroine of the game. She's generally a good lass, though quick to anger. It is weird that the vanilla girl in this game happens to be the main character's cousin. I'm not sure how romantic their relationship can get because I didn't pursue it, but... yeah. Ignorance is bliss.
Looly - The very chirpy and enthusiastic granddaughter of a former monarch of one of the game's islands. She's royalty of sorts, and gets to go on diving expeditions despite only being 10 years old because she's rich and, well, because this is some anime shit. Not nearly as precocious or annoying as you would assume. Being just a kid, she's not as involved in the story as some of the other cast members, which suits me fine, because I'd rather the game not have any of that loli nonsense at all. Again, I don't know how her route is resolved by the end, and I'd rather keep it that way!
Elissa - A tomboy and mechanical prodigy who constructs most of Wataru's toolkit and salvaging equipment along with her grumpy grandfather. Blighted by some generic brittle bone condition, she has a fragile disposition and seems the most tragic of the cast. I really liked Elissa by the end to be honest.
Miranda - The classic tsundere. A rival salvager to begin with, she's hostile towards Wataru and anyone else wanting to help her. Wouldn't you know it though, she has a heart of gold and an ailing little brother to keep alive, and joins Wataru's team after realising the true power of friendship and all that bollocks. A predictable arc, but she's another likeable presence.
Ranai (or is it Lanai?) - A spirited tribeswoman who can communicate with animals and for some reason has a gigantic belt substituting as a bikini top. She's a bit demented and I'm not sure how much of that is intentional.
Alma - A doll/cyborg constructed centuries prior that had broken down on an abandoned mobile island before being discovered by Wataru's crew and fixed by Elissa. Yes, it is as absurd as it sounds. She doesn't engage in any diving. As you would guess, Alma becomes less detached and more sentient/human-like as the story progresses, though it's done in a subtle and gradual manner. Her backstory and flashback scenes can be genuinely moving, despite how silly her character may seem on paper.
Panache - A missionary and the daughter of the priest on the game's hub island. Like Alma, she doesn't do the whole diving thing for some reason. Very quiet and soft-spoken, literally so. Her voice recordings are very low in the mix for some reason and it's hard to make out what she's saying at times. You have to go through a specific set of tasks to 'unlock' her route, so I'm thinking she might be a bonus character or something of that ilk. She's a cool lass either way.
Roshidy - A marine archaeologist and university professor, who happened to be Wataru's teacher before he dropped out. She catches wind of his antics and reunites with him, wanting to get in on the salvaging action for her own research. Mostly an elegant and classy lady, she gets a bit hands-on once drinking is involved. She also dresses very inappropriately when it comes to diving underwater. Not that I'm complaining. Needless to say, Roshidy's intro scene set off about five different kinks in me and she's probably the best thing about Happy Salvage. Before Sadayo Kawakami, there was Professor Roshidy. You better believe this was the dame I hooked up with by the end credits.
During the course of the story, you make choices which effect who you end up with, and other systems are in place too, like how often you take someone salvaging with you and if you treat them well. Take care not to hit your partner with your speargun during a dive, because they'll remember it! And while there definitely are some creepy elements and cultural idiosyncrasies that just won't sit right with a general Western audience, I would say that one of the strongest facets of Happy Salvage is its cast. They're (mostly) a super endearing, positive, proactive bunch of do-gooders, and the game as a whole is elevated by their good will and camaraderie with each other. Yes, there are anime tropes by the dozen, but nobody here is particularly irritating, or irrational, or downright stupid. Happy Salvage has a great central cast and it was a pleasure to spend time in their company (mostly).
The underwater exploration and salvaging is the meat of the game in terms of pure gameplay. It's... serviceable at best. Losing oxygen because you came into contact with a deadly fish is a regular annoyance, but the further you progress, the more oxygen you can hold in a canister, and hostile sea life becomes less of a problem. And thankfully, all in all you don't have to spend too much time doing the whole salvaging thing. It's especially helpful to pay attention to a video walkthrough like I did for some of these sections, as there can be puzzles involved, or not-so-clearly defined objectives to partake in in order to move the story forward.
And so my time with Happy Salvage has ended. It was a lot of time. Maybe too much. But I put my knowledge of the Japanese language to use, and it got me through the game while understanding most of what was going on. And along the way I learnt a lot more too. So it feels like an accomplishment to reach the end credits. I'm a little relieved, but also saddened that it's over. The same way a lot of people are sad when a Persona game ends. It was a long trip with a lot of friendly faces, and now that it's over, it feels like there's a hole where it used to be. Barring some stressful salvaging sections, Happy Salvage is textbook 'comf'. It's breezy, good-natured and a perfect summer game. While I understand why it wasn't localised in the West due to some problematic story elements, I feel it's a shame it will never reach a Western audience. The probability of a fan translation seems low, since the game doesn't appear to be on many people's radars. But I can confidently say, as someone who played the translations of Iru!, Dr. Slump and Aconcagua, that Happy Salvage is a much better game than any of those.
If you're reading this review and you feel enticed to maybe check out Happy Salvage because of it, I sincerely hope that one day you'll get that opportunity, without a language barrier standing in the way of you doing so. It's a hidden gem that deserves a wider audience than the one it got.