Are there any Japan only console games left that you care for?
As for me, most of the stuff I cared for got translated over the years, at least /vr/ stuff.
But I'm curious whats still out there that I might not know about.
Are there any Japan only console games left that you care for?
Metal Max 2 on Super Famicom, I played it in Japanese though
hi cracky
I believe the DS port got translated.
It was, but it's not a "port" and it's basically a whole different game at that point
So what's this?
Pretty sure that's Star Ocean: Blue Sphere
What's the translation status on this?
I can't tell
I believe a translator made a 1.0 translation, which you can easily find a prepatched version of around, the patch was on romhacking.net at some point but got taken down for whatever reason. There is a bugfix patch for the 1.0 patch still on romhacking.net even now. I also think there was some weird shit going on where the patch wasn't supposed to actually be released yet and some website started selling repros of the english translation before getting taken down.
>I believe a translator made a 1.0 translation, which you can easily find a prepatched version of around, the patch was on romhacking.net at some point but got taken down for whatever reason
It was a prebeta patch the hacker/translater didn't want leaked. Some rom cart reseller got ahold of the testing version from a tester, made a cart of it, and sold the buggy beta. Some anon (me with an n64) dumped the ROM from that cart and uploaded it, which caused it to spread. Translater got mad and b***hed about it everywhere.
Later some dude bugfixed the beta version.
Wasn't the lore that the translator was contracted and paid $2500 by a repro card seller?
That's what the seller claimed, but it was really just an old beta tester who gave him the beta rom. The way he worded it was like "THIS TRANSLATION WAS SPECIALLY CONTRACTED FOR USAGE IN MY SALE" lol
Finished, but the patch is a little difficult to find. Font needs work.
If you link me to a share site that doesn't require an account, then I'll post the patch, lad.
https://catbox.moe/
https://files.catbox.moe/yojkk6.zip
Thanks. Patch works with no-intro ROM. Haven't tested with Gigaleak master set ROM.
the animations and spritework in blue sphere are so beautiful, i wish there had been more games like it
Game Boy Color was an aberration, an 8-bit platform that existed past the year 2000. The developers had time to really get to know the assembly language for it and make amazing stuff.
There aren’t many remaining untranslated games from well-known franchises or developers. However, there is a massive library of untranslated games on PC Engine, Sega Saturn, and PS1 which is packed with hidden gems, such as Dr. Slump or Tokyo Insect Zoo.
One anon mentioned Panekit in a thread here few months ago and it left me intrigued. I didn't have the time to properly try it, and I feel even a machine translation would suffice, but the concept seems cool enough to warrant a translation.
Hundreds. That's why I 日本語を学びました.
Not everyone has the time to learn moonspeak, Hiro.
If you're wasting time on this shitheap of a board, no one believes you.
Just because you have a permanent residence here, doesn't mean we've all suffered the same fate.
I don’t see the point in learning Japanese purely for entertainment consumption, unless you plan on moving to Japan permanently and/or getting a Japanese wife.
Japan also has a lot of far right nationalist writers to learn from
Works are most likely already in English.
Japs learn everything from foreigners, they have nothing to teach
Same could be said for nearly any language that isn't English.
Because it's fun, what other reason do you need?
It's not fun for me, dick
i'm not even going to bother putting that into google translate
It says " thats why I.....fall to my kness and suck wiener eternally, for none will ever out gay me"
Even if I accepted your low-standard definition of "translated" there'd still be plenty.
Post your body of translation work. What, not done a damn thing? Then quit your fricking whining.
>seethes, copes, projects
Stay mad, little man
He's right though
>no u
>seethes, copes, projects even harder
lmao. I'd tell you to take your meds, but I suspect it's the meds you're taking that are making you a hysterical deranged psycho.
Post your work and stop beating around the bush
scd
Super CD?
Post your work anon.
You have authored translation hacks, have you not?
You're clearly the one that's irate, homosexual.
>seethes, copes, projects
Over what? Again, you're the whiny entitled little b***h here.
>little man
Yes, I can see why you'd call me that. Frustration. And no, I won't apologize for your dox image.
>Are there any Japan only console games left that you care for?
Oh boy, you don't have any idea how much shit there is still to translate.
For JRPGs alone: a shitload of PCE games, especially Tengai Makyou; Gokinjo Boukentai on the SNES (and Maka Maka for the memes); Shadowrun on the Mega CD; a shitload of 32-bit era games like the original OreShika, Linda Cube, Wachenröder, Langrisser III; Black/Matrix, Falcata, Super Robot Taisen F,...
For adventure games and visual novels, I won't even bother trying to list them.
Another good "genre" is games with weird story modes like Fire Pro Wrestling, Rival Schools, PawaPuro,...
There's also all the cases of games that got "translated" but deserves a whole new retranslation for various reasons (bad ports, MTL, rewrites,...).
There's a few I've played since learning Japanese that I think deserve translations and don't yet have them:
Meremanoid (PS1 JRPG where the entire world is underwater, and all your party members are mermaids, soundtrack is one of the best on PS1)
Venus & Braves (Kind of Ogre Battle-y, you play as an immortal vampire assembling an army to prevent various doomsday prophecies across 100+ years. Combat is kind of puzzle-y where you rotate your party grid based on the enemy's attack patterns)
?t=26
Marl Kingdom 2 and 3 (AKA the sequels to Rhapsody. Some of the best characterization and world building in a JRPG, I love them to bits)
?list=PLNroSfJkgIX9OwpNRew0E0FR_gcqMxuLq
That's all off the top of my head right now.
Black Matrix (the first one and its ports at least, Zero seems better) is one of the sloggiest SRPGs I've ever played. Very unique setting and great music though CHECK IT OUT YO
You get used to it. Now it's more weird fonts that give me trouble than smooshed characters.
