Games I'm Trying in Japanese (but I'm dumb as rocks (okay not that bad but I'm a beginner))

galactichole and turdl3 have more comprehensive lists and they're both wicked smarter than I am but since I'm still working my way to N5 competency maybe this will be of value to someone.

Boku no Natsuyasumi
Boku no Natsuyasumi
First started this a few months ago for immersion practice since the dialogue is written and spoken, but quickly stopped as listening to the audio automatically progresses it. Will definitely revisit once I am less dumb as rocks.
Fortnite
Fortnite
It's all cognates! Don't do this!
Wally wo Sagase!
Wally wo Sagase!
There's very little time to actually read a lot of the text but being designed for children I was able to determine the goal for each stage with relative ease.
Hot Shots Golf
Hot Shots Golf
Didn't learn diddly shit!
Robbit Mon Dieu
Robbit Mon Dieu
Nearly the entire game is voiced which is fantastic, but there's no furigana and I faced a lot of walls of text. I was at least able to suss out the general goal of most of the levels through context and recognizable words like those for clothing, item, enemy, etc.
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX
Kind of a weird one in that it has furigana for everything but it's still Mystery Dungeon which I don't like, your partner's dialogue is incredibly casual, and some characters speak only in katakana which trips me up too much for my own good. Probably a good idea to try out a typical Pokemon title first, but there was a lot of text available to read which was a plus. If you want to cement the words for Rescue Team and Help into your brain really fast, this is a good pick.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
I heard it has easy language so I will give it a go!
Yo-kai Watch
Yo-kai Watch
CURRENTLY PLAYING

Cure Dolly (RIP) recommends this due to the easy language used, plus the problems and situations are more 'ordinary' than those of Pokemon so I might be able to pick up useful terms instead of the word for, I dunno, String Shot.

After a few hours, I'm pretty impressed so far with how well this works for learning some basic vocab and colloquial Japanese. Boy howdy do the conjugations of verbs seem to go on forever! But at least I am recognising the verbs and nouns themselves.
Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee!
Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee!
Being aimed at younger audiences, this seems a better pick for a Pokemon game than something like SwSh and ScarVi. BUT it doesn't have furigana BUT I would like to rely a little less of furigana so maybe I will tough it out.
Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride
Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride
Tim Rogers apparently learned a lot of Japanese through this so I dunno why not.

2 Comments


11 months ago

Inazuma 11 on DS are good options for this! Similar to Pokemon, they are aimed at a younger audience so they have furigana and also use modern language (unlike Dragon Quest).

11 months ago

Cool that you're doing this! It's a fun journey. I thought Tokimeki Memorial was great since it has vocab and colloquialisms that are actually relevant for everyday modern conversation, and is still pretty simple (at least compared to something like BokuNatsu which is much more literary). I also loved playing Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru in Japanese; it's packed with wonderful humor


Last updated: