Japanese Imports

Trip Mercy · Post by **Trip Mercy** » Mon Apr 27, 2009 10:38 pm

I think I want to get the Rosetta Stone and learn Japanese so I can play Japanese imports for my Dreamcast and Saturn so that I know what's going on when I play my game. Also, I get to learn a new language, yay!

xDerekRx · Post by **xDerekRx** » Mon Apr 27, 2009 11:46 pm

Ha, I dabbled in Japanese a few years back. Tough to learn but I know some phrases and stuff. I used Pimlasler lessons you can download somewhere.

Trip Mercy · Post by **Trip Mercy** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 3:48 am

well I figure if anything out there can teach me it's that rosetta stone thing.
I think it will really come in handy to play Shenmue 2 on my Dreamcast and to play Shining Force scenarios 2 and 3 among many other games.

Warp2063 · Post by **Warp2063** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 9:02 am

I've taken some classes, and done some self-study over the years, but I've never put a really committed effort into learning Japanese.

I'd like to be able to play the Sakura Taisen series. I already own all of the main two Saturn and four Dreamcast releases, and I'm thinking of picking up the side ones as well.

dbdrummer88 · Post by **dbdrummer88** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:17 am

That sounds like a good idea. I am also looking into buying some import games. Especially Deep Fear, I know that the dialog is in english so I can understand whats going on, but I just love those early horror games like resident evil with fixed cameras, and when it was about story over gameplay.
I dont really want to mod my satun though, I have heard that there is a region adapter. Does this still need to me modded in or is it in a cartrdge??

Trip Mercy · Post by **Trip Mercy** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 11:03 am

There is the action replay 4 in 1 cartridge. It's about 30 bucks off amazon it lets you play any region and works for any saturn. It also adds memory, and works as a gameshark.

As for the dreamcast there is also a converter and it's about ten or fifteen dollars so you can play PAL and Japanese games for ur DC too.

dbdrummer88 · Post by **dbdrummer88** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 11:08 am

Thanks Trip, I will have to get one of those soon and start playing all of those great imports!!!!

Trip Mercy · Post by **Trip Mercy** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 11:12 am

this will lead you to the Saturn 4 in 1

http://www.amazon.com/Action-Replay-Plu ... 069&sr=8-1

and this will lead you to the Dreamcast Converter

http://www.amazon.com/Sega-Dreamcast-Su ... N8QMHY7VEF

dbdrummer88 · Post by **dbdrummer88** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 11:17 am

excellent, thank you very much, by chance do you know where they sell the ext cable to hook u 2 saturns? or the vcd card?

Trip Mercy · Post by **Trip Mercy** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 11:34 am

Never looked for any ext cables for my Saturn.

As for the VCD card it is difficult to find and when you do be prepared to pay about 35 to 40 dollars for one. I did find a third party seller, who seems to have a few in stock though.

http://www.gameforfun.com/en/category.a ... d=3&page=3

different kinds of VCD cards have different properties some let you play photo cd's and things. They all, of course, let you watch VCD's and if you don't have a DVD player or Blu ray or anything then the VCD card is a good investment. It also enhances FMV quality makes it less grainy, and some games actually require it. VCD's themselves are easy to acquire. Join some website for 20 dollars a year or whatever and download the files, burn them using what ever software the website provides you with and voila cheap movies. the quality is between VHS and DVD, and most movies will span across 2 disc

Warp2063 · Post by **Warp2063** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 2:26 pm

The link cable to connect 2 Saturns is pretty difficult to find by itself. The only ones I've ever seen have come in a bundle with a Japanese game. I helped xDerekRx locate one about a month ago on eBay. I'm not seeing any on there at the moment, but I just took a quick glance.

As for the AR4-in-1, I use that myself, and really like it. It will let you play almost any Japanese import (with Azel Panzer Dragoon RPG being a notable exception, as it's one of the few games that will detect and reject an import cartridge.) It should let you play PAL imports, too, but you might have problems with video compatibility.

