Japanese Dreamcast Titles with English Option

[grandta13]

I was wondering what Japanese Dreamcast games can be played in English. I was thinking about how Sonic Adventure International had both English and Japanese voices and interfaces, and that made me wonder what other games have that feature.

EDIT: If you are checking this list you may want to read through the rest of the thread unless you are already well-informed about the game you are checking. Some of the posters have posted information about some of these game that would be very helpful to an interested buyer (e.g. VGA support and alternate versions).

Here is an alphabetised list of the games, updated as information is obtained. The hyperlinked items direct to the post mentioning it.

• Biohazard: Code Veronica (Incl. Kanzenban) (Inventory is in Japanese) (Debated)
• Cosmic Smash
• Dance Dance Revolution 2nd Mix
• De La Jet Set Radio
• King of Fighters 2002 †† (Move list is in Japanese)
• Phantasy Star Online*
• Psyvariar 2 ††
• Puyo Puyo Fever †
• Rez
• Sonic Adventure International
• Sonic Adventure 2
• Space Channel 5 Part 2 ††
• Super Puzzle Fighter**
• Twinkle Star Sprite†
• Under Defeat ††
• Virtua Striker 2*

*Unverified
**Partial

† Must be changed from Japanese to English in-game
†† Can be played without understanding of Japanese

[CD AGES]

De La Jet Set Radio

[theclaw]

Sonic Adventure 2 and Puyo Puyo Fever have separate voice and text options. Use whatever you want.

Phantasy Star Online and Virtua Striker 2 apparently have English options, but I don't know much about those games.

Super Puzzle Fighter II uses a button code to unlock partial English.

[wryguy87]

Are you looking for games that let you switch back and forth, or just import games that happen to be fully in English?

Twinkle Star Sprites' main benefits on Dreamcast over Saturn are that you can completely eliminate slowdown from the game, and you can easily switch the game to 100% English.

As mentioned Puyo Puyo Fever is the same way, but it's harder to find since the menus are initially fully Japanese. However once you switch it is 100% English, complete with English voice overs.

Certain games like Rez are fully English from the start in their Japanese version. I think Cosmic Smash may also be fully in English.

Obviously plenty of shmups are English as there's barely any text in the first place.

[grandta13]

Are you looking for games that let you switch back and forth, or just import games that happen to be fully in English?

I was just wondering what Japanese imports can be played in English (whether it is only in English or has to be switched). I often come across Japanese Dreamcast games for sale, but without extensive research, it can sometimes be difficult to determine if a specific game has an English option. It would be nice to have a list to check it against, which is how I've set up this thread. Also, thanks for mentioning more games.

[wryguy87]

Well the nice thing about games like Twinkle Star and Puyo Puyo are that they fully translate the story, but the real critical thing is the menus. All the popular imports are self explanatory arcade games after all.

Keep in mind Twinkle Star requires you to change the language option too, it's just much easier to find because the menus are partial English to start with.

I can recommend Cosmic Smash without bothering to check if any of the in-game text is Japanese, as I know the menus and tutorial are fully English.

I'm always fuzzy on the shmups, but the ones I played most recently are Psyvariar 2 and Under Defeat. For the most part you can assume almost every shoot 'em up is playable without a real barrier of entry.

The most noteworthy fighting games that weren't released in English were Guilty Gear X and King of Fighters 2002. I know the move list in KOF 2002 is Japanese. I can check the menus some time later. I know the menus are at least partial English and wouldn't stop a person from being able to play the game.

In terms of music games, Space Channel 5 Part 2 is fully Japanese, but is almost entirely self-explanatory and all the modes and options can be figured out easily enough. It helps that the options don't let you change anything important, so it doesn't matter if you can read them. Supposedly the character profiles written in Japanese contain hints to get a 100% score, but they're not fully necessary.

Samba de Amigo v2000 is pretty heavily trenched in Japanese, but the menus are relatively easy to figure out. I recommend having an English copy of the original Samba de Amigo to keep the language barrier from interfering during parties and such, though. The interfaces are largely identical so it helps you figure out how to navigate.

Cool Cool Toon is a game that tempts a lot of people to try it out, but it is not recommended. As a Rhythm game, it's just not that interesting and it's lacking in key features like a song select and difficult select feature. The biggest issue however is that the story mode has segments that require an understanding of Japanese to get through, unless you really feel like playing guessing games.

People look at Youtube videos and assume you can play Cool Cool Toon easily enough, but then you get hit by the problematic portions of the game around mid-way.

[Reprise]

Biohazard Code Veronica (Resident Evil) is all in English, with Japanese subtitles.

I recommend getting the kanzenban edition. It's basically Code Veronica X, but for the Dreamcast. It also works with the VGA adapter.

[grandta13]

Biohazard Code Veronica (Resident Evil) is all in English, with Japanese subtitles.

I recommend getting the kanzenban edition. It's basically Code Veronica X, but for the Dreamcast. It also works with the VGA adapter.

If I recall correctly, the menus and interface are also in Japanese. Is this correct?

[Reprise]

Biohazard Code Veronica (Resident Evil) is all in English, with Japanese subtitles.

I recommend getting the kanzenban edition. It's basically Code Veronica X, but for the Dreamcast. It also works with the VGA adapter.

If I recall correctly, the menus and interface are also in Japanese. Is this correct?

If I remember correctly, the in-game inventory is in Japanese, but otherwise, the main menus are all in English.

[ExedExes]

I'll add the only Japanese DC import I have, Dance Dance Revolution 2nd Mix. All menus and voices are in English, there are certain spots that still are in Japanese but you can navigate and play the game with absolutely no issues.

Check out a game sample here.