Games you've missed out on because of the Language barrier.

[Iamerror]

This may sound stupid, but I want to learn Japanese so I can play their games. I've been told that I shouldn't tell people that, it would offend Japanese people. I love Japanese games, in some ways than American games(sorry). Unfortunately I can't read Japanese, so I can't play them. I have tried but it doesn't go well.Anyway, to the point, I have missed out on great games because of this, Dark half, and Mother for example. I don't think that I'm alone in this, so has anyone else missed out on great games because they can't read Japanese or any other language? I'm currently attempting to Japanese by the way.

[JKDarkside]

Namco X Capcom
A lot of SMT games
Nearly every Super Robot Taisen I actually care about
A lot of SUDA 51's library

[luffy4]

Namco X Capcom
A lot of SMT games
Nearly every Super Robot Taisen I actually care about
A lot of SUDA 51's library

Namco X capcom has an english patch

and Endless frontier is a good robot taisen

[Aeolus Aeneas]

Ys V, still waiting on a translation for that game.

[Slacker Magician]

Ys V, still waiting on a translation for that game.

If we're lucky, they will port it to the Vita and XSEED will bring it over.

[eternal_w]

Gensou Suikogaiden... because it's in Japanese. Though I mostly understand the story because I played all Suikodens, but still it feels like missing something.

[Muscab]

There are so many of them that I cannot mention each of it. And I know that I will likely to miss Rune Factory 4 that will only come out in Japan this July.

[unnoticedninja]

I don't have too many games that I've missed out on because of fan translators and old games getting remade and released in the U.S., but I do wish more anime would get dubbed here, because there are many good animes that are not here but if I wanted to read subtitles I'd read the manga instead. I also think that english voice actors are getting better and better at what they do but stuff like Bandai shutting down (Anime/DVDs in the U.S., but Games by Namco-Bandai will still be released here) seems like it's going to be harder to get more english dubbed anime which is sad. Back on topic, I would like all the fire emblem games to be officially translated.

[Elin]

This may sound stupid, but I want to learn Japanese so I can play their games. I've been told that I shouldn't tell people that, it would offend Japanese people.

Anyone who gets offended by something like that probably isn't worth your time. My Japanese friends all think it's kind of cool that I learned their language from videogames. :'D And some of them learned English for stuff like Twilight and Harry Potter, anyway, which is basically the same deal. As far as I'm concerned, there's really no valid or invalid reason to learn a language. And by my experience, the people who preach such elitist attitudes rarely get very far with language learning to begin with.

In short, so long as you don't go around telling Japanese people off for not knowing who Cloud Strife is or asking them if they think Miyamoto is the most important figure in Japanese history, then chances are nobody's really going to care why you're interested in learning their language. On the contrary, I've found that most people are just really happy that you are.

In any case, good luck with Japanese! I've had so much fun studying the language, and I'm always happy to see other people taking it up. It isn't nearly as hard as some people would have you believe, and if I can learn, there's no reason you can't too! Feel free to ask if you ever need help with anything~

On topic, there are a number of Chinese RPGs I'd really like to play at some point. Chinese games tend to be pretty low budget and by the books gameplay-wise, but the settings, stories and art styles take a quite different approach to Japanese games, leaning heavily on Chinese mythology, history, and wuxia movies and drama. There are a few I own in particular that seem really fascinating. And I'm currently making decent-ish progress with Chinese, so maybe in a year or so...

[Iamerror]

Thanks Elin for your encouragement! I'm learning Japanese from a children's book. I guess you are right they probably won't mind where I learned it. Also they probably learned English for a similar reason. There are Chinese versions of popular games, someone ported Chrono Trigger, Link to the Past and Final Fantasy 7 to the nintendo. Incidently, you can find them on this website under Nintendo roms. Chrono Trigger and Link to the past are the best ones.

