Getting Japanese games working

1. Install files for East Asian languages

Many Japaneses games require these files to be installed to work and to display Japanese text. This is probably the first thing you should try if you are having problems with a game. A linK for how to do this in Windows XP is below but be warned you might need your Windows CD handy. Windows Vista should natively support East Asian characters without installing anything.

Install files for East Asian languages in Windows XP

2. Use Applocale to run in Japanese

Applocale is an program written by Microsoft that will let you run a game as if your language setting had been changed to Japanese. Once you have it downloaded and installed to use it first select the game exe/swf you want to run then select Japanese as the language (The bottom option marked ""日本語"")

Download Microsoft Applocale

3. Change regional settings to Japanese

Occasionally a Japanese game will not even run with Applocale set to Japanese. Another option is to change the regional settings for non-unicode programs on your computer to Japanese so all programs run in the Japanese region setting. How to do this varies for Windows XP and Windows Vista and it may require a restart. You can always change back to your normal regional settings later after you have finished playing.

Change regional settings to Japanese in Windows XP
Change regional settings to Japanese in Windows Vista

General Problems

1. How do I extract a Japanese game in a zip/rar file?

Normally any extraction tool for zip or rar should be sufficient but occasionally some tools will have problems with the Japanese characters. One program that has proved very reliable for Japanese games is 7zip which is what I use to compress most of the games on this site. WinRAR is another tool but I have had some problems with this and Japanese games in the past.

Download 7zip for zip/rar extraction

2. What should I do with an ISO/IMG/BIN/CUE file?

An ISO image is an archive file of a CD or DVD stored on your computer. To make use of it you should use a virtual CD drive program such as Daemon Tools to mount the CD/DVD image then you can run the game or installer from the virtual drive. This can seem a little complex at first but is really quite easy after you have done it once, download it and give it a try. An alternative that sometimes works is to extract the ISO file with WinRAR.

Download Deamon Tools Lite

3. Do any downloads require a password?

At present none of the downloads linked from this site should require a password. This could change in the future if there is problems with file availability.

4. A download is no longer available could you upload it again?

If you post a comment on the game page with the broken file I'll try and get it reuploaded.

NOT ENOUGH?