I study Japanese at university, and I have two language teachers who are from Japan. I asked them about latin script fonts, and why in Japan, only a few fonts seem to be popular, and they told me that it's also for clarity's sake - many Japanese people are not constantly exposed to the latin alphabet, making it harder for them to read text in a more exotic font, and Morisawa Shin Go and New Rodin make it easy for Japanese people, used to Japanese script, to read the latin alphabet.

@zoroasper9759

Жыл бұрын

The opposite is true as I'm sure you know! When I see Mincho or Gothic Kanji and Kana everything looks fine and readable but as soon as you throw other fonts my way I instantly get confused, even with simple Kana I'm very used to reading now

@pbrown7501

Жыл бұрын

I got this same response when I asked a (native Japanese) English teacher here in Japan why she chose to use comic sans in a professional document―for readability. That's why I'm kind of surprised that the preferred "big name" fonts happen to have the double-story lowercase 'a' instead of an 'a' that mirrors a more familiar handwritten style.

@mandl2710

Жыл бұрын

I imagine this also relates to some glyphs having multiple possible shapes depending on the font. As a native English speaker I'm used to seeing 'a' written multiple ways, but the first time I saw そ with a disconnected top line it threw me off.

@cheeseitup1971

Жыл бұрын

@@pbrown7501 I actually prefer the complex 'a' for readability. The handwritten style often gets very close to 'o', and I find it's harder to read words I can't guess from context and random strings of letters. Can't say the same for 'g', however. I also switched over to writing broken そ recently, and I highly recommend giving it a try :P

@robokill387

Жыл бұрын

@@pbrown7501 comic sans is surprisingly good for readability. Loads of dyslexic people prefer it too.

Great video! I'd noticed the font in a bunch of games before, but I had no idea it was actually two different fonts by two different companies! Thanks for the great video - really well presented!

@hei1

2 жыл бұрын

Love ur vids

@amazingfireboy1848

Жыл бұрын

@@hei1 Same.

@DDjivan

Жыл бұрын

@@amazingfireboy1848 same

@stevenjjohnson

Жыл бұрын

Hi Thomas!!!’

@bananaoatmeal

Жыл бұрын

HI THOMAS

I worked as an UI Designer for several Japanese projects that very specifically requested the use of Morisawa Shin Go for their interface. I've always thought it had something to do with legal reasons since big Japanese corps are kind of anal about it. Never realized it had such significance in the culture.

@Tony_Baloney_69420

Жыл бұрын

That's something really special to know.

@vitogeist

Жыл бұрын

Bro really slipped "anal" in a sentence mad respect 💀💀💀

@LiterallyScarecrow

Жыл бұрын

they're kind of WHAT about it?

@generallyunimportant

Жыл бұрын

@@vitogeist that's literally a normal term, but alr.

@JC20XX

Жыл бұрын

@@vitogeist some words have more than one meaning...

ive always labeled it as the nintendo font and that one time i saw it in a music video i immediately went “ITS THE NINTENDO FONT!1!1!”

@official_rown

Жыл бұрын

which video

@prufrockrenegade

Жыл бұрын

I just kind of associate it with early/mid 2000s video gaming. But since I extensively used a hacked PSP for emulation at that time, I most strongly associate it with that system

@UT4iTE

Жыл бұрын

@@official_rown idk probably a vocaloid mv

@Karin-fj3eu

Жыл бұрын

Ahahaha yeah

@v1ku390

Жыл бұрын

@@UT4iTE If I had enough time I would go through every vocaloid song and find a Mv with the font lol Would be fun bc am a pretty big fan of miku + the miku figures right next to me lmaooo

I really wouldn't have known that it was in so many other places than wii games, but the font looks SUPER wii/wii sports to me! Interesting to know! :)

@fnjesusfreak

Жыл бұрын

I associate it with anime - especially Inuyasha and Detective Conan.

i love fonts

@tvcatoof

Жыл бұрын

oh my god, it’s him

@050_WeiXian

3 ай бұрын

only 8 likes and 2 replies?

@kidinschooloutfit

3 ай бұрын

hi mysticat

The most obvious difference of A-OTF Shin Go Pro and FOT-New Rodin Pro is that they have different capital R glyphs.

