Japanese Exclusive PS1 Games That Don't Require You To Understand Japanese?

[Astor Reinhardt | 199]

As the title says. I bought a JPN PS1 at a thrift store a couple of years ago and I haven't really bothered with it since I don't own any Japanese PS1 games.

So I started thinking on it and I started to Google it...but I can't find a list of exclusives that were only in Japan...and that don't involve reading a lot of Japanese. I can find lists of one or the other but not both. So anyone know of any lists out there that cover exclusives that don't have a lot of Japanese text in them? I figure all the RPGs are out of the question, which is sad. But past that idk...maybe shooters would be good? Like the Japanese text is limited to menus and such.

[kuriatsu | 65]

Its not exactly what you're looking for but these wikipedia entries seem useful for what you're looking for.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_PlayStation_games_(A–L)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_PlayStation_games_(M–Z)#Games_list_(M–Z)

Its a list of PS1 games and the article appears to show all 3 base regions, and what games were unreleased in them, maybe go through and check what games are listed as being unreleased in the north america and europe?

Edited February 25, 2020 by kuriatsu

[Tabonga | 2,317]

There were three or four Sokoban (also spelled Soukoban) games on the PS1 that were not released over here.  If you aren't familiar with Sokoban games they are puzzle ones where you have to shove boxes around to fill rooms.  A few of them made it over here on other platforms - Shove It, Boxy Boy, Boxxle one and Boxxle two.  No knowledge of Japanese needed.

[docile tapeworm | 4,198]

shooters

[Philosoraptor | 468]

Actually...I've imported a bunch of Japanese PS1 games that require very little to no Japanese knowledge. Here's what I've imported:

• Advanced V.G.
• Airgrave
• Asuka 120% Final Burning Fest 
• Battle Qix
• Block Kuzushi: Deden no Gyakushuu
• Block Wars
• Bokan GoGoGo
• Calcolo
• Chou Sentou Kyuugi Vanborg
• Cotton Original
• Cowboy Bebop
• Dezaemon Kids
• Dezaemon Plus
• Dodonpachi
• Donpachi
• Extra Bright
• Gear Senshi Dendoh
• Goemon: Shin Sedai Shuumei
• Great Battle VI
• GunBare! Game Tengoku 2
• Gunner's Heaven
• Hebereke's Popoitto
• Image Fight & Xmultiply Arcade Gears
• The Last Blade (Bakumatsu Rouman: Gekka no Kenshi)
• Lightning Legend: Daigo no Daibouken
• Magical Drop F: Daibouken Mo Rakujyanai
• Makeruna! Makendou 2
• Money Idol Exchanger
• Namco Anthology 2
• Pastel Muses
• Pop'n Pop
• Psychic Force Puzzle Taisen
• Puyo Puyo Sun Ketteiban
• Puyo Puyo~n: Kakkun to Issho
• Saber Marionette J: Battle Sabers
• Shiritsu Justice Gakuen Nekketsu Seisyun Nikki 2
• Simple 2000 Series Vol.08 - Kagaku Ninja Tai Gatchaman - The Shooting
• Simple Characters 2000 Series Vol. 15 - The Block Kuzushi: Cyborg 009
• Strikers 1945
• Tatsunoko Fight
• Tenchi o Kurau II: Sekiheki no Tatakai
• Tetris with Card Captor Sakura: Eternal Heart
• Time Bokan Series: Bokan Desuyo
• Time Bokan Series: Bokan to Ippatsu! Doronbo
• TwinBee Taisen Puzzle Dama
• Two-Tenkaku
• Umihara Kawase Shun
• Wolf Fang: Kuhga 2001
• ZeiramZone
• Zoku Gussun Oyoyo

Of course, this is when I say "be sure to look them up for yourself to see if they're games you might like and if there is too much Japanese for your liking," but that list should at least get you started. Hope it helps!

[Astor Reinhardt | 199]

On 2/24/2020 at 8:36 PM, Philosoraptor said:

Actually...I've imported a bunch of Japanese PS1 games that require very little to no Japanese knowledge. Here's what I've imported:

Of course, this is when I say "be sure to look them up for yourself to see if they're games you might like and if there is too much Japanese for your liking," but that list should at least get you started. Hope it helps!

Actually this is very helpful. Except for some of the mech games (and one or two of them looked interesting enough), I'd say all of those games are up my alley. One or two games did seem to have some cutscene dialog but I suppose I can just skip over it to get back to the game play and read the story later on or something.

[Sumez | 2,947]

Philosoraptor's list covers most of the PS1 imports I own. Just a couple others that weren't listed:

All of the Capcom Generation discs (the GnG one is the best port of Ghouls n Ghosts you'll find for decent money)
Pu.Li Ru.La
Gradius Gaiden
Gamera 2000

I'd probably include all of Konami's shooter ports, too. Like the Parodius games, and Salamander and Gradius Deluxe Packs. I have all of these on Saturn, but to my knowledge, the PS1 versions are pretty much identical.

Edited February 27, 2020 by Sumez

[Red | 437]

You're not completely out of luck with RPGs.  There are two compilations of Wizardry games that have English language options.  Wizardry Llylgamyn Saga includes the first three games in the series and Wizardy New Age of Llylgamyn includes the fourth and fifth.  If I recall correctly, the save/load menus stay in Japanese, but they should be easy enough to figure out.  There is an enhanced version of the fourth game included too, but most of the text is in Japanese only for that one.

Here are a few more that haven't been mentioned:

Internal Section - Tunnel shooter.  If you like games like Tempest, n2O, and Rez, give this a try.

Ore No Ryouri - Cooking game.  There's quite a bit of Japanese text in this, but it shouldn't be too hard to figure out through trial and error.  There are a lot of command prompts that tell you what to do.

Beat Planet Music - Rhythm game.  It plays like Frequency and Amplitude, although it's less complicated.  Has a music generator as well.

Vib Ribbon - Rhythm game.  Only has a few songs, but you can use your own CDs and it will generate new levels from them.

Kyutenkai Fantasic Pinball - Reminds me a lot of Devil's Crush, except everything is made to look cute.

The Cameraman: Gekisha Boy (Simple 1500 series Vol. 94) -  Photography game.  Port of a PC engine game.  Imagine a 2D Pokemon Snap.

I don't have much to say about these, but they are all sequels to games that got a US release.  If you enjoyed the originals, they might be good choices:

Tobal 2
Psychic Force 2 (actually a port of Psychic Force 2012, with some differences)
Poitter's Point 2 (Poy Poy sequel)
Xi Jumbo (Devil Dice sequel)
IQ Final (Intelligent Qube sequel)
Mr. Driller Great (3rd game in the series)

Finally, here are a couple of other games that are related games you may already be familiar with:

Kero Kero King (the original Ribbit King game)
Klonoa Beach Volleyball (Volleyball game with Klonoa characters)

Note that some of the games I've mentioned were released in Europe, so they're not actually exclusive to Japan.  I'm just assuming you're looking for Japanese games that weren't released in the US.

Edited March 9, 2020 by Red

[Sumez | 2,947]

11 hours ago, Red said:

The Cameraman: Gekisha Boy (Simple 1500 series Vol. 94) -  Photography game.  Port of a PC engine game.  Imagine a 2D Pokemon Snap.

Gekisha Boy honestly plays more like a Cabal/Blood Bros. kinda game.