Zelda Breath of the Wild Materials Demystified in Japanese
Zelda Breath of the Wild was one of the best games Nintendo has ever made. It broke away from the traditional model of a linear path to allowing players to do what they want, when they want. Now, with the sequel, Zelda Tears of the Kingdom coming out in just over a week, now is the perfect time to get one last look at this game. Not for playing but of course improving your Japanese.
INDEX
Consistency between English and Japanese
Nintendo, especially in recent years likes to have a consistent experience between players around the world. The days where Japan gets the game games months, to a year before the rest of the world is over. Nintendo tends to release these games globally at the same time. This allows people around the world to share in the same experience at the same time. This thinking however, also seems to spill over to names of character’s and assets in their games to. Meaning, many of these names are the same in both English and Japanese. There are exceptions to this however. Today I would like to explain one of those exceptions for Breath of the Wild, and that would be the materials.
https://japaneseuniverse.com/2024/02/18/pac-man-in-japaneseconcepts-behind-development-to-global-icon/Materials in Japanese and English
I never actually played the English version of the game, so I was unaware until writing this blog post the English names of items. Many of them are very unique and interesting! Nintendo of America seems to have gone into a lot of work for naming these items. The Japanese version on the other hand, the material names are more algorithmic. Most of the material names easily identify what extra ability they bestow onto Link. There is not much variety as in the English version but it makes it easier to know what these items do for you.
So below, I will go ahead and list these prefixes used on the various items throughout Hyrule.
マックス – Max
Hearts are how life is measured in the Zelda series. When you get a hearty radish, durian, lizard or whatever it gives you a nice boost in life. In Japanese, they could have used a word like ハート which means heart as in Link’s heart, and the same idea would have been portrayed. Instead though, Nintendo went a different route in Japanese. They use the word マックス which comes from the english word max since it maxes out your hearts.
- マックスドリアン – Hearty Durian
- マックストリュフ – Hearty Truffle
- マックスラディッシュ – Hearty Radish
- マックスバス – Hearty Trout
- マックスサーモン – Hearty Salmon
- マックスサザエ – Hearty Blueshell Snail
- マックストカゲ – Hearty Lizard
ヒンヤリ – Nice and Chilly
In Japanese there is a whole category of words known as 擬態語 or 擬音語 also known as onomatopoeia in English. These are words to represent sounds animals, objects, people or even the state or appearance of something. It is enough to make you think that people in Japanese past all had synesthesia since these words are everywhere and used to represent a bunch of concepts.
ひんやり is one of those words. It means to be chilly, or is said for a nice pleasant cool feeling.
今日の天気は涼しくて、風が吹いていてとてもひんやりしています。
Today the weather is cool, and the wind blowing makes it nice and cool
The word, ひんやり or hinyari shows up for materials that give Link a heart boost and raises heat resistance.
- ヒンヤリマス – Chillfish Trout
- ヒンヤリダケ – Chillshroom
- ヒンヤリヤンマ – Cold Darner
- ヒンヤリメロン – Hydromelon
- ヒンヤリアゲハ – Winterwing Butterfly
ポカポカ – Pleasantly Warm
ぽかぽか (poka-poka) is the warm version of ひんやり. It is another Japanese onomatopoeia representing a pleasantly warm state.
暖かいコーヒーを飲みながら、ぽかぽかとした陽気を楽しんでいます。
I’m enjoying the warm weather while drinking a warm coffee
In the English version of Zelda, items with the words, spicy, summer, sun, warm and so on are represented by ポカポカ in the Japanese version
- ポカポカ草の実 – Spicy Pepper
- ポカポカダケ – Sunshrooms
- ポカポカハーブ – Warm Safflina
- ポカポカマス – Sizzlefin Trout
- ポカポカアゲハ – Summerwing Butterfly
- ポカポカヤンマ – Warm Darner
ビリビリ – Shocking!
Continuing with Japanese onomatopoeia, biri-biri or びりびり represents the electric sound of someone getting shocked. So, obviously this word is used for any materials related to volts, electric or thunder. These items give you shock protection, and below are some examples.
