It’s a uniquely Welsh experience. I’ve never been Scottish, or Irish, or Latvian, but those that have inform me when you tell someone where you’re from, the response typically isn’t “What’s that?”.
For the Welsh, that basic icebreaker question from anyone outside the UK usually prompts a deep breath and, regardless of whether you’ve got the time, a brief structured lesson on geography, history, and the world’s coolest flags. Wales, to most of the world, is a silent enigma. A country without footprint.
As a Welsh person, I don’t expect representation. I was 14 the first time I felt Wales reflected in a video game. The second, I was 26. To say the medium hasn’t exactly been kind to Cymru is an understatement. In a pre-Gareth Bale world, Wales wasn’t even in FIFA; the only reliable representation was obligatory appearances in odd rugby games, most of which skipped Nintendo systems.
Yet whilst the history of Wales in Nintendo games is sparse, it runs surprisingly deep, and has had quite the impact on me in a world where I’d never expect to see myself.
Sentinels of the Senghenydd Sky
In 1984, a young designer by the name of Takashi Tezuka was tasked with devising the story and setting for a new game. An exploration epic inspired by his colleague’s childhood obsession with adventuring through the caves around Kyoto, Tezuka decided to delve into his own childhood.
It was on the way out of mine, however, that I first noticed Wales in a game on a Nintendo system. Summer of 2010, and a slew of puns in the localisation had convinced me to try Square Enix's Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies on DS. Sat in my aunt’s spare room, gaudy painting of the 1997 Glamorgan Cricket team on the wall, I arrived at a town called Porth Llaffan. This week, revisiting for the first time since, the town’s population was warm, old-fashioned, and spoke with almost OTT South Wales accents. It’s clearly written by someone English, their backspace key probably still warm after deleting the word ‘Boyo’ from the end of every utterance, but it’s loving. 'Your' is spelt 'Youer', characters call things they like 'Tidy', and the whole town is being terrorised by a monster known as Lleviathan.
In Welsh, double L (“Ll”) is a letter. Pronounced “Thl”, it’s written as such because English printing presses were unequipped to write the Welsh character ‘ỻ’, so they approximated. Lleviathan might be a simple gag, a basic pun, but it’s also affectionate. This was the first time I’d ever seen Welsh in a game, and here was a joke that only made sense to those who understood our language.
Kiki's Denbigh Service
Yet only a mile or two from where I would one day slay that beast and in the same month Tezuka was defining another adventure, another Japanese creative was on one of his own. An animator who had just completed his first film as director, Hayao Miyazaki had arrived in Wales in search of inspiration. Weeks were spent trekking the beautiful Rhonda valley, taking it in, meeting with people, and possibly visiting my aunt. However, it was once he reached Rhymney Valley, my family’s home back generations, that he found the inspiration he had come for.
Miyazaki witnessed the Miner’s Strike firsthand. Maybe the defining act in modern Welsh history, the working folk of Wales and beyond stood up to Margret Thatcher’s government, and it desperately moved Miyazaki. The spirit he saw in the Welsh made the kind of stories he wanted to tell feel obvious. The warmth, the optimism, all in the face of extraordinary hardships. This trip served as the primary inspiration for his next film, 1986’s Castle in the Sky, an idea entirely devised whilst in Wales, and the first film produced by the newly-founded Studio Ghibli.
Miyazaki would go on to drip Welsh architecture into his designs, and become fascinated by Cymraeg folklore. In 2004, he adapted Welsh author Diana Wynne Jones’ novel Howl’s Moving Castle. He moved the setting out of 1980s Wales and stripped Howl’s deep love for rugby, yet the thematic DNA remained.
What's the Nintendo link? It's indirect, but Castle in the Sky would go on to directly inspire the airship levels in Super Mario Bros. 3, whilst Miyazaki’s later work would become a key reference point for Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and perhaps Nintendo’s most outwardly Welsh franchise, Xenoblade Chronicles.
The girl with the Gelligaer
I’d never played a Xenoblade game when the third instalment closed February 2022’s Nintendo Direct. And then, a brief burst of Aimee-Ffion Edwards’ vocals was enough to make me sit up. I’d never seen a game with a Welsh lead before. It was almost overwhelming, and enough to make me buy Xenoblade Chronicles 3. Whilst Mio might not be explicitly written as Welsh, there is a familiar tragedy to her story. A deep passion and love for where she’s from, the family she’s known and made, yet a knowledge those feelings were forged through a foot on the throat. No matter how far she gets away, she’s always looking back from where she came.