I dropped Marl kingdom 1 because of the slow pace of battles. Are the sequels better?
The battle systems are quite different in 2 and 3. It's been a while since I played them but they ditch the SRPG random encounters. 2 iirc was more of a traditional JRPG where dolls are equipped and used like summons, 3 builds on that and has them all represented on the field, so you have 4 "main" party members and 3 supports for each of them. It looks quite cool and it was pretty fun to play. You get to play as Marjoly and her gang as well as the other villain squad, too.
1's easily the weakest in terms of gameplay, 2 and 3 definitely had a bigger budget. It's not like 1 where there's only a couple of tilesets reused for every single dungeon. I'm truly surprised nobody has translated them already.
>Tengai Makyou
Came here to post this. Fantastic series, easily up there with DQ and FF, and westerners have never heard of it.
They're legitimately good? I always got the impression they were just hyped up because they were technically impressive for the time.
They're both. Sure, the first game is impressive for '89, but the story is fun and the characters are hilarious. The combat drags a bit, but personally I find that true of all JRPGs so I can't really hold it against it.
Hmm, noted. I'm a big JRPG fan but have trouble getting through them nowadays unless they have either a gameplay twist that keeps random encounters engaging or a really strong story/setting/atmosphere. It sounds like it might still be up my alley.
I was just looking at Dreamcast translated library and saw Fire Pro Wrestling on there. theDreamcastHub has a pretty good online collection of all of them.
Because I like adventure games/mystery/dating sims/vns there are many games left I'd like to play. Translators have only begun to scratch the surface of these games. Also translators are just getting started with the Saturn, PC Engine and PS1 in general compared to the NES and SNES
A bunch of strategy games, mostly.
Hardly anything from Systemsoft Alpha has been translated. They've got a good number of games where you play the "wrong" side in WWII.
Also a lot of stuff from Koei. Their flagship series, Nobunaga's Ambition and Romance of the Three Kingdoms, always get released on PC here now, but they've got some older stuff that has never been translated.
Here's an example, Taikou Risshiden, by Koei, released in 1992.
This is the first game in the series, released for PC98, FM Towns, X68k, SFC, MD, and PC. Also on Wii Virtual Console. There were several sequels to this, culminating in Taikou Risshiden V, released in 2004 for PS2, PC, PSP, and later ported to Switch. No English translations of any of these games that I can find.
forgot pic
Here's another one, from a developer that as far as I know never made anything else, Hybrid Front.
Released for Mega Drive in 1994, and also on Wii Virtual Console. No translations that I can find. There is for some reason an extensive English Wikipedia article on it, though.
Pretty sure Super Fighter Team did this as their last official localization release before they shut down doing physical genesis releases/translations.
I know that one cause it's on the Mega Drive Mini
How the frick did japs read Kanji at such a low resolution? I can make out 回復, and the first word on the second line has to be 攻撃 but I've got no clue what that last word on the tip line is.
You know how you can easily read English where people misspell everything? Or when people are abbreviating everything? When you know what it *should* be, you can fill in the missing information.
The more kanji and vocab you learn the easier it is to just make it out by context. Ironically it's the kana が that is the hardest thing to make out in that whole screenshot.
For me it's:
Crime Crackers (light and fun FPS bobber with upbeat anime storytelling).
Nemuru Mayu / Sleeping Cocoon (surreal grid based King's Field).
Germs (eerie open world sim where the townspeople are becoming "changed")
Idea no Hi (Basically "what if Earthbound but offensive?" and with the structural ambition to rival FF6 and CT).
>Crime Crackers
I played those too. Very neat games. I've seen Nemuru Mayu, didn't know it was King's Field-y, I'mma have to try it sometime.
Personally I feel like learning Japanese has just improved my enjoyment of games in general, especially as somebody who mainly plays SNES and PS1 games (and often JRPGs) where text space limitations and bad translations are a thing.
I also am obligated to mention Napple Tale, even if it got translated a year or two ago, because it's a great game and I still don't see people mention it here. If you like dream-y settings like Klonoa or Alice in Wonderland then give it a whirl. It has a soundtrack by Yoko Kanno. If Moon Remix RPG is an overrated (previously) untranslated game, then Napple Tale is one of the most underrated.
Napple Tale got translated?
I don't think it's underrated for video game music fans at least.
Yeah, I saw it on RHDN and there's youtube footage of it too. Seems like a solid translation.
>I don't think it's underrated for video game music fans at least.
Maybe? Even in that context I rarely see anybody talk about it.
>Maybe? Even in that context I rarely see anybody talk about it
Dude, it's a fricking Yoko Kanno soundtrack with Maaya Sakamoto songs. It is very highly rated.
I still never see it posted tho. Sure Yoko Kanno fans probably know about it. My only exposure to even hearing that the game existed in the first place was from DJT's old ass resources list for Japanese practice material.
Next you're gonna tell me Gungrave has a highly rated OST just because Tsuneo Imahori did it. I get what you're saying but I guess I don't really count something as "highly rated" if it's this unknown. Even if the people that do know of it rate it highly. Compare Moon which was overhyped for 15+ years before it finally got a translation and then everybody suddenly stopped caring because in spite of the interesting elements, it's ultimately an errand game. Napple Tale I literally never saw anybody talk about, and still don't.
>Next you're gonna tell me Gungrave has a highly rated OST just because Tsuneo Imahori did it.
You can't be serious with that comparison.
That soundtrack is very well-regarded in the Western and Japanese VGM communities, and was one of the game's selling point. We're not talking about her work on Nobunaga's Ambition here.
Also I don't get your obsession with Moon. Of course it's more popular, it recently got an offical translation on Switch.