Most Dreamcasts out there are capable of running software off of regular CD-Rs. Because of that, some enterprising groups came up with free import boot disks for the DC that you can download and burn onto a disc yourself. The Utopia Dreamcast Boot Loader is one of these. I also have a backup copy of a Dreamcast GameShark CDX, which also allows the play of import discs. Most of my Japanese imports will play with the Utopia Boot Loader, but for the ones that don't, I use the GameShark.

xDerekRx · Post by **xDerekRx** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 7:26 pm

The Link Cable should be bought on Play-Asia.com Just buy the game called "Steeldom" it comes with the cable and its like 20$ shipped. Ive been experimenting with mine for weeks now and its cool albiet hard to find. In fact the Japaneese link cable is the exact same as the US release, same color, part number etc.

Trip: If you want to learn Japanese to play Shenmue 2 on DC, just buy the PAL version like me

Its a little expensive but worth it to have an official english copy of the game

Dbdrummer: Same as Shenmue 2, if you want to learn Japanese to play Deep Fear just buy the PAL version. Although again, pricier but all in English and probably the extra 20$ spent will save you time on learning Japanese. In fact you can play Deep Fear Jap version without having any trouble Ive heard. All the voices are in english.

Trip Mercy · Post by **Trip Mercy** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 9:00 pm

ah, I just thought it would be cool to learn japanese, not just to play games. Except it would come in handy for many Saturn games.

Manji · Post by **Manji** » Thu Nov 05, 2009 7:01 pm

as sad as it may sound to some, video games were the main reason i took Japanese in high school for a couple of years or so. i can't remember everything obviously and i've forgotten more than i can remember, but there are some things that have stuck with me. reading and recognizing Hiragana and Katakana. most Kanji are just one or two sounds put together in a big fancy symbol. thats why sometimes you will see small Hiragana characters above or below a Kanji.

i will say knowing a bit of Japanese definitely helps with playing imports. like options menus and things like that are usually in Katakana and can be sounded out. like stereo would sound like: su-te-ri-o. if you can recognize the characters and be able to pronounce them.

i use my limited amount of Japanese knowledge to help me every time i play my imports and imports are really about half or close to half of my collection.

Sega Saturn has a fantastic selection of Japanese-only games that shouldn't be missed. and in all honesty, a lot of the games don't require an over-exorbitant amount of knowledge about the language to enjoy the game.

take for example these imports i have: Dracula X, Capcom Generation 2 (Ghouls n Ghosts), Dungeons and Dragons arcade & Metal Slug. totally enjoyable games and you really dont need much knowledge of Japanese (or any at all) to play and enjoy. Dracula X has a bit more difficulty because of the names of the items, weapons and armor, but when you go to equip something, you can see if it raises or lowers you stats and then basically you know if you want it on or not. (in this case though, Dracula X i've played numerous times on the PS1 so i know what's going on and familiar with what i'm picking up)

i'm a bit of a different kind of game person however because yea, i can play an RPG and not pay attention to the story as long as the game itself is fun, fun to look at and sounds good. experimenting is fun anyways and there isn't much you can do to "break" a game, so to speak. in other words, you seldom get stuck in a game because of experimenting. using items, pressing buttons and getting a feel for what's going on and what things do or are supposed to do. if you go everywhere, talk to everyone and do all you are aware of you can do, then you'll most likely get through the game with no problems. i've played through Final Fantasy IX before it came out here & Breath of Fire IV. also, nowadays people make decent walkthroughs for the more popular games in case you get stuck or find it difficult to know what to do next.

Back to the Saturn though... its a fun system to collect imports for. lots of games never released in the U.S. like Bubble Symphony (awesome Bubble Bobble game), Space Invaders, Radiant Silvergun, Princess Crown, Twinkle Star Sprites, Bulk Slash, etc. PS1 games like Vandal Hearts, Gensou Suikoden. great artwork and packaging too.

/rant

salsays · Post by **salsays** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 11:19 pm

I believe most of the best Saturn games are imports. I'm a big shmup and fighter fan so the best games were imports. Also games like Metal Slug, Princess Crown, Silhouette Mirage, as well as import versions of Guardian Hero's and expensive US games which need lil knowledge of Japanese are perfect to buy imports of.

In the case of playing imports, the 4 in 1 action replay is great to own, or if you don't mind you can do as I did and region mod your Saturn. My Saturn is an original gray one I bought imported back in 1994 and I modded the year after to play US games and I think that was the greatest thing I ever did and since then I have region modded all my systems so I could have the best of both worlds.

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Japanese Imports

Japanese Imports