10 WEIRD PS2 Games That Never Left Japan
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VOICE OVER: Aaron Kline
WRITTEN BY: Aaron Kline
Not every PlayStation 2 game made it out of Japan. For this list, we'll be looking at weird Japanese games that never made their way stateside. Our list of PS2 games that never left Japan includes “Hungry Ghosts” (2003), “Namco X Capcom” (2005), “Tales of Destiny: Director's Cut” (2007), “Shadow Tower Abyss” (2003), and more!
Script written by Aaron Kline
Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we’re looking at 10 PS2 games that never left Japan. For this list, we’ll be looking at weird Japanese games that never made their way stateside. For the most part, these games are aimed at a Japanese audience, but some of them could’ve made it out of Japan… if they weren’t so wordy. What game do you wish had made its way to North America? Let us know in the comments.
Initial D may just be one of the best car-related anime ever. There have been many arcade games for this iconic drifting series and a handful of them ended up leaving Japan. However, there was a PS2 game that never made it to us in the West. “Initial D: Special Stage” didn’t stray far from the arcade games - you race against other racers from the amazing manga. “Special Stage” also had a story mode, unlike its arcade counterparts. “Initial D: Special Stage” is an arcade drift racer, so don’t expect a driving sim here. The game is full of JDM horsepower and anime flair.
With a name like that, it’s no wonder this 2D fighting game never made its way outside of Japan. “The Rumble Fish” isn’t a game changer when it comes to fighting games, but it still is a solid fighting gem that could’ve found a bigger fanbase. “The Rumble Fish” is praised for its ability to create easy combos and dual gauges. You’ll have an offense and defense gauge, each filling according to your offensive and defensive capabilities. Filling the gauges will allow for more damage, and if both are full they’ll merge into the critical gauge that can be unleashed for max damage.
Is there anything better than a crossover game? “Namco X Capcom” took the two iconic Japanese publishers and put each roster head to head in a tactical action RPG setting. It features over 200 characters from classic Namco and Capcom games, which is most likely why it didn’t leave Japan, as some of these characters never left either. The gameplay is unique here, with battles playing out in two phases. The first stage is your typical tactile game. Simply move your character in the grid to get in position and prepare for phase two, which is where the action is. While not a super in-depth fighter, the RPG elements make up for it. “Namco X Capcom” never left Japan, like I said, most likely due to the roster not being as well known outside of Japan, as well as the wordy story that would’ve been a difficult task to translate.
This game screams Japanese weirdness in its best form. “Kuma Uta” stars a polar bear that leaves his peaceful polar bear life to pursue his dreams of becoming a singer. We don’t get to play as the bear, as fun as that would be, but instead we help Kuma create lovely music. We suggest an array of topics for Kuma to write about and he’ll bust out a song for us to approve. This all seems rather straightforward, but the real kicker is that no songs are pre recorded, so we’re not going to hear the same songs from playthrough to playthrough.
The Tales series has a few PS2 games that never left Japan, the most notable being “Tales of Rebirth” and “Tales of Destiny: Director’s Cut”. The Director’s Cut amped everything up from the original release. Stats were buffed to high numbers, taking your puny 999 character stats and maxing them to just under 2000. “Tales of Destiny: Director’s Cut” also included a second difficulty ranking that was introduced in “Tales of Destiny 2”. However, the coolest new feature has to be a new stage called “Rank 6” which is essentially a boss rush mode. Everyone loves a boss rush!
There were many volumes of the Sega Ages series. The Sega Ages line included remakes, ports, and compilations of classic Sega games. The Sega Ages 2500 line was a great budget line for these ports, remakes, and competitions coming in at ¥2500. While there were many great titles in this line, the final release is full of classic cute shoot 'em-up action. “Fantasy Zone Complete Collection” is the ultimate collection of the cult Sega classic series “Fantasy Zone” and includes 8 games in the series. Maybe if this collection had left Japan, we’d have more fans of “Fantasy Zone”.
