English-speaker-friendly Japanese games?

[crunchewy]

Now that I can play PS2 imports, what are some good Japanese PS2 games (ones that weren't also released in the US) for someone who can't read a bit of Japanese?

 

[DreamSymphony]

Berserk is awesome... plus there are a ton of arcade shooters if you like that type of thing.

 

[Midnite]

Fighters and Shmups. Lot's of Neo-Geo fighters available for $20-$30 over at Play-Asia like Garou Mark of the Wolves and the Last Blade Collection.

 

[Halo05]

Mushihimesama is an incredible shmup. I dunno if it's gone out of print but if you find it for a reasonable price, get it.

 

[Puffa469]

Like midnight said, 'Fighters and Shmups'. I'd add Puzzle games to that as well.

Your gonna wanna avoid stuff like RPG's and Dating sims. Which sucks, cos I imagine some of those games would be awesome fun.

 

[lokizz]

[quote name='Midnite']Fighters and Shmups. Lot's of Neo-Geo fighters available for $20-$30 over at Play-Asia like Garou Mark of the Wolves and the Last Blade Collection.[/quote]

last blade is an awesome fighter. had it on mame a while back i think i still have it around somewhere. thats one thing neo geo did the best was fighting games. king of fighters is awesome too.

 

[espywork]

I like the cooking games, like CoCo Curry House or Yoshinoya. Music games are also pretty universal.

 

[Gameboy415]

[quote name='espywork']I like the cooking games, like CoCo Curry House or Yoshinoya. Music games are also pretty universal.[/QUOTE]

There's a Coco Ichibanya GAME?!? :shock:
I've gotta find that! I've seen the Yoshinoya one, but Coco Ichi is my favorite restaurant. Any chance you can post a pic of the box art??

*EDIT* Nevermind, found it!

Back on topic, I second the fighting game recommendations especially since some of the SNK ones allow you to set the entire game to English.

Also, some of the SEGA Ages games are good for English-speakers. Notably the Gunstar Heroes Treasure Box (which includes Gunstar Heroes, Dynamite Headdy, and Alien Solider - all of which can be set to full English!) and Panzer Dragoon.

If you're into RPG's, check out some of Square-Enix's Final Mix/International editions. Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2 were re-released as Final Mix versions with full English voice acting and lots of new content. Same with Final Fantasy X, X-2, and XII (though they're called International editions).

My HIGHEST recommendation would have to be Bemani (Konami) music games.
I play GuitarFreaks/Drummania, Keyboardmania, Beatmania, and Pop'n Music myself, but you can also get DDR if you're into it. All are GREAT fun and usually have full English menus.

 

[crunchewy]

Thanks everybody!

The Guitar Freaks controller is outrageously priced at play-asia. The drum controller isn't quite as bad. Any chance you can use Guitar Hero controllers with these games?

2D Shooters also interest me, but trying to find the shooters at play-asia and yesasia is proving painful. They aren't in their own category and they seem to be relatively few and far between. Titles of other good japan-only shooters would be wonderful.

 

[Sarang01]

Definitely Bemani and especially DDR.

 

[Puffa469]

[quote name='crunchewy']
2D Shooters also interest me, but trying to find the shooters at play-asia and yesasia is proving painful. They aren't in their own category and they seem to be relatively few and far between. Titles of other good japan-only shooters would be wonderful.[/quote]

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-r-49-en-70-1jl5.html
Twinkle Star Spirits Collection

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-r-49-en-70-pmo.html
Giga Wing Generations

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-r-49-en-70-284.html
Do Don Pachi Daioujou

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-r-49-en-70-3np.html
Espgaluda

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-r-49-en-70-1byi.html
Zero Pilot Zero

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-r-49-en-70-192r.html
Radilgy

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-r-49-en-70-16sp.html
Trizeal

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-r-49-en-70-1zw2.html
Ibara


To name a few

 

[ajnk]

Super Robot Wars.

 

[62t]

[quote name='crunchewy']Thanks everybody!

The Guitar Freaks controller is outrageously priced at play-asia. The drum controller isn't quite as bad. Any chance you can use Guitar Hero controllers with these games?

[/QUOTE]
You can use the guitar hero guitar as you can remap the buttons in guitar freak. Only problem is that you need to use a controller to select songs.

[quote name='crunchewy']
Super Robot Wars
[/QUOTE]
Super Robot Taisen a3 is one of my favorite import game of all time, but is not really import friendly.