@NYKevin100

Жыл бұрын

It's always the capital R. Helvetica's capital R has a funny curve to it, that you don't see on most other fonts (not even infamous Helvetica-impersonator Arial).

@HappyBeezerStudios

Жыл бұрын

@@NYKevin100 There are even more differences between the usual suspects Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Tahoma

@la1lajad3

Жыл бұрын

the lowercase j is also very different

the use of the word to refer to 'sans serif' Japanese fonts was a really intriguing detail to me- would love to know where that comes from!

@Sanguivore

Жыл бұрын

Perhaps there’s something to do with some sans-serifs being referred to as “grotesques,” and Gothic architecture and art having an association with the grotesque? I’m probably reaching, but that’s what came to mind first for me.

@pizza-pi

Жыл бұрын

@@Sanguivore Since you know to call them grotesque I'll assume you know of the origin of "Gothic", and I'll skip most of that and just say that's actually pretty correct. Gothic fonts more or less come directly down the line from historical blacklettering for their nomenclature, and while they aren't *exactly* the same as Sans Serif, most people just really wouldn't know the difference. If anything, I'd say the former is just a bit more ... rigid or striking, maybe, than the latter.

@Sanguivore

Жыл бұрын

@@pizza-pi Interesting to know I was on the right track! :0 Thanks for the info!

@elio7610

Жыл бұрын

It is not literally reffering to "sans serif" though. Variable strokes and serifs are two separate concepts. The similarity between how japan supposedly uses the term "gothic" and the fonts we refer to as "sans serif" is basically just that they are both more minimalist, simpler, styles that happen to be associated as more modern. You could also refer to them as "crude" if you wanted to emphasize your dislike for them, which i suppose leads into the word "grotesque" or "gothic".

@exylic

Жыл бұрын

'Gothic' is the older term for sans serif in English as well, so it's just derived from that.

Glad I was able to help out.

IT's kind of like the Namco font, every video game used it in the '80s and early '90s, and now it's used as a "retro game" font.

@DavidJBurbridge

Жыл бұрын

Hello, you!

Also, to state the obvious... making a new font with Kanji is a MUCH larger task than just making one for the latin alphabet. So you're never going to have quite the wide font diversity that we have.

@Liggliluff

Жыл бұрын

And if you're going to use the font outside of English, but still the Latin alphabet, the options are vastly reduced. Most "serious" fonts have extended support, but creative silly fonts usually don't.

@tylerphuoc2653

Жыл бұрын

@@Liggliluff It took a surprising amount of time to navigate Fontstruct and get all the Tiếng Việt diacritics down in my custom font there, something that I wanted to get right since it's my second tongue

@jhgvvetyjj6589

Жыл бұрын

@@tylerphuoc2653 Fontstruct is useless anyway due to lacking many essential features for making usable fonts.

@Croz89

Жыл бұрын

@@tylerphuoc2653 Unicode does support combining diacritics which helps somewhat (though it will impact your character count).

I never realized the font appeared so often in their games! I won't be able to unsee it now!

@LouisSubearth

Жыл бұрын

Almost all game companies in Japan use them, save for Namco, they prefer DF Gothic, which was widely used in Smash Bros 3DS/Wii U/Ultimate

Short, well edited and interesting. Video doesn’t overstay it's welcome nor has any unnecessary filler, this is certainly a 5/5 star rating from me. Good job 👏

Looking at Wii U era games, it’s pretty clear how this font is just EVERYWHERE. Even to the point where for the longest time I thought Nintnedo had some sort of internal policy at that time to use “the Nintendo UI font” for UI wherever possible. Thanks for putting this little mystery to rest!

This and Highway Gothic (which is used on US Highway signs) are my top 2 favorite fonts and I use them a lot.....sometimes

@T2norway

Жыл бұрын

i’m familiar with highway gothic! used it once in a logo i made for a client ˙ ͜ʟ˙

@TornaitSuperBird

Жыл бұрын

@@T2norway Highway Gothic inspired Interstate (the typeface used by MSNBC up until 2020) and a free, open-source alternative called Overpass.

@electricnezumi

Жыл бұрын

@@TornaitSuperBird I use overpass quite a bit! It makes sense it was inspired by Highway Gothic.

