Favourite Nintendo text adventure series?

[Evie ❤✿]

Fry is the expert on this, he loves them and made various EN walkthroughs for them on this site based on a Japanese source.

What is your favourite text adventure series, or the one that appeals to you the most?

Theme-wise my favourite is Yuyuki. Time Twist I find the most fascinating, with it being based on real world history and being among Nintendo's most controversial video games. I have only beaten the original Shin Onigashima, which I enjoyed, but I'd like to try out more classic text adventure games starting with Hajimari no Mori and then Time Twist. I'm saving up for a Japanese Wii U to download Hajimari no Mori and other gems like Sutte Hakkun as of present though... I might buy Time Twist next month and not any other games so I have enough money at a later time.

A list of commercial Nintendo text adventures according to the site is as such:

FDS:

Famicom Mukashi Banashi: Shin Onigashima
Nakayama Miho no Tokimeki High School
Famicom Tantei Club: Kieta Kōkeisha
Famicom Tantei Club Part II: Ushiro Ni Tatsu Shōjo (and the SFC remake)
Famicom Mukashi Banashi: Yūyūki
Time Twist: Rekishi no Katasumi de…

Super Famicom:
Heisei: Shin Onigashima
Famicom Bunko: Hajimari no Mori

Additions:

Metal Slader Glory: Director's Cut (published by Nintendo, but the copyright rights (originally) belong to HAL Laboratory and YOSHIMIRU 1991/2000, thanks nocturnal YL) (SFC)

(Any others (such as for newer systems?) let me know and I'll add them to the original post.

Are any of the Satellaview broadcasts of text adventures notably different (other I imagine probably supporting SoundLink)? Also there is Radical Dreamers, but that game is third party.

[nocturnal YL]

I think Nintendo has mainly three kinds of text adventure games: Those on Famicom Disk System that are original works, those on Super Famicoms that are remakes (though there are original works too), and those on Nintendo DS that are made by other developers.

I have no experience with text adventure games on Famicom, but on Super Famicom I tried three: Famicom Detective Club Part II, Heisei Shin Onigashima, and Metal Slader Glory: Director's Cut.

Famicom Detective Club Part II is the "easiest" of the bunch, in that the answers are sometimes rather obvious (granted, I was still very shocked when I eventually learned the full story of the murder), and you can't lose, ever. It's also my favourite just for the fact that you can't lose. A pretty good introductory game, I'd say.

Heisei Shin Onigashima is… well, I got stuck early on. I was at one point where I kept searching everything to no avail, and I've since given up.

Metal Slader Glory: Director's Cut isn't really a Nintendo game (it's from HAL Laboratory, and the Famicom version was famous for two things: being very impressive for a Famicom game, and removing HAL Laboratory from the physical game publishing business), but it was published by Nintendo. It was also in a very different style. I didn't go very far in this one either, mostly because I played it years ago and there was this language barrier thing. Having (rather common) game overs and timed portions didn't help.

I've also never tried any of the Nintendo-published visual novels on Nintendo DS. I have yet to develop a taste in this genre back then.

[Evie ❤✿]

Thanks for your reply.

It's nice knowing that detail regarding Famicom Detective Club Part II. I have the Famicom version on my Japanese Nintendo 3DS, if I gather right the SFC version was a remake with improved graphics and audio and I don't know of any differences(?). Do you know right now if Famicom Detective Club Part I also has no way to lose and if it's the predecessor? I feel in the mood that if I play them to do them chronologically, but that's assuming Part II is a successor which may or may not be true.

Perhaps I could use it with a dictionary and fresh up on my grammar if I can find my Japanese for Busy People books, and a good way to recognise kanji if there is any with no furigana. I gather then if you can't get a 'game over' at worst you will just get a little delayed in the completion time of your playthrough.

I see, that's understandable. Recently I was self-conscious because I forgot most of the kanji I studied; the only really ones I remembered were the numbers and some basic ones such as hmm not sure how to express: 'markers' like 年, 日 and such, and even though I seem to cope with resources with child friendly literature I don't know for sure if it is just completely wrong. On the positive Higsby reviewed some of what I translated, and I have faith and trust he knows Japanese a lot better than me.

It's like I translated a notable line in the Starfy 1 fan translation, specifically:

王さま: [The king of Pufftop; Papa Star]

「よくぞ 『ふしぎなツボ』の
ひみつが わかったな!」

「だが おまえが あのツボを
おとしたのが わるいのだぞ!」

「オーグラは いたずらずきゆえ
ふういんされておったのに!」

「さて キョロスケよ! スタフィーを
たすけてくれて かんしゃするぞ!」

キョロスケ: [Moe, Starfy's best friend]

「おいおい わかってねえな!
ぜーんぶ オレさまのおかげで・・」

王さま: [King]

「わかった わかった!
ほうびに ほしいものがあるか?」

キョロスケ: [Moe]
「もちろん テンカイの おたから!」

王さま: [King]
「ほう そうか!
スタフィー もってきなさい!」

My interpretation, adjusted to sound like an every day English speech:

Papa Star:

Starfy, I heard the news
about the Mysterious Jar!
Dropping the jar was quite
irresponsible of you.
Ogura was sealed away in there
because he is mischievous!
Anyway. Starfy, Moe. I thank
you dearly for your help.

Moe: Hey, you don't understand!
It was all thanks to me,
the great Moe!
Papa Star: I see, I see! Then, can
I interest you in a reward?
Moe: Yeah! Gimme Pufftop's treasure!
Papa Star: Hoho, is that so? Starfy,
bring the treasure here!