The game continues to throw out nods. I genuinely cheered out loud when I arrived at Llyn Nyddwr. 'Llyn Nadwyr' in real-world Welsh translates to 'Spinner Lake'. The previous game had another Welsh girl with cat ears, even granting her a full family of taffs, but number three allowed the scope to be the most nakedly Cymraeg of any Nintendo experience to date. Fire Emblem has used Welsh names for some time now (Three Houses’ central location Garreg Mach is a ‘copy my homework’ take on Carreg Bach, which means ‘Little Stone’), but this was another level. Llyn Nyddwr might be tiny, but it’s a meaningful acknowledgement of something significant I don’t think Nintendo itself has ever noticed.
A Lampeter Between Worlds
Tezuka, still searching for a story all those years ago, decided to lean into the overseas fantasy he loved as a child. He went back to the writing of JRR Tolkien, a Welsh speaker who built worlds out of Celtic folklore. Many of the journeys detailed in the books Tezuka grew up reading were inspired by Tolkien’s own Miyazaki-style treks through West Wales (and Ireland, but let’s not let the truth intrude upon a clean narrative).
Tezuka began to read up on European folklore, history, and myth, yet through sheer coincidence, many of the stories he pulled came from one place. The Master Sword, which would become the series' mythical blade, can be dated back to the Welsh legend Mabinogion, the origin of the Excalibur myth. In later sequels, the protagonist would gain a trusty, beloved horse called Epona, a Welsh name taken from the Celtic goddess of fertility.
As the franchise evolved, Tezuka’s aforementioned colleague Shigeru Miyamoto cited Miyazaki as a key influence on the games' visual style. Fittingly, Miyazaki’s own story came full circle in 2009 when Studio Ghibli oversaw the animation sequences of DS game Ni No Kuni Dominion of the Dark Djinn, which would become better known globally in its enhanced Wrath of the White Witch form. Welsh influences on the design were reflected in the localisation, with player-aid character Drippy being so Cardiff his first word upon bursting to life is “Tidy!”.
These wide-reaching, yet coincidentally sourced references came together. Filtered through Japanese sensibilities and the utter wonder Miyamoto had felt exploring as a child, this became the game we now know as The Legend of Zelda.
There’s a word in Welsh that doesn’t exist in any other language: “Hiraeth”. A mournful, nostalgic, melancholy longing for home, it’s a word that perhaps reflects the Welsh like nothing else. Wales is a nation built out of beauty and oppression, not ashamed to cry over the former but never the latter. Hiraeth speaks to a deep pride at where you’re from, yet a knowledge that you’ll be leaving. The word understands the feeling of smallness that bleeds from a beautiful home, quashed for generations, to the point nobody, in those casual conversations overseas, knows it exists.
The worlds of Nintendo are not packed to the gills with outward Welshness. Yet, under the hood, something sits. Mio in Xenoblade may not be explicitly written as Welsh, yet her story is dripping in hiraeth. Miyazaki may be Japanese, yet it was a venture away from his homeland that made him understand his own life, culture, and values. And in an adventure so grand, Dragon Quest’s Porth Llanaff gave me a sense of belonging through warmth and good humour.
Call it influence, history, coincidence, or simply cultural similarity, but whilst the mention of Wales may still prompt people to ask “What’s that?”, in the world of video games, Wales will always be a nation with a very big footprint.
Comments 66
Being a Scot, I really get a lot of this article. We probably have a slightly different problem in that representation is often horrific stereotypes rather than a lack of it altogether but culturally we do sort of get bundled together. There’s an absolute wealth of culture to draw from across all the Celtic nations, including Cornwall, but it’s still pretty rare. Dragon Quest IX is still possibly my favourite in the series and the localisation is a big part of that. It really captures regional accents, which is a huge part of Japanese media as I’ve realised. Things like Kansai accents are usually just literally translated as slang, whereas they could also be linked to another, more colloquial, accent equivalent in English.
I see your Welsh and raise you Northern Irish, Ireland as a whole gets a lot of rep but NI rarely does. Liam Neeson has to put on an American accent, the DeLorean was built here but is associated with with BTTF more than anything else, the Titanic is associated more with DiCaprio (or these days the Titan submersible).
Even other people from the UK ask if we use £ or € not to mention the mess of being forgotten during Brexit, only to cause further problems down the line.
