What language are the R36S games in?

The honest answer comes in two parts. The console menus can be set to several languages. The games keep their original release, which for most of the library means English, and for a real slice of it means Japanese.

This is the question we get asked most, and it is also the number one disappointment among buyers who did not see it coming. One customer told us he resold his console over it. So we would rather you read this before ordering than after.

If you read English, you are in the best position of any buyer: most of what ships on these cards is already in your language. The rest of this page explains the exceptions, and what to do about them.

The menus: several languages, English included

On first boot the console offers a choice of interface language. English is there, along with French, German, Spanish and several others. You browse platforms, game lists and settings in the language you picked.

This applies to all three models: R36S, R36H and R36 Ultra. They run the same system.

The games: whatever they were on release

A retro handheld does not translate games, it replays them. The file you launch is the one from back then, exactly as it was published twenty or thirty years ago. If the version on the card is the American release, the game is in English, and no console setting will change that.

The prepared cards circulating in this sector are built mostly from American releases, for a simple reason: they are the most widespread and the easiest to gather. That is why everything arrives in English by default.

Good news if English is your language. Less good if you were hoping for something else, and worth knowing either way.

The part that catches English speakers out: Japanese-only titles

A meaningful share of a 15,000 game list is made up of titles that never left Japan. They are on the card, they run perfectly, and they are entirely in Japanese. Menus, dialogue, save prompts, all of it.

Nobody translated them, because no publisher ever released them in the West. This is not a defect in the console or a gap in the card: those games simply do not exist in English.

In practice it means that browsing a large list, you will land on titles you cannot read. Most are obscure, some are excellent. If a Japanese-only game matters to you, fan translation patches exist for a number of them, and you can add the patched file yourself.

Where the English is thinnest, era by era

Era	English availability	Note
8 bit, early 1980s	usually	very little text either way
16 bit, 1990s	very often	Western releases are the norm
1990s handhelds	usually	depends on publisher and success
PlayStation, late 1990s	almost always	the era localisation became standard
Arcade	mixed	little text, often Japanese

The logic is simple: the more successful a title was in the West, the more certain you are to find it in English. The long tail of a 15,000 game list is where the Japanese-only releases concentrate.

How to tell which version you are looking at

Retro game files almost always carry a region marker in their name. It is the convention across the whole sector and you can read it at a glance.

You will mostly see (USA) for North America, (Europe) for Europe, and (Japan) for Japan. Some files stack markers, in the form (Europe) (En,Fr,De,Es): that means the game contains several languages and an in-game menu lets you choose.

In practice, files marked USA or Europe will be in English in nearly every case. Files marked Japan will not.

Adding your own versions

If a game on the card is in the wrong language for you, you can replace it. You take out the microSD card, plug it into a computer, and drop the version you want into the folder for that platform. The game shows up in the list on the next boot.

On the R36 Ultra, Wi-Fi lets you do this without opening the console, which is a large part of its appeal: see our Ultra versus R36S comparison. On the other two models you go through the card.

As always, games whose originals you do not own are your responsibility, not ours.

Does the language barrier matter for you?

It depends entirely on the genres you are after.

No issue at all for: platformers, racing, fighting, shooting, sports and puzzle games. They play without reading a line. They make up the bulk of the 8 and 16 bit library, and they are what most people come here for in the first place.

Think first about: role-playing games, adventures and management games. They live on their text. A Japanese-only role-playing game is not a game you will finish.

One special case: if you are buying this for a child, the language barrier hardly registers on action games, but it stops them dead on text-driven ones.

Frequently asked questions

Can I set the console to English?

Yes. The interface, menus and settings can be set to English from first boot. It is the games that keep their original release.

Is there a setting that translates games?

No, and be wary of anyone who claims otherwise. An emulator runs the game as it was published, it does not translate it.

Are most of the games in English?

Most, yes, because the prepared cards are built mainly from American releases. But a real portion of a 15,000 title list is Japanese-only, and those cannot be read.

Can I add English versions myself?

Yes. You drop the version you want into that platform's folder, via the microSD card, or over Wi-Fi on the R36 Ultra.

Does this apply to the R36H and R36 Ultra?

Yes, exactly the same. Same system, same cards, same situation: we explain it in detail in the game list model by model. Our game list guide covers what is on each card, platform by platform.

In short

Menus in your language, games in the language they shipped in. For an English speaker that means most of the library reads fine, with a Japanese-only tail you will bump into on the more obscure titles. For action, racing and platform games it changes nothing at all. For role-playing games it changes everything, and the fix is to install the version you want yourself.

The three models: R36S, R36H and R36 Ultra.

Unsure before ordering? Write to us naming two or three games you are hoping to find. We will tell you straight whether they exist in English, including when the answer is no.