Out of boredom, I bought a few DS games the other day.

I bought 人生ゲーム平成のデキゴト (Game of Life: Heisei) thinking it would be a great way for me to learn more about recent Japanese popular culture. I was very wrong. For someone like me who knows very little about Japanese personalities, hit novels or movies, etc, there isn’t much hope. In other words, you either know the answers or you end up broke and broken hearted very quickly.

In retrospect, I guess it is obvious the game wouldn’t have a ’study mode,’ but oh well.

But I did find an excellent game called ゼルダの伝説：　夢幻の砂時計 Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass - (Found the Japanese version at Play Asia and the English version at Amazon)

?

Well, I haven’t gotten far enough in the game to say I love the game play, but here’s why I think it makes a great reader (probably for Intermediates): Tap on any kanji and furigana appears.

Sorry for the fuzziness, but maybe you can see what I mean. Just tap and hold any kanji to get the furigana. Neat!