Japanese Games (ex Wario Land)……Language selection?

Actually, the Japanese and US carts of VB Wario Land hold identical ROM images. The game is completely in English, so there’s no language barrier no matter which version you get. 🙂

Weird, usually the Japanese Wario Land is more money. With the odd exception, a lot of the Japanese games are basically the same as the english ones.

I actually think that it is important for those who are new to the Virtual Boy to be able to have an easily accessible page of information that informs them as to which Virtual Boy games have the Japanese language barrier, where it matters, which Virtual Boy games have the Japanese language barrier, where it doesn’t really matter that much, and which Virtual Boy games have no Japanese language barrier problems. I know that I myself, when I first got into the Virtual Boy, had no plans at all to buy any of the Japanese Virtual Boy games, since I thought that the language barrier would make playing the games less enjoyable or even more difficult. Of course, once I decided that the VB was mega awesome and that I must become a VB uber-collector, I slowly learned that some of the Japanese Virtual Boy games have no language barrier problems at all. V-Tetris, for instance, has just about all English text in the game itself or else Japanese text with corresponding English text right next to it. Virtual Bowling, within the game itself, looks like a North American release, since all text, I believe, is in English, apart from the Japanese text that corresponds to the English text at the very beginning, which tells the player to read the instruction and precaution booklets before operating. Of course, the high price for Virtual Bowling, as opposed to any possible language barrier, might keep Virtual Boy enthusiasts away from buying a commercial copy of the game. The same goes for Virtual Lab and Space Invaders: Virtual Collection. Commercial copies of both games are pricey, but both games contain English text or else side-by-side Japanese with corresponding English text within the games themselves, making navigating the games and enjoying the games the same as with any North American release. Insmouse No Yakata, aka Mansion of Insmouse, is another game where the menus contain English text, and there is no Japanese story within the game that a non-Japanese speaker would miss, so the only things to miss out on are the ending Japanese credits, which few people care about anyway. This game isn’t too pricey, especially if you can find a loose copy for sale on Yahoo Auctions Japan. The games that have some language barrier problems are the Japanese version of Jack Bros., Virtual Fishing, SD Gundam Dimension War, Space Squash, and perhaps the Japanese version of Panic Bomber. With the Japanese version of Jack Bros., I’m pretty sure the story text is in Japanese, so a non-Japanese speaker will miss out on the story within the game, but someone can correct me if I’m wrong about that. With Virtual Fishing, SD Gundam Dimension War, and Space Squash, I know for sure that a non-Japanese speaker will miss out on some story within each game, but SD Gundam and Space Squash are fairly easy to navigate, even without knowing the stories. The Japanese version of Panic Bomber also has menus in Japanese, so navigation or appreciation of the game might be hindered somewhat.

I’ve wanted to make a nice list that shows which Japanese Virtual Boy games are user-friendly to English speakers who don’t know Japanese and which games are not, but even if I did and simply posted it in a forum somewhere, it would get buried and not be useful to those who are newly getting into the Virtual Boy. Thus, if somebody else already has access to such information, and that information can be posted on a prominent place on the site, where those new to this site can find it easily, I think it would be very useful and helpful.

speedyink wrote:
That’s a good idea, Ben. It wouldn’t be hard to do either, just someone with a bit of time to play through the games and to do a writeup. Maybe take a couple pictures to give an idea of what the text is like. I could even do it if no one else is already planning to

Yeah… I think at the very least, such information should be included in the Reviews section for each of the games on this site. Thus, if you make small write-ups for such, perhaps you could send them to KR155E and see if he can include them – after checking them over and reviewing, etc. – as part of the PVB reviews for each game.

speedyink wrote:
Yeah that would be a good spot. I know I read through the game reviews when looking at the potential games I wanted.

I don’t want to step on your toes here either, I was at work and didn’t quite read your full post. If you do have the time and are willing to I’ll let you do it. If however you don’t feel like doing it then I can step in.

Either way I think it’s a good idea

Oh no… you wouldn’t be stepping on my toes. Please feel free to do it. I was only planning to do it if nobody else stepped up, but even then, it wouldn’t have been for a while.