@calebbenedict5587

Жыл бұрын

Highway Gothic is my favorite font! It’s a shame that some states have mostly abandoned it in favor of Clearview, which looks terrible (and is actually less legible too).

@futurexa

Жыл бұрын

For road signs, I like Bahnschrift Indian road signs use Bahnschrift everywhere

お疲れ様です。 日本人でも知らないことを、よく調べましたね。素晴らしい。

@twolve

Жыл бұрын

"日本のどこにでも見られる"って言われても全然気づきませんでしたwww

@clavicol6875

Жыл бұрын

@@twolve it might be because you see it everyday so you won't notice haha, it's the same for many places

@twolve

Жыл бұрын

@@clavicol6875 true, now that i've seen this video im seeing it like every two seconds lmao

I believe Japanese designers use monospace fonts because their native alphabets (Katakana, Hiragana and Kanji) are all monospace. The Latin alphabet has glyphs of varying widths (e.g., i, m) so it's monospace fonts are quite uncommon in English-speaking realms.

Okay, that setup and payoff with _Helvetica_ was both unexpected and great.

On a practical level, it's likely also a time saver for UI designers. By having a font ready for CJK and Latin, if the text is already centered and positioned properly, you don't have to change fonts and redesign your UI for the new font when going between languages.

I really love the looks of Shin Go, it got that roundish-square type look. Very happy you made this video!

I am a fulltime software engineer, a week after watching this video I decided to change my OS default, system and VSC font to Morisawa Shin Go. It has boosted my productivity tremendously, I feel much happier and comfortable behind my pc. I always have played around with fonts but this one just feels so perfect to me. It feels like I am playing a Nintendo game whenever I’m working, it’s crazy, all because of a font.

@pokemonXD1

Жыл бұрын

how did you get the font? Do you have to buy it on typesquare?

I was very surprised to hear about Helvetica. In almost any academic setting , it’s always been Times New Roman, size 12, double spaced lines, and six space indents as opposed to pressing tab. I don’t think I’ve ever used Helvetica, hell, Arial is default in a lot of programs. Really surprised me, great vid!

@samaiello7543

Жыл бұрын

@@gregoryford2532 i know right? i asked the same question about tab and got a cookie cutter response along the lines of "thats how it is", and yea, double spacing just makes more papers to print aside from grading and marking purposes, just didn't occur to me that it wouldn't matter otherwise, which is admittedly ignorant of me.

@r4ls3i60

Жыл бұрын

It seems Helvetica is associated with Apple, Arial is associated with Microsoft, & Roboto is associated with Android & Google

That was fascinating to watch! I noticed that many games use these fonts or similar versions of them.

The idiocy of 'intellectual property' will never cease to astonish.

I always thought this font looks quite high-tech - I guess from its squarish proportions. It's very familiar from the Wii!

@leatherworkstation

Жыл бұрын

Maybe the similarities with Eurostile/Microgramma have you subconsciously associating with science fiction and engineering/technology as those two fonts are ubiquitous in both.

@ramppappia

Жыл бұрын

@@leatherworkstationit's the opposite for me, the Wii has very "futuristic" vibes so now I associate the font with that

I appreciate this only being four minutes, so many people take a topic like this and stretch it to like 15 minutes somehow

Funny enough. Rodin it's also used heavily in games and japanese consoles too. It's the font of the ps3 and the Nintendo 3ds, for example. I've seen many indie games and hd remasters of pixel art games like final fantasy snd chrono trigger use it as it's regular typeface. It's also the font used in the first 4 metal gear solid games' subtitles and codec calls

3:30 the whole fonts used for Helvetica Standard title are not helvetica, but the title of Nichijou by Arawi Keichi is. Which makes it interesting(ly hilarious)

I remember when I was playing wii sports as a kid when I was into fonts I thought wii sports had the best font I literally just went to the game just to see but I didn’t know what it was called until this video lol

This is my most favorite font ever, and would be the first font to buy if I have enough money.

" I was devastated. Out of leads, and without an idea of where to investigate further, So I booked a trip to Japan"

0:28 Oh hi, thanks for including me in the video

It's wild to me that this video is just 4 minutes long but SO full of interesting information.