There has been a few minor successes as far as gaming goes here such as the 2010 PC game Dogfighter as well as Hypixel Studios (later bought by Riot) which was spun off by some developers of the Hypixel Minecraft mod.
Nothing Nintendo related as far as I can see though.
My mother land! (A few hundred years ago.)
What a great article, it can be frustrating that Wales goes unnoticed so much but on the other hand, those that do know we exist, and come to visit, know what a gem it is, here in Llandudno we get flooded with tourists from all over the world at this time of year.
Cymru am byth !!
Fun fact: Kuru Kuru Kururin was based on old Welsh drinking game that required one to be inebriated and rotate around a maze with their arms stretched out.
Of course, when Nintendo adapted it into a video-game they altered the name to incorporate the word 'kuru' (to spin) but besides that the tradition of the pub game Cwrw Cwrw Cwrwrin is still alive and well on GBA NSO
What a cool article. I had no idea Dragon Quest IX had such a Welsh influence. (I've not played it but my eldest son loved it.) That might explain why I remember there being heavy promotion for it in Cardiff upon release - with little exhibition buses parked in the town and at the bay with people giving demonstrations and handing out money off vouchers. Or maybe it was a UK wide tour and its just a coincidence I only saw it there.
"It’s a uniquely Welsh experience... when you tell someone where you’re from, the response typically is... “What’s that?”."
As a Welshman (with an English accent) who works in the film industry, and splits his time mostly between France, the United States, and Canada for work (and occasionally to other countries as well for certain projects) I've found pretty much no-one has heard of Wales, let alone be aware its an individual country. When you try and show it to them on a map, the fact its so "close" (compared to the size of states etc) to London makes them find it very difficult to fathom that its not just a part of England, and that it has its own languages, rich cultural heritage etc. Pretty much everyone agrees that having a dragon on your flag is badass though!
As an aside, from my experience at least, most North American people don't seem to know the difference between England, Great Britain, The British Isles, and the United Kingdom. Admittedly, its quite a unusual concept to have countries within countries, and why would they need to know this in their everyday lives? But it means trying to explain a tiny country like Wales is quite complex and opens up a lot of questions!
The only Xenoblade I've played was Chronicles X on Wii U and I didn't really gel with it. But if the lead of Chronicles 3 is a catgirl with a Welsh accent, I may have to give it a shot. For... research purrrposes nyaa. 😻
So the path to perfection in RPG lies in Wales.
Is it just me or does the "Kiki's Denbigh Service" part lacks the reference to Kiki's Delivery Service in any way?
@samuelvictor Yeah, X is a bit of an oddball for the series for a few reasons; One being, it's the only one in the series to have an American English dub rather than British English.
Ardderchog Robbie. Cymru am byth!
@TeaCatherine Tbh odds were stacked against it as for RPGs I tend to prefer more linear and traditional j-rpg turn based titles than wide open and action based battles.
But as a Wii U owner starved of content, and reading the very positive reviews, I bought both Xenoblade Chronicles X and Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate - the only games in those series that I've ever tried. Sadly I didn't really enjoy either of them and after giving each a good go I gave up.
Perhaps they just aren't my taste, that's ok. But I hear really good things about both series and I really like anime aesthetics and catgirls characters always appeal to me. Its also a definite positive novelty to hear a Welsh accent in a game! So I guess if I try another, XC3 is a good one to start with?
@Princess_Lilly Well, a large amount of european fantasy tropes (so the predominant RPG aesthetic) can trace its roots back to Welsh language content, such as the Mabinogian... because Welsh is the oldest surviving language.
Many things that people think of as "English" - such as King George and the Dragon, King Arthur, Excalibur, Knights of the Round Table etc actually were written in Welsh long before they were translated and adopted by the English. Even things which don't have a Welsh origin have Celtic roots, there's a lot of crossover with Irish and Scottish elements. People may wonder why "English" doesn't really factor in but thats because specifically "English" culture is mostly Norman and Germanic influence from invaders who tried to surpress the older traditions.
Similarly most stock "fantasy" rpg magic systems come from early pagan herbology, again the oldest of which usually have Celtic origin and were usually first written down in Welsh.