コンセントに触れたらびりびりっときた
I got shocked touching the outlet
- ビリビリフルーツ – Voltfruit
- ビリビリハーブ – Electric Safflina
- ビリビリマス – Voltfin Trout
- ビリビリヤンマ – Electric Darner
- ビリビリダケ – Zapshroom
ゴーゴー – Go! Go!
Like マックス this is another term borrowed from English. Speed can be just what you need in Breath of the Wild when you just don’t have the strength to face a Lynel. These ゴーゴー items take their name from the English, go go.
- ゴーゴーハスの実 – Fleet-Lotus Seeds
- ゴーゴーダケ – Hightail Lizard
- ゴーゴーニンジン – Swift Carrot
- ゴーゴースミレ – Swift Violet
- ゴーゴーガエル – Hot-Footed Frog
- ゴーゴートカゲ – Rushroom
ツルギ – Double-Edged Sword
In Japanese there are lots of different words for swords, blades or types of swords. The words ツルギ specifically though refers to double-edged swords. These would be the kind of swords that are more commonly seen in western, or medieval based fantasy. That would be in contrast to Japanese, single-sided swords.
So, in Zelda Breath of the Wild the materials, whether bananas, fish, plans, or mushrooms that give you a boost in attack power are prefixed with ツルギ or tsurugi.
- ツルギバナナ – Mighty Banana
- ツルギソウ – Mighty Thistle
- ツルギゴイ – Mighty Carp
- ツルギダイ – Mighty Porgy
- ツルギガニ – Razorclaw Crab
- ツルギカブト – Bladed Rhino Beetle
- ツルギダケ – Razorshroom
ガッツ – Guts
The stamina wheel in Zelda gives an extra layer of complexity to the game. Though you may have life, you may not always be able to complete a climb up a mountain because of this feature. That is why it is important to make sure you have some food that gives you this boost in stamina.
In Japanese the word ガッツ comes from the English words guts. Not in the sense though for Hinox guts, but instead the feeling of having power to overcome something. ガッツ is then stuck in front of the name of materials that give Link this endurance to just reach the summit of the. mountain.
- ガッツダケ – Endura Shroom
- ガッツニンジン – Endura Carrot
- ガッツガエル – Tireless Frog
ガンバリ – Endurance
ガンバリ comes from the Japanese verb ganbaru which is a hard to translate word from Japanese.
頑張れ！What does Ganbatte mean?
It is sufficient though, to translate it in this case as endurance. These ガンバリ items restore Link stamina when he is running low.
- ガンバリダケ – Stamella Shroom
- ガンバリバス – Staminoka Bass
- ガンバリガニ – Bright-Eyed Crab
- ガンバリバッタ – Restless Cricket
- ガンバリカブト – Energetic Rhino Beetle
- ガンバリバチのハチミツ – Courser Bee Honey
シノビ – Stealth like a Ninja
シノビ is a word from the Japanese very 忍ぶ which means to be quiet or stealthy. 忍び is also another word for Ninja in Japanese so has a double meaning. In Zelda Breath of the Wild, any items that allow Link to be quiet so he can strike a stealth attack are referred to in Japanese with シノビ.
- シノビダケ – Silent Shroom
- しのび草 – Blue Nightshade
- シノビマス – Stealthfin Trout
- シノビタニシ – Sneaky River Snail
ヨロイ – Armor
The Japanese word for armor is yoroi. In Zelda, items that give Link more defense are have the word ヨロイ attached to them to represent this.
- ヨロイダケ – Ironshroom
- ヨロイゴイ – Armored Carp
- ヨロイダイ – Armored Porgy
- ヨロイガニ – Ironshell Crab
- ヨロイカブト – Rugged Rhino Beetle
- ヨロイカボチャ – Fortified Pumpkin
ヒケシ – Extinguish
Finally we have ヒケシ or hikeshi which is a word from 火を消す which means to extinguish a fire. In Zelda these materials raise LInk’s resistance to fire.
- ヒケシアゲハ – Smotherwing Butterfly
- ヒケシトカゲ – Fireproof Lizard
