Over the past week, I’ve been playing a Japanese dating sim by the name of New Love Plus+. And as ostensibly odd as that title is, it is far from the oddest Japanese game title I have come across.
Now, while I could just list all of the crazy Japanese game titles I know, I’m sure you have your own picks for the weirdest one in existence. So, let’s make this a community effort.
But before we do, let’s lay down some ground rules for how we are going to do this.
Guidelines
To keep this list easy to read and enjoy, let’s all follow these rules.
1) Japanese game names only: Yes, there are many non-Japanese games with equally absurd titles; but for this list, let’s keep the focus on Japan.
2) Please follow this format, including bold text:
A picture of the logo, game box, or a YouTube link showing the game in action
Game: The name of the game
Platform: Which console the game is on
Why the Title Is So Odd: Why this is one of the weirdest Japanese game titles
Oh, and if you copy/paste the above outline, be sure to select it all in your comment and hit the "pullquote" button (that looks like " quotation marks) so that you remove pullquote formatting.
3) Only post each game once: Be sure to check if your pick already has a post in the comments. If it already has one, feel free to reply and add your own “Why the Title Is So Odd” comment; but don’t make a new, independent post.
4) Don't write non-entry comments on this post: Instead, comment on others' entries, if you've got something to say about them.
5) Feel free to enter more than one game title! There are tons of weird Japanese game titles out there; give them all a little love.
Alright, let’s get to it! But as we do, it’s important to remember that armed with only a foreign language dictionary, any of us would be likely to devise similarly odd titles in a non-native language. So as weird as these titles sound to you or me, remember that they are, in many cases, nothing more than innocent translation mistakes.
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To contact the author of this post, write to BiggestinJapan@gmail.com or find him on Twitter @BiggestinJapan.