Japan knows how to do survival horror, and while most of the PS2 survival horror classics made their way out of Japan “Hungry Ghosts” didn’t. “Hungry Ghosts” is a “King’s Field” clone that we missed out on. The controls will feel similar to the FromSoft “King's Field” series but focuses more on the mythological lore of a hungry ghost which is referred to in Buddhist scripture. “Hungry Ghosts” oozes with creepy set pieces and even creepier ghosts and excellent audio that only ups the eerie atmosphere.
A follow-up to the 1999 PS1 cult classic “Vib-Ribbon”, “Vib-Ripple” is just like its predecessor, allowing the player to import a piece of media (this time photos) and transform them into a playable level. While “Vib-Ripple” has 60 photos or levels in the game, players can upload their photos from a camera or cell phone via the PS2’s USB port or over an online network. Once we have our photo uploaded to the game, “gameplay” starts. The photos are essentially turned into trampolines. As we jump on them, Peta Characters will emerge from the photo for us to collect. Simply complete this before the time expires and you’ll move on to another photo. This is a weird one for sure, but there’s something charming about Vibri.
Nowadays we see FromSoftware as a top-tier developer, but they weren’t always seen in that light. Before creating the Souls-like genre and one of the best games of all time in “Elden Ring”, FromSoftware created strange role playing games like “King’s Field” and “Shadow Tower Abyss”. The game has players ascend the tower all while encountering enemies. The thing that sets “Shadow Tower Abyss” apart from other classic FromSoftware games is the sheer number of unique weapons, with 500 available. “Shadow Tower Abyss” almost made its way out of Japan as there was an English version in the works, but was ultimately canceled.
Full of over-the-top action that makes you feel cool when pulling off combos, “ChainDive” is one of the games that could’ve easily been localized, but sadly it never was. “ChainDive” is pure fun action with a story that just keeps you going from level to level. Evil invades and it’s up to Shark with his blades and plasma chain to save the world from the invaders. The gameplay is rather simple, chain-together combos with your blade and chain. While you’re doing this, the camera will zoom in and out making the game feel much faster and more action-packed. “ChianDive” somewhat made it out of Japan - a demo of the game was released in the U.S. with the Official PlayStation Magazine volume 79 - but the full game was never released.
Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we’re looking at 10 PS2 games that never left Japan. For this list, we’ll be looking at weird Japanese games that never made their way stateside. For the most part, these games are aimed at a Japanese audience, but some of them could’ve made it out of Japan… if they weren’t so wordy. What game do you wish had made its way to North America? Let us know in the comments.
“Initial D: Special Stage” (2003)
Initial D may just be one of the best car-related anime ever. There have been many arcade games for this iconic drifting series and a handful of them ended up leaving Japan. However, there was a PS2 game that never made it to us in the West. “Initial D: Special Stage” didn’t stray far from the arcade games - you race against other racers from the amazing manga. “Special Stage” also had a story mode, unlike its arcade counterparts. “Initial D: Special Stage” is an arcade drift racer, so don’t expect a driving sim here. The game is full of JDM horsepower and anime flair.
“The Rumble Fish” (2005)
With a name like that, it’s no wonder this 2D fighting game never made its way outside of Japan. “The Rumble Fish” isn’t a game changer when it comes to fighting games, but it still is a solid fighting gem that could’ve found a bigger fanbase. “The Rumble Fish” is praised for its ability to create easy combos and dual gauges. You’ll have an offense and defense gauge, each filling according to your offensive and defensive capabilities. Filling the gauges will allow for more damage, and if both are full they’ll merge into the critical gauge that can be unleashed for max damage.
“Namco X Capcom” (2005)
Is there anything better than a crossover game? “Namco X Capcom” took the two iconic Japanese publishers and put each roster head to head in a tactical action RPG setting. It features over 200 characters from classic Namco and Capcom games, which is most likely why it didn’t leave Japan, as some of these characters never left either. The gameplay is unique here, with battles playing out in two phases. The first stage is your typical tactile game. Simply move your character in the grid to get in position and prepare for phase two, which is where the action is. While not a super in-depth fighter, the RPG elements make up for it. “Namco X Capcom” never left Japan, like I said, most likely due to the roster not being as well known outside of Japan, as well as the wordy story that would’ve been a difficult task to translate.
