10 Difficult to Pronounce Game Names + Bonus

Not everything is as simple to pronounce as Super Mario Bros. Though I do sometimes hear people say "brose" instead of "brothers," so maybe that's not a good example. Not everything is as simple to pronounce as Minecraft. That's better.


Sometimes a game is released in America and it retains a part of its Japanese title, which is fine for people who speak Japanese or know how to pronounce Japanese words, but not for the general American public. Am I saying those names should be changed? Absolutely not. I prefer games to stick as closely to their Japanese origins as possible. In fact, I've posted several articles about unnecessary changes between Japanese and American box art.

Occasionally these games stick a word in their title that is uncommon in America, and that too will give American audiences pause when it comes time to say the name out loud. With all that being said, here are 10 games with difficult to pronounce names. And before you chime in with "these games aren't difficult to pronounce," just imagine your grandma walking into a GameStop and asking the clerk for one of them. There you go.

Ar tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel

Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana

Ehrgeiz

htoL#NiQ: The Firefly Diary

The Magic of Scheherazade

PoPoLoCrois

Suikoden Tierkreis

Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception

Xexyz

Ys: The Ark of Napishtim

Some of those are wild. My computer is telling me that almost all of those game names are nothing but typos. I think that's a good indicator that people would have trouble pronouncing them. htoL#NiQ for me is the undisputed champion. What in the world is that?

Bonus

And here's a little bonus section for you. I have compiled a list of 10 more games with difficult to pronounce names. However, the criteria for these is not the same as the first 10. These are games I have heard pronounced different ways by different people. They're not as crazy as the first 10, but some of them can be pretty tricky if you don't know any better.

Astyanax

BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger

Faxanadu

Gradius

Herzog Zwei

Ico

Ikaruga

Ninja Gaiden

Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad

Pokémon

Are there any games you have struggled with pronouncing? I know there have to be more out there! Maybe I could find enough for a second article some day. Let me know!