I use Moon as a reference because for a long, long time it was the "Is it translated yet?" game. It had an almost mythical status and I was pretty disappointed (but still more or less enjoyed it, albeit not as much as other stuff I hadn't even heard of) when I learned enough jap to play it. The switch release is irrelevant. It's like Garage suddenly showing up on Android translated. The mystery was 90% of the reason anybody cared at all.
>the Western and Japanese VGM communities
Never heard of them. My reference for "well regarded" is what I've actually seen mentioned myself, and the only person I've ever personally seen bring either game's soundtrack up is... me.
Germs has a Spanish translation, and honestly if you have a very basic understanding of either language the game is pretty much playable.
This a Kings Field type game? I thought it was more of a Wizardry type DRPG (albeit batshit insane).
this will never be translated. and if it were, it would take years
>The more kanji and vocab you learn the easier it is to just make it out by context. Ironically it's the kana が that is the hardest thing to make out in that whole screenshot.
Can confirm. I cae tell what the kanji means without trying (granted it's 1st grade stuff), but the kana requires some attention.
Meh.
Now that I've played old computer games in half-width katakana, I'm never complaining about hiragana again. That shit is pure hell.
It's 呪紋/Jumon, which I'm guessing is Star Ocean's equivalent of magic spells. I'm not too familiar with the lore of that series.
Linda Cube has been mentioned multiple times in this thread and it seems like that's the holy grail translation. Some guy on Something Awful was playing throigh it and translating as he went (even putting english text in the textboxes!) but I just checked and it looks like that section of the forums is now unviewable to those without accounts.
As for me, as a huge Mystery Dungeon fan I'd like to see an english translation of Milandra, the game looks really unique and interesting.
Magic in the Star Ocean series has been variously referred to as Symbology/Heraldry/Crest Magic, the lore IIRC is that you literally have to tattoo the symbols on your body to use the magic associated with it.
Some species are naturally born with access to magic such as the Featherfolk (people with bird/angel wings) or Nedians (the blue haired girl with elf ears from SO2). I've heard some people say they're born with the symbols literally inscribed on their cells but I don't know if there's an actual in-game source for that.
>the holy grail translation
According to who?
>Linda
Translation hell forever but supposedly they're getting close. Still not sure how I feel about them translating Ken's nickname into "Sir Lates-a-Lot." One of Linda's strongest points is its entertaining NPC dialogue and I hope they don't frick it up.
Also, kind of crazy to not see Gunparade March mentioned yet.
>Gunparade mind
The PCE version also has some different animal art than the remakes. Both styles are pretty good though.
I started playing the saturn version and I already hate the time limit mechanic. Just let me grind shit mobs in peace, I knew I should've picked easy.
You can stay in a dungeon grinding for a while and seasons won't advance. Scenarios A and B are short enough that you shouldn't run out of time on normal anyway though,
Yeah, you were right, I had like 4 years left. It's just early on that the combat is tough, it quickly gets pretty easy once you have a few dogs.
I watched some parts of the PCE version of Scenario A to compare the two, I'm glad I played the Saturn version. I preferred the PCE ending though, the remake's one is kind of on the nose and I feel like I prefer the mystery of the original.
Yeah early game is tough because if you run into the wrong animal there's not a lot you can do, and there's a good chance your dogs will run away if you stand your ground on a tougher enemy. You should always get the free dog from the little girl who is moving in Hardia and then take out a loan from the bank to get a second dog before getting the pact at the ark. The final ending of Scenarios A and B is kind of whatever, although for me Scenario A really ends After the disturbing final bossfight in the factory town, coming back to Hardia and finding Panheim's body and message written in blood on the wall of his cell, and going back to the big cedar tree and crossing out Nek's name and rewriting your own in the heart next to Linda's carved there.
I wish all Japanese was written in Roman letters like this. Then it might be possible for morons like me to learn.
Trust me, that is much more of a pain in the ass to try and read than it seems.
Source: an online game I play with a moderate Japanese userbase and no IME support gets by like this.
*laughs in Japanese
Silly gaijin.
>*laughs in Japanese
>*raughs in Japanese
Fixed
Dude you're so clever and funny
>SACHIKODEDOODA!!
Honestly, he made a pretty compelling argument.
Is there anywhere I can read up on the script difference between the PS1 version and the SS one? I've seen it mentioned a dozen times on sites, but none of them actually give an example of what lines were changed. Extracting the scripts myself and going line by line seems like a fricking hassle.
I haven't been able to find an actual list at this point. Some people say it's censored and some people say it's just minor script changes. I've only played the Saturn version but plan on getting around to playing the PS version at some point.
I think the minor script changes are the censorship. The PS version doesn't really seem worth playing to me aside from if you really want to do scenario D, which just seems like a pain in the ass to me, rushing through collecting as many animals as possible in a single year. There are also some minor differences in terms of where the animals spawn, which makes checking some guides a bit annoying because they say you can find X at Y but that's PS only.
Kanenban has Scenario D you just have to unlock it. It also has a Saturn exclusive mode where you can challenge one of the devs.
>Linda Cube
This is one of those games I want to play but it's hard to pick a version. The PSX is apparently censored so that's out, but saturn emulation is a pain in the dick.
Plus, I kind of prefer the PCE's still shots over the animated cutscenes.
>Magic in the Star Ocean series has been variously referred to as Symbology/Heraldry/Crest Magic, the lore IIRC is that you literally have to tattoo the symbols on your body to use the magic associated with it.
Yeah, the guy basically says "I can use attack symbols and recovery symbols."
わたしは回復呪紋と攻撃呪紋が使えます
lrn2read
Sakura Wars 2, 3 and 4.
I dunno, I played the Wii Sakura Wars... was thinking at first "wow, there's this whole long-running series of games, and this is the only one that got released here, it must be amazing"
I decided, after two hours of tedious dialogue and one vaguely interesting battle, that the others didn't get released here for a good reason.