My own game, (the Timeless Adventures of Hazel Witch) is a based on fantasty tropes - elements of Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, general JRPG / Zelda stock elements. Its a Metroidvania but with very detailled magic system including growing plants and crafting spells, and also raising and breeding mythical creatures. All of the story, lore and magic is based on real herbology, folk magick and Celtic folklore, and the names of things are based on the Welsh language - because its co-developed by myself (Welsh) and my co-producer/designer (a hereditary witch). Researching everything whilst devloping and balancing the system has been a lot of fun!
As you may guess by my avatar being a little witch girl riding a broom, there is also a tonne of Kiki's Delivery Service influence there... I think the "Kiki's Denbigh Service" you asked about was just put there as a pun based on Miyazaki's other work for Ghibli having a large Welsh/Celtic influence. Though even in Kiki (before he travelled to Wales) there was a lot of European/Celtic folklore influence in his work, as well as him having developed previous smaller (non-feature) projects based on British and Western European literature, folklore and fairytales so he was obviously very enamoured with these thematically, as were many manga and anime creators in the 70s-90s.
I had a strong disdain for cats growing up, and I'm also allergic to them. Then I played Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Nia changed everything for me.
I would have thought Spyro the Dragon would have been the game that traced its roots back to Wales. The dragon is straight off their flag, and abuse of sheep.
@EaglyPurahfan No clue why you're asking me.
@nessisonett That's one of the things that makes Morag a lot of fun as a character, her accent is aggressively Scottish but she exists well outside usual stereotypes being calm, levelheaded, and professional.
@Lizuka She was also a right c**t trying to beat as a kid 😂
What a lovely article! I can relate to an extent in terms of not seeing representation in gaming often, as a British Indian. But when I see something that is inspired by my culture or wordplay based off of my heritage, the feeling is so so sweet haha.
(also, Xenoblade 3 rocks, my favourite in the series!)
I'm asking seriously, sorry for my ignorance.
Why is "Donkey Kong" in the title?
I loved the Mexican (I'm Mexican, and live in Mexico) representation in Mario Odyssey. Sad that some butthurt people got Mariachi Mario to be removed from the cover art of the physical release.
@EaglyPurahfan I've played neither of them. Also, why would I have been talking about FF on this article?
@Olmectron It's a play on words. "Cymru", the Welsh name for Wales, is pronounced kəmri, which sounds like "country".
I spent a lot of holidays in wales growing up as I had some cousins over there. We holiday there regularly even now. Ha.
Interesting read. Thanks.
Thank you Wales for inspiring two or three of my favourite RPGs of all time. Ha.
I'm just super glad the Xenoblade series (barring XCX) was dubbed in the UK. Can you imagine how generic and cringey an American accent would sound on catgirl characters like Nia and Mio? And this is all because Nintendo of America refused to localize the original Xenoblade so it was up to Nintendo UK to handle it instead. Thank goodness.
And I'm speaking as an American here. JRPG/Anime dubs could do with a lot more variety with their English translations and I'm super glad Nia and Mio sound the way they do because of it. They're iconic and stand out.
I just want to say… Donkey Kong Cymru is a fantastic pun
Really enjoyed reading this article, would love to hear more like this. I like hearing more regional accents in English language dubs (played Xenoblade Chronicles 2 recently) and the touches with names of places you mentioned are really neat!
Beautifully written. Vive lla Cymru!
Fascinating article. Several of my ancestors lived in Wales before coming to the U.S., so I'm always interested in learning more about their country of origin.
@JR150 I have to say, I fail to see how an American catgirl would suddenly be cringey compared to a Welsh one, but I am not American so it’s all the same to me. It’s the specific way of saying it like catgirls can’t possibly sound good with an American VA that cracks me up, haha. I will agree that using more varied accents is always more interesting, but not exactly the end of the world.
Maybe it’s in the sense that imagining Rex without a scottish accent just doesn’t feel right because I’m now used to scottish Rex, but if he’d been American to begin with maybe I’d never have cared that much. I hope that whatever they do next, monolith keeps the localisation full of stuff like this, it’d be sorely missed and it sets xenoblade apart.
@Takoda Rex's accent is actually English, but from 'up north'.
@Takoda
Nia and Mio have a much deeper tone thanks to the accents of their VAs. Trust me when I say that catgirl (and a lot of female animal characters) sound extremely high-pitched and cringey in most other JRPG and anime dubs because of the overuse of American VAs. Welsh VAs are a nice change of pace.
@Takoda Rex is 100% not Scottish. The voice actor is a Northern English (Bolton) actor most known for playing the gay vicar in Grantchester.
