Japanese GB Games playable by English speakers

[chair | 7]

I am running through the Japanese Game Boy ROM set and creating a list of games playable without knowing Japanese.  Games might still contain some Japanese, but if they seem easy enough to figure out or easily translate, I err on the side of including them.  Is anyone aware of such a list already existing?

 

Aero Star - Unique shmup

After Burst - Mech platformer puzzler, single screen, weird frame rate

Akumajou Dracula - Shikoku Taru Zens… - Castlevania Legends

Akumajou Special - Boku Dracula-kun

Amida - Fun unique pathfinding puzzle game

Asmik-kun World 2 - IDK, maybe. 2d overhead puzzle thing?

Astro Rabby - 2D overhead jumping game?

Bakuretsu Senshi Warrior - 2D single screen platformer puzzler, kinda like donkey kong 94

Banishing Racer - 2D platformer where you play as a car.  Really good.

Baseball Kids - 4 - all in English baseball game

Battle Bull - 2D overhead tank battler game? Kinda like bomber man, but not really

Battle Crusher - Robot fighting game, some Japanese, can probably get through it

Battle Pingpong - fun ping pong game

BattleCity - overhead 2D tank game, single screen-ish.

Block Kuzushi GB - Arkanoid clone, some Japanese, story related

Blodia - 4 - Puzzler, kinda like Pipe Dream

Bokujou Monogatari - 1 - Harvest Moon?

Bomber Boy - 4 - Bomberman-like?

Bomber King - Scenario 2 - 4 - Bomberman like, more Zelda style tho

Bomber Man Collection - 3.5 - Bomber Boy + Bomber Man + Bomber Man 2

Bomber Man - 4

Bomber Man 2 - 2

Bomber Man 3 - 2

Booby Boys - 3 - 2D overhead Lode Runner

Bouken! Puzzle Road - 1.5 - Puzzle game where you fit shapes into an area

Boulder Dash - 4

Boxing - 4 - “Mai Tyson”

Bubble Bobble - 4 - Bubble Bobble

Bubble Bobble Jr - 4 - Bubble Bobble Jr.

Bubble Ghost - 4 - Like Soul Bubbles for DS, cool game

Bubs Bunny Collection - 3.5 - Bugs Bunny platformer puzzler gamez

Burai Senshi Deluxe - 3.5 - Horizontally scrolling shmup where you're a guy with a jetpack.  Cool unique take on gameboy shmup

Burning Paper - 4? - No text present, but seems weird.  2D cursor-based shooter where you're shooting bugs off a building

Cadillac 2 - 1.5 - Card/poker puzzle game

Caesars Palace - 2 - Caesar's Palace but it's in Japanese

Capcom Quiz: Hatena no Daibouken - 1

Captain Tsubasa J: Zenkoku Seiha e no Chousen - 1 - Terrible soccer game

Captain Tsubasa VS - 1

Card Game - 4- Generic blackjack, poker, and "USA Page 1"

Chachamaru Boukenki 3: Abyss no Tou - 1

Chachamaru Panic - 3.5? - Don't really know what's going on in this one

Chalvo 55: Super Puzzle Action - 3 - Platformer, somewhat puzzley, kinda cool

Chibi Maruko-chan 2: Deluxe Maruko World - 1

Chibi Maruko-chan 3: Mezase! Game Taishou no Maki - 1

Chibi Maruko-chan 4: Kore ga Nihon Da yo! Ouji-sama - 1

Chibi Maruko-chan: Maruko Deluxe Theater - 1

Chibi Maruko-chan: Okozukai Daisakusen! - 1

Chiki Chiki Machine Mou Race - 2 - Weird racing game

Chiki Chiki Tengoku - 3.5 - Match-3 Puzzle game

Chikyuu Kaihou Gun ZAS - 4 - Vertical shmup, seems really cool.

Chou Mashin Eiyuu Den Wataru: Mazekko Monster - 1

Chou Mashin Eiyuu Den Wataru: Mazekko Monster 2 - 1

Chousoku Spinner - 1.5 - Cool unique yo-yoing game, worth seeking out translation patch, but not really playable without

Collection Pocket - 2 - Collection of shmups, or minigames?  You can get into gameplay, but not much else

Contra - 3.5 - This might be Operation C?

Contra Spirits - 3.5 - Cool Contra game, might be a demake of Contra 3?

Crayon Shin-chan 2: Ora to Wanpaku Gokko Dazo - 2.5 - Interesting platformer, playable, but seems like some significant story/dialogue and menu choices

Crayon Shin-chan 3: Ora no Gokigen Athletic - 1.5 - I think this is a story game with a collection of mini games?  Not really playable

Crayon Shin-chan 4: Ora no Itazura Daihenshin - 2.5 - Interesting platformer, playable, but seems like some significant story/dialogue and menu choices

Crayon Shin-chan: Ora no Gokigen Collection - 1 - No idea, lots of story/dialogue

Crayon Shin-chan: Ora to Shiro wa Otomodachi Da yo - 2.5 -  Interesting platformer, playable, but seems like some significant story/dialogue and menu choices

Cult Jump - 1 - Cool name but forget it

Cult Master: Ultraman ni Miserarete - 1 - Seems like a quiz game

Dirty Racing - 3.5 - Great title, really fun racing game

Uchuu no Kishi Tekkaman Blade - mech platform, you have a blade and can use a grapple hook Bionic Commando style

Super Hunchback - Weird main character, really cool platformer, good graphics

Super Snakey - Weird as hell Tetris-like

Edited August 30, 2023 by chair

[Tanooki | 4,940]

There isn't one unless you luck into some strange list on a random forum some person with help cobbled together like you're attempting here has done before.