I don't hate dating sims per se, but the dating sim portion of the game was bad.
>I played that one episode most fan don't give a shit about and decided the whole series was shit
Thanks for your important input.
From reading his reasoning, it's extremely easy to understand how he came to that conclusion.
Why do you guys have to be such c**ts?
And what's more, why did last two you basically clone the first reply he got? What was the point in remixing what he said just slightly?
>Literally "I hate this one game therefore the rest of the series must SUCK"
>"wow, there's this whole long-running series of games, and this is the only one that got released here, it must be amazing"
this is some colossally moronic reasoning
Cosmic Fantasy, for PC Engine CD
Somehow Cosmic Fantasy 2 got released here though.
Yeah, but it got Working Design'd.
I've been playing through that series lately (https://boards.Ganker.org/vr/thread/9106019#p9106723)
Just started the 4th game today
It's been quite the ride; the same main characters appear in all the games and everything gets tied together
It's a little hard to recommend due to the mediocrity of the first two games (as much as I like the 2nd one's story and cutscenes...that battle system, phew), and even the 3rd one has some issues, but at the same time I can't say jumping straight to the 3rd or 4th game is a great idea due to all the connections
It seems like the sort of thing no one will ever translate due to them just not being good enough to be worth the work involved, but then again with the 2nd game available in English maybe they'll be enough motivation to translate the others to sate people's curiosity about the rest of the series
It seems like "popular" enough in Japan to get a Switch port: https://www.4gamer.net/games/639/G063990/20220623158/
But I don't see anyone translating it in English. It's already niche enough, and the PCE English translation scene barely exists.
I've wanted to play Linda and war of the dead(?) On PC engine for a few years, can't read Japanese so I stick with platformers and action type games
I thought War of the Dead for PC Engine got an English patch a couple of yeas back
I don't think anyone's translated the sequel though
Im pretty sure war of the dead 2 for the msx has an english translation
oh nice
-Medarot games.
-The Vantage Master releases on the PSP (semi-retro)
Translator's a big b***h. Just grab it from cdromance.
https://cdromance.com/gameboy-color-roms/star-ocean-blue-sphere-english-patched/
Incomplete. This is the full translation:
>Incomplete
No it's not? It the same beta leak with the bugfix patch applied.
No, it's a translation that was taken down from RHDN because it was used in a repro. The bugfix does nothing with the patched ROM. It's for another unfinished patch that's on RHDN. It even says so.
Incomplete.
linux chad detected
I don't care what that says. Coincidence, you're wrong, or you're full of it
1. The repro patch isn't available anywhere. Not on CDRomance, not on RHDN. Not anywhere.
2. I downloaded the repro patch before it was taken down. I don't download unfinished patches. What would be the point - especially if the game is text heavy.
3.This addendum patch (the ONLY addendum patch available):
https://www.romhacking.net/translations/6498/
...is intended for use with this unfinished translation patch:
https://www.romhacking.net/translations/1595/
The game is still not fully translated using both those patches. ROMs applied with the repro patch (which do not need the addendum patch) are.
Did you even read the links you posted?
>...is intended for use with this unfinished translation patch:
>link you posted is patch version 0.1
Meanwhile, on the addendum page :
>Apply this to a ROM that already has V1.0 of the Star Ocean: Blue Sphere English translation patch applied to it."
>Note that V1.0 of the English translation patch is currently unavailable."
It's not intended to be used with that version at all. The actual version was taken out and is not available, as pointed out.
>Did you even read the links you posted?
>>...is intended for use with this unfinished translation patch:
>>link you posted is patch version 0.1
Did you?
https://www.romhacking.net/translations/6498/
Blue highlighted text - links to the unfinished translation.
"Note that V1.0 of the English translation patch is currently unavailable."
This means nothing, moron. To anyone unaware of the repro patch, (which is going to be most people, since the old link has been scrubbed) the above is going to come off as confusing nebulous nonsense. Meaningless. There is no point of reference. Now frick off.
The link means nothing dipshit, it is either wrong or the page content was changed and it no longer hosts the v1.0 that the addendum patch was meant for. God, you're dense.
This is so nonsensical that it might as well be complete word salad. Laughably dumb little c**t.
>God, you're dense
Hilarious, but feeble attempt at reinforcing your argument. Sorry, Sir Woman-repellant, of homosexualeria, but you can't hide stupid. Now have a nice day. Right now.
>I don't care what that says
>Coincidence
Right, so you are moronic. Gotcha.
what da dog doin?
he doin the wiener face 🙂
I'm confused.
So is there a complete translation for the game or not?
Is that version complete?
https://archive.org/details/staroceanenglish
It claims to be at least.
There is. The original beta leak still had bugs even if the translation was "done", though, which is what the bugfix is for. It's for the bugs in the leaked rom patch that still exist as the guy who uploaded the patch actually fixed one or two bugs already.
tl;dr download the bugfix version from CDRomance, and/or patch the JP game with the catbox patch and then patch the game with the bugfix.
>Is that version complete?
Adding onto this, but that patch is the same as the catbox patch, which means it's technically complete but still has bugs, so you'll need the bugfix patch.
>so you'll need the bugfix patch
So this one?
https://www.romhacking.net/translations/6498/
Hm what's with the cdromance version that says "bugfix" ?
Is that a different fix..?
No, that's the same fix. The CDRomance english rom is the same as the one patched with the catbox/archive patches. The bugfix one is that rom then patched with the patch in your link.
In fact, I actually bothered to check the hashsums of the rom made by that patch and the roms on cdromance, and the outcome of the patch matches the beta rom with no bugfixes, which actually means the patch on catbox is the incomplete version.
