Top 5 Nintendo DS Games for Learning Japanese

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Back in our Tips From John-sensei post, I mentioned that it’s very important to have fun while learning Japanese. Well, video games are fun – and the DS is a great resource for the Japanese learner. American DS systems are region free, so all Japanese games will work on American DS systems. There are also a handful of games that have the kana written above the kanji which is a great help for learning the readings and meanings of new kanji. I’ve compiled a list of the 5 best DS games to play in Japanese (you can trust me because I’ve played them all myself!) and now I’d like to share them with you. Read on and start having fun with your Japanese!

5. Golden Sun: Dark Dawn

黄金の太陽：漆黒なる夜明け

Dark Dawn is the third title in the Golden Sun series, and is set 30 years after the events of the first two games. The story is more or less just another tale where the heroes band together to fight the forces of evil and save the world. Golden Sun: Dark Dawn is a good RPG. You think of a standard and solid RPG, and this is it. It’s got some interesting mechanics, and the Djinn system spices things up a bit, but overall it’s very traditional. The story is interesting and I enjoyed playing it. It’s not really a stand out game though, so don’t expect to be wowed by anything.

If you’ve played a Japanese RPG before, you’ll know what to expect here. It certainly won’t let you down though. Golden Sun is a very solid choice, especially if you’ve enjoyed the previous entries in the series.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0hP3dHd7ME']

Check out the video review of the English version from Gametrailers here.

4. Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies

ドラゴンクエストIX星空の守り人

I’ve always really enjoyed the Dragon Quest games. The story is pretty thick in them though, so if your Japanese isn’t all that great, you may find yourself getting lost or confused quite a bit, but that’s what online guides are for. I recommend making good use of Gamefaqs.com. Some guides are based on the Japanese versions and will even give you translations of the dialogue or the menus. At the very least, you can use it as a reference to make sure you stay on track and don’t get too frustrated with your journey. In Dragon Quest IX you play as a guardian angel who has become human and travels around from town to town fixing everything for everyone.

The streamlined multiplayer support is also very nicely implemented, but you’ll need some friends who own a copy. Regretfully I’m not sure if American versions are compatible with the Japanese versions of the game, but as the Pokemon games work just fine together, I would assume that’s the case for Dragon Quest as well. Game on!

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLjJC3mjP3A&feature=related']

Check out the video review of the English version from Gametrailers here.

3. Ni no Kuni: Shikkoku no Madōshi

二ノ国 漆黒の魔導士

In Ni No Kuni, Studio Ghibli teams up with Level-5 to create a magical role-playing game that stars a young boy named Oliver who receives a magical book that takes him into another world.

Ni No Kuni is a beautiful game. The cut scenes and voice acting both are superb and really make for an enjoyable experience. It’s half like watching an anime, and half like playing a great game. If story is important to you, you can’t go wrong with this one. This is also the only game on this list that hasn’t been localized yet. Ni No Kuni will becoming to American shores early 2012. At least that’s the plan, anyway.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xTUL1f07m8']
The girl from these CMs is also one half of the phenomenon responsible for bringing us this ridiculously adorable song.

Check out a trailer for the Japanese version here. Sorry, no review for this one :(

2. The Legend of Zelda Games

ゼルダの伝説夢幻の砂時計 (Phantom Hourglass)
ゼルダの伝説大地の汽笛 (Spirit Tracks)

We all know what to expect as far as story goes with the Zelda games. You play as Link, and your job is to save the princess. Phantom Hourglass has impressive visuals, beautiful music, and a huge world packed with plenty of things to experience. What it was missing, however, was some of the hardcore difficulty and classic dungeon puzzles that longtime Zelda fans had come to expect from the series.

Spirit Tracks is pretty similar, but improved upon in nearly every way. Spirit Tracks delivers amazing boss battles, stunning dungeons, and a substantially longer adventure overall. Both Zelda titles are great and equally helpful to the Japanese learner.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlmTdnUTZHY']
Check out the video review of the English version of Spirit Tracks from Gametrailers here.

1. Professor Layton Games (Friendly Versions)

レイトン教授と不思議な町（フレンドリー版）(Curious Village)
レイトン教授と悪魔の箱（フレンドリー版）(Diabolical Box)

The stories in Professor Layton games revolve around puzzles. Pretty much everyone you interact with has a puzzle for you to solve to advance the story and in every game there is some overarching mystery for you to solve. The games are extremely enjoyable laid back experiences with some pretty challenging and clever puzzles to boot. Once you play one Professor Layton game, you’ll know what to expect from the rest of the series. Greatness.