[pipopa]

In any case, good luck with Japanese! I've had so much fun studying the language, and I'm always happy to see other people taking it up. It isn't nearly as hard as some people would have you believe, and if I can learn, there's no reason you can't too! Feel free to ask if you ever need help with anything~

Oh, man. I'd really appreciate if you could give me some advice on how to learn Japanese in a fun and interesting way. How did you do it. Which programs did you use? Really, my interest for Japan was seeded into me at a pretty young age, with all those cool TV shows like Rock'n Cop, Saber Raider, Mila, AND of course all those nice sprite based games like Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo on my old Amiga 500 or the classic RPGs.

I'd love to get into some Visual Novel Games like teh Fate series and stuff. Even your damn avatar got me interested because of that.

Thanks man.

[Elin]

Oh, man. I'd really appreciate if you could give me some advice on how to learn Japanese in a fun and interesting way. How did you do it. Which programs did you use? Really, my interest for Japan was seeded into me at a pretty young age, with all those cool TV shows like Rock'n Cop, Saber Raider, Mila, AND of course all those nice sprite based games like Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo on my old Amiga 500 or the classic RPGs.

I'd love to get into some Visual Novel Games like teh Fate series and stuff. Even your damn avatar got me interested because of that.

Thanks man.

I was actually considering writing a series of articles for our site's main page about learning Japanese specifically with a view toward import gaming, but I wasn't sure how useful it would be. If you're interested, though, then maybe I'll go back to that idea? I figure it might be more useful to you and others than me babbling on incoherently here for a couple of thousand words and not actually saying much of use.

The avatar isn't from a visual novel, but from a Chinese RPG in the famous Sword of the Yellow Emperor series. Glad you like it, though! Visual Novels aren't really my speciality, but I think Ray, one of our other moderators, knows his stuff there.

(It's not "man", actually. But you're welcome. :'D)

[Gare]

You should definitely consider doing that article. I think it'd be helpful for a lot of people. Hell, even I might give my 2 cents in the comments section or something.

[pipopa]

I figure it might be more useful to you and others than me babbling on incoherently here for a couple of thousand words and not actually saying much of use.

I'd love to read either way. Would be much appreciated. Maybe you could do kind of weekly "lessons" ? Just an idead, what fits you. And doesn't bore you, of course

(It's not "man", actually. But you're welcome. :'D)

Ups, but seriously it's rather tough to differentiate just by avatar and name to guess on this forum. A lot of guys have female avatars.. wonder why this focus... guys like cute female pics I guess in general.

[rabidmedia]

Anyone who gets offended by something like that probably isn't worth your time. My Japanese friends all think it's kind of cool that I learned their language from videogames. :'D And some of them learned English for stuff like Twilight and Harry Potter, anyway, which is basically the same deal. As far as I'm concerned, there's really no valid or invalid reason to learn a language. And by my experience, the people who preach such elitist attitudes rarely get very far with language learning to begin with.

In short, so long as you don't go around telling Japanese people off for not knowing who Cloud Strife is or asking them if they think Miyamoto is the most important figure in Japanese history, then chances are nobody's really going to care why you're interested in learning their language. On the contrary, I've found that most people are just really happy that you are.

In any case, good luck with Japanese! I've had so much fun studying the language, and I'm always happy to see other people taking it up. It isn't nearly as hard as some people would have you believe, and if I can learn, there's no reason you can't too! Feel free to ask if you ever need help with anything~

On topic, there are a number of Chinese RPGs I'd really like to play at some point. Chinese games tend to be pretty low budget and by the books gameplay-wise, but the settings, stories and art styles take a quite different approach to Japanese games, leaning heavily on Chinese mythology, history, and wuxia movies and drama. There are a few I own in particular that seem really fascinating. And I'm currently making decent-ish progress with Chinese, so maybe in a year or so...

I'm very interested in learning Japanese, mainly for games, but also because I want to visit Japan one day and rent an apartment there, soaking up the culture and living a different life than what I am used to.
as a hardcore gamer, I would love to enter a japanese arcade and just kick ass on some shmups and fighters that most Americans woulden't understand (which is partially why I emulate (^u^) ). for instance, there was a sonic the headgehog arcade game only released in japan, I love playing it, but it would be nice to understand the dialog.

I guess a question for you would be: how do you reccomend I learn japanese for cheap (or free! I have very little money... (-n-) ) How did you learn?