Is there any language besides Japanese that is worth learning for playing old vidya? Is there any language besides English or Japanese that any games are locked to?

No.
But I do have a small interest in old games from Taiwan, official ones like big RPG's and weird bootlegs too. There's a whole book about the history of video games in Korea too, so maybe they have some interesting games. But I do not think they'll interest you unless you're a hyper autist who already has an interest in those countries/languages
Russia had some interesting RPG's in the 90's, none of them I think I would want to play myself though. There's probably lots of Slavjank out there you'll never get to play.

>>11790016 (OP)
There's probably a lot of Eurojank locked behind French and German

>>11790016 (OP)
Russian, the amount of games hidden behind that language is nutty, that doesn't even count all the mods in RU.

>>11790978
are they good though

>>11791490
The secret to learning a language is actually being interested in the world that comes with it, not just its pop culture.

>>11791496
any particular names come to mind?

>>11790129
Not a lot, but some for sure. Mostly adventure games in French from my cursory knowledge.

The seminal Opera Soft ouvre, La Abadía Del Crimen just isn't the same if it's not in its intended Castellano

>>11790016 (OP)
French, Russian, and Spanish. Possibly German.

This matters if you're into stuff like the CPC, Spectrum, and MSX. Also if you want to play the SNES translations into Euro languages that are pretty good.

>>11790021
fpbp
>Also if you want to play the SNES translations into Euro languages that are pretty good.
Who the fuck would learn any language to play a translation?

>>11791765
same reason why people read champman's or pope's homer

>>11790016 (OP)
Russia is probably the closest. Big population and heavy economic isolation meant a lot of stuff made in Russia never left it.

>>11791802
I think Russia is a good answer since there are is probably a lot of software that we don't even know existed from there.

I think a really interesting example is North Korea. There are so many pieces of media that will probably be lost to time because that country is so secretive. Here is a screenshot of North Korea's clone of Clash of Clans. Apparently it's identical but with different skins. I wouldn't be surprised if they also have some state sponsored propaganda hidden in there.

>>11790016 (OP)
Brazilian Portuguese

>>11792063
The only North Korean games I know that classify as /vr/ are analog arcade ones
>I wouldn't be surprised if they also have some state sponsored propaganda hidden in there.
Pretty much everything is there. There's a cartoon about a young prince taking the throne after his father and defending the kingdom from the south, they're not subtle

>>11790016 (OP)
No language is worth it just for the games but every language has obscure kusoge that is fun. When I first started learning Korean one of the only games made by korean devs was a visual novel for mobile that ended up being really memorable. Apparently it ended up getting a shitty english translation a few years later (game is called "The Fox Awaits Me" in english)

There is also a fun gook knockoff of mario kart called Kart Rider. And then games like pubg took off and that new sims knockoff. And of course Lies of P.

But every year there are games that come from obscure regions and surprise people. Last year there was that Indonesian vn/rpg, every year there are probably dozens of games from all kinds of languages that have merit but for whatever reason never end up in front of international audiences.

Learn the language because you like the language and then figure out what it can do for you after.

>>11790016 (OP)
Polish.

>>11790016 (OP)
korea has expanded versions of old smt titles
https://ddsnet.tistory.com/10

>>11792208
Why's that guy pissed off because a dude is in his hallway?

>>11792141
>No language is worth it just for the games
If you're serious about this hobby, I'd consider Japanese an essential secondary skill.

>>11792063
They're very heavy on the medieval Korean themes in their media, mostly of resistance against Japan and alliance with China.

I don't think there's much if any DPRK games in the /vr/ period unless you somehow find a Korean port of Tetris for whatever computers they were using there then. (Based off of videos, some kind of knockoff IBM compatible? Dear Leader is a Macfag tho)

Any European language. Most comonnly French, German, Spanish.

Definitely Russian because I'm into obscure PC gaming and there's a lot of untranslated Russian stuff out there. Correct me if I'm wrong but there doesn't seem to be too much that's untranslated for Spanish or French. I've come across a few untranslated German games

>>11791682
>>11791741
>>11794470
curious as to what you guys have in mind for French.

>>11794485
where do you find obscure Russian games?

There's a bunch of South Korean RTS-es from the 90s which never got translated, AFAIK.

>>11794485
>>11795717
Bump

>>11790016 (OP)
There are only two languages worth learning: English and Hebrew.