That's a very good site. I never knew how to run a hack and this site has it within the game file.
I'd like to play the PSX and PS2 Seikai games someday, but it's a niche enough series that they're very unlikely to get translated.
Someone needs to translate some mega-cd shit and document their work. I'm tired of waiting for SMTCD and ShadowrunCD.
I am one of the few remaining Silent Mobius fans
A fellow man of culture
(The games suck tho)
>A fellow man of culture
My friend.
>(The games suck tho)
I'm not surprised, I'd still like to play them though.
Translation when?
Most of the Tengai Makyo games.
yeah but so many I play have no language barrier that I don't even think about it
I think only the 2nd game got a console release, but the entire Power D.O.L.L.S. series beyond the first game. It's mecha turn-based-strategy, and nothing amazing, but I enjoyed the first game. It emphasized blitzkrieg tactics, ambushing, and effective artillery/air support usage over trying to surround the enemy like a lot of TBS games do. I don't even think it's possible to survive the second mission if you don't git gud at using some units as scouts for artillery.
Any game that gets translated is fine by me. None that has been translated was a big deal so far, some even a disappointment.
Yes, tons. Most of which are not known about in the west. There's also a lot that got fan translations but the translations are awful and ruin the game, in some cases so badly that it can't be completed without a guide like Sweet Home.
Some consoles have hundreds of games that were left in Japan, like Dreamcast or Playstation. Some consoles, almost the entire library never left Japan like the PC Engine or the MSX. And some consoles/handhelds/PCs never left Japan at all like the WonderSwan, PC98, FM Towns and others.
Not being an EOP is awesome. I've said this before, but video games are actually a great way to learn Japanese (Especially visual novels and rpgs which are very commonly left in Japan), so if you want you could absolutely learn Japanese to play that stuff and also use those games to aid you in learning Japanese. It's great.
If you want to get into Japan-only stuff there's so much to get lost in. You're much better off actually learning Japanese than remaining reliant on poor quality fan translations that take forever to complete and are often abandoned. You can also replay all of your old favorites that got changed during translation. You would be surprised how much gets changed, whether on purpose or just by accident through poor translation.
Im close to comfortable with hira and kata, am i good to start jumping in to most systems that only primarily used those two? (Fami, gameboy). I dont know a lot of words, but i understand how the grammar works. Im not too discouraged by playing stuff slow constantly looking up words as long as i can decipher them from the squiggles.
That's the best way to learn, just reading what you can and making a "mining" anki deck out of the stuff you encounter that you don't know.
btw I recommened KanjiDamage+ (or was it ++?) for kanji memorization.
No but it's a start. You need to build a base vocabulary. Download an anki deck of the most common 1000/2000 whatever words and go through at first.
Learn how basic grammar works (you obviously don't need to do everything before you start playing, just do a few every day while you play)
https://nihongokyoshi-net.com/jlpt-grammars/
While you play, create Anki cards for unknown words. Utilize OCE through ShareX and use Yomichan to speed up the card creation process by a ton.
Technically you can start whenever you want, just understand that at first you'll be looking up basically every word.
Core 2k is a bad meme. If you've got guts you can just go straight to mining and learn words you'll actually use.
As for kanji, combine learning them through vocab and with mnemonic memorization based on radicals, like Kanjidamage+
I agree with this. I knew some words already because originally I tried to use textbooks, but when I started reading and mining I didn't even know basic words like "run" or the word for facing a certain direction. Most of my learning came from visual novels.
I didn't do anything for kanji. I just learned them naturally through learning words that contain them. For context, I know 2200+ kanji.
>Core 2k is a bad meme.
Going through the entire core deck is a meme, becoming an anki addict and spending 3h per day on it is a meme.
But learning your first words, very common nouns verbs and adjectives, with it while having voiced example sentences is valuable imo.
>but when I started reading and mining I didn't even know basic words like "run"
And you still recommend this?
I mean yeah it's possible, but this seems to be unnecessary suffering.
>And you still recommend this?
Wholeheartedly yes
>suffering
I didn't suffer at all. Quite the opposite actually. I was able to witness my level increase at quite an amazing pace as I continued to read.
I also had the problem of textbooks just not working. I was reading Tae Kim straight through and he just dumps a bunch of concepts on you one after another and it wasn't sticking. Textbooks are a great resource to consult but buckling down and forcing yourself to read something you have some level of interest in really works. For me it's mostly old JRPGs. I also found making your own flashcards using the instance you encounter a word in makes a big difference in retention.
You build a base vocabulary of 1000-2000 words from whatever grammar resource you're studying. Those core decks are completely useless unless you intend to move to japan and talk to boomers. Half of it will never ever show up in a retro RPG.
>You build a base vocabulary of 1000-2000 words from whatever grammar resource you're studying
Complete horseshit
>t. only ever skimmed cliffnotes for N5 grammar.
Genki has 1700 words, anon.
Does it?
Thats more of a comeplete language learning course though.
Not "any grammar source" there are enough books that expect you to know the words already.
Not to mention that seeing a word once in a example is hardly knowing a word.
Minna no Nihongo = 2100
Tae Kim = 1000
I have to shill Japanese the Manga Way while I'm here, because it was the most intuitive grammar resource for me. Wasn't big on Tae Kim.
There's also that Yotsuba reading pack DJT used to have. Don't know if they still do. It's a good introduction in its own way.
way late as frick but seconding japanese the manga way. it's the only guide i've ever found that uses actual japanese sentences directly from japanese media, does a great job of explaining how things work, it's fantastic. i used tae kim, sakubi, and then finally jtmw and that was the one that stuck and helped me break into reading actual japanese text and actually feeling like i understood it.
