It's easier than ever to take a Magical Vacation--even if you don't know Japanese

Like a lot of people, I've wanted to play the Brownie Brown-made (and Nintendo-published) Magical Vacation since I first became aware of it in the lead up to the GameBoy Advance's early-2001 release.

What's stopped me from doing so? The language barrier is the biggest reason, no question. Although I'm (slowly) learning Japanese, I still haven't learned enough to understand the story in games like this one.

Thankfully, that's no longer an issue--or at least it no longer has to be an issue. That's because an English fan translation patch hit the Internet the other day that makes Magical Vacation accessible to schmucks like me who aren't quite ready to stumble their way through an RPG that otherwise displays text they don't understand.

To learn more about this patch--or, you know, download it--go to romhacking.net.

Before you grab it, though, you might like to know the Magical Vacation patch contains a few glitches, typos and chunks of untranslated text. It's still quite playable, and even enjoyable, based on what I've been told, but I thought some of you would appreciate hearing about the above-mentioned issues before diving into this candy-coated (yet also surprisingly dark--again, based on what I've been told) adventure.

Are any of you planning to give this a try? Or maybe you're already making your way through it? If your answer to either of those questions is yes, please let me--and others--know in the comments section below.

Five Japanese 3DS games I'm hoping to pick up (and play, too, of course) in 2013

Would you believe it if I told you I recently bought a Japanese 3DS system? I hope you replied in the positive, because that's just what I did shortly after my recent birthday.

I'll share the curious story behind its purchase and also share a few photos of it in all its gloriousness shortly, but today I'm going to focus on something else entirely--with that something being the following five Japan-only (for now, he says with fingers crossed) 3DS games that I'm both keeping an eye on and hoping to buy sometime in 2013.

1. Daigasso! Band Brothers 3DS--How can I say it's likely I'll buy this game when it hasn't yet been given an official name or release date? Because I completely loved playing both of its DS-based predecessors, that's why. Unless the folks who are busily piecing together this iteration muck up the formula that worked so well for past Daigasso! Band Brothers titles, you can count on the 3DS version being added to my collection shortly after it's released in its country of origin.

2. Dragon Quest VII--To be honest, I only plan to pick up this much-anticipated remake if it fails to come to North America like Dragon Quest Monsters: Terry's Wonderland 3D and Slime MoriMori Dragon Quest 3 did. Considering there's about an 80 percent chance of that happening, though, I probably shouldn't be too cavalier. Anyone know a quick and easy way to learn the Japanese language?

3. Labyrinth no Kanata--This is another import-only game, known to most westerners as Beyond the Labyrinth, that I desperately want to play, but I'm just not sure it would be a good idea to buy considering I don't know a lick of Japanese. Should I ever come across a reasonably priced copy of it, though, I'm pretty sure I won't be able to resist its beautiful cover art (or its dungeon-exploring gameplay).

4. Taiko no Tatsujin: Chibi Dragon to Fushigi na Orb--Despite the fact that I love rhythm games and that I find this series' mascot to be one of the cutest I've ever seen, I've yet to experience a single Taiko no Tatsujin title. Granted, only one has been released in my neck of the woods. Anyway, this one looks pretty darn good to my eyes--thanks in no small part to the "chibi dragon" mentioned in its subtitle--so why not start with it?

5. Zoo Keeper 3D--Go ahead. Look down your nose at me for including this game. I'm not ashamed of the way I feel about Zoo Keeper, no sir. That said, I'll admit to straddling the fence when it comes to this particular version of Success' animal-themed puzzler, as I haven't seen enough of it to know whether it would be a good or bad title to buy. For now, though, I'll just pretend that it would be worth every precious penny I'd spend on it.

Should you realistically expect me to pick up all five of these games? Probably not. I think there's a better-than-good chance, though, that the first and fourth ones will be purchased at some point in 2013.