Top 10 Great Japanese Games That Should Come to the America
10 Great Japanese Games That Should Come to the West
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Welcome to MojoPlays! Today, we’re looking at 10 great Japanese games that should come to the West. Do these publishers just not want to make money? For this list, we’re looking at awesome Japanese games that haven’t been officially released outside Japan; games with fan-made translations are allowed.
“Captain Rainbow” (2008)
Nintendo has produced the most successful and famous mascots not just in gaming, but in pop culture as a whole – but that doesn’t mean Nintendo doesn’t care about its lesser-known properties. Wii exclusive “Captain Rainbow” is a smorgasbord of Nintendo characters that only the oldest and most dedicated fans will remember, featuring side characters of big games and protagonists of small games. It’s these characters you’ll spend most of the game helping as Nick, whose magical belt makes him the superhero Captain Rainbow. Perhaps this game was considered too niche to appear outside Japan, but there are plenty of people worldwide who want to play it.
“Tokimeki Memorial” (1994)
The game that popularized the dating sim genre, “Tokimeki Memorial” is a genre milestone that still isn’t available in English decades after its release, despite the fact it launched an enormous franchise. Players have roughly a dozen different girls to try and date, need to increase their many stats just to be in with a chance, and to do well in school! These are all features you might take for granted now but were truly revolutionary in the early 90s – though it did have a feature that hasn’t been widely replicated, the bomb system, where neglected girls will start rumors about you and destroy your reputation. Finally, in 2020, the game had a modern re-release… which was also only available in Japan.
“Shining Force III: Scenario 2” & “3” (1997 & 1998)
In 1998, “Shining Force III” was released in Europe and North America – well, it was partially released. Coming out in three separate volumes in Japan, only the first of these, “Scenario 1”, was ever localized for other regions. If you’re still waiting for “Scenario 2” & “3” to appear on American shelves, so is everybody else, too. The three games have separate but related stories about different characters, creating a grand, fantasy narrative when they’re all combined. Dedicated fans have worked tirelessly since the 90s to bring a full English patch into being, and the patch is still regularly updated. But it remains baffling that Sega would release part one and not the next two.
“Shin Megami Tensei II” (1994)
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Later “Shin Megami Tensei” releases, not to mention the entire spin-off “Persona” franchise, have seen immense popularity in the West – “Persona 5” remains one of the best PS4 games of all time. So why has Atlus never decided to localize every game under the “Shin Megami Tensei” umbrella for different audiences? Your guess is as good as ours. “Shin Megami Tensei II”, while not being the best game in the series, is still an outstanding JRPG from one of the most lauded JRPG developers in the business. Set in a futuristic Tokyo, it has all the demon fusing gameplay and dungeon crawling you expect, but with no official translation.
“Ace Attorney Investigations 2” (2011)
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Phoenix Wright is far from the best character in “Ace Attorney”, despite being the lead in most games. His long-time rival Miles Edgeworth has always been more interesting, and finally, in 2009, he got a game of his own. But though “Ace Attorney: Miles Edgeworth” had a worldwide release, the 2011 sequel has had no such luck. And this isn’t the only “Ace Attorney” game to never appear outside Japan; suffering a similar fate is “The Great Ace Attorney: The Adventure of Ryūnosuke Naruhodō”, which follows Phoenix’s Victorian ancestor who goes to England and teams up with Sherlock Holmes. If ever there was a game screaming for an English release, it’s this one.
“Dragon Quest X” (2012)
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This long-running franchise has seen many English entries over the years, including both “Dragon Quest IX” and “XI” – and yet, Square Enix still hasn’t seen fit to release “Dragon Quest X” in any other regions. They might have ported it to basically every platform possible but porting it into a different language is apparently too difficult for one of the biggest publishers in the industry. Admittedly, “Dragon Quest X” is an MMO, which could make translations of constant updates a daunting task, but it’s still a wildly popular game. With a few clever tricks, you can get a digital version of this game to run outside Japan, but it’s still going to be in Japanese.
“Monster Hunter: Frontier G” (2013)
Though it began life as an expansion pack, “Frontier G” eventually got a standalone release and came to quite a few consoles. It added tons of content to the globally successful “Monster Hunter” franchise, including bosses, weapons, new arenas, and new skills. But it was destined to remain in Japan during its six-year lifespan. When the entire “Frontier” service shut down in 2019, “Frontier G” went with it, removing all hope that it would ever come to the West. Still, when the entire series remains incredibly popular, we can hope that someday “Frontier G” or an MMO like it will release in a region we can actually play it in.
“Policenauts” (1994)
Weird as they are, Hideo Kojima’s games do well worldwide, not just in Japan, which is why it’s baffling that “Policenauts” still hasn’t had a Western release. The game follows a group of cops on Earth’s first space colony as they investigate a bizarre crime at the behest of a woman whose husband has mysteriously disappeared. With the rift between Kojima and Konami after their messy divorce, it doesn’t look likely that we’ll ever see the release of this classic Kojima property anytime soon – despite the fact an English version was alleged to be incoming for the Sega Saturn. Luckily, in 2009 a fan-made English patch was released, but it’s still impossible to find through official channels.
“Valkyria Chronicles III” (2011)
A popular series both in and out of Japan, it’s still a mystery why the third installment of “Valkyria Chronicles”, released exclusively on the PSP, has never emerged elsewhere. It’s got more of the same tactical gameplay fans are familiar with, but with a story people are dying to see. Set during a World War Two esque conflict, players take control of a military unit made up of vagabonds and misfits, sent into the most dangerous battles of all. It’s a big story with a lot of scope and ambition, not to mention a beautiful 1930s design, and it’s a crying shame that the only way to play it in English is through an unofficial translation. Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few Honorable Mentions:
“Jump Ultimate Stars” (2006)
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“Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse” (2008)
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“Namco x Capcom” (2005)
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“Mother 3” (2006)
The West has definitely suffered when it comes to this landmark RPG series, with neither “Mother” nor “Mother 3” having proper releases. “EarthBound” is great, but we’d love the others as well. Numerous times in Nintendo’s history have rumors of an incoming “Mother 3” localization appeared, but none has ever been released. Anonymous Nintendo sources said that the game can’t be released outside Japan because it has caricatures of trans women that wouldn’t go down well today – but removing the scenes would earn Nintendo the ire of hardcore “Mother” fans. It seems Nintendo is caught in a catch-22 with this game. Still, we’ve always got the fan versions.