>reading a grammar book teaches you vocab worth 3 1/2 months of anki
ok moron
>doing anki
ngmi
>shying away from kanji
negmi
>am i good to start jumping in
Sorry, but when you say "I'm close to comfortable with kana" that means you are very very early into learning jap and trying to suffer through kana only games makes no sense.
People are scared of kanji but it's actually a great help to for learners, kanji give structure, you know where one word ends and another starts, you can't distinguish the words from the grammatical parts of the sentence.
And grammar gets more complicated in real world use and is not "kore wa pen tbh" tier.
Do what
said and learn some vocab first.
The common words often have easy kanji too, so there really is nothing to fear.
>Not being an EOP is awesome. I've said this before, but video games are actually a great way to learn Japanese (Especially visual novels and rpgs which are very commonly left in Japan), so if you want you could absolutely learn Japanese to play that stuff and also use those games to aid you in learning Japanese. It's great.
You know I always thought games should be good for learning, RPGs often have similar vocab, a lot of repetition as you see similar words and sentences for many hours per game and old games are not as text heavy.
But then I found out most old games are kana only, which makes it harder for beginners...
What do? I kinda wanted to go play the old Dragon Quest games in Japanese.
I could play the remakes but I wanted to play the originals...
That's the thing videogames are good for learning once you're moderately decent and don't have to look up every second word, which for most games is a tedious endeavor. This guy
is right, you need something else aside from videogames to make it.
It's only really an issue for 8 bit games. PC Engine titles tend to be CD, which means kanji, and the SNES remasters of DQ1+2 have kanji too, while also being just objectively superior to the NES versions in every regard, because you don't have to open the menu to talk and everyone isn't always just looking south. Later remasters frick up the fonts and graphics, they're hideous.
Older games aren't ideal for beginners. Small fonts make kanji hard to identify if you don't already know them, which can make reading them a chore. Personally I'd recommend newer titles first, DQXIs has furigana and nice big kanji you can easily look up.
>the SNES remasters of DQ1+2 have kanji too
Oh really? I thought only the modern remake has kanji.
It's decided then, I will play through the first 3 DQ games in Japanese!
More games from that era have kanji than you'd think. Not as much as PS1 and PS2, but still enough.
My first game I mined vocab from was Shining Force, and it had quite a bit of kanji.
>Most anticipated upcoming games
>1. Dragon Quest I & II
>2. Seiken Densetsu 2 (Secret of Mana)
>3. MOTHER2 (Earthbound)
>4. Tengai Makyou Fuun Kabuki Den (Far East of Eden 3)
>5. Street Fighter II Dash (Championship Edition) [PC Engine]
>6. Street Fighter II Dash (Championship Edition) [Mega Drive]
>7. Ys IV [PC Engine]
>8. Sworld World SFC
>9. Silva Saga 2
>10. Silpheed (working title)
>11. Final Fight 2
>12. Garou Densetsu 2 (Fatal Fury 2)
>13. Sotsugyou -Graduation[
>14. Zen Nippon Pro Wrestling
>15. Monster Maker Yami no Ryuukishi
>16. Final Fantasy IV
>17. Super Bomberman
>18. Super Formation Soccer 2
>19. The Legend of Zelda Yume wo Miru Shima (Link's Awakening)
>20. Ys IV MASK OF THE SUN [Super Famicom]
Good times
This is wrong.
Ff4 came before som
oops it's Phantasy Star IV
Kowloon's Gate, Segagaga, Linda^3, Germs
Frick, I can't read pixel kanji.
So the cdromance download is definitely the most up to date translation, but it may or may not have the bugfix patch applied depending on who you believe in this thread? Is that right?
anon..
CDRomance English == catbox patch == archive.org patch.
these all have some bugs but are technically complete
CDRomance English + Bugfix == the catbox patch + romhacking bugfix patch == archive.org patch + romhacking bugfix patch
these are the ones with the bugs fixed
that's it. that's how it goes.
What the frick can you just give me a list of links
This is the leaked, most complete TL ips patch available on the web (except RHDN where it has been removed on request by the translator):
it results in a rom with sha1sum e24c24812cb7ca5af0dfdd11dcbec82a0459c433
This fixes some bugs left in that patch: https://www.romhacking.net/translations/6498
readme says to apply to rom with sha1sum e24c24812cb7ca5af0dfdd11dcbec82a0459c433
Applying both of these in succession on the proper jp rom results in the same rom image available on cdromance labelled as "Star Ocean - Blue Sphere (English - Bugfix v1.0).zip"
final sha1sum 2ea0b61db33ceae342d012117d34f4eb15850f14
If it's still shit then play the French version.
So this is the absolute best version of the translation? Like 100% everything is translated and complete?
https://ca.cdromance.com/gameboy-color-roms/star-ocean-blue-sphere-english-patched/
specifically the download: Star Ocean - Blue Sphere (English - Bugfix v1.0)
It's the best available, English language version of the game afaik. Can't tell if it's complete, has mistranslations or has enormous bugs since I just played it for an hour earlier.
Why is this so complicated to play why isn't there just a definite version online with all the patches
Haha if the patching becomes more and more moronic like this we might as well really start learning jap.
Good thread
I like these because there's always some interesting shit mentioned I didn't know about yet
And I'm fluent in Nipponese so I can actually play it too
You post Blue Sphere screenshot and you activate my drawgay autism.
GBA sprite artists back then were fricking mental. The limited space they had to work with to create detailed portraits that was recognizable from one character to the next.
a real shame that professional pixel video game art is outdated now
Great tile work too
OPs image is pretty fantastic but yeah, the outworld tileset is a thing of beauty.
