Japanese Games That Should Have Made It Stateside
I remember reading gaming magazines all the time as a kid and seeing these really cool titles that would eventually never make it to America. I didn't have the courage to ask my parents to get me any import games back then and I didn't even know that you needed a modded system or some other kind of trick to make these things work. Hell, I didn't even know where to go to buy these import games. For years I'd fawn over these untouchable gems, never actually getting to play any of them for a long, long time.
Now that I'm much older and more savvy about these things, I've figured out ways to get many of these games through alternative channels. But I still feel nostalgic about the fact I've never been able to own a legitimate copy when the games themselves were still very hot. Moreover, even recently there have been Japanese games I wanted to come over that didn't make U.S shores.
Policenauts (3DO, PS1, Saturn) - Billed in American previews as the sequel to Snatcher, Policenauts was actually more of a spiritual successor to the Sega CD sleeper hit. Set in a similar cyberpunk world, it played as part point and click adventure and part shooter. A deep, engaging, and well-written story filled with suspenseful twists accompanied the gameplay to make it an intelligent and immersive experience much like Snatcher had been. That the Saturn release never made it due to arguably trivial dub-syncing issues was very disappointing.
X-Men vs. Street Fighter (Sega Saturn) - Another disappointing no-show on American Sega Saturns, X-Men vs. Street Fighter was the first in Capcom's legendary Marvel Vs series. Utilizing the 4-meg cart to improve the RAM of the system, this release was an arcade-perfect port far superior to the PS1 version. That was perhaps what kept it from coming over here, as the game itself came bundled with the little chunk of plastic and circuitboard, rocketing the price. A damn shame, as X-Men vs Street Fighter, for all its infinite combos, was probably the one game in the quadrilogy where you could legitimately choose any character and win if you knew what you were doing.
Metal Wolf Chaos (Xbox)- This one has me scratching my head. It doesn't make sense that an action game about the President of the United States donning a large, agile power armor filled to the brim with ballistic weaponry to take the country back from his treacherous VP and an army of machines has only been released in Japan. With its explosion-laced, caffeine-paced gameplay, insane mecha, and ludicrously so-bad-it's-good plot, the game could easily pass for a Michael Bay movie or even a title by Rockstar. Cheesy script and story aside, the Japanese version is already voiced in (comprehensible) English, so localization can't be that big of an issue. I'm crossing my fingers and just waiting for this to come out as an Xbox Live Download. Hey, the president's father pops up Ninja Blade, so...
Chikyuu Boueigun II/Global Defense Force (PS2) - Developer D3 is known for making great budget games, and Global Defense Force was no exception. An arcade-y shoot-em-up that threw your character against hordes and hordes of monstrous bugs, GDF managed to avoid devolving into a mindless bore in spite of all its simplicity. It was released in Europe, but never made it to the U.S. The sequel, Earth Defense Force 2107, did reach American 360s, but its last-generation graphics are a let-down even as it continues with the same solid gameplay of its predecessor.
Tobal No. 2 (PS1)- The original Tobal was a 3D fighting game in the vein of Virtua Fighter with sci-fi fantasy elements and art direction under Dragonball creator Akira Toriyama. It was also a deceptively intricate 3D fighter, lauded by fighting game fans for its depth and enjoyability. No.2 improves on the original in every way, from better graphics, to character balance and tweaked gameplay, to roster size, to (some say) a more engaging Quest Mode. In spite of any official statements by Square-Enix about their not having enough data on PS1 discs for an English translation (a fan-translation patch was created for the game three years prior for crying out loud!), the game really didn't make it to the states because the original Tobal just didn't sell well.
Radiant Silvergun (Sega Saturn)- For many, Radiant Silvergun is considered one of the best shooters if not the best shooter of all time. It cleverly did away with the collectible power-up system found in many other shooters in favor of weapon-specific level ups achieved through a point-gathering and point-bonus system. The boss fights were also creative in the way they forced you to use your seven built-in weapons to win or properly score bonuses. Some argue its spiritual successor Ikaruga is much better, but Treasure (a developer known for consistently putting out straightforward but high quality games) seems to love it enough to consider an enhanced remake for online download.
The Super Robot Taisen Series (Various)- Now hold on for a second. Observant gamers might be thinking "didn't Endless Frontier make it to American DSs a couple of months back? And what about Original Generations 1 and 2?" But I'm referring to the "regular" games in the series: Super Robot Taisen is supposed to be an epic crossover involving giant robot anime greats the likes of Gundam, Mazinger, and Evangelion. For obvious reasons, these games can never make it to the states due to licensing issues, but it'd be cool to dream about it, wouldn't it? And besides, America would go nuts if an SRW game ever came out involving Transformers, Gundam Wing, Macross, Golion, Tetsujin 28, and Tekkaman Blade (the last four were known here respectively as Robotech, Gigantor, Voltron, and Teknoman, if you're wondering).
Seiken Densetsu III (SNES) - This one should be a no-brainer. Secret of Mana did pretty well on the SNES, and the sequel only improved on the experience: the game had more impressive graphics, a tweaked combat system with six characters to choose for your team as opposed to the original's preset three, and an even deeper tale set in the same world as the original. So why is it that Seiken Densetsu 3 never made it to the United States? The truth is elusive, but theories abound from an inconvenient change of staff to an inability on Square USA's part to shoulder expenses of localization.
Persona 2: Innocent Sin (PS1) - It's a real shame Innocent Sin didn't get the same localization treatment as Persona 2: Eternal Punishment. Surely it's because of all the Nazi imagery and the fact Hitler himself appears as the game's big bad, but Atlus should have taken that risk, considering that he's you know, THE BAD GUY. We can only hope that with the recent re-release of the first Persona on PSP, both Persona 2 games will appear on the portable system. Like Eternal Punishment, IS did come in before the Persona series was introduced to its hallmark socialization system, but also has the equally interesting rumor system and is a solid (if easily breakable) RPG.
Mother 3 (GBA)- If this were a numbered list, Mother 3 should be at the very top. The sequel to Earthbound, it fittingly throttled players back into the world of the series and dealt with many of the same themes and issues Earthbound adressed while taking a look at newer, more mature themes as well. The storyline and gameplay are similarly well-crafted and the characters are unforgettable. The fact this game isn't available on Wii's Shop Channel and probably won't come to the states in a legitimate form for some time would be almost heartbreaking if it wasn't for the fact an independent team very thankfully made a proper fan-translation for the game.
The Parodius Series (Various) - This is a fanboy shout-out to one of my favorite game series of all time, but after doing a bit of research I'm surprised not even the original Parodius managed to make it to American SNESs; the original Parodius was at least released in Europe and given the subtitle "Non-Sense Fantasy". With a unique visual style somewhere between Looney Tunes and mindless parody anime like Excel Saga or Pani Poni Dash, the Parodius games are shooters filled with sneaky Konami references and backed by challenging but creative and fun gameplay. Weird as they are, I don't think they were "too weird to have to stay in Japan". Shangri-la rave parties, raccoon testicles, bunny girls riding bullets, uncomfortably sexy gorgons, and bedsheet-clad giant naked women aside. I mean hey, they got lots and lots of penguins, how can you go wrong?
What do you think of this list? Any Japanese games you also would have wanted to see come stateside? How about as downloadable content?