EMIT Vol. 1: Lost Child of Time #BestOfSaturn

EMIT Vol. 1: Lost Child of Time is the first of a trilogy of EMIT games from Koei, all debuting within the span of roughly a month. Designed to teach English to Japanese gamers, the game presents a series of lightly animated chapters that center on young student Yuri, who is initially approached by an old man looking for a watchmaker’s shop.

The expository scenes are voiced and subtitled, and they are followed by comprehension exercises, a guess-what-will-happen-next game, and even conversation practice. The story is a cool sci-fi tale of a being from another world trapped on Earth. The twist is that for this being, time moves backwards (hence the game’s backwards title EMIT). We can now add Edutainment to the list of genres that were prolific on the Japanese Saturn but were totally absent in the West.

Now, today is April Fool’s, so what’s the “trick?” This game never received an English translation or official localization, but that’s because all the game’s text and voice acting can be switched to full English at any time! Give this Japanese series a try — all three can be “beaten” in a day. The story is quintessential Japanese sci-fi, and the quality of the English is excellent, too.

	Peter Malek
		A Saturn fan since the beginning, Peter plays Saturn almost exclusively. For Peter, Saturn represents a moment in time where 2D games were at their best, 3D was just rising, and fascinating gaming 'firsts' were commonplace.  There are very few Saturn games that Peter cannot find some enjoyment in!