There are 649 reasons to play Pocket Monsters in Japanese

[cappazushi]

Pokémon has finally added 漢字 support in Generation V, so if you've never played a Pocket Monsters game before, now is the time.

You can read my review here if you are on the fence.

Please discuss all Black and White-related topics here. Feel free to start new threads for older generations.

[rucury]

Woo! Die-hard Pokémon fan here! I'm glad you decided to play and review the 5th generation. I am currently playing through　ポケットモンスタースブラック (for the third time, first in Japanese) and I'm having a ton of fun. But, even with 漢字 on, many common kanji on seem to be replaced with かな、for example: 君. Also, that dum girl to the west of the protagonist's house asks a questions which turns off kanji depending on your answer! I didn't realize this at first and spent the first 15 minutes wondering why no kanji would show up after I switched it on!

I'll try and play through it completely (I often drop games and move on...) just for the immersion. Are there any more Pokémon fans here? I'm always up for a Poke-discussion (not lame, trust me).

[cappazushi]

This is just my personal opinion, but when you're playing games in Japanese you should only play them until you get bored and think it's time to move on. You don't want to associate boredom with Japanese, and there will definitely be a more fun game out there waiting for you to learn from it. Perhaps after a short リフレッシュ you might find the first game exciting again, too.

Full disclosure: I can't remember whether I actually beat the Elite Four in B/W. N got under my skin and it was difficult for me to progress through the story. That, and I ran out of cool Japanese nicknames for my Pokémon.

[cappazushi]

I posted something new to the main site yesterday. It's an Anki vocabulary list of "Pocket Monster" names in Japanese! Never again will you play a Japanese Pokémon game without knowing who is who and what is what.

Erase Bulbasaur and Charmander from your brains, people; it is フシギダネ and ヒトカゲ time now.

[ccrawrlol]

(06-02-2012 04:23 PM)cappazushi Wrote:  This is just my personal opinion, but when you're playing games in Japanese you should only play them until you get bored and think it's time to move on. You don't want to associate boredom with Japanese, and there will definitely be a more fun game out there waiting for you to learn from it. Perhaps after a short リフレッシュ you might find the first game exciting again, too.

Full disclosure: I can't remember whether I actually beat the Elite Four in B/W. N got under my skin and it was difficult for me to progress through the story. That, and I ran out of cool Japanese nicknames for my Pokémon.

I never actually beat any Pokemon game (English or Japanese) so I can relate. I think my main reason is when power leveling my Pokemon becomes a chore. Hence I get bored and move on. I never even finish getting all of the gym badges

If I ever play Pokemon again, getting all gym badges will be my goal! The other fluff I can live without.

[Bloomatic]

I never played this series in its original language. Surely it is a fabulous experience that power all those who enjoy Japanese. I think I have yet to learn the language a bit to dive into the world of Pokemon, full of kana and kanji. Anyway, as I feel sure, will be the first game to prove my abilities. I tried to see the links you put it, but I get the message "Page Not Found". Is it my mistake or there is a problem with the site?

[cappazushi]

The link should be working now. I had added a word filter that automatically changed "Pokemon" to "Pokémon" in order to satisfy my OCD. The word "pokemon" appeared in that URL, however, which is why it broke (it was automatically changed to Pokémon). Thanks for pointing that out!

Pokémon games have full kana modes, so you can play them without knowing any kanji at all.

[ayu]

As soon as I'm finished with pokemon ss and white I'll buy the japanese version of BW2. fortunately the kanji feature was added, a tad late really! hiragana only is eye killing.

[cappazushi]

Maybe I should pick up BW2 as well. Initially I was looking into getting Soul Silver and Fire Red (and double teaming my old DS) but, like you, I'm really not looking forward to an all-kana Pocket Monsters game.

Actually, I think waiting for a 3DS entry might be my best bet. プラズマ団が嫌いだから！

[Lyndis]

If I ever get my game backlog whittled down to a reasonable degree, and a new version isn't close to coming out by then, I definitely want to grab B/W2 in Japanese! Probably Black. Though the majority of people seem to prefer that version as well.