I loved Mio's voice in XB3, everytime she spoke it was heaven haha.
@nessisonett Shows what I know, haha. My bad, I’m really not very knowledgeable about English accents, thanks for correcting me!
@JR150 Ahh, like that! Now that is very true, though that might be less an American thing only and partially because they were trying to fit the original Japanese vibe, and catgirls usually have very high-pitched voices there (most of the girls do usually). But just like Riku has a normal nopon voice in Japanese and then a grown man voicing him in English, the liberties they took in this ‘dubbing’ with the voices is very welcome.
@samuelvictor X is probably the hardest Xenoblade to start with. If you like more linear, start with the original or remake. It's linear in storytelling and progression, but let's you wander of the path a bit, not unlike some of the classics from days past. Xenoblade X is pretty much straight open world. 2 and 3 are maybe slightly less linear than 1, but they're all great. X is just the least traditional.
@FredsBodyDouble Thank you for the advice. Yes that does definitely sound like it would be easier for me to get into and see what its all about. Sometimes starting a huge open world is overwhelming and doesn't give me enough concentrated time to get a taste for the characters, the world, or the combat. That was probably my issue startign with X.
By 1, you mean "Xenoblade Chronicles", right? (I mean, there aren't "non-Chronicles" titles I haven't heard of?) I've heard very good things about that game from IRL friends who played it on Wii and 3DS and they told me I should get it... but I was put off because of my experience with X.
If so, presumably I could get "Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition" for Switch, then if I like it, then move on to 2 and 3, which might be a bit more overwhelming but i'll already have a grounding in the world and play style? Thanks again
Excuse the non-video game tangent...
I'm a kiwi who lived in London for many years, and would often go to Wales to watch the All Blacks. I went to the Llanelli vs All Blacks rematch (as they beat us in 1972!!), which was so much fun. And I've been in Snowdonia a few times too
The Welsh are some of the friendliest people I've ever met, and I loved every visit I ever had. As a kiwi, they were extra-hospitable, and love to talk rugby all the time (often accompanied by pub lock-ins. Shhhh)
Driving through Wales, I remember seeing Araf written on the roads, meaning to slow. and to this day, I tell people to araf-down, which is typically accompanied by quizzical looks
Apologies for the tangent, but the article got me thinking about Wales, and the many good times I had there (which is a world away as I now live in Oz)
@samuelvictor The Japanese versions are just called "Xenoblade", "Xenoblade 2", etc., but all of the other regions add "Chronicles" to the titles, for some reason.
"Xenoblade 1" and "Xenoblade Chronicles" are, in fact, the same game!
@smoreon I didn't know that, but that explains why I had a vague sense that there were "non-Chronicles" games too. I'll have seen these around (I go to Japan and also import games fairly often, I must have subconsciously noticed them). Thanks for clearing that up for me!
@Bondi_Surfer What a lovely post to read. Thank you. As a proud Welshman who has lived in many countries, and grew up splitting my time between Wales and England, its very nice to hear that you have had such great experiences with Wales and Welsh people. I'm biased, but I can certainly concur that us Welsh are a mostly welcoming and friendly lot. And the fact you've taken some Welsh language with you warms my heart
@EaglyPurahfan Totally off topic, and it ain't much, but here are a few people who might be able to answer your question . https://www.nintendolife.com/games/nintendo-switch/final_fantasy_x_x-2_hd_remaster
My Gran is Welsh, so always support Wales in the Six Nations
GREAT Article. Da iawn! As a fellow fellow Welsh man I relate to a lot of this article, but also a bit of an eye opener for me as I didn't even realise we were this represented!
I know it's not on nintendo systems, but I had several smiles during my playthrough of elden ring - lots of Welsh names and accents throughout.
Pleasantly surprised to wake up this morning to find such a well written article on my favourite gaming website celebrating my homeland. Keep the village alive!
As a lifelong resident of Appalachia, I'd love to see some positive Appalachian representation in media beyond the tired hillbilly stereotypes. Ours is a close-knit community where everyone knows each other. The most hospitable folks you'd ever meet. We're not the inbred, uneducated, hick stereotypes you see on television--stereotypes that have contributed to much systemic oppression and economic hardship, I might add.
Hopefully my comment won't get deleted for touching on something so controversial, but I'm tired of hearing, "people who look like you are ALWAYS represented in media! Let other cultures have a turn in the spotlight!" Just as Chinese and Japanese culture are not one and the same, neither are different European cultures. Our society sees it as offensive to generalize all Asians as one homogenous group, yet it fails to acknowledge the nuance that also exists among "white" groups. We Appalachians are our own people with a rich history; our struggles, our achievements, and our way of life is not the same as other European traditions.
