To Get Started

Hi there, interested in playing Otome Games? If you do, read the information below. There are some useful tips. Everything is based on my knowledge and I'm not 100% correct. No infringement of copyrights or any offences intended; it's just purely a supply of information only.

There are some basic and useful software you might need, even in future...

WinRAR - Free version available. Important for unzipping common files such as .zip or .rar.

BitTorrent - Free software that allow you to download contents from 'torrents'.

Torrent is a file that compresses big content. This software allow you to download the content from the torrent, if it is 'alive'. Many seeding and peers downloading from the torrent mean it is 'alive'. You'll need strong internet connection. However, be aware of virus and spyware that might be downloaded as well! 

AVG AntiVirus - Basic protection for your PC against viruses and spywares. Get the free version on the website and don't download the trial versions. 

For those who wanna play on PC, you can try out Ren'Py Games. I guess almost every games in that site are in English and mostly otome games. Simply download, extract, install or play through its .exe file. I'm not sure if all of the games are free. I shall warn you first, the games in this site are not done by professionals. The quality of drawings might be a little off. There are a few good ones. E.g. RE: Alistair++ or (P)lanets - the life of normalcy has ended!. I'll update more to the games list. Otherwise, you can check it on OtomeGames.com for more English otome games information.

For those who wanna play on PSP, you might need a custom firmware (CFW) installed in order to play certain otome games. Especially games that have chinese patches or downloaded from internet. I don't know why, but I just know you'll need it. I'm using PSP-2000, the current system is 6.60 PRO B10. Just download the CFW file from YouTube, copy and paste into UPDATE and GAMES folder in the PSP. Then, you install through your PSP after you pasted it using your PC. My version might be outdated, so keep to the latest update by your own and try it out after you confirm it is not a fake firmware. Some good PSP otome games are Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom and Sweet Fuse: At Your Side.

For those who wanna play on NDS, it's either you buy the real games or you download from internet. You'll need a memory stick or flashcard & card adaptor to play the games that are downloaded from online. It's expensive, and there are a lot of fakes. So beware if you gonna buy one, especially from online.You'll also need a custom firmware in the memory stick to run the games, be careful to install the correct one. I tried playing otome games on Nintendo DS Lite, it works fine until the memory stick spoil by itself. It's either the custom firmware or the memory stick that caused the problem. Either way, that's the last time I'm able to play on NDS... Search for 'R4 cards'.  There are many kinds of R4 cards, each need different 'kernels' (firmware) and suit different models of NDS. Just copy and paste the kernels into the card. Some good NDS otome games are Princess Debut and Tokimeki Memorial Girls Side.

For those who wanna play on iPhone (iOS) or Android phone, just download the application from the app store or market. Most apps need to buy, and of course, the story is better and in full version. There are also free otome games app, where you need to spend time to wait for energy to recharge or spend money to buy more energy. 

For those who wanna play PS2 or PS3, or other platforms, I have nothing to share about as I don't use or own that device. Search the vast internet world for more information. 

Alternatively, for those who wanna play on NDS but don't own one, you can actually play on an emulator that runs on PC. It's troublesome though. Download a few games that you wanna play from online, the file extension should be .nds. Then, download the emulator at DeSmuME. Unzip the file and you'll see DeSmuME_dev.exe. Click and let it load. It will open a second window, then click on 'File', 'Open ROM', and find the game that you have downloaded. It will run the game automatically. Ta-da! For those who like to play Harvest Moon, you can try playing Animal Crossing~ It's damn fun!

Extra information: Those who wanna play gameboy or gameboy advance games, you can play on a PC emulator and even on Android smartphones too. For PC, the emulator is called Visual Boy Advance. Download some games from online, the file extension should be .gba. Then, download the emulator and unzip it. You'll find a VisualBoyAdvance.exe, click it and find the game. For Android, there is a list of emulators as recommended in this article - Joy of Android. As for how it works, I am not familiar with but I supposed it would be the same as the PC emulators.

There is also another emulator that allow you to play NDS games on PSP - DaedalusX64. The project is still incomplete and under revising. I tried Animal Crossing and it crashed badly, the screen froze. To escape this situation, press L, R and START buttons for a few seconds. It should return to the main page of the emulator. I suggest don't try it out yet. If you really wanna try, they have a list of compatible games so do check it out first.

That's all for now. Check out the future updates~!