Classic games that were Japan exclusive?

17 comments

1. Terranigma

2. torneko no daibouken (they were japan exclusive, but they got unofficial english fan patch now)

3. Pretty much anything release for PC-98. One of them notably being Policenauts. Other recommendations:

   – Tokyo Twilight Busters
   – Yu-No
   – EVE Burst Error
   – Biyond

4. *Bahamut Lagoon* for the Super Famicom. Really fun game; think *Advance Wars*-style strategic combat in a *Final Fantasy*-like setting.

   *Love Quest* for the Super Famicom is an interesting game. It’s a pretty generic RPG (random encounters, turn-based combat), but being a comedy game set in 90’s Tokyo makes it interesting from a language learner’s perspective; lot’s of references that will make you scratch your head, but also perhaps pique your interest. Like, early on an inconsequential NPC mentions he’s been going to a lot of ねるとんパーティー, so then I had to spend an hour looking into what that was.

   (For the curious: It’s a speed dating concept inspired by the show [ねるとん紅鯨団](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnPHKAviDQk); the ねるとん comes from swapping around some characters in とんねるず (“Tunnels”), the owarai group that hosted the show. It often involved the female participants sitting at a table while the males circles around, so that every pair of people had a few minutes to talk to each other. The participants would then write down which of the other participants they’d be interested in getting to know better. The organizers then compared the cards, and if there was mutual interest, they’d mediate the exchange of contact details.)

5. An old Fire emblem game. I exactly don’t remember the nam.

6. gihren’s greed if you are a fan of gundam

7. サクラ大戦

8. Rockman.EXE 4.5 Real Operation. it’s a little different from the main Battle Network games in that you simulate what operating a Navi would actually be like instead of directly controlling MegaMan like the main games. It has a real time clock and calendar system too so you can participate in events like tournaments on certain days and times. It never got localized presumably due to the heavy reliance on IRL BattleChips and link gate hardware that never got released outside of Japan as well, but it is definitely playable without all that regardless.

9. Linda Cube. It’s an RPG where you’re on a doomed planet and you have to round up animals to put on an arc.

10. 高機動幻想ガンパレード・マーチ

11. Ore no Ryouri!! My brother and I had it on a PS1 demo disc back in the day, it’s SUPER SILLY and fun!!!

12. If you look it up, you’ll find literally hundreds of them – especially if you include games with fan translations.

    These are some Japanese only JRPGs I have played and can recommend:

    * Tales of Rebirth
    * Tales of Destiny 2
    * 7: Molmorth no Kiheitai
    * Venus & Braves
    * Princess Crown
    * London Seirei Tanteidan
    * Summon Night 1-4
    * Dragon Shadow Spell
    * Tengai Makyō: Daiyon no Mokushiroku
    * SMT: Devil Summoner
    * Langrisser 3
    * Popolocrois Monogatari series (5 games across PS1 and PS2)

    I didn’t include games that have fan translations (like Tales of Destiny Remake) or games that have a translation, but not for the best version (like Dragon Quest 4 on PS1), or those with poor translations (like Magic Knight Rayearth on Sega Saturn).

    I also have a long backlog. You won’t suffer from a lack of games. I learned Japanese just to play video games, and I was not disappointed. Even games that have translations are often better in Japanese – I was surprised to find out how frequently localizations are inaccurate. I didn’t think it was that bad.

13. Majority of the Touhou Project catalogue (both Windows and pre-reboot PC98 entries) was never officially translated to English, and same goes for extended material such as books and manga, so that’s a massive rabbit hole to dive into should you decide to do so.

14. Fire Emblem 4

15. You should really play this — ファミコン文庫 : はじまりの森

    [https://nintendo.fandom.com/wiki/Famicom_Bunko:_Hajimari_no_Mori](https://nintendo.fandom.com/wiki/Famicom_Bunko:_Hajimari_no_Mori)

16. This is why I want to learn Japanese! I ordered the PSP game 町 because I loved the followup, 428: Shibuya Scramble, so much

17. [Snatcher](https://youtu.be/ow1OEBQSD4Y?feature=shared&t=5) for the pc engine its a classic, one of Kojimas first games that is basically unknown because it only ever came to the sega CD in the west, and highly censored at that.

    Very cyberpunk, very mature, very Japanese. Would give it a shot if you can deal with pretty old graphic adventures.