In Handhelds

The English training software "eigozuke" has sold over 1.4 million units in Japan. This success also lead Nintendo to decide a release in Europe.

In Japan they also have lots of software to train Japanese language skills. I guess lots of Japanese language learners all over the world would like a localized version, but I don't see that happen.

Nevertheless I thought to post about what software is/will be available in Japan. And you tell me whether that's interesting or not.


This one features questions of past "kanken" tests. "kanken" is a test of kanji skills that lots of Japanese take every year. You can especially train the fields you are bad at. The software recognizes handwriting and I consider getting it.




From the color of the box you can tell it's a software from the same company as the one before.


This one's from TDK. The software trains people to learn all 1945 kanji characters that are part of school education in Japan. Of course it recognizes your handwriting and points out where you do wrong. It also has some "game" modes, where you can train your skills by simple games. Amazons description promises an "adventure" type game. Some people on amazon claim character recognition is bad, some say it's ok. I'd like to try that out really...


"Make your square head round" is the name of this one. Obviously it is aimed at middle school kids. With features similar to the above ones.



This one seems different from the others. This one doesn't have training modes as the above ones (I guess), but only tests you with mini-games.


A very good Japanese-English dictionary. As it has handwriting recognition, you can easily find what you're looking for. I have the predecessor, which I thought had kanji handwriting recognition, but it didn't. I might get this one later in Japan and maybe I'll trade in the other one.

There's one more, the so-called "bimoji-training", but Nintendo still hasn't given a date when it will be out. It should help the user write beautiful kanji characters. It doesn't help you learn them, only write them beautifully. "learn calligraphy" is the motto.

I hope at least somebody is interested in that.

Thanks alot man! I will check it out more when I get my DS Lite. Also is it safe to buy things online using a Bank Card?

Very interesting indeed. Nintendo is very, very clever in releasing educational material like this. I don't know how parents in Japan react to game systems and games, but it seems like in this country, parents view them as a waste of a time, for the most part.
This type of thing could change that, and Brain Age, I believe, has started it in the US, but these learning programs make that look like child's play!
The "game" one will probably be the one that sells the most, but they all look interesting.

They really should bring one or two of those over here, if only in limited stock. It'd be on my list. If I hadn't of stopped my studies, I may have been able to get by on what they're saying and purchase one. Shame on me! But yeah Manuel, thanks for the thread. It's good to see stuff like this.

I'd like to write things up a bit more detailed, but since I don't own the software and have to rely on the homepages, it's a bit hard.
I'm glad you liked the limited "preview" though.

And Aaron, in most cases it's safe to use a Credit Card, but sometimes people have problems with that.
If I were you I'd try to get a debit card (is that right?). I mean a "pre-paid" type of credit card (which then isn't a credit card any more, but... hey). You load the money you want to use on it and then use it. Even if they steal the card number they couldn't misuse it if you don't have any money left on it.

@Roth:
You and probably some other people would get Japanese language software when it came out in the US, but it would probably be more expensive than normal games, so it might not be a success. Bringing it in limited numbers would mean even a higher price, because development costs are comparably high.
It would be great though, if Nintendo tried it, and if it was only once.