[h1]2.0: rebuilt from the ground up — almost a new game[/h1]

Sakura Kanji Ketchi 2.0 is not a patch. The curriculum, the study method, the combat, the dungeons and the interface have all been rebuilt, and the game now covers every kanji from JLPT N5 to N1. If you already own the game, 2.0 is a free update.

What's new in 2.0

• 780 kanji, N5 to N1. The roster was rebuilt from KANJIDIC2 and KRADFILE, with every recipe validated and every kanji placed in one of 22 cities.

• Real spaced repetition. FSRS-5 schedules each kanji on real-time intervals, with the meaning and the reading tracked separately.

• A daily review loop. Kanji due for review are counted for you, marked on the map where you can find them, and asked in review sessions and the Daily Quest.

• Taught before tested. The first time you meet a kanji, a card teaches it: meaning, readings, its parts and an example word.

• Four kinds of question. Meaning, on and kun reading, building the kanji from its radicals, and filling the kanji into a word.

• New combat. One battle stage for catch battles and boss fights; pack battles against three to five monsters at once. Your answers in battle count toward your reviews.

• Portal dungeons. Open a portal in any city, choose the JLPT level, the length and optional risks, and explore a dungeon with a fog-of-war map.

• Chests. Common, Rare and Legendary chests, each opened with a round of questions.

• The System. Levels, stats, build challenges, a Daily Quest, titles and hidden quests.

• Full controller support. Every screen works on a gamepad, with rebinding and an on-screen keyboard. Laid out for the Steam Deck's 1280×800 screen.

• Settings for study. Answer timers at normal speed, one and a half times as long, or off.

• Steam Achievements and Steam Cloud saves.

How you study

Every kanji is taught once, on a card, before it is ever tested. After that it comes back as questions:

• Meaning: pick the English meaning of the kanji.

• Reading: match its on and kun readings.

• Composition: build it from its radicals.

• In a word: choose the kanji that completes a vocabulary word.

FSRS-5, the algorithm behind modern spaced-repetition apps, decides what you see and when, aiming for 90% recall. A kanji you miss comes back a few questions later. Wrong options are drawn from look-alike kanji, so you learn to tell 未 from 末 rather than guess by shape. Reading trainers in three cities drill on and kun readings on their own.

How you play

You play Sakura, crossing Japan in search of her missing father. Each of the 22 cities hides its own kanji and radicals in bushes; catch them in battle, then combine radicals into new kanji at the combiner, with 467 recipes in the recipe book. Open portals to dungeons where every strike is an answer, find chests, and face four bosses whose fights end in an exam of full sentences.

Coverage

• N5: 80 kanji

• N4: 162 kanji

• N3: 252 kanji

• N2: 164 kanji

• N1: 101 kanji

• 21 further kanji outside the JLPT lists

• 74 radicals and components as building blocks

No official JLPT kanji list has been published since 2010. The levels in this game follow widely used community lists, which match what most textbooks and study apps use.

Credits

Music by Keith and Aki Banks.

Art by Katia M (@sungeek76).

This game uses the KANJIDIC2, KRADFILE and JMdict dictionary files. These files are the property of the Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group, and are used in conformance with the Group's licence, available at . Derived kanji data files distributed with this game are licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. They are modified from the originals. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.

JLPT levels from kanji-data by David Luz Gouveia, based on the lists by Jonathan Waller at .

Spaced repetition by FSRS (open-spaced-repetition).