There are a bunch of “classic” Morisawa that are always used (Shin Go Pro, Jun Pro etc.) because for a long time they were the few options to have both Japanese and Romaji glyphs. They are great for headings, but for body copy and at smaller sizes Mincho or other “serif” are a bit more legible (like in english actually). These days there are more options like Google’s Noto (for “no tofu”, the squares that appear when glyphs are missing) that have the advantage of being free to use (the “Morisawa Passport” is not exactly cheap).

I wasn't expecting this to be so interesting! Great stuff!

I was one of the lead translators for the localization of a video game and chose Shin Go out of the options presented to us by the Japanese development team... I feel weird for having contributed to this phenomenon and immediately recognized it when seeing the thumbnail lmao

@youdonotcare

Жыл бұрын

Which one?

@tobynnaylor5061

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, which game? Sounds interesting.

I just always figured it was just an offshoot of Eurostile. There's definitely a lot of cross-over in typography and font designs. However, I wouldn't say that sans-serif is "more legible". Serifs have their place in helping your eye quickly identify what letters are what, and there's of course also a lot of your own experience mixed in there. I feel I can read a novel set in a serif font far more quickly and comfortably than one set in a sans-serif, for example.

Great video! I always thought it was Eurostile. Makes sense that it’s a Japanese font. The squarish/boxy letters work well as display text on TVs. Especially going back to standard definition graphics, the more uniform the letters the better.

As someone involved in DTP in Japan, I feel it interesting that it is understood as a typeface that often appears in games. Japanese typefaces have a very large number of glyphs, so licenses tend to be expensive. Fontworks has a history of competing with Morisawa in terms of licensing flexibility. That’s why there are so many examples of its use in games. Shaken, which can be said to have roots in both vendors, was prevented from converting to font files due to strong opposition from its founder family, but will be converting to OTF from next year. Although it will depend on the license, the characters used in videogames may change completely again.

@tvbluesun1254

Жыл бұрын

It feels like Japanese font companies are very restrictive (at least, compared to western ones). I've even tried looking into buying Japanese fonts, but there's usually clauses in the licenses that only people in Japan are allowed to use them, plus the font companies seem to be very protective of their fonts, so it's probably very rare for there to be any non-Japanese uses. Video games might be the only medium where non-Japanese speakers get to see a large amount of English text typeset by a Japanese process (because the game programming was written in Japan). Fonts based on handwritten subtitles from Japanese cinemas might be another distinctively Japanese style of font that might get associated with Japanese-programmed games. Though when they're used in English, where there isn't any historical meaning like that, they just look like a mismatched mess...

@takustaqu

Жыл бұрын

The reason why Nintendo and others use the same typeface globally is probably because the cost of changing typefaces for each locale is ridiculous, and the font itself is on the device even if it is used in a non-CJK locale. I agree that Japanese font vendor licensing is very strict. Among them, Fontworks is sometimes treated quite loosely. Morisawa has also become quite flexible, but used to be much stricter. What makes licensing more restrict than with European typefaces is the cost: since the typeface has about 7,000 characters, the design cost is very high; designing a typeface with 7,000 characters is very expensive, and even more so since the subtle differences between Chinese and Korean characters must also be covered. Adobe and Google are distributing typefaces that support glyphs including Japanese for free, which is extremely unusual.

@takustaqu

Жыл бұрын

Unrelated, but the system fonts for PlayStation4/5 and other devices use Sony's original, exclusive typeface (SST). This is a joint development with MonoType, the designers of the Apple device Japanese system typeface(Hiragino). It is extremely unusual for a company to create its own original Japanese typeface for its own use, and this case was a great surprise.

The editing in this vid is so clean. I got more info in 3 minutes than most video essays can manage in ten.

I love Japanese “Latin” fonts. Simple and sleek yet elegant.

最初期の写植和文書体は平仮名や片仮名を漢字より小さく作っていましたが、平仮名や片仮名を漢字並みの大きさに拡大する写植書体が現れると、欧文が行からズレているように見えてしまうという問題がありました そのため写植時代に新しく作られた和文書体には、x-heightが高くdescenderが短く、ときにはmonospacedな、特徴的な欧文が含まれることがあります

@nemo2e4

Жыл бұрын

Yes. I was going to say exactly this. The square aspect is important.

Actually such a godsend of a video. I've been looking for these fonts for ages!!

