Kotoba Dash

Kotoba Dash is a Japanese vocabulary review game for learners from N5 to N1 who already know hiragana and katakana and have some basic vocabulary. You run a character toward the correct multiple-choice answer, practicing translation and reading recognition under time pressure. Words appear in kanji, kana and English, with questions such as kanji to English, English to kanji, kanji to kana and kana to kanji. Furigana can be toggled on or off.

Kotoba Dash is intended for review, practice and self-testing, not as a complete course or a sole learning resource. It does not teach Japanese from the ground up, hiragana or katakana, grammar, particles, conjugation, sentence reading or comprehension, or pronunciation through explicit instruction. Reading practice reinforces pronunciation through recognition, and the vocabulary is broad but curated rather than covering every word in the language.

Game modes

The game has three modes for different kinds of review:

• Testing Grounds: An arcade mode with stages that grow harder over time. Answer timers are shorter and the number of choices increases, putting the focus on speed, accuracy and survival. You can pursue high scores and long runs; a full run lasts about six to seven minutes.
• Mastery Mode: A level-based progression mode focused on fixed sets of 10 words. Levels take roughly 30 to 60 seconds, and you must meet accuracy requirements to unlock new ones. Levels change when replayed and are intended for repetition to strengthen retention.
• Exploration: A customizable mode where you choose JLPT levels, parts of speech and question types. You can turn the timer on or off, and there is no failure state; sessions can be short, long or infinite.

Progress and statistics

Kotoba Dash tracks word accuracy, average accuracy, average answer speed and performance by category. Runs, progress and statistics are saved for review in Inari’s Shrine. You can switch freely between modes and unlock achievements over time.