The world of video games is much broader than we imagine. There are very special titles out there that are exclusive to markets like Japan or Korea, and that some enthusiasts take the trouble to translate (partially or fully). The problem lies in regional conflicts, since those Japanese games expect to find a Windows edition compatible with their language. In the past we solved this with Microsoft's official AppLocale tool, but now we must resort to utilities like Locale Emulator.
Not all of us play the same, of that we are sure, but I'm not referring to a matter of genre or platform. There are titles we simply cannot access because we find ourselves in the wrong country. On one hand, developers have implemented “regional lockouts” (forcing modifications to cartridges and/or consoles), and on the other, language becomes a natural barrier. In the case of computers, we must add technical details related to differences of “locale” (read “place”, “region”, “language”, etc.) between a game and the operating system.
For many years Microsoft offered the AppLocale tool to resolve these conflicts, but official support never went beyond Windows XP. Running AppLocale on Windows Vista and Windows 7 required several manual actions, and as far as I know nobody managed to make it work on Windows 10. Microsoft's response? Eradicate AppLocale from its official pages, remove all downloads, end development and declare the tool obsolete. Thanks, Redmond.
How to use Locale Emulator to play in Japanese
Therefore, unless we are willing to maintain a virtual Windows XP environment just to use AppLocale, its direct alternative is Locale Emulator. Installation requires a bit of intuition: First, we must move the contents of the zip file to a permanent folder. A double click on the executable LEInstaller.exe will start the process, which can be focused on the current user, or on all profiles of the operating system.
The language change is done with LEGUI.exe, which also allows secondary adjustments, including the time zone. Finally, we go to the game's executable, right-click on it with the secondary button, and choose the language to “force”, as shown in the second image.
If everything goes well, Locale Emulator will be enough to open the most complicated games. Its factory configuration sets Japanese as the default language, however, it also supports Korean, Russian and Chinese. Fans of Japanese games like “bullet hell” and visual novels have material for a while, but even so Locale Emulator is not perfect. Errors appear frequently, its operation on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 qualifies as “legacy”, and only bug reports are accepted under Windows 10.