“Kuma Uta” (2003)
This game screams Japanese weirdness in its best form. “Kuma Uta” stars a polar bear that leaves his peaceful polar bear life to pursue his dreams of becoming a singer. We don’t get to play as the bear, as fun as that would be, but instead we help Kuma create lovely music. We suggest an array of topics for Kuma to write about and he’ll bust out a song for us to approve. This all seems rather straightforward, but the real kicker is that no songs are pre recorded, so we’re not going to hear the same songs from playthrough to playthrough.
“Tales of Destiny: Director’s Cut” (2007)
The Tales series has a few PS2 games that never left Japan, the most notable being “Tales of Rebirth” and “Tales of Destiny: Director’s Cut”. The Director’s Cut amped everything up from the original release. Stats were buffed to high numbers, taking your puny 999 character stats and maxing them to just under 2000. “Tales of Destiny: Director’s Cut” also included a second difficulty ranking that was introduced in “Tales of Destiny 2”. However, the coolest new feature has to be a new stage called “Rank 6” which is essentially a boss rush mode. Everyone loves a boss rush!
“Fantasy Zone Complete Collection” (2008)
There were many volumes of the Sega Ages series. The Sega Ages line included remakes, ports, and compilations of classic Sega games. The Sega Ages 2500 line was a great budget line for these ports, remakes, and competitions coming in at ¥2500. While there were many great titles in this line, the final release is full of classic cute shoot 'em-up action. “Fantasy Zone Complete Collection” is the ultimate collection of the cult Sega classic series “Fantasy Zone” and includes 8 games in the series. Maybe if this collection had left Japan, we’d have more fans of “Fantasy Zone”.
“Hungry Ghosts” (2003)
Japan knows how to do survival horror, and while most of the PS2 survival horror classics made their way out of Japan “Hungry Ghosts” didn’t. “Hungry Ghosts” is a “King’s Field” clone that we missed out on. The controls will feel similar to the FromSoft “King's Field” series but focuses more on the mythological lore of a hungry ghost which is referred to in Buddhist scripture. “Hungry Ghosts” oozes with creepy set pieces and even creepier ghosts and excellent audio that only ups the eerie atmosphere.
“Vib-Ripple” (2004)
A follow-up to the 1999 PS1 cult classic “Vib-Ribbon”, “Vib-Ripple” is just like its predecessor, allowing the player to import a piece of media (this time photos) and transform them into a playable level. While “Vib-Ripple” has 60 photos or levels in the game, players can upload their photos from a camera or cell phone via the PS2’s USB port or over an online network. Once we have our photo uploaded to the game, “gameplay” starts. The photos are essentially turned into trampolines. As we jump on them, Peta Characters will emerge from the photo for us to collect. Simply complete this before the time expires and you’ll move on to another photo. This is a weird one for sure, but there’s something charming about Vibri.
“Shadow Tower Abyss” (2003)
Nowadays we see FromSoftware as a top-tier developer, but they weren’t always seen in that light. Before creating the Souls-like genre and one of the best games of all time in “Elden Ring”, FromSoftware created strange role playing games like “King’s Field” and “Shadow Tower Abyss”. The game has players ascend the tower all while encountering enemies. The thing that sets “Shadow Tower Abyss” apart from other classic FromSoftware games is the sheer number of unique weapons, with 500 available. “Shadow Tower Abyss” almost made its way out of Japan as there was an English version in the works, but was ultimately canceled.
“ChainDive” (2003)
Full of over-the-top action that makes you feel cool when pulling off combos, “ChainDive” is one of the games that could’ve easily been localized, but sadly it never was. “ChainDive” is pure fun action with a story that just keeps you going from level to level. Evil invades and it’s up to Shark with his blades and plasma chain to save the world from the invaders. The gameplay is rather simple, chain-together combos with your blade and chain. While you’re doing this, the camera will zoom in and out making the game feel much faster and more action-packed. “ChianDive” somewhat made it out of Japan - a demo of the game was released in the U.S. with the Official PlayStation Magazine volume 79 - but the full game was never released.