I mean, it doesn't sound unnatural for English and the definitions, grammar, context were taken into consideration although I may have made an error even still (its like sometimes people don't check the conjugations, and once my Japanese teacher (by the way I remember you told me you once went to a same place as me (in the UK), there is a language academy there I studied Japanese at, small world, and I originally lived in that county. I hope that's not too personal) told me I used a word that was for a 'technical' (if I remember, as an analogy let's say "messy hands are full of germs" as opposed to "messy hands are full of microbacterial organisms") use rather than every day speech. They stress in TEFL (Teaching English as Foreign Language) there that people may think they 'know', but in the context of vocabulary the connotations mean a lot as well. I think it's possible I interpreted a lot of sentences in the wrong way (but I don't want to stress you to check them). I asked Clyde Mandelin ("Mato") the Mother 3 translator about a sentence once; regarding a very early version of this line:

(Final; earlier version unknown)
"
「ここは ちいさな しまにある<line>
ワシの いえじゃ」<wait><end>
Translated by Torchickens

We're on a small island, and<line>
this place is my home.<wait><end>
"

Whatever the error was, it was subtle but Mato said it may have changed the general meaning entirely. I suppose this may be relevant to text adventures as well.

[nocturnal YL]

Chronologically, Famicom Detective Club Part II is the first game, which took place when the protagonist first joined Utsugi's detective agency. Both BS and Part I happened after Part II, but the ordering between BS and Part I was not specified.

I have not tried Part I or BS, nor have I watched others playing those, so I cannot comment on their game mechanics.

There is no way to lose in Part II, but at the end the game shows a rating for Ayumi's approval for the protagonist. This rating is affected by the investigation's effectiveness.

Anyway. Starfy, Moe. I thank
you dearly for your help.

I think it's more like:
Anyway. Moe. I thank you dearly for helping Starfy.

Starfy is the one being helped here. If it's being changed to make it sound more natural in English, I'm not sure about this one. Maybe it's because it sounds like an east Asian thing for a father to thank his son's friend after pointing out the son's mistake? Because a traditional parent would appear less forgiving to their own children than others'? Without enough context, I don't know if this is the case, but either way I don't think it warrants changing the meaning in the translation.

Or maybe it's because of Moe's next line sounding like he doesn't want to share credit with Starfy? But to me, he's saying "Don't give me partial credit for assisting Starfy! I deserve full credit for handling the whole issue!" Even if he's the only one thanked (for helping Starfy), he could object.

Papa Star: I see, I see!

I would use:
I know! I know!

Judging from his reaction, he didn't "know" any new information, and said "わかった わかった!" to mean "I already know", and as a prompt to tell the recipient to stop bringing him the "news".

But I don't think I'm really qualified to do this kind of translation, trying to convey the nuance on top of just the literal meaning of the lines. This requires reading and writing skills in both languages, an understanding on both the source and target cultures, and possibly a more intimate understanding of the original writer's intention.

[Evie ❤✿]

Thanks for that.

Yes re:,

「さて キョロスケよ! スタフィーを
たすけてくれて かんしゃするぞ!」

I'm unsure how it turned out thanking both Starfy and Moe. Hmm that's actually quite interesting; do we Westernise Japanese games; are the changes in Tomodachi Life preferable (at the end of the day its the localization team's opinion or consensus in accordance to a higher approval if needed) or should they still use foods associated with Japanese culture in the English versions? In fact according to an interview there was a discussion by the official localization team that they thought Starfy had a little 'too many' Japanese cultural references/or maybe aesthetics (they thought Moe was a little too stereotypically Japanese in style but now from what I get the impression anyway, video games relevant to Japanese culture are now more commonly brought to Western cultures and not just (narrower) stereotypes like of "samurai" etc.).

For me the よ sounds like he is impressed with Moe, but the sentences are split with を indicating the action following スタフィー so like as you said "Anyway Moe! Thank you dearly for helping Starfy." That different approach seems to be covert social norms from my own subjective experiences being raised in England, like "your well-being (of my children) goes above anything" even if they did something that caused trouble (a Western culture of love) and I read something along the lines of you described regarding other cultures (a Chinese mother's approach on study; yet I don't know how accurate it would be as it was from the media). From a sociologist's point of view there would need to be enough qualitative research for that country among various people of a big sample size, unless it was like a case study.

Papa Star: I see, I see!

I would use:

I know! I know!

Judging from his reaction, he didn't "know" any new information, and said "わかった わかった!" to mean "I already know", and as a prompt to tell the recipient to stop bringing him the "news".

Ah, thank you.

[nocturnal YL]

「さて キョロスケよ! スタフィーを
たすけてくれて かんしゃするぞ!」

Getting rather off-topic here, but I'd like to point out that 「<name>よ!」 is a rather common speech pattern (in fiction) for someone with authority or someone senior to speak "downwards" to subordinates. Papa Star is obviously older than Moe (and a king to boost, but he speaks rather casually for one), and so using this よ wouldn't be out of place. It's not directly related to being impressed (even though he seems to be here).

[Evie ❤✿]

Apr 18, 2019 14:00:39 GMT -5 nocturnal YL said:

「さて キョロスケよ! スタフィーを
たすけてくれて かんしゃするぞ!」

Getting rather off-topic here, but I'd like to point out that 「<name>よ!」 is a rather common speech pattern (in fiction) for someone with authority or someone senior to speak "downwards" to subordinates. Papa Star is obviously older than Moe (and a king to boost, but he speaks rather casually for one), and so using this よ wouldn't be out of place. It's not directly related to being impressed (even though he seems to be here).

Thanks for this!