This guide is written for players using a desktop operating system. This includes Windows and non-Windows operating systems, such as macOS and GNU/Linux. We briefly touch on acquiring console releases of visual novels at the end of this guide.

This wiki contains no information on acquiring illegally-redistributed game files for visual novels. We encourage you to support visual novel developers—which are often small companies with a niche audience—by buying their games from one of the vendors listed on this page.

WARNING: Because many visual novels contain sexual content, a lot of the links on this page lead to NSFW content.

“Digital Rights Management” (DRM) refers to technological restrictions designed to prevent customers from sharing copies of games without authorization. The restrictions that DRM implementations impose can cause issues for customers, so we strongly recommend avoiding DRM-encumbered releases—especially if you are playing on a non-Windows system using Wine.

This page identifies publishers and vendors who sell DRM-free copies of visual novels and teaches you how to identify them yourself.

English or Japanese?

Do you want to read your visual novels in English or Japanese? It’s an important question to answer, because not all English localizations include the original Japanese script. You don't want to re-purchase a visual novel you bought in English if you one day decide to read it in Japanese.

Keep an eye out for dual-language releases, even if you only plan on reading it in English.

Notice the Interface and Subtitles columns lack a checkmark, indicating this game does not have Japanese support.

Unofficial English fan translations exist for some Japanese visual novels, and sometimes the creators respond positively. In the late 2000s, Witch Hunt provided their fan translations as patches for Umineko no Naku Koro ni, and Ryukishi07, the creator of these games, officially endorsed this project, going so far as to work the name of the translation team into the games.

While we don’t officially endorse fan translation projects, it’s hard to ignore how many people over the past 20 years were only able to become fans of the medium because of a passionate fan. They helped pave the way for the localization industry we have today. Mainstream game marketplaces like Steam now carry an impressive catalog of visual novels in English, though fan translation projects remain common for less popular games.

Buying Digital Releases

It’s very easy to obtain digital releases in English and Japanese, but beware that Japanese releases tend to be encumbered by DRM. Many localizers, including MangaGamer and JAST, publish their digital versions without DRM, so English releases are likely to be DRM-free.

If you’re not sure where to buy a visual novel you want, try vndb.org. Find the game’s page, scroll down to the Releases section, and click the relevant release. The release page will provide Links to vendors you can purchase the game from.

The Higurashi releases page has a list of Links you can purchase the game from.

“Dual-Language” refers to visual novels with the option to change from Japanese to English text. Even if you're only interested in reading the English version now, you might later decide to read the Japanese version. If you have a Dual-Language game, you don't need to re-purchase a different release.

Physical releases of visual novels are far less likely to include DRM. As a bonus, they look nice on your shelf, and they usually come with lots of nice stuff, like artbooks and the soundtrack! Physical releases ship on discs, so you’ll need a disc drive to read them.

Most physical English releases are not encumbered with DRM today, but this wasn't always the case. For example, JAST USA historically encumbered their older releases with V-MATE, but have since provided patches to remove the DRM from these games.

For Japanese releases, the situation is different. Most Japanese publishers do not inform customers whether the physical release is encumbered by DRM. A significant number of physical releases aren’t, but you will usually only find out after you buy it. VNDB can now tell you whether a release is encumbered with DRM, but this feature is still new, so please help them.

Seiya-Saiga.com will list with whether a visual novel can be played “ディスクレス”⁶⁾ or not. If the answer is “可”, then the game most likely does not have DRM, or the publisher may have provided a DRM-removal patch, as in the case of August with Aiyoku no Eustia. The answer you want to look out for is “初回のみ不可” and similar, which means it performs a DRM check to ensure the disk is in the drive on first startup.

The most common DRM implementation for physical releases since the 2000s has been AlphaROM, or Alpha-DISC. It requires you to have the disc in the disc drive the first time you launch the game to confirm you own it. This check will occasionally fail—for example, if the version of Windows is too new. SETTEC, the company behind AlphaROM, provides a method of bypassing the check by entering the serial number that came with the box in exchange for a file you must place in the game directory when it starts.

While AlphaROM is the most common, there are many other less common types, including the Siglus engine's built-in DRM, which requires a Japanese version of Windows. If you’ve encountered a DRM encumberment not listed here, consider expanding this section with your experience. For DRM compatibility with GNU/Linux, see this page.

While the vast majority of visual novels are released for desktop operating systems, it is common for publishers to release console-exclusive visual novels that are part of a larger franchise with exclusive art or voiced lines not present in the original. The Higurashi and Umineko franchises are good examples of this. Other games, like Phoenix Wright, are only available on console.

The section below briefly covers acquiring console releases. The last section provides guidance for players interested in emulating console releases on a desktop operating system.

We assume the reader is resourceful enough to acquire console releases in English, so we only discuss Japanese vendors.

Console releases are often never brought to the desktop, but that doesn’t mean you can’t play them on your desktop.

Emulation and Emulators are legal in the US and other countries. It is illegal to distribute copyrighted material you do not own or have permission to distribute, including a visual novel’s game files. It doesn’t matter how old the game is, or whether the copyright holder is around anymore; unless the game has been specifically released to you under a license that grants redistribution rights or has fallen into the public domain, you cannot distribute it. This is copyright infringement.

However, it is legal to purchase a console game, create a personal backup, and run that personal backup inside of an emulator, so long as you are not circumventing an ‘access control’ to do so, regardless of why you are circumventing it (with some exceptions), as outlined by the Digital Milennium Copyright Act. The methods of archival vary among different consoles, and most methods require owning the console the game was released for.

For more information on console emulation, visit the Emulation General Wiki.

If the seller requires a physical Japanese address or a Japanese credit card, you will need to use a forwarding service or proxy shipping service. This is usually costly because you need to pay the shipping fees twice, on top of the handling fees the company charges you, so prefer international shipping when available. However, if international shipping fees seem high for a certain product, try a forwarding service, as it may be cheaper.

A forwarding service provides you an address you can purchase and ship items to, and they can then ship the package internationally to you. This is only possible with vendors that accept foreign credit cards; if they don't, you'll need to use a proxy shipping service. With a forwarding service, you make the purchase using their address, whereas a proxy shipping service is the one who makes the purchase.

The advantage to a forwarding service is you can make the purchase immediately, which is important for limited-time items and high-demand items likely to go out of stock. A proxy shipping service may have already reserved an order for a customer, but not gotten around to fulfilling the request yet. There is no delay when using a forwarding service, as they only give you an address to ship to. Fees are generally lower than proxy shipping, but it's worth comparing.

Proxy shipping services may be easier to use if you have a lower level of Japanese compared to navigating one of these stores, setting up an account, and completing the checkout process.

A proxy shipper is a company that will purchase a product from a website that requires a physical Japanese address and a Japanese credit card in your stead. The seller will ship it to their warehouse in Japan, and the proxy shipper will ship it internationally to you.

Proxy shipping services can be used without any understanding of Japanese, but it will be easier to find the items you're looking for if you do understand some Japanese and are able to use the Japanese word in your search query. It's your only option when purchasing from one of the sites above that don't accept foreign credit cards, however.

If the site accepts foreign credit cards, we recommend a forwarding service in most circumstances, but proxy shipping can work out cheaper in other situations. This will depend on what you're buying and the fees the particular company charges. We don’t recommend a particular proxy shipping service, but there are plenty around.