Diversity does not end at skin color, and this article is indicative of that. Don't let other people generalize you and say your culture is overrepresented when they have no idea what your personal background is. Your lived experience is no less valid than anyone else's, and no one has the right to argue against you when you say you don't identify with the people you see on television or in games--even if they happen to match your skin tone.
What a lovely article (and replies of different people) .
I always hope stuff like this remains somewhere in my slightly active memory, so these little hidden gems can bring a smile to my face every time I stumble upon them in real life or in games.
Though I must say, I mostly play these games in Japanese, haha, so I don't know about their specific English-ish (not meant to be rude here, for I really like all these different accents) accents...also I don't really care about Dutch representation anywhere, but get it that it makes people happy to see or hear these things from time to time.
@samuelvictor @Toadie @gwyntendo (and others, sorry if I missed any, that was not intentional) Slightly off topic, but I will be going to Wales somewhere in the coming months to visit my cousin who is studying in Cardiff and want to do a little trip on my motorcycle through the country before and after that visit. Any recommendations or hidden gems I should take into account? (I have been to the North-side of Wales before (really loved the mix of the roughness of the country and the gentleness of the Welsh people and I love hiking, getting lost in bookstores, listening to local musicians and of course doing some melancholy drinking in a good pub from time to time, haha).
Oohw, and fun fact: my picture is from Wales, haha, which my brother turned into a kind of hybrid "A link to Breath of the Past Wild" birthday card for me.
Thanks in advance .
@nessisonett OMG you have just blown my mind. I played 350h+ of XC2 and didn't notice Rex's VA is also the actor who plays Leonard Finch...?
I remember playing Ni No Kuni and being convinced Drippy was voiced by Rod Gilbert.
@Leon-San I am also a motorcyclist and I can tell you Wales has some amazing riding roads. The road from Brecon to Aberystwyth (black mountain pass, devil’s elbow pass etc) is particularly awesome.
Engrossing article. I wrote a similar one on the same subject a few years back funnily enough.
https://nintendoplayers.uk/news/nintendo-switch-welsh-connections/
@Leon-San I second the above! All around the Brecon Beacons is stunning scenery to drive through, but also to stop and admire, hike through etc - Pen Y Fan, the waterfalls, the National Showcaves, all in the Brecon Beacons National Park area, then the drive up to Aberystwyth is gorgeous as @gwyntendo said!
If you prefer coastal views, pretty much everywhere along the south coast path along to the west is stunning too, going West from Cardiff through Bridgend, I'd recomend stopping at Porthcawl - there is a cheap and cheerful old Funfair tourist spot but just a skip away is Rest Bay, one of the most beautiful beaches, hidden away and unknown to most tourists. Keep going west through Swansea and everywhere around the Gower is stunning especially Rhossili. Next you'd reach Carmarthen and the National Botanic Gardens, and eventually Pembrokeshire which has a million stunning beaches, Pembroke castle, Manor Wildlife Park, and the Oakwood Theme Park - biggest in Wales if you like rollercoasters and rides
As for stuff in or near Cardiff, its a great city, I lived and worked there for a few years and loved it. Cardiff Bay is beautiful, nearby St Fagins National Museum, and the Big Pit national coal museum are both very worth a visit, and a pleasant drive there. If you go to Blaenafon nearby be sure to buy Cheese from the Blaenafon Cheese Company, literally best cheeses I've ever tasted.
Cardiff Castle is great and right there in the center of the city of course - and if you like castles, Wales has tonnes of them - Caerphilly castle, Castell Coch, Tintern Abbey, all gorgeous and very different experiences.
Nice article, i would pose however that in brazilian portugues there is a translation for Hiraeth: Saudade
Saudade (English: /saʊˈdɑːdə/,[1] European Portuguese: [sɐwˈðaðɨ], Brazilian Portuguese: [sawˈdadʒi], Galician: [sawˈðaðɪ]; plural saudades)[2] is an emotional state of melancholic or profoundly nostalgic longing for a beloved yet absent something or someone. It is often associated with a repressed understanding that one might never encounter the recipient of longing ever again. It is a recollection of feelings, experiences, places, or events— often elusive —[citation needed] that cause a sense of separation from the exciting, pleasant, or joyous sensations they once caused. It derives from the Latin word for solitude.[3]
Been to Wales three times and liked it every time. There's also a Welsh character in Not A Hero on Switch.
