Why do old Japanese games insist on using English everywhere?

[*Laurelindo*]

I don't understand this; I have played many NES games in Japanese and I often see this phenomenon, usually in prologues.
I just started playing Legend of Zelda for the NES and the prologue in that game is exactly the same as in the translated version.
They aren't even very good at it most of the time, and usually write a load of Engrish.
Heck, even the introduction to Secret of Mana is written in rather bad English.

I can understand if they choose to name spells in RPGs after English words (ケアル for Cure and ファイア for Fire, for instance), it probably makes them sound exotic the same way that Renzokuken sounds exotic in Final Fantasy 8 - but full prologues...?
That's like writing large portions of an English game in Romanian so that English speakers will almost only understand the Roman numbers.

[Madame Adequate]

You know how loads of people think Japanese is super cool?

Yeah they think English is.

[Slothy]

You know how loads of people think Japanese is super cool?

Yeah they think English is.

This. Silly bastards...

[Pike]

Yeah, pretty much what MILF and Vivi said. The Japanese language in general insists on using English anywhere. It's pretty much the entire reason why the katakana alphabet exists.

[DMKA]

I always wondered why in Sailor Moon, all the attacks and transformations were already in English in the Japanese version.

[Loony BoB]

Not just video games, from what I've seen when it comes to pictures of Japan. There is a lot of English thrown around Tokyo, not to mention the magazines over there have English everywhere.

[BG-57]

It's a lot like the way English speakers use gratuitous French: to sound sexy and exotic.

[Loony BoB]

I don't think that's it. We use some obvious French words every now and then, but for the most part any magazine front you see will be full of English. You don't see many companies called by their French names in English-speaking nations, either. I think it's just the idea of English as an international language for the most part, but with Japan they do indeed take it to a different level even when there is no need to.

Looking up a random picture of Tokyo, I can see around four signs in the English language. Okay, so maybe some of them are simply international brands that want to be seen by tourists or something... but Square Enix and Final Fantasy are both always displayed in English - as far as I know, anyway. I'm going by their official Japanese websites, which also display other words in English throughout the site. Going to the Japanese Mistwalker site, I am actually greeted by more English words than Japanese words!

[BG-57]

I don't think it's any single one thing, so I agree with your point.

Having said that, there's a lot of French loanwords that have become part and parcel to the language so that we don't pay much attention to their origin. French was also for a time the language of the English high court, so it has some added nobility as a result.

[Loony BoB]

On a sidenote, I think I remember a Japanese person complaining that all the voiceovers in FFXIV were in English, even if you were playing a Japanese version.

[BG-57]

I forgot to clarify that in advertising, English is often used as a design element. There are whole websites like engrish.com that catelog unintentionally humorous uses of English in products. Like T-shirts that read 'Hot Space Station Justice' or beauty parlors called 'Repair Shop'.

[Polnareff]

IIRC, Japan requires kids to learn English. They have teachers over there for it and everything. I think that and the fact that we share goods and services (we get their games, they get our fast food joints ) also helps. If there's influence like that coming from somewhere else then there's bound to be a more well-rounded culture.

It's really not as far-fetched as most would think.

[Araciel]

English is the trade language of many parts of the world - lots of English signs all ova.. but Japan does seem to be unusually enamoured with it yes.

[nirojan]

Going to the Japanese Mistwalker site, I am actually greeted by more English words than Japanese words!

Mistwalker doesn't count....even their tweets are in english lol.

But yeah, the Japanese are pretty obsessed with English, but it's more of a casual 'here and there' thing.

[Mercen-X]

I think that when a game is released over here. They should properly translate the dialogue based on the ethnicity of the character speaking. That way, if there's a Japanese exchange student in the game, hey... we could probably learn some decent Japanese while playing a fun-ass game in the process.
I've given this a lot of thought lately actually. I've tried to learn other languages Japanese in particular. I own several language CDs and even took a Japanese class. But nothing sticks. I don't ever have any real-world situations to apply them to so these classes and CDs just become another chore. But I liked the little edu bits at the end of xxxholic. I think if you can use MODERN gaming as the source of language integration, language fluency could become the next big craze. I don't care if there may already be ONE thing out there that's LIKE this. It should frickin' be everywhere. Facebook, MMOs, console and handhelds and phone apps. Learning any language is always a lot easier when a level of fun is added. Imagine it being used while you're playing an RPG, Action, Racing, or Combat game.
Loose example: Imagine a combat engine... a game like BlazBlue or Guilty Gear or some kind of game where the character's special attacks are mentioned aloud. Imagine all these attacks are in some specific language and not just some flashy cool-sounding nonsense. Add an option to turn on subtitles and the game will display the name of the attack in the language's natural alphabet with it's most literal translation and it's intended translation placed underneath in smaller letters suitable for whatever region in which the game is being played (English for us). Things like that can work, I think.