Japanese-Intensive Games

[boogiepop]

Hi all!  I've been looking around for info on the famicom for a while now and finally stumbled on this site.  For starters,   a w e s o m e site.  I can see myself scouring this place for tidbits of info for a good while. 

So here's what's up.  I'm in Japan right now on exchange and thinking about purchasing a famicom.  I hear tale that the AV Famicom is a good bet but I really don't know what the bugger looks like in relation to the regular one.  All I really know is that it has the plug-in controllers.  I'm also unsure as to the price one could be fetched for.  Any help and recommendations in this department would be greatly appreciated.

What I want to do is play a lot of games that require knowledge of the Japanese language so I can practice and play at the same time.  I've had a Saturn for a while now but those games are much more difficult to follow when compared to the famicom stuff I've seen thus far.  I'm trying to read a little manga every night already, so I really don't want to bust my balls when I'm at play.  The Famicom's RPGs look like they could fit the bill.  Do you think so?

I'd also appreciate any suggestions on titles, beginner's buying tips, and such.  I'm already keen on Mother.

Thanks for reading and also thanks in advance to any and all responders.
Milo

[Trium Shockwave]

If you're looking for something that will throw a lot of dialogue at you to test your Japanese skills, RPGs are pretty much it. Be aware though, due to the limitations of the Famicom, most (all?) Famicom RPGs display text in kana only. Implementing kanji took up too much space.

[133MHz]

The 'kana only' thing may actually be a good one for a beginner in Japanese

[Lorfarius]

Rather than a standard Famicom I'd recommend a Sharp Twin if you can get your hands on one. It plays all the Fami games (not 70% like pirate ones) and has the benefit of the built in Disk Drive.

[satoshi_matrix]

Yes, but keep in mind that the Twin Famicom still has wired 3' controllers and is the size of a typical VCR. It also doesn't use the standard Nintendo AV cord that the SNES N64 and Gamecube uses. Instead you have to use a generic audio/video to audio/video cord that most cameras and crap come with.

[manuel]

Nice, another member living in Japan.
Where exactly are you? My first guess would be Tokyo, but it could be everywhere. 

My recommendations would of course be RPGs. Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy usually being first choice.

Other than that you could try some of those detective adventure games like Sanma no meitantei (さんまの名探偵) or the 2 parts of Famicom Tantei Club (ファミコン探偵倶楽部).

Another good adventure is Shin-Onigashima (新・鬼ヶ島), it is 1 game on 2 disks.

[boogiepop]

Thanks for the responses! 

The Twin looks interesting but I think I'm going to have to pass on that.  I'm just not excited about the disk format.  That is, unless a good chunk of the text games are to be had on that format solely.

As for the RPGs being in kana only, yeah, I think that could actually be a very good thing.  While a wouldn't consider myself a beginner (maybe beginner-intermediate), the lack of kanji could sharpen my grammar without the added difficulty.  And my grammar could use the help

And I was about to ask some of the stuff you just answered manuel!  Thanks for the recommendations!  I'd love to get some detective action in. Anything set in modern times in a boon since it uses more useful words than fantasy themed games.  Of course I'll be hitting up FF and DQ though.
Oh, and I'm in Sapporo.  Not my first pick but eh, it's Japan I guess.  I'll be traveling around the Tokyo, Kansai, and maybe even Shikoku areas this spring though.  How about you?

[manuel]

Make sure to have a look at the "Japan thread", too.

http://www.famicomworld.com/forum/index.php?topic=1379.0

Many good text-intensive games are on the Disk System I fear. 
(Allegedly) other good detective games (I never played those) are Tantei Jinguuji Saburou and 2 titles called "Meitantei Holmes". 

While kana alone is very good, I recommend everybody to read as much text with kanji as possible. I read so much when I started learning Japanese, I soon knew more kanji than a few people 2 years above me in university. At first you won't understand all of course. But with the time kanji are recurring and you'll notice schemes and remember them very fast. Especially living in Japan gives you a big advantage.

As for me, I'm living in Hiroshima prefecture. That means, no snow yet. 
But Sapporo is nice, too I heard. Have fun up there.

BTW, you are from the USA I believe?

[boogiepop]

Yeah, I'm from Mass.  I've been learning Japanese for one in college and for another couple of years before that as a hobby.  I probably know about 700 kanji very well right now.  Unfortunately, these days I feel like I learned more in the States since I've made so many foreign friends in Japan, mostly Chinese (which I am now picking up a little on the side).  You're right about the kanji thing.  The more you see, the better.  But sometimes I feel like I'm just spending all my time looking up compounds and not really concentrating on the grammar much.

Sapporo is a nice place but there are a few fatal flaws. 
1.  It doesn't really feel like you're in Japan sometimes since the buildings are all pretty modern.
2.  If you don't like skiing and the yuki matsuri then there's no real reason to come during the winter.
3.  The drivers are crazy.  I was almost hit while crossing a crosswalk with the green walk signal on.
4.  The crows are huge and everywhere.  They attack people sometimes I hear.
5.  They don't do anything about the ice.  And since the city is so big, it requires you to do a fair amount of walking.  Everyone falls sooner or later.

Anyway, without getting too off topic, it's definitely worth checking out at some point.  I've yet to head to Hiroshima.  I'll have to do that one of these days.

So... do you think I should just stick with my saturn and stacks of visual novels and rpgs for that system or is the famicom still worth the plunge?

[manuel]

Famicom is definitely worth it.
You should consider a Super Famicom even more perhaps.
Lots and lots of good RPGs and adventures with big amounts of Japanese texts. 
Saturn is great, too. Many wacky and weird stuff on there.

[nintendodork]

One word.



Mother

[133MHz]

One word. Mother

133MHz: Mom! Nihongo ga dekimasu ka?
133MHz's Mother: What?! Are you feeling alright?

[nintendodork]

lol ummm.... what did you just say?

and indeed Mother is a great text tool

I might also recommend Family Basic... the keyboard is in English...but the game is in Kana

[ericj]

133MHz: Mom! Nihongo ga dekimasu ka?

lol ummm.... what did you just say?

means:
Do you speak Japanese?
日本語が出来ますか

right?
Thank you Google!

[nintendodork]

Eigentlich bin ich mehr von einem deutschen Mann mich.