Learning Japanese was one of the best decisions I've ever made because I'm a huge Isekai tard who's read over 200 light novels in Japanese and it's fricking awesome not having to care about shitty translations that take forever to come out and end up reading like they were written by someone with a stroke but I wouldn't recommend it if untranslated retro games are the *only* thing you're interested in. It takes multiple thousands of hours of engaging with Japanese content to get anywhere so unless you're also very big into some other shit like anime, LNs, manga, visual novels, dorama etc. you'll probably just get frustrated and quit and realize that you wasted your time.
I want to be you, please teach me your ways.
異世界のラノベを200冊もっ?!いや、僕なら死んじゃうのよ本当に。
オレは余裕でもう何百冊いける気がする
まだまだ序の口だ
返事がない、ただの屍のようだ
I need to find a japanese BBS or something where I can practice typing the language, I've literally only practiced reading and listening because the only practice zones I've found for chatting have been full of boring normies I don't even feel like talking to. Except for the brief amount of time I spent playing PSO2 with a japanese guild. That game sucks though.
まっ、それはさておいき異世界ラノベから卒業して本物に進む向上心なんかないの?
俺、そいつじゃないよ
ラノベならスレイヤーズしか読んでないし、べつにラノベなんてよみたくもねえ
なんか日本のBBSとかでレトロゲーの話おしたい、そりゃいい練習になると思う
「死ね、クソ外人」されちゃうかもしんないけど、べつにここのkysと対してかわんないね
>なんか日本のBBSとかでレトロゲーの話おしたい
>お
クソッ
やらかした, 俺
best romancing prostitutega
obligatory sad post
translation never ever
There is a video on Youtube with translations. Maybe this could help you play the game?
Maybe, unless its the machine translation shit that literally pauses the emulation with every new text. I ain't watching/using that shit
Sorry, just trying to help.
No need to be sorry brother!
A bunch of Koei stuff.
It's not just the untranslated games. It's the ones that got utterly butchered by localizers like the working designs catalogue, and skies of arcadia etc.
Legend of Xanadu 1 and 2
last time I checked it was stuck in translation hell because of the voice acting or some shit
yeah wtf is going on with these?
the actual translations have been done for...4 years now?
Dubgays, not even once.
Gunparade March is probably the translation I'd like the most to see. All the little details and intersecting mechanics and player choices seem fascinating. I have no idea if it actually comes together well but I think a game that ambitious deserves to be seen by more people.
Power Dolls
one of the most extreme never evers of all time.
GBC also has Network Bugsite and Soul Getter.
Wow, usually I can't stand GB or GBC games but this looks amazing.
Such a great game. By the way, if someone wants to get autistic about this game: https://files.catbox.moe/t12xpk.xz (rename so the extension is .tar.xz)
I love it when I find a GB/GBC game with kanji display. I was surprised when I found out that DQ I & II on the GBC also displayed kanji, albeit only a limited set compared to the SFC version. Does anybody know more games with kanji display for the GB/GBC?
What's wrong with the two available translations by AGTP and Dynamic Designs?
Are there?
I downloaded an english rom and it was fricked up in a way I couldn't comprehend.
So as far as I'm concerned there isn't a good english translation.
>Are there?
ye
>I downloaded an english rom and it was fricked up in a way I couldn't comprehend.
from where and in what way? sounds like it might have been patched wrong
There are also two unfinished patches on RHDN from two other groups, so you might have downloaded one of those. But yeah, Mystic Ark has been in English since 2009.
It's translated, though the sequel isn't.
Which is fine honestly, the sequel is a sloggy fetchquest adventure game with tank controls. God what a disappointment. At least the music and visuals are peak PS1:
I'd like a translation of samurai spirits for saturn or ps1. it has been done in french for neo geo but i can't find the patch.
samurai spirits rpg4 i mean
Jap audio without subtitiles
Wouldbt count on it unless someone decides to dub it.
I beat Quovadis 2 over twenty years ago without any translation.
On a side note, I’ve actually ordered a complete copy (sold mine years ago) and the two strategy guides for it which arrived a few days ago. The translation app for your phone works wonders!
DynamiTracer.
Just going off of screens and soundtrack it seems too odd to ignore.
This and Treasure Conflix. Why Squaregays don't want more Square (and both of these look like the weirder PS1 era Square that made Einhander, Musashi and Dewprism) baffles me. There's other interesting SNES stuff like Solid Runner and Traverse that people 'doing them' have sat on long enough now.
>Solid Runner and Traverse
I knew there were still some good recs to be had out of this thread. Nice.
I think someone was doing Traverse’s translation, ddstrans I think?
I have a lot of stuff I'm interested in like the old Jake Hunter games or the Rent a Hero remake, or the Twilight Syndrome series, but the only thing left I absolutely want to play before I die is Segaga. Sakura Wars too but I'm fine with the translation guide from gamefaqs.
Some guy is about to release a Sakura Wars 2 for Dreamcast translation. He said it'd be done in a couple months like a month ago or something.
Shiren the wanderer. The snes/n64 games are great.
I know 1, 2, 3, and 5 are in English in the series. So, what, that leaves 4, the two gameboy games, and the remake of one of the gameboy games?
No idea, I know the snes and N64 have fan translations, there is also a NDS port of the snes game, and I’m not sure there is anything else in English.
3 and 5 had official localizations, and I think 3's script was ported to the enhanced PSP version in a hack.
You can buy 5 here though: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1178790/Shiren_the_Wanderer_The_Tower_of_Fortune_and_the_Dice_of_Fate/
Had no idea, thanks. I assume 5 is a port?
Yeah, it was a Vita game, IIRC. The Steam/Switch version is the enhanced version.
I'm really surprised not to see Princess Crown mentioned at all, considering it's a proto Vanillaware game.
