The reason for that change in routine: as mentioned in this post's headline, two rather awesome people (who I've gotten to know via Twitter and elsewhere) recently sent me a trio of Japanese DS games that I'd previously never experienced.
One of those awesome folks (the lovely MintyPocky), sent me a complete-in-box copy of Bokujou Monogatari: Youkoso! Kaze no Bazaar e, which most people in the Western world know as Harvest Moon DS: Grand Bazaar. Here is the Japanese version's vibrant box art:
Meanwhile, another person entirely--Brian, proprietor of the Japanese 3DS tumblog--sent me cartridges for two Japan-only DS games, one of which is Konami's Shounen Sunday x Shounen Magazine: Nettou! Dream Nine.
To be completely honest, I initially turned up my nose at this offering, as I assumed it was "just another boring baseball game." A quick Google search of its title, though, has me believing Nettou! Dream Nine's actually some sort of interactive comic, which sounds far more appealing (if possibly less accessible).
The other "loose" DS cart that was sent my way is Penguin no Mondai: Saikyou Penguin Densetsu! (The first part of the title apparently translates to A Penguin's Troubles.)
Apparently it's based on a rather famous Japanese manga series about a penguin named Beckham Kinoshita, who attends Kirikabu Elementary School and likes to eat hamburgers and "hot chips."
You may be wondering why I'm sharing pieces of cover art that were grabbed from GameFAQs rather than photos of the cases and carts in question. That would be because Blogger is being a dick (yes, that's the technical term) and screwing them up whenever I attempt to upload them.
So, I decided to cut my losses and use the images seen above instead. If you'd like to see the few snapshots I've collected of Bokujou Monogatari's case and manual, as well as Penguin no Mondai's and Nettou! Dream Nine's cartridges, check out my Flickr photostream.
As for what I think of the actual content of this these Japanese DS games, well, I've only played two of them so far--with the pair in question being Bokujou Monogatari and Penguin no Mondai--and even then I've only spent about an hour with the latter and a half-hour with the former.
Still, that's been enough for me to think I'll like both of them in the end--although I've got to admit that attempting to work your way through a Bokujou Monogatari title with only a minimal understanding of the Japanese language is a bit ... trying. It could do wonders for my vocabulary, though, so I'll stick with it for a while for that reason alone.
Penguin no Mondai also features a bunch of mostly unintelligible text to wade through, too, but that's far less of an issue for me because, at its heart, this game is a pretty basic--but still fun--platform. (The aforementioned text tends to be limited to between-stage cutscenes.)
I'll share more impressions about both of these games in my next "Shall We Do It?" post, which will be published shortly. In the meantime, if any of you have played one or more of the games mentioned here, let me know what you think of them in the comments section below.