What makes this the best DS game for Japanese learning is the wonderful voice acting, clever puzzles, and relatively linear story. Make sure you check out the “Friendly Versions” though. The non-friendly versions do not have kana readings above the kanji which makes for a much more difficult reading experience if you don’t know that many kanji yet.

In the Japanese versions of Professor Layton games, the puzzle aspect is nearly doubled when you first have to decode the instructions from Japanese, and then once you actually understand what is being asked of you, you get to work on a clever and engaging puzzle. And like I said, the games are very linear, so even if you miss a few lines of dialogue here and there, you don’t have to worry about getting lost. The Professor Layton games are great fun and very beneficial to the Japanese learner. If you only check out one game from this list, make it Professor Layton.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3yP5OcbhHI']
Check out the video review of the English version of Diabolical Box from Gametrailers here.

How to Study With Japanese Video Games

The way I study with Japanese video games is pretty simple. I play the game, look up words and phrases I don’t know, then add those to an Anki deck. (If you haven’t heard of Anki before, check out our review of it here.) I usually play the game until I get to a certain number of new things, usually about a page full, and then I’ll stop playing and add those into an Anki deck. Before I play the game again, I’ll review the Anki deck I created and then start the whole process over again.

Once you get a bit better at Japanese, you can start playing the game and just inferring from the context what the new words and phrases mean and only make cards out of the things that totally stump you.

Like I’ve said in previous posts, it’s important to not get frustrated with your studies, especially when you’re playing a game and trying to have fun. Even though you’re playing a video game, it’s still in a foreign language, and things could get frustrating and discouraging if you’re not careful. So set yourself some sort of limit for how long you’ll play or study with a game and quit while you’re still having fun so you’ll be looking forward to coming back to it.

And also, please try to avoid just mashing the A button through all of the dialogue so you can get back to the gameplay. It’s an understandable temptation (heck, I’ve done it before), but you’re really not doing yourself any favors. You might as well just be playing the game in English. But in most cases this can be avoided as long as you quit while you’re still having fun with it and before you get frustrated.

Even though you’re already playing a game, it’s still important to still keep fun in mind. You’re not going to like every game you play, so if you’re playing something in Japanese, don’t tough it out if you don’t actually enjoy the game itself. Find a game you know you would enjoy regardless of the language.

As your skills progress, you’ll be able to graduate on to imported games that don’t provide kana readings for all the kanji. Think of all the games you’ll be able to play and enjoy before all your friends! It’s totally worth it, so stick with it and don’t give up!

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Newer Comments →
  • ヽ(´ー｀)ノ

    Actually, it’s the PS3 version on Ni no Kuni that’s being localized. I don’t think there’s any plans for the DS version.

  • John

    Oh, really? Somehow I thought they were localizing both. Bummer!

  • Jlix

    Where are the best places to buy Japanese video games?

  • John

    Play-Asia.com is the site I’ve used in the past and it’s pretty popular, but there’s also a lot of other places including eBay where you can find them (Google yields a fair amount of results). I’d recommend just shopping around for the best deal since prices can be kinda finicky. Good luck!

  • http://twitter.com/DtoidAllistair Allistair Pinsof

    Awesome article. Any game with furigana (for example, Ni no kuni) is a must. But, you left out the best one: Scribblenauts in Japanese: Flash Puzzle: Maxwell’s Mysterious Notebook. 

  • Joseph Becker

    I’ll keep these in mind once i get more experience in Japanese, thanks!

  • John

    Aw, man – Scribblenauts in Japanese would be insane, haha. And all the ones in the above list have furigana so that’s why I included them. Super helpful for sure.

  • mSamyel

    I recommend Ace Attorney games(Gyakuten Saiban 1-4, Gyakuten Kenji 1-2). The whole game is all about reading, and understanding what’s written, so understanding something is very rewarding (but not understanding something means you’re stuck..) But it’s a good practice for like learning Kanji and grammar.

  • Anonymous

    Great topic! I love this idea.

    I didn’t get a great impression based on some of the descriptions, but if you’re still really new to Japanese what game should you start with? Or should you wait till you’re stronger? If so how will you know when you’re ready to try this?

