Sakura Kanji Ketchi · published · build 26217557
Hi everyone, Yogi here. For the past year I have been rebuilding Sakura Kanji Ketchi piece by piece: the kanji list, the way you study, the combat, the dungeons, the menus. Very little of the old game is left untouched, so 2.0 is closer to a new game than to an update. If you played 1.x: thank you. You are the reason this exists, and 2.0 is a free update for you.
Your saves carry over. The first time 2.0 starts, it copies your 1.x saves across, and they open where you left them with the kanji you caught. There is nothing to do.
But think about a fresh start. 2.0 teaches every kanji before it tests it and runs a new review system from your very first catch. A new save meets all of that from the beginning, so it is the way I would recommend.
Kanji stick with a little practice every day, so 2.0 goes where you go. Take it on the Steam Deck on the train or the sofa: every screen works on its controls and is laid out for its screen. Then pick up at home on your laptop or PC exactly where you stopped. Your saves sync through Steam Cloud, so today's reviews are waiting on whichever device you open.
Sakura's father has gone missing, and 2.0 gives the search a trail. Okaasan sees you off from Gifu, and Eita shows you how a catch works. In every city on the road, someone remembers Otousan passing through: 21 people with their own lines and their own reasons to help. Finish a city's quest and you find a note he left behind, pointing to the next city on the ring. Follow the notes all the way round Japan to find out where they lead.
Not long after you leave home, something wakes up and binds itself to you. I won't say much more about it. It watches every kanji you catch and every one you let slip, and it keeps count. It sets you tasks when it chooses, and some of them it never explains. When it first speaks, it leaves you with this: "Every kanji you master makes you stronger. Every one you forget... I will remember."
All 780 kanji from JLPT N5 to N1. The kanji data was rebuilt from KANJIDIC2 and KRADFILE, every recipe was checked, and every kanji now lives in one of 22 cities.
Real spaced repetition. FSRS-5 schedules each kanji on real-time intervals and tracks its meaning and its reading separately, aiming for 90% recall.
Taught before tested. The first time you meet a kanji, a card teaches it: meaning, readings, its parts and an example word.
Four kinds of question: meaning, on and kun reading, building the kanji from its radicals, and filling it into a word. Wrong options are look-alike kanji, so you learn to tell 未 from 末.
A daily review loop. Kanji due for review are counted for you, marked on the map where you can find them, and asked in review sessions and the Daily Quest.
New combat. Catch battles and boss fights share one battle stage, and pack battles put three to five monsters against you at once. Your answers in battle count toward your reviews.
Portal dungeons. Open a portal in any city, choose the JLPT level, the length and optional risks, and explore with a fog-of-war map.
Chests. Common, Rare and Legendary, each opened with a round of questions, and upgradeable with flowers.
Full controller support. Every screen works on a gamepad, with rebinding and an on-screen keyboard. It is laid out for the Steam Deck's 1280×800 screen.
A timer for how you study. Answer timers can run at normal speed, one and a half times as long, or off.
23 Steam Achievements and Steam Cloud saves.
You arrive in a city and search its bushes. A bush holds a kanji you have not met: a card teaches it, then you catch it in a short battle of questions. Back at the combiner you build a new kanji from radicals you already own. When you want a fight, you open a portal, pick N4, and clear a dungeon where every strike is an answer. Before bed, the map shows which cities hold your due reviews, and the Daily Quest asks for a few of them.
The art is by Katia M (@sungeek76) and the music by Keith and Aki Banks. The kanji data comes from the Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group's KANJIDIC2, KRADFILE and JMdict; the full credits and licence notices are in Settings → Credits. If something breaks, please tell me in the Steam discussions, or join the Discord through the code on the title screen. And if 2.0 helps you learn, a Steam review helps more than anything else: it is how other learners find the game. がんばって！
Yogi