What a fascinating article, as someone interested in languages I really have to learn at least something more about Cymraeg when I have the time!
The letter "ll" sounds more like the "ch" + "L" in Bach's name rather than a "th" + "L"…
Glad to see some Welsh focus though!
@Aelynn Hahaha, I was shocked when I found out too!
@EaglyPurahfan @samuelvictor
Xenoblade chronicles x is a weird one and is my least favourite entry in the series.
I loved the first game but was a little jaded by 2's more tropey anime styling/humour and a lot of the character designs(particularly Blades).
Own 3 but not tried it yet 🤞.
I'd honestly recommend Torna as the best way to try the series due to its smaller scale, lower price and tighter focus. It reinvigorated my enthusiasm for the series.
What about that game development studio Wales Interactive? They seem to have released about 20 games on the Switch eShop and more or less own the FMV game genre at the moment.
That's a top tier pun in the title there. I love that it only works if you pronounce Cymru correctly.
This piece was crying out for a mention for Wales Interactive. They even put out Maid of Sker on Switch, based on a Welsh folk tale and set in a fictional version of Sker House, near Porthcawl!
@Folkloner Great article, very cool to see some of my old haunts remade in Minecraft too, the Millenium Centre is impressive! I don't know if it counts as I know longer live there, but I'm Welsh and I'm currently developing 4 Switch games, including one based on Welsh folklore and with some Welsh language in there I'm sure there must be more of us Welsh indie devs scattered around!
@AJWolfTill Interesting - until I read your comment I didn't know that Torna was available as a standalone game rather than just as DLC. I'll keep an eye out for the physical version. Thanks! Judging by comments, seems X was not a good jumping in point for me to pick. Back then, releases on Wii U were few and far between, so I pretty much bought everything released! lol.
Great article, but given the headline, I wanted to note that it was a design team of two Welshmen that created Donkey Kong Country 3 (myself being one of them). I’ve been representing the homeland across a wide range of video games and industries ever since. Cymru am byth!
@samuelvictor @gwyntendo Oohw whoow, thanks a lot for these suggestions . I am not really a good (a huge understatement, haha) planner (mostly because I am easily distracted or swayed by the moment) but I will be making a small handwritten list with interesting stuff to do and see and put that somewhere save in one (or both) of my boots before I start my journey. And extra points for mentioning cheese, haha, as a Dutchman I love my fair share of cheese, so looking forward to that. Thanks again .
@Leon-San No problem!
I remember the first time I started Ni No Kuni and drippy burst out saying tidy, I had the biggest grin but no moment made me more proud than when he first said "come on mun", That "mun" filled me such childlike glee that it almost brought a tear to my eye.
I have an English fiancée and she is still baffled by the Welsh language and little things like Mun, Butt, Tidy and Lush but she's bloody loves "Cwtch". As much as I'd love to see more Wales in gaming I think the representation we've got is pretty stellar and that's not even mentioning Elden Ring!
as an irish person i can confirm that nobody outside of the uk knows what wales is. this article is literally the first time ive heard of it
Ha. Good read. I've been to Wales probably around 30 or so times in my lifetime as I have family there and also because it's actually the most underrated place to holiday in the country, I feel . So I am very familiar with the cool accent. Actually laughed out loud in appreciation when I heard it in XC3
This sorta goes back to why I am not a fan of the expense of voice acting. When games had very little voice acting then games had several translations including accommodating many region variants of English. So games would have NA localization and UK localization and AUS localization.
I really, really miss that because sometimes that regional dissonance is enough to make a game difficult to play or off putting. European gamers used to (and often still) complain about games in American or Canadian accents or dialects and it is a fair complaint I feel. Just as I can’t play Dragon Quest or Xenoblade (especially Xenoblade) on English because the accents or even worse if regional spelling or vocabulary is used makes a game incomprehensible. I am just grateful that games usually have a Japanese track (and many games are finally allowing for Japanese text as well) so I can stop buying two copies (or sometimes Japanese only as is the case for me and DQ games since DQ 8) of games just to understand/enjoy it. It also allows for local VAs and localization teams to get work.
I just wish that it was cost effective enough that we could have multiple localizations and voice tracks.
Tap here to load 66 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...