Nintendo DS question...

[Dark Dragonite]

Ok, this may be a stpid question, but I have very little patience...Since the DS is the first system to be non-regional, can't I just buy japanese games, and play them in English? Especially seeing as my DS box had more japanese writing on it then English, lol...I'd rather buy pokemon ranger, and diamond/pearl when it is out in japan, than wait if they can be played on any region.

[SeleucusII]

Yeah you can, the DS is region free just like the GBA

[Dark Dragonite]

so, for all intensive purposes...I don't have to wait, I can get pokemon ranger now, and diamond/pearl as soon as they hit the market in japan...why the us and uk dates then? to translate the instruction book and box?taking months? I'm sorry, but that is a bit rediculous...I'll buy Japanese thank you!!



EDIT: From what I'm seeing on Ebay, it looks like although they don't have regions on DS, they do have set languages...menaing, yes you can play a japanese game on a US/UK DS, but in Japanese language, even though the DS itself has a language option...

[Poryhedron]

Do the Japanese games have an English text option? "Region-free" just means you can successfully use a Japanese card in an English DS, it doesn't necessarily mean you can switch the game's text to English or French or whathaveyou easily. I think the language selector in the DS's system menu only controls the text in that system menu.

[Dark Dragonite]

EDIT: From what I'm seeing on Ebay, it looks like although they don't have regions on DS, they do have set languages...menaing, yes you can play a japanese game on a US/UK DS, but in Japanese language, even though the DS itself has a language option...


I had just edited, this is what I'm finding...GOD DAMNIT!!

[Poryhedron]

Sadly, there's a bit more involved in making translations than one might think. For one thing, puns in one language won't make sense in another, and the writers have to come up with an equivalent pun in the new language...the TV show's "Cow-terpie" bit in Ep. 4 is a perfect example. That scene made a whole lot more sense in Japan because the Japanese words for "bug" and "cow" are very similar.
Then there's differences is culture. Some things (minor sexual references, homosexuality...) are far more strictly censored in the USA than they are in Japan, so the English translation must meet with approval by censorship boards before it can be released.

[Dark Dragonite]

it would be nice if by region free, they meant, has a built in translator...cause, honestly, unless you can read Japanese, what is the point of being able to play a Japanese game?

[SeleucusII]

it would be nice if by region free, they meant, has a built in translator...cause, honestly, unless you can read Japanese, what is the point of being able to play a Japanese game?

Maybe if someone from japan bought a DS while on holiday somewhere else? maybe if you just can't be bothered to wait until it comes out in america and england, maybe you know japanese and would rather play it in that language that kind of thing. it ain't to bad for english players cause we can just wait until it's out over in america and buy an american version, for american players the alternative is to play in japanese.

[Phraug]

And Japan isn't the only place that makes games, even if it may be the only place currently making DS games -- if the DS was regioned, you would have to wait for an American version of British games.

Although if you did buy the Japanese version, I expect the language wouldn't be that much of a barrier. =D The core of the game would still be Pokemon statistics, which are mostly numbers, after all, maybe formatted just slightly differently. The only thing you'd miss out on would be recognizing Pokemon by their names, and whatever storyline there may or may not be. (Come to think of it, that would have been a problem in Emerald, where you had to find places based on things people said, but you could probably bug someone to help you out. =D)