    Also, I picked up both of the Spice & Wolf games for the DS, and they seem to be text heavy. If you’ve played them where would you rate them? Or would you offer any addition advice on learning Japanese with those games specifically?

    Please feel free to add more posts on this topic in the future! This is great stuff.

  • http://twitter.com/mikenewt Michael Newton

    Great resource!  I’m doing the same thing with Chinese games and it can be hard to stick to your guns when you first start playing and your vocab lists fill up once every ten minutes.  Persistence is rewarded in this case!

  • John

    If you’re still really new to Japanese, then I wouldn’t play any games that don’t have furigana because it’ll just make the process much longer and frustrating in my opinion. Having the furigana makes it so much quicker and easier to look up words you don’t know. (Jisho.org is a great online dictionary by the way.) As far as a best place to start – I would say Zelda or Professor Layton would be the best place. All the other games are kind of text heavy, and Zelda and Layton break it up a lot more with gameplay/puzzle elements (i.e. breaks from Japanese, lol). The professor Layton games are VERY linear – so it’s nearly impossible to get lost. But using a guide from gamefaqs.com or somewhere can help you out greatly in games like Zelda. I’d say just find a game with furigana that seems like a game you’d enjoy playing if it was in English. Do you like puzzle games that make you think? Professor Layton. Do you like action RPGs? Then go with Zelda.

    And I haven’t played the Spice & Wolf games, sorry. Haven’t even watched the anime xD

    And I’d say if you can handle reading through manga in Japanese, then you’re definitely ready to play games in Japanese too. Best of luck with everything!

  • John

    For sure! Just gotta stick with it and it’ll pay off big time.

  • Anonymous

    I find myself playing the two AKB48 PSP games all the time, which gave me a subtle 日本語 knowledge, and flirting skills too though. (￣▽￣)

  • John

    Hahaha I’ve seen stuff about those online before. Are they actually fun?

  • Anonymous

    Well, the gameplay is always the same: pick one girl and dump all the other girls. ^^
    It’s completely static and everything is text-based.
    But since it got 100% full voice over it helps to improve my listening comprehension skills in conversational topics. ;D
    But i think for a non-AKB48 fan, it would/could be too boring to actually play it a lot and with passion. (^_^;)

  • Anonymous

    Are they listed by the simplicity of language or pure fun factor? Because game that has furigana does not exactly mean that the vocabulary and grammar is actually easy. I was looking for something like that before and it was hard to find something worthwhile…

  • http://www.callistospatches.com Callisto

    Thank you thank you thank you. I’ve had an Amazon gift card lying around since my birthday and I was hoping for the perfect thing to spend it on: something fun that would help me improve my Japanese. This seems to be what I was looking for. ありがとう！

  • James Elsey

    Great article, thanks! If only I could understand Japanese, it’s on my todo-before-I-die list

  • John

    Kind of a combination of fun factor and ease of learning. Like I said, Dragon Quest games are a ton of fun, but you have to wade through tons and tons of text before you get back to the actual gameplay. Games like Zelda and Layton are great for both fun and ease of learning, so that’s why they are ranked higher.

  • John

    Awesome. Happy to help you out. Best of luck with your studies!

  • Jamu

    Is the new pokemon (black/white) any good for learning japanese with? :)

  • John

    It can be, because the language used isn’t all that difficult- but they don’t have a furigana option :( There’s 2 options for playing it in Japanese. You either get all the kanji or none of it. It’s easier to read when it’s just kana, but you won’t learn any kanji unless you look it up yourself. So, it can be used for learning Japanese, it’s just way more work. Personally I wouldn’t recommend it :(

  • Jamu

    Ok, thanks John! :) do japanese games work on european DS consoles?

  • Anonymous

    Neat.  As it is, I’ve already got the English version of Dragon Quest IX, so I’d have an easier time figuring out the Japanese text should I ever import that game.

    But the game I REALLY want is Ace Attorney Investigations 2… I played the first one and loved it, so to hear they’re not localizing it in America (or at least English) is a real shame.  Now my only option is to import the game and, well, great study project, but it’ll take me a LOOONG time to complete and I’d need to be near a computer with internet access while playing (for kanji lookup).

  • duckyness

    I’m pretty sure DS games are universal unlike Wii and PS games.