Wow, this is truly one of those "once you've seen it, you can never unsee it" things. I never realised I'd been seeing the same font/s over and over again until now.

Wow, I didn't know it was considered a new version of Rodin. Rodin is also super iconic in Japanese systems and games.

On further observation ot seems most of the JDM vehicles from the 90s also had a similar typeface on their speedo/clima control interfaces. Good catch and always informative ❤

To me the NewRodin font screams of stock-ish with how often it's used, mainly in the lower-budget Nintendo games like Super Mario Party and Mario Golf Super Rush, very lacking in personality with a very clinical look (which fitted the Wii-era's focus on casual audieces, but not so much nowadays) *More like "Japan's **_Impact"_*

@Bladieblah

Жыл бұрын

How is Super Mario Party a low budget game?

@DeepWeeb

Жыл бұрын

@@Bladieblah Do you believe it's on the same level as Mario Kart 8 (the base game not the Booster Course Pass) or Super Mario Odyssey in terms of quality and polish?

@Bladieblah

Жыл бұрын

@@DeepWeeb What's wrong with the booster course pass? I've heard good things about Super Mario Party, just strange to hear it called low-budget but I get your point. MK8 deluxe is just MK8 with some extras so I don't think the budget was very high, yet they still charge full price -_-. But yeah I get your point, Mario Party is not as big a release as these other games

@DeepWeeb

Жыл бұрын

@@Bladieblah The Booster Course Pass is simply not on the same level of quality as base MK8DX (or even the original Wii U DLC) as most of it has been lifted directly from Mario Kart World Tour, a mobile game, and the difference in detail is very noticeable even at plain sight, shows not a lot of work was put into it

I had no idea that companies owned fonts. I can't even begin to think about how that works.

@woowoo7813

Жыл бұрын

Licencing for fonts works differently based on the country. For instance, you need a licence to use a font digitally in the USA as it is protected as a software, but for printing it is not protected. However, There are a smaller amount of countries that protect the individual designs like Germany (I think) due to their heritage with the printing press.

Fantastic video! Love the editing!

Another great video man! Always got an eye for a good topic and a good way to explain it!

1:30 worth pointing out that (old) Rodin has also been used on consoles many times; it's used on the 3DS practically everywhere (system default font), as well as on the PS3 home screen

Finally! I was searching for this for so long! I've always loved this font and how it's used in like everything japanese. Great Video!

I always saw them as a non-extended version of Microgramma, the font you'd see in video games like GRID.

@cmyk8964

Жыл бұрын

Microgramma is basically the original CRT-rounded-square design that brought forth Eurostile (the ACTUAL non-extended version of it), so it’s like a grandparent to NewRodin/ShinGo.

This is most likely one of my favorite videos. As nerdy as it is I find fonts very interesting and the way you did a deep dive on my all time favorite font is just awesome to me.

Holy for the number of subs you have this is high quality stuff

Never really thought about this o_O but now I know of a cool font (or rather two) that I can use in Latin script languages as well as Japanese. Great work on this video!

your japanese pronounciation is so on point, breath of fresh air after so many video essayists butchering the language LOL

@Bladieblah

Жыл бұрын

There's still a very clear English/American accent, if you watch videos of polyglots doing multiple languages they sound much more like natives do. Look up some videos of Nintendo's Bill Trinen translating for Japanese Nintendo staff in some videos and you'll hear he sounds much closer to how Japanese people speak. English is a very "airy" and Japanese isn't, that's what creates the characteristic English/American accent, same for other languages like French, German, and Spanish.

@sugarinq

Жыл бұрын

@@Bladieblah So? It’s still impressive and there’s no need to be nitpicky about the pronunciation of someone who doesn’t even speak the language in everyday life.

@Bladieblah

Жыл бұрын

@@sugarinq I just find it odd OP picked this channel to say the pronunciation is great when it's not that special. And it's odd coming from someone who isn't Japanese themselves. I'm not Japanese either but I can still detect an accent but even if I couldn't I wouldn't comment on how well pronounced it is because not being a native I really can't tell, I can only judge on a very superficial level

@sugarinq

Жыл бұрын

@@Bladieblah You must be fun at parties

@Bladieblah

Жыл бұрын

@@sugarinq Wow

I have had this question for ages! Thanks for solving the mystery! (and youtube to recommend this vid after a whole year)

OMG, this is so nice. Pleasure on all levels: style, graphics, voice.

