The best way to remember kanji is by using flash cards that allow you to quiz yourself on meaning and on being able to write the kanji fromThe best way to remember kanji is by using flash cards that allow you to quiz yourself on meaning and on being able to write the kanji from memory. The English-language version of Greco's Hall of Kanji does neither of those things. All it does is show you a kanji and have you write it -- either by tracing the strokes on the screen, or viewing a moving kanji across a partially obscured view and writing on a blank page on the other side of the screen.
The Japanese version of the game (of which the English version is equivalent to grade 1 of the six grades available) does have a mode in which the user must write a kanji from memory. While that mode uses Japanese sentences, the mode easily could have been adapted for an English speaker simply by having, for example, "Write the kanji for: face (kao)." The English version is a separate application, so even setting your Switch to Japanese will not unlock that feature.
All you're left with, then, is simply "draw what you see". You can and likely will completely ignore the definition provided, since all you have to do to complete the level is draw what you see.
As for the drawing part, it is a bit forgiving as long as you do follow the correct stroke order. That's as it should be, as handwritten kanji can look very different from a printed form, but as long as the stroke order is followed, it can be recognized. In some cases, however, it also is forgiving of incorrect stroke order. Obviously this is a difficult thing for software to police, however.
The description of the game suggests that it will help you to understand the meanings of more complex kanji by identifying the individual parts. That is completely untrue. You may, in your own way, begin to recognize simpler kanji contained within more complex kanji, but it's up to you to figure out why that is.
Basically, there's no reason the game needs to be about kanji at all. It might as well have you drawing pictures. With the third mode of the game removed from the English-language version (while the price is doubled versus the Japanese version), there's no testing component left. Just draw what you see. They might as well have it be cartoon kitties. The only thing it does is teach correct stroke order for the 100 or so first-grade kanji included, and provide a little writing repetition practice. Without a "write it from memory" mode (which the Japanese version has) or an "identify the meaning" mode (which even the Japanese version does not have), though, you will not be challenged to retain any actual kanji knowledge.… Expand