Is there a functional English translation that came out that I'm unaware of?
its been in progress for like 13 years but still not yet released. No idea what's going on with it, the dev of the translation has pulled everything public because it was out of date and has kept the work in a new repo. It's being done but with how long it's taking I have to wonder why there isn't anyone else saying frick it lets figure it out, especially after titan projects like sakura wars and grandia.
I've played and completed it 15 years ago with a translation guide. It's a pretty simple game.
It has a translation guide. Also frick the Segaga translators, because the only reason they're taking so long and always dropping the project is not the text itself, which is allegedly already translated. If you're having so many problems with reinserting it then just release a damn guide, that's more than good enough for a lot of us.
>just release a damn guide, that's more than good enough for a lot of us
Second this.
There's still a ton of PS1 and Saturn games I want translated, stuff like SNES is already beyond scraping the bottom of the barrel but they keep focusing on that since the games are easier to patch.
>stuff like SNES is already beyond scraping the bottom of the barrel
Read the thread.
Cyber Doll looked like a really cool cyberpunk JRPG that I rarely see people ever talk about
the soundtrack is pretty nice too
A yellow label cyberpunk RPG? I wonder if it's any good, music's pretty crazy.
?t=1343 it looks like combat is using tons of different guns to damage enemy limbs, it seems interesting as hell.
the Dreamcast game where you have a rabbit army
Chaos seed for Saturn
This PS2 strategy/role-playing game with a hand drawn art style (the seven something)
Most of Love-de-lic stuff, Endonesia in particular
Any suggestions for games to translate? Something not too long or hard? If possible a good game people want to actually play, too (and suck my dick for translating).
The issue isn't translating, it's hacking.
>or hard
so you don't know japanese just frick off
By hard I mean convoluted shit like Rkukishi07 writes. The average RPG would be fine. But too long.
stfu if you don't have a game you're passionate about enough yourself you're not gonna come through anyway
May as well ask here, any of your moonrune speakers have any good japanese channels/blogs that cover retro games? I've been watching a shitload of nachos lately and he plays a lot of obscure famicom shit I've never heard of which is great:
https://www.youtube.com/user/waka3biz/videos
There's also retrogamejaxx which I found while looking for Napple Tale info, and they write about games with cute girl protagonists:
http://gemanizm.main.jp/retrogamejaxx/other/
http://gemanizm.main.jp/retrogamejaxx/review.html
https://www.youtube.com/c/4STUDIO
Not bad, thanks anon.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuNa_F-I1Cm1Jcbniw5OFYIt4V1c2vg-0
Retro kusogee, guy goes pretty in depth and plays all of the games himself to the end.
Handheld but frick it. I want to see Legend of Dynamic Goushouden: Houkai no Rondo get translated for all the Go Nagai stuff.
Holy fricking shit I need this in my life
Turns out Ken Ishikawa's Majuu Sensen plays a big role in the plot too.
Is anyone working on the Rival Schools school life sims that was only included in the JP version?
Every Tengai Makyou game please
Has DDS quit translation for good?
Illusion City
Tenerezza
Shin Megami Tensei: NINE
Sengoku Turb
deSpiria
Tokyo Twilight Busters
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner
Cyber Doll
Jikuu Tantei DD: Maboroshi no Lorelei
Ronde
Linda3
Tilk
Blaze and Blade Busters
Manic Game Girl
Bardysh: Kromeford no Juunin
Neorude
London Seirei Tantei-Dan
Ningyo no Rakuin
Favorite Dear
Project ARMS
Phase Paradox
Kowloon's Gate
Plenty of untranslated stuff on Mega CD, PCE CD hell there's even untranslated PS1 games by Konami
Princess Crown
Wachenroder
Planet DOB
E.X. Troopers
Still hoping for:
Devil Summoner
London Seirei Tanteidan
Mystic Ark - Maboroshi Gekijou
Princess Crown
Shin Megami Tensei II (PS1)
Surging Aura
good taste, and same
Is there any kind of list that shows the clearest kanji on each system? Early snes and some PS1 and Saturn games are too hard to read for me. I feel like a Black person trying to read cursive when I see that shit and want to practice on some clearer text first.
It really depends on the game. IMHO just look at screenshots of the game you are interested in: https://refuge.tokyo/index.html
I mean, you're not going to get clearer kanji on systems with low resolution. CRT filters can help a bit, I guess.
This is why you shouldn't be using modern ugly shit Meiryo fonts in Windows, by the way. When it comes time to read some 7px fonts you'll be lost because you're expecting modern HD text rendering with disgusting curves instead of nice clean pixels.
Just play newer games. DQXIs has furigana and is my go-to recommendation for people who have read a few manga or something and want to play a game now.
>pic
*hits pipe*
All you can do is have enough kids to stem the flow. Say, enough for a football team or so.
>That quote
Fathers with daughters are really the ultimate cucks.
Samurai Showdown RPG
it may have gotten translated, i havent checked in like 10 years
It's been "almost" done for 10 years now lol
ALL OF THE DAISENRYAKUS, FOREVER
I'm surprised nobody's working on either of the Nekketsu Seisyun Nikki games.
Never heard of them but I like maids.
Here's another neat looking untranslated console VN: https://youtu.be/Xey4zA6wHhY?t=78
I found a few when I was going through the NTSC-J PS1 games list.
It's a school student sim spinoff of Rival Schools. The first one actually came with the regular port of the first Rival Schools as a bonus disc.
Rhapsody 2 🙁
Lots of hopium on the steam forums for the PC version of the first game thinking NIS will translate 2 and 3 if people buy 1. I don't see it happening.
Didn't even know it's coming to Steam. The first game has absolute garbage dungeons and that will kill its ratings, so I'm not getting my hopes up.
Yeah the first game is completely carried by everything other than the gameplay. I had a tough time getting through it but it was worth it in the end. The 2nd and 3rd games are way better to play but I don't see them ever being translated.