Saturn games to learn Japanese with

video games sega
1

Hey there Insert Credit,
Long time listener, first time caller etc.

So I’m going to go live in Japan for a few months soon and figured now is the time to pick up a Saturn up and start to explore the library.
I’m wondering what games people would recommend for someone learning Japanese.

I’d say my current level is maybe a bit below intermediate. Luckily my reading is better than my speaking. Recently I was able to get into Custom Robo on the N64 in 日本語 without too much trouble. The random chatting was a bit of a slog to read, so skipped a lot of that, but was able to understand the mechanics and get into the game well enough.

Anyway, I was trying to find some info for this on the net, before realizing this is probably the perfect place for that question.

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2

I imagine Burning Rangers might be pretty good for learning since it heavily involves getting verbal instructions.

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I’m sure there’s some Tokimeki Memorial type games aimed at a younger audience. The Saturn had so many of those type games. If you could get one with furigana, I think that would be the best option for acrually teaching you some Japanese.

From a quick google, I see Magic Knight Rayearth has furigana but that’s probably filled with useless vocabulary for everyday life.

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Cyber Doll was the game that finally pushed me over the edge to learn Japanese. I don’t know that it’s inherently great for learning or practicing but I think you could approach it similarly to how you played Custom Robo.

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you’re better off playing on a Switch or a 3DS if you really want to learn the language ; furigana, voice acting and “press to continue” is such a great help at the beginning that I can’t really see what you’d benefit from the Saturn library. apart from kick ass games ofc

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The Switch probably is the better place to learn, however I’ve generally found that learning comes easier when you can connect it to something else you want to do. Nothing against the Switch, but exploring the Saturn library has been on my list of things to do for awhile, and playing some Japanese-exclusive Saturn game is (for me) a more exciting proposition than picking up another Switch game.

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I’d go for these ones.

★Good romantic-themed adventure games with a contemporary setting and some sort of human interaction as the main component

NoËL3
Roomate (the entire series)
Kakyūsei
Pia Carrot He Yōkoso!!
Pia Carrot He Yōkoso!! 2

★Good RPG in which it is worth and not too hard trying to read the script of the dialogues, but the setting is not contemporary (either technobabble or fantasy).

Tengai Makyō
Grandia
Shining Force III
Soul Hackers
Linda3
Black Matrix
Marica (actually this one is pretty contemporary)

★Pure adventure game

Policenauts
Snatcher
EVE Burst Error
EVE The Lost One
Desire
YU-NO
Gekkamugentan Torico
Dōkoku Soshite…

★A bit more intense

Yumimi Mix Remix (more like watching an interactive anime, no text)
Daina Airan (ditto, same team)
Machi (more like an interactive novel, mostly text)
Real Sound ~Kaze no Regret~ (more like an interactive… podcast? sound file only)

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