Free & Fun Japanese Computer Games – Part 3
“Aah. The sakura trees are blooming. Look at how their petals flitter to the water’s surface; ripples forming slowly from–” BANG!! A girl kicks down your door.
“No time to write poetry!! THERE’S MONSTERS TO BE SLAIN!”
You heard the lady. Time to unsheathe your weapon and get ready to battle.
行くぞーっ!
Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale
Genre: Role-playing simulation game
This game is published by Carpe Fulgar, runs on Windows, and will cost 20$ to own and play. You will require Steam to install this game.
Type of words you’ll see: A good mix everyday conversation words to the amount of uncommon/rare words; leaning towards the former. If you’re a beginner reaching that intermediate threshold, this game might be a perfect fit!
Summary: What do you do when a fairy comes and threatens to take your home away to settle a debt your father left under your name!? Turn your home into a store into the one-stop shop for everyone’s adventuring needs!
C’mon! “Capitalism, ho!”
The game runs on it’s own time system, and you have an in-game week to meet a certain amount of money to turn in to your debt collector fairy partner.
Stock your shop with items you buy from around town, find in dungeons, or synthesize yourself! And when you step out to go dungeon diving, take along your favorite adventurer from the ones you’ve unlocked!
…
出ない部屋から弟が!
Author: offoffo
Platform: Windows
Type of words you’ll see: If you’re familiar with rpg terms, and are comfortable with everyday life conversations; this game will be a quick and fun play!
Summary: “UGH!! My dumb little brother won’t stop his stupid games and just locks himself in his room all day… We used to be such good siblings too. He won’t even come out to eat!! Hrrnngg…maybe if I tried playing games with him he might start warming up to me again?”
A visual novel with a twist! The game will put you in special sequences where you come across a series of decisions that will decide whether your relationship has a second chance or will you never hear from them(being friends) again?!
Alright, ゲームオン!
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二ノ国 漆黒の魔導師
Genre: J-RPG, turn-based fighting
Publisher: Level 5
Platform: Nintendo DS (I play it on my American 3DS, so it should be fine region protection wise.)
Summary: Play as Oliver as he goes on a journey in a parallel world called ニノ国, to stop the terrible magician ジャボー, and for a chance to bring his mother back to life.
Use the マジックマスター to perform powerful spells and make the native creatures of ニノ国 your allies as you fight back the dark magic of ジャボー!
Like Classic J-RPGs? Pokemon? Studio Ghibli? If yes to all of the above, then congratulations! You and this game will be a match made in heaven. (Aaaand it’s loaded with voice acting~!)
Don’t stash it away after you’ve beat the game! Become an expert on ニノ国, and continue to immerse yourself in Oliver’s world, by reading the マジックマスター!
It’s a real-deal, hard-cover book, with over 300 pages close to bursting with Kanji (Complete with furigana written above them; no having to guess on the reading here!) It includes lore, Pokedex-esque recordings of the monsters you can “catch” in the game, and more!
(Make sure to watch out for region protection!) ジャボーを倒そう!
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Thanks for reading! (Don’t forget to turn off the games and enjoy the Spring-time bloom every now and then!)
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Important: Always be careful whenever you download files from the internet. I personally have had no problems with the computer games mentioned in this article, but, when downloading files over the internet, always make sure you have a good anti-virus software, scan often, keep back-ups of your data, and keep in mind, better safe than sorry! If you feel a program may put your computer at risk, do not download it.
I take no responsibility for any damage caused to your systems by these programs/downloads. Enter the gates at your own risk.
Hoping to become a teacher one day. Maybe I’ll incorporate games into my curriculum?
I have ニノ国 for the ps3 and I love it. Its a lot of fun and pretty easy to understand. I would recommend it for people who are new to playing Japanese video games. It was my first Japanese game/ native Japanese material. I also bought the guide book and which was helpful for the side quests
Oh oh! Same here, ニノ国 was my first Japanese game too :D
Yessss, with the furigana readings above the kanji it’s so good for beginners!
I think you may have just made a sale for steam. Be sure they don’t cheat you out of your commission~ cos’ capitalism, ho
Heheh! I’ll take it up with customer service +_+
*grips fist* Capitalism…HOOOOOO!!!
You mentioned the 3DS region lock on 二の国 so thought I should clear up just how it works.
The original DS (plus the DS Lite) and all its games are 100% region free. You can play any DS game on the console and the games will play on any DS including 3DS consoles.
The DSi (standard DS but with a camera and a download store) is partially region locked. It will play original DS games but some titles are enhanced for DSi and they will only play on DSis from the region they were purchased in. They will still play on any standard DS though. Pokemon Black and White are notable DSi enhanced games.
Finally the 3DS is completely region locked for its own games and DSi enhanced games. Like I said before it will continue to play standard DS games from anywhere.
Also – if you’re lucky enough to have a Japanese 3DS I’ve recently discovered that the download store takes my UK credit card so that’s a good option for buying games without delays for shipping.
^
Thanks for the info, James ^^ 勉強になりました!