  • John

    Yep yep :D

  • John

    If you’re lovin’ the game though it’ll be worth it! Best of luck to you if you undertake the undertaking :)

  • kitsuki

    lol what about 正しい漢字かきとりくん
    its one of my favorites

    … i secretly… have always wanted love plus… ; ;
    ni no kuni looks really nice, ill ask a friend to send that over.

    i like this article!

  • Anonymous

    Thank you! My DS is like my best friend…now I just need to actually LEARN Japanese…

  • John

    正しい漢字かきとりくん is good, but it’s not really a “game” in the traditional sense, you know? I wanted to include games that people would be interested in playing regardless of the Japanese learning aspect

  • Eri

    Man, I totally need to get more Japanese games for my DSlite. The only one I have is Tales of Innocence, and while I love the game to death, it doesn’t have furigana anywhere in sight T.T
    I didn’t know LoZ ad Professor Layton games came with furigana though! Now I really need to get the Japanese versions, and since I’ve already played the English versions, I won’t get totally lost ahaha…

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  • http://twitter.com/shollum Christopher

    I’ve tried (maybe still trying) to use the pokemon games since the vocab is really basic (it’s target demographic is children) and the ‘game specific vocab’ is pretty easy to spot. The DS games, like you said, have the option to use kana only or kanji. You have to remember that it can be switched on the fly though.

    To be honest, I wish they went with furigana even if it was like the Zelda games where you have to click on the kanji. There were too many times where I wished I had kanji to refer to, and that was just the intro.

    I know this was already resolved. This just seemed like a good place to put this.

  • Snoozler

    Argh, I really want a DS now!
    Which DS model would you recommend, with Japanese games in mind? Does the 3ds play all of them? Or would it be safer to stick with the dsi?

  • John

    Yeah, it’s really too bad for us that more games don’t have the click for kana option :(

  • Snoozler

    Or even just the ds lite for that matter?

  • John

    Unfortunately the new 3DS is region locked, so I can’t recommend it for Japanese games. I use a DS Lite, and from what I’ve read the DSi will work just fine with Japanese DS games as long as they aren’t DSi exclusive titles. So if I were you, I’d stick with the DSi (or even just a DS Lite!)

  • http://twitter.com/fointypinger Lewis Cave

    There are also a few language software titles for the NDS, including some kanji-only ones that are aimed at Japanese users.

    One title of use to westerners is called My Japanese Coach, which is pretty good and has lots of tools and games to play as well. I have reviewed it on my website, but I’m not sure how to add a hyperlink in here..

  • http://twitter.com/fointypinger Lewis Cave

    There are also a few language software titles for the NDS, including some kanji-only ones that are aimed at Japanese users.

    One title of use to westerners is called My Japanese Coach, which is pretty good and has lots of tools and games to play as well. I have reviewed it on my website, but I’m not sure how to add a hyperlink in here..

  • John

    My Japanese Coach is okay, I think. It makes for an okay supplement to other means of learning but I could see it being confusing if someone tried to learn from it without already having some sort of base in Japanese, you know? Plus it’s not nearly as fun as playing an actual game, haha.

  • Daniel Carter

    Wow, I just bought Ni no Kuni last week from Hard Off. This is great timing!

  • Snoozler

    Thank you!

  • Mark

    do the english versions have an option for japanese?

  • Snoozler

    Any idea where I can buy “Ni no Kuni”? It’s not at playasia. :(

  • Tori1237654

    this is kind of off-topic lol but what was the song that you had a link to about? 

    I’m trying textfugu and I thought I heard the words for “breakfast” and “to wake up”, but if I’m wrong, oops! i hope I don’t sound stupid XD 

  • sohail sidique

    WHAT?!?!
    Studio Ghibli and Level-5 made a game?
    I… Must… Play….

  • John

    Here’s a very bad audio quality version of the song with sing along subtitles, lol – it should help you out!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Si2Qke4JhAM

  • John

    This is the first place I found it: http://www.yesasia.com/us/ninokuni-shikkoku-no-madoushi-with-magic-master-japan-version/1023453596-0-0-0-en/info.html

    You might have better luck searching using Kanji/kana, or ninokuni all as one word. That’s a pretty decent price from Yes-Asia for an import game though I think.

  • Havokmoobii

    Old game, but the English version of Sonic Adventure 2(Gamecube/Dreamcast) has options to change both the text and the voiceovers to Japanese. No Furigana though.

  • Kincaid42

    I know very little japanese, is this a good idea?

    I only know around 500 or so words and very little kanji (around 50)..

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