The saga of playing SaGa when it's spelled サガ (SAGA)
I'm discovering a new past time - replaying video games I have memorized beginning to end over again, in Japanese (ROMs, naturally), partially as an excuse to play them yet again but also to help brush up on the ol' Nihongo during the summer.
I've actually learned quite a bit of vocabulary this way, although the usefulness of RPG vocabulary is perhaps questionable. In particular I've been playing Makai Toushi SaGa, better known here as The Final Fantasy Legend, a classic RPG and one of the first, if not THE first portable RPG. Anyway, I played this game over and over when I was younger so I could play it with my eyes closed - or in Japanese, which sometimes feels like the same thing (but it's improving!)
The great part about it is that there's zero Kanji... okay, I lied, the title screen has Kanji. But besides that it's all delicious Hiragana and Katakana which is perfect for my novice tastes.
The glorious title screen! Notice the scary Kanji at the top. Also, the year it was released - 1989. Old school stuff up in here. Back in the early days of SKUEA'S reign. Yes, even BEFORE "Squaresoft"! Anyway, let's pick up where I left off...
Our band of intrepid adventurers! Observant folks might be able to pick out some REAL LIFE NAMES here(!). The fine lady on the upper-right is not the completely cliched "Sakura" you might be led to believe.. actually once I ran out of names I decided to bring blkmagiciangirl ("Sakura") along with us, partially because I wanted one easy Hiragana name, and I'm thinking she can swing a mean rapier, too. Our pet monster is named Koko because... it is.
Wandering the wilderness~
Y'know, I've always thought it was a bit.. weird that you can see what appears to be a hole in the pants of the Human Male when he's walking upwards, or maybe that's his rear entrance itself? Yeah, I don't know.
.. okay so I made a .gif
But wait! Stop shaking that apple-bottom booty for a second, we have a battle on our hands!
That's an "Albatross", for those who can't read it. It's funny because I actually learned what an Albatross was from this game when I was little! See Mom, games ARE educational.
Also, I realize that it basically doesn't look anything like an Albatross, but bear in mind that this sprite represents everything from Albatross to Eagles to Condors and every other kind of bird-like enemy in the game. And no, I'm really not sure why we're fighting all these possibly endangered birds. Maybe this is some camping trip into our nation's national parks gone horribly wrong.
Anyway, let's see if we can get a little closer and maybe visit with this fine forest friend. Come here, little guy! We just want to pet you and...
OH MY GOD
It would appear he has left behind a chunk of meat which presumably used to be some nondescript part of himself that meat comes from. And the game is inviting us to eat it!
This is the worst camping trip ever =(
Okay, Koko, you're a hideous mistake of God's so you can take a bite. Wait.. now Koko turned into some kind of Lizard creature!
It's kind of like Pokémon but with more cannibalism and murdering. Your human and mutant companions can also try eating some meat too, but the game will say that "nothing happens" except I'm pretty sure the mental and intestinal damage will remain for years.
Koko turned into a "どくがえる", which was "Poison Frog" in the English version. But, I thought "frog" was "かえる" but maybe I'm dumb =( That, or the game is being cutesy with me or making up words.
ONWARD! Towards the top of the tower so we can hack God to death with a chainsaw (no really you can actually do this)
Maybe I'll screencap some more but you've basically seen all the important parts, so~
ANYWAY this is a fun nostalgic game for me so playing it in Japanese is pretty interesting. I know that the original Red/Green Pokémon games were all in Hiragana or something, but does anyone else know of any other 8-bit or 16-bit era games that would be easy to play in Japanese?
In other news: I beat .hack//GU Vol 2 (thus Haseo icon) and Odin Sphere is freaking beautiful, that is all.
I've actually learned quite a bit of vocabulary this way, although the usefulness of RPG vocabulary is perhaps questionable. In particular I've been playing Makai Toushi SaGa, better known here as The Final Fantasy Legend, a classic RPG and one of the first, if not THE first portable RPG. Anyway, I played this game over and over when I was younger so I could play it with my eyes closed - or in Japanese, which sometimes feels like the same thing (but it's improving!)
The great part about it is that there's zero Kanji... okay, I lied, the title screen has Kanji. But besides that it's all delicious Hiragana and Katakana which is perfect for my novice tastes.
The glorious title screen! Notice the scary Kanji at the top. Also, the year it was released - 1989. Old school stuff up in here. Back in the early days of SKUEA'S reign. Yes, even BEFORE "Squaresoft"! Anyway, let's pick up where I left off...
Our band of intrepid adventurers! Observant folks might be able to pick out some REAL LIFE NAMES here(!). The fine lady on the upper-right is not the completely cliched "Sakura" you might be led to believe.. actually once I ran out of names I decided to bring blkmagiciangirl ("Sakura") along with us, partially because I wanted one easy Hiragana name, and I'm thinking she can swing a mean rapier, too. Our pet monster is named Koko because... it is.
Wandering the wilderness~
Y'know, I've always thought it was a bit.. weird that you can see what appears to be a hole in the pants of the Human Male when he's walking upwards, or maybe that's his rear entrance itself? Yeah, I don't know.
.. okay so I made a .gif
But wait! Stop shaking that apple-bottom booty for a second, we have a battle on our hands!
That's an "Albatross", for those who can't read it. It's funny because I actually learned what an Albatross was from this game when I was little! See Mom, games ARE educational.
Also, I realize that it basically doesn't look anything like an Albatross, but bear in mind that this sprite represents everything from Albatross to Eagles to Condors and every other kind of bird-like enemy in the game. And no, I'm really not sure why we're fighting all these possibly endangered birds. Maybe this is some camping trip into our nation's national parks gone horribly wrong.
Anyway, let's see if we can get a little closer and maybe visit with this fine forest friend. Come here, little guy! We just want to pet you and...
OH MY GOD
It would appear he has left behind a chunk of meat which presumably used to be some nondescript part of himself that meat comes from. And the game is inviting us to eat it!
This is the worst camping trip ever =(
Okay, Koko, you're a hideous mistake of God's so you can take a bite. Wait.. now Koko turned into some kind of Lizard creature!
It's kind of like Pokémon but with more cannibalism and murdering. Your human and mutant companions can also try eating some meat too, but the game will say that "nothing happens" except I'm pretty sure the mental and intestinal damage will remain for years.
Koko turned into a "どくがえる", which was "Poison Frog" in the English version. But, I thought "frog" was "かえる" but maybe I'm dumb =( That, or the game is being cutesy with me or making up words.
ONWARD! Towards the top of the tower so we can hack God to death with a chainsaw (no really you can actually do this)
Maybe I'll screencap some more but you've basically seen all the important parts, so~
ANYWAY this is a fun nostalgic game for me so playing it in Japanese is pretty interesting. I know that the original Red/Green Pokémon games were all in Hiragana or something, but does anyone else know of any other 8-bit or 16-bit era games that would be easy to play in Japanese?
In other news: I beat .hack//GU Vol 2 (thus Haseo icon) and Odin Sphere is freaking beautiful, that is all.