First party early (WORLD) ROMs such as the various Nintendo sports titles, Alleyway, Solar Striker, Super Mario Land, Tetris, they're all safe bets.

From experience I know of some, own some of them still too.  Lunar Lander, Money Idol Exchanger, Miracle Adventure of Esparks, Sports Collection, Ganso Yancha Maru(Kid Niki2 basically),Nettou Real Bout Fatal Fury Special, Samurai Spirits 3, Kof 95 and 96, Fatal Fury 2 (all in the Nettou series), Noobow, Trip World.

Since you added some US release stuff to save a buck, the other Konami ones that are more now Nemesis1+2, Contra, Castlevania Adventure 1 and 2 are all cheaper as JP titles, as are the 5 mega Man (ROCK MAN) games.

 

 

...and Bakaretsu Senshi Warrior is CYRAID in the US.

[Splain | 2,571]

I've been working on a list like this. I'm 70% of the way through them all. I rank them all from 0-4:

0 - it's not even a game. The US library has those 5 Infogenius titles, the JPN library has like, 3 dozen or so edutainment titles for learning Kanji and other stuff. So they're not only not worth playing, but they're useless to anyone who doesn't know Japanese.
1 - Inaccessible without some Japanese proficiency
2 - Playable, but trial-and-error, remembering options, and/or prior game knowledge is needed to access the game in full
3 - Easily playable, minor Japanese menus/captions
3.5 - Only the title screen shows any Japanese text
4 - No Japanese at all/identical to non-JPN versions

I can update here when the list is finished.

FYI, Super Snakey is Wildsnake in the US.

[Sumez | 2,969]

Massive recommendation for Cave Noire by Konami. 

It's a very traditional roguelike, but with smaller quests and a simple, arcade-like pace. 

There's a sense of metaprogression in the sense that when you beat a dungeon, you unlock the next difficulty level of that dungeon until you have beaten all four dungeons on the highest level to complete the game for real. It's a lot of fun, and I don't recall it having any Japanese text at all. 

[chair | 7]

9 hours ago, Splain said:

I've been working on a list like this. I'm 70% of the way through them all. I rank them all from 0-4:

0 - it's not even a game. The US library has those 5 Infogenius titles, the JPN library has like, 3 dozen or so edutainment titles for learning Kanji and other stuff. So they're not only not worth playing, but they're useless to anyone who doesn't know Japanese.
1 - Inaccessible without some Japanese proficiency
2 - Playable, but trial-and-error, remembering options, and/or prior game knowledge is needed to access the game in full
3 - Easily playable, minor Japanese menus/captions
3.5 - Only the title screen shows any Japanese text
4 - No Japanese at all/identical to non-JPN versions

I can update here when the list is finished.

FYI, Super Snakey is Wildsnake in the US.

That sounds exactly like what I’m going for. Can you upload your list somewhere? I’d also like to add cartridge images so you know what to look for when going through bins of Japanese games

[Tanooki | 4,940]

On his scale, while I agree with Sumez that Cave Noire is great, it's a solid 2.  You'll have problems between stages wiht the shops and other fluff.  In game though it's all icon based and kind of obvious, especially if you trial and error or just look up once what X item does.  People been selling it with a translation made years ago to cover this little hang up and it's worth it.

Games I tried to list didn't need words or they were truly optional, like Samurai Spirits 3, do you really need a story in a fighting game or some smarmy comment between fights when you kicked someones ass or yours was kicked in?  Not really, or with Money Idol Exchanger, menu fluff, but the puzzle is 100% doable on whatever mode.

[Ankos | 448]

15 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

Cave Noire is great, it's a solid 2

You're into Supervision stuff right? There is a clone of Cave Noire for it called Cave Wonders that you might find interesting

[VmprHntrD | 1]

Cave Noire is something that would need a translation to enjoy it all, the menus thankfully are mostly in hiragana and katakana so if you have a very basic understanding or can sound out the katakana most of it would be fine until you get into buying things.  That I would recommend a guide for or a cheat sheet you could type up and print out small to keep with the game, or save on your phone.

[Tanooki | 4,940]

21 hours ago, Ankos said:

You're into Supervision stuff right? There is a clone of Cave Noire for it called Cave Wonders that you might find interesting

Yes I have one, and I have the multicart a2heaven did as well so that has to be on there somewhere.  I'll have to check that out, thanks as you have me curious.

I still have diskmans site linked too, and here it is: https://www.diskman.com/presents/supervision/cave.htm

[koifish | 556]

For the record, Cadillac 2 is called "Square Deal" in western release. Pretty sure there's a cadillac 1 on Famicom but I cannot remember.

[Pojosama | 1]

On 10/2/2023 at 10:38 AM, koifish said:

For the record, Cadillac 2 is called "Square Deal" in western release. Pretty sure there's a cadillac 1 on Famicom but I cannot remember.

Yes Cadillac is on the Famicom.