I'm curious if space saving or program simplicity also played a factor in Nintendo's choice to use the font. Since it supports latin glyphs as well as Katakana, that would mean they only needed to include that one font file for latin languages and japanese.

I am thankful to youtube for bringing me to your channel. Really good video. Short and to the point, I love it! Thank you :)

This is the insane thing.. Many people wouldn't think of it, but yeah designing a game, you even have to think about what font you use for text.

This was super interesting! I first saw this font in Wii Sports so whenever I saw it anywhere else I called it the Wii Sports font, and later the Nintendo font lol Always wondered what exactly was the deal with it since I saw it everywhere in their games!

i knew i’d seen it before! this font is also used in super mario party and mario party superstars. this is interesting :) good video

I watched this from someone plugging it on their community feed and wow this is cool! I'm glad I watched!

Literally never considered fonts at all before this but I gotta say… the Shin Go font is really nice. I don’t know if it’s just nostalgia about Nintendo but the font just puts a nice feeling in my gut lol

I was editing an essay for my friend and she had to write about Paula Scher. Paula Scher hated Helvetica because she thought that if you used it, you were in support of the Vietnam war (it was used during those times) and whenever I realised what font my friend used, I laughed and told her that she wrote it in Helvetica and she said that she had to. From then on, Helvetica became my favourite font.

I'm really glad you raised my awareness of these fonts, as I've now installed Shin Go as the standard UI font on my PC and it looks great!

Great video! Short, informative, and interesting; all presented in a way that’s easy to digest. Wish I could like it twice!

This is one of the best short videos I’ve ever watched. And I’m not exaggerating.

Variants on the original Rodin are used so much in Nintendo games. GameCube and Wii menus, first-gen Animal Crossing and now New Horizons, Majora's Mask "Dawn of the Final Day", BotW and SSBU are some of my favorite examples.

Thanks for this video! I have had conversations about these fonts but never found an answer

great video! the editing is really well done and it's about a topic i quite like

I love how, as a community, a video about a font in a nintendo game is one that people want to watch. Entertainment is truly in a new era

Editing is awesome, really well made

Great video, my dude! Happy to see it in my recommendations :)

That font is so easy/nice to read, so it's nice to know that it's two and what the names are!

Nice video! T2!! Very informational! :)

Thanks, i never noticed, and it's good to be reminded of the little things that surround us and that we tend to forget ! While i'll definitely not read the book about fonts mentioned, i'll surely think more about font when using digital texts.

It’s also used in the Pokémon anime

The least favorite detail of the Nintendo Switch system font is that they grafted the lowercase “g” from Frutiger, which makes it narrower and mismatching the “d” and “q”.

I LOVE HELVETICA! Helvetica and Helvetica Round look SO GOOD in YT Thumbnails

Thanks for not starting the video with "Ah, the Wii!" or some other pointless introduction to the history of the Wii. Appreciate the concise vid!

I always wondered what the name of this typeface(s) was so thanks for this vid.

So much interesting information! 🤓 Instantly subscribed! 👍

good to see you back, i was wondering if you ever had that ANRI video in the works

Short and sweet video, I love it

the production quality of this video is absolutely amazing, i love the subtle edits in this video

Literally today I took out mi old Wii and noticed it right away. After an hour I opened youtube and there is this video. Thank you so much for explaining this

once I saw the name of the fonts, I went looking for it

Great video! I hadn't noticed the omnipresence of this font in Japanese products, I find it really interesting by its versatility. As a person wishing to work in UI design I found the video very interesting. It is also very well edited, bravo! 👏

I've wondered about this font a million times! Great video!

Nice analysis, thanks

That was a fun video, and no padding or fluff! Good length and pace and I learned a bit :)

Excellent presentation style & well researched! Excellent video!

I've legit wondered about the name of this font for YEARS now, and this vid just randomly pops up in my feed. Thank you!

Thanks for explaining this!

Interesting vid, loved the editing!

awesome video! i was familiar with Shin Go but had no idea about Rodin. always loved the Eurostile-adjacent appearance of them, i agree it's a really iconic look for people outside of Japan

That's really interesting! I love the animations in this video!!!