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just recently got into the dreamcast scene - been getting a few games from ebay and other places ;)
I was just wondering what the best japanese import games were - ones that dont actually rely on you being to read or understand japanese. i'm mainly into action/shooting/sports games.
I'd say Ikarugu is the best of the shoot 'em ups from Japan. Border Down and Psyvarier 2 are both good too.
Guilty Gear X is also a pretty good 2D fighting game with lovely graphics, although the animation is better in games like Street Fighter III or Garou: Mark Of The Wolves. I also really like Capcom Vs SNK 2.
The best are:
REZ (also available as a rare EU PAL release)
Ikaruga
Zero Gunner
Border Down
Garou: MotW (also available as US version: Fatal Fury: MotW)
Capcom vs SNK 2
Guilty Gear X
Puyo Puyo Fever (Sonic Team, 2004)
King of Fighters 2000, 2001, 2002
Space Channel 5 Part 2
Samba De Amigo Ver. 2000
Vampire Chronicle (Darkstalkers Collection, very rare)
Super Street Fighter II Turbo (very rare)
Dead or Alive 2: Limited Edition
Rainbow Cotton
Cool Cool Toon (SNK)
...and a lot more, mainly some excellent shmups. There also are some great games that were released in Europe (e.g. Evil Twin, Shenmue II, Headhunter) or the US (e.g. Bomberman Online, Alien Front Online) but nowhere else.
Advanced Daisenryaku is another excellent Jap only title. Although only one for the strategy fans really.
*Cid H, Baldr Force Exe fanboy reporting*
Without being a fanboy I have to say that the beginning of this game isn't really fun because it starts out very slowly with a lot of conversation involved. Also the battles aren't really fun because you don't have many attacks and aren't able to do a lot of combos. Once you've got the hang of gameplay and how the system works, you should immediately turn up the difficulty level to hard, and the battles are a blast. Graphics are good for 2d, meaning the effects rock and all the sprites are animated very well, it's easy to distinguish all the enemies.
And as you progress in the game you will gradually unlock more weapons and they will produce less heat so combos will be easier to make. You don't have to aim yourself, focusing is done automatically so you will only have to worry with dodging enemy fire and launching your own attacks. It might sound like it's pretty simple, but it works out perfectly and I have never encountered any problems at all with the auto aiming in this game. Also, when things get really intense there is some sort of drop in framerate, but to my experience it only adds to the game because you get this feeling of 'impact'. The action scenes are really intense.
Music is above average as well because it adds a lot to the atmosphere and it can give you an impression of what's going on when two characters are having a dialogue. Because I don't know any japanese myself it helps a lot and gives some depth to the characters. While playing a story of its own will develop in your mind :p
All I'm just trying to say is that people should give this game a try instead of buying a 'normal' shooter instead because it doesn't involve any reading. Behind the story there is a shooter which has hooked me for more than 50 hours without getting bored, and that doesn't happen a lot with me. And I still haven't unlocked the bonus gameplay modes :D It's a shooter with a twist ;)