Playing おいでよどうぶつの森 and noticing that some words are randomly in katakana. Why?

3 comments

1. referring to himself

2. Exactly, a style choice but in casual ways. “ボク” should not be used in formal situations. It could be written in Kanjis like “僕”(the most safest choice if you have to use “boku” variants, good for both casual and formal cases) as well, but it might be hard to be described in lower resolution screens like the old portable consoles so game developers prefer “ぼく” or “ボク”.

3. It’s a way to clearly distinguish between different words when the author doesn’t want to use the Kanji for whatever reason. Most times it’s a stylistic choice, but in this case it’s probably because it’s a game for children. It might make it easier to read.