{"id":1477464,"date":"2026-01-28T01:24:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T01:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cGi3eQx3yJ8FP2QMdirB44"},"modified":"2026-01-28T01:24:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T01:24:00","slug":"the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary\/","title":{"rendered":"The game that coined the term &#8216;visual novel&#8217; just got its first-ever fan translation for its 30th anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<div class=\"youtube-video\" data-nosnippet >\n<div class=\"video-aspect-box\"><iframe data-lazy-priority=\"low\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/d5GoykMJLYk\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>On Monday, a team of fan translators celebrated the birth of the visual novel with <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/Her-Saki\/shizuku_pc98_eng\/releases\/tag\/shizuku_eng_patch_1.8\">an English patch<\/a> for 1996&#8217;s Japanese PC-98 game Shizuku. In the mid-90s, recently established development studio Leaf\u2014which at that point had only made a strip mahjong game and an adult JRPG\u2014launched a &#8220;Visual Novel Series&#8221; of three adult games, beginning with Shizuku. Leaf&#8217;s style of adventure game would soon become a phenomenon.<\/p>\n<p>It feels a bit shakier to say that Leaf <em>invented<\/em> the visual novel, even if the studio coined the term. As talked about in detail in the video from YouTuber Bowl of Lentils above, Shizuku was heavily inspired by developer Chunsoft&#8217;s &#8220;sound novels&#8221; for the Super Nintendo like <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Otogiris%C5%8D\">Otogiris\u014d<\/a>, which were basically, well, simple visual novels. Chunsoft&#8217;s adventure games placed text over static backgrounds and let you make choices at key narrative moments, much like other adventure games dating back to the 1980s. Audio was there to help heighten the storytelling despite the limited graphics.<\/p>\n<p>Leaf&#8217;s big &#8220;innovation&#8221; was to focus more on depicting its characters on-screen, which makes sense considering it was an erotic game. Shizuku was also predated by groundbreaking (and wildly popular) dating sim <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/everyones-still-in-love-with-tokimeki-memorial-the-game-that-defined-dating-sims\/\">Tokimeki Memorial<\/a>, which emphasized its graphics to similar effect. But &#8220;visual novel&#8221; was such a catchy name, it stuck with us for 30 years to become the de facto phrase to describe pretty much any adventure game that prioritizes text over interactivity.<\/p>\n<p>Shizuku was only a modest success, but the third game in the Visual Novel Series, To Heart, hit big, making Leaf a major player in adult adventure games in the years to come. A remake of To Heart <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/3380520\/ToHeart\/\">landed on Steam<\/a> last year with an English translation and no adult scenes.<\/p>\n<p>Leaf&#8217;s parent company Aquaplus, which publishes non-adult-themed games, is still going strong, and these days is best known for the Utawarerumono beat &#8217;em up series. The <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/3074840\/Utawarerumono_ZAN\/\">most recent<\/a> just landed on Steam in December 2025.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"bluesky-embed\" data-bluesky-uri=\"at:\/\/did:plc:kcpmnuzppn4wgragsvmsgifk\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3mdg2ehrsxs2f\" data-bluesky-cid=\"bafyreib2e44wtu2bdnjufitena4iweze2jyoruex2ndthp4m2nui5caggq\">\n<p lang=\"en\">I played two hours of the new Shizuku translation last night. While I&#8217;m not the biggest fan of the font, the script itself reads very well. I definitely wouldn&#8217;t recommend Shizuku to most people (it&#8217;s very NSFW) but it&#8217;s really fascinating to finally play this historically important VN in English.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 @bowloflentils.bsky.social (<a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/did:plc:kcpmnuzppn4wgragsvmsgifk?ref_src=embed\">@bowloflentils.bsky.social.bsky.social<\/a>) <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/bowloflentils.bsky.social\/post\/3mdg2ehrsxs2f\">2026-01-28T00:55:33.349Z<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Shizuku likely isn&#8217;t of much interest to actually play today unless you&#8217;re fascinated with the history of visual novels. But if that&#8217;s you, you can find a copy <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/siz_20230130\">on the Internet Archive<\/a> and get it running, with the English patch applied, in the PC-98 emulator <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/simk98.github.io\/np21w\/download.html\">Neko Project 21\/W<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"product\"><a data-dimension112=\"80f3b715-7727-4202-89e7-2113ed8c8401\" data-action=\"Deal Block\" data-label=\"Best cozy games\" data-dimension48=\"Best cozy games\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><\/p>\n<figure class=\"van-image-figure \" >\n<div class='image-full-width-wrapper'>\n<div class='image-widthsetter' style=\"max-width:685px;\">\n<p class=\"vanilla-image-block\" style=\"padding-top:100.00%;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"2btpGUUeNoUT67HBRbro3G\" name=\"metaphor-refantazio\" caption=\"\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary.jpg\" mos=\"\" align=\"middle\" fullscreen=\"\" width=\"685\" height=\"685\" attribution=\"\" endorsement=\"\" credit=\"\" class=\"\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/best-cozy-games-on-pc\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-dimension112=\"80f3b715-7727-4202-89e7-2113ed8c8401\" data-action=\"Deal Block\" data-label=\"Best cozy games\" data-dimension48=\"Best cozy games\" data-dimension25=\"\"><strong>Best cozy games<\/strong><\/a>: Relaxed gaming<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/the-best-anime-games-on-pc\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Best anime games<\/strong><\/a>: Animation-inspired<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/the-best-jrpgs-on-pc\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Best JRPGs<\/strong><\/a>: Classics and beyond<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/best-cyberpunk-games-on-pc\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Best cyberpunk games<\/strong><\/a>: Techno futures<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/games\/best-gacha-games\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Best gacha games<\/strong><\/a>: Freemium fanatics<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/games\/visual-novel\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary\/\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Monday, a team of fan translators celebrated the birth of the visual novel with an English patch for 1996&#8217;s Japanese PC-98 game Shizuku. In the mid-90s, recently established development studio Leaf\u2014which at that point had only made a strip mahjong game and an adult JRPG\u2014launched a &#8220;Visual Novel Series&#8221; of three adult games, beginning with Shizuku. Leaf&#8217;s style of adventure game would soon become a phenomenon. It feels a bit shakier to say that Leaf invented the visual novel, even if the studio coined the term. As talked about in detail in the video from YouTuber Bowl of Lentils above, Shizuku was heavily inspired by developer Chunsoft&#8217;s &#8220;sound novels&#8221; for the Super Nintendo like Otogiris\u014d, which were basically, well, simple visual novels. Chunsoft&#8217;s adventure&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"excerpt-more\"><a class=\"blog-excerpt button\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1477465,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[336],"tags":[748,1495],"class_list":["post-1477464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pc-gamer","tag-games","tag-visual-novel"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The game that coined the term &#039;visual novel&#039; just got its first-ever fan translation for its 30th anniversary | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On Monday, a team of fan translators celebrated the birth of the visual novel with an English patch for 1996&#039;s Japanese PC-98 game Shizuku. In the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The game that coined the term &#039;visual novel&#039; just got its first-ever fan translation for its 30th anniversary | Arcader News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On Monday, a team of fan translators celebrated the birth of the visual novel with an English patch for 1996&#039;s Japanese PC-98 game Shizuku. In the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-28T01:24:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"headline\":\"The game that coined the term &#8216;visual novel&#8217; just got its first-ever fan translation for its 30th anniversary\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-28T01:24:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":488,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"games\",\"visual novel\"],\"articleSection\":[\"PC Gamer\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary\\\/\",\"name\":\"The game that coined the term 'visual novel' just got its first-ever fan translation for its 30th anniversary | Arcader News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-28T01:24:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"description\":\"On Monday, a team of fan translators celebrated the birth of the visual novel with an English patch for 1996's Japanese PC-98 game Shizuku. In the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary.jpg\",\"width\":480,\"height\":480,\"caption\":\"The game that coined the term \u2018visual novel\u2019 just got its first-ever fan translation for its 30th anniversary\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The game that coined the term &#8216;visual novel&#8217; just got its first-ever fan translation for its 30th anniversary\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"description\":\"Free Arcade News from the Best Online Sources\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\",\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Arcade News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cricketgames.tv\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/author\\\/arcade-news\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The game that coined the term 'visual novel' just got its first-ever fan translation for its 30th anniversary | Arcader News","description":"On Monday, a team of fan translators celebrated the birth of the visual novel with an English patch for 1996's Japanese PC-98 game Shizuku. In the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The game that coined the term 'visual novel' just got its first-ever fan translation for its 30th anniversary | Arcader News","og_description":"On Monday, a team of fan translators celebrated the birth of the visual novel with an English patch for 1996's Japanese PC-98 game Shizuku. In the","og_url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary\/","og_site_name":"Arcade News","article_published_time":"2026-01-28T01:24:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":480,"height":480,"url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Arcade News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Arcade News","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary\/"},"author":{"name":"Arcade News","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839"},"headline":"The game that coined the term &#8216;visual novel&#8217; just got its first-ever fan translation for its 30th anniversary","datePublished":"2026-01-28T01:24:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary\/"},"wordCount":488,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary.jpg","keywords":["games","visual novel"],"articleSection":["PC Gamer"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary\/","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary\/","name":"The game that coined the term 'visual novel' just got its first-ever fan translation for its 30th anniversary | Arcader News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary.jpg","datePublished":"2026-01-28T01:24:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839"},"description":"On Monday, a team of fan translators celebrated the birth of the visual novel with an English patch for 1996's Japanese PC-98 game Shizuku. In the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary.jpg","width":480,"height":480,"caption":"The game that coined the term \u2018visual novel\u2019 just got its first-ever fan translation for its 30th anniversary"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-game-that-coined-the-term-visual-novel-just-got-its-first-ever-fan-translation-for-its-30th-anniversary\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The game that coined the term &#8216;visual novel&#8217; just got its first-ever fan translation for its 30th anniversary"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/","name":"Arcade News","description":"Free Arcade News from the Best Online Sources","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839","name":"Arcade News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fea48a614d86edd987bc7bb25f4707c69546d4b1f78ad4aa20b26316bad1f9d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Arcade News"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/cricketgames.tv"],"url":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/author\/arcade-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1477464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1477464"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1477464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1477468,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1477464\/revisions\/1477468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1477465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1477464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1477464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1477464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}