Games That Never Came West?

[Moonface]

Now I know technically you can play any game that was released exclusively in Japan by importing it, emulating it, etc. but for the purposes of discussion if the game never officially got a Western release, then it counts here.

I'm not super familiar with games that didn't see a Western release besides Mother 3, so right now I can't say there are games I would love to see ported over or think are interesting, etc. so for now I'll have to just make do with asking if anyone else here knows of any games they found interesting or wish were brought over to our shores?

[Maniakkid25]

There are a good chunk of SMT games that never made it outside of Japan. Hell, the first SMT game only got a localization on iOS, and its now impossible to obtain outside of buying an old iPhone with the game on it thanks to the Appocalypse killing all 32 bit apps on the store. SMT II, ...If, Majin Tensei, most of the Devil Children series, even the original Megami Tensei games on NES. There are a lot of games that just never got a localization.

I've also talked about it before, but the Wonderswan never made it outside of Asia, so almost all the games for it are in Japanese. There are still some playable games if you have no knowledge of the language, but outside of those the games are few and far between. The only game that was ever released in English was because it was a Hong Kong release, and it was a Digimon game. Very nice.

[Moonface]

Looking up the SMT series, it's wild to me that Atlus did a remaster of 3 in 2021 but have done nothing with the first two games. I get that remastering 3 likely does better sales because there's worldwide nostalgia for it, but even just throwing a translated version of the first two games out digitally worldwide would be a cheap way to port games that Atlus doesn't feel confident enough in to do further work than that on them.

[Maniakkid25]

Honestly, it's kind of surprising SMT I got a localization at all, because there's a rather disturbing sequence in the game involving Alice, where the area that she's in is controlled by two demons that killed all the residents and forced their spirits to be toys for the girl in question for all eternity. It's pretty f***ed up, even for a series like SMT. There are plenty of other games in the series with objectionable content like that, which is why the series has a very firm M rating in the US.

[Moonface]

Honestly, it's kind of surprising SMT I got a localization at all, because there's a rather disturbing sequence in the game involving Alice, where the area that she's in is controlled by two demons that killed all the residents and forced their spirits to be toys for the girl in question for all eternity. It's pretty f***ed up, even for a series like SMT. There are plenty of other games in the series with objectionable content like that, which is why the series has a very firm M rating in the US.

Honestly that scene sounds rather tame compared to Persona 3's "shoot yourself in the head" theme.

[Maniakkid25]

Okay, that's not fair. Everyone talks about the Evokers, and that's not really fair to the game, given there are far more fucked things in that game alone, Like one of the party members having murdered the parents of a TWELVE YEAR OLD CHILD, to name just one. The whole theme of the game is death, and that was just another addition to that theme. There's a reason one of the big sayings tied to the game is "Memento Mori" -- "Remember you will die"! The game explains itself, too, if you actually ask. The Evokers are shaped the way they are in order to bring the psychological barriers containing a Persona to their weakest possible point. So, yeah, there's a reason, both meta and story, for the "shooting yourself in the head" thing, and I wish people would stop talking about it.

[Moonface]

Oh I know the Evokers have an actual meaning behind them and aren't just for shock value; I just don't know much else about P3 beyond that and it just sticks with me as something that would be shocking initially until you learn more of the context behind it, and even with the context it doesn't change the close resemblance to committing suicide that it has which is still a heavy subject no matter how you frame it. I think I may have not properly comprehended what I was replying to when I mentioned that though, because looking at the hidden text again P3's Evoker's don't really touch that SMT thing even if they had none of the deeper meaning to them.

I just remembered a trailer I saw a few weeks ago that was perfectly fitting for this thread actually:



These games never got released outside of Japan before and this is the first time they've seen a Western release. I know nothing about them, but I like that Nintendo is adding games like this to their NSO streaming library to maximize the potential of people trying them out; if the only choice was buying them from the store I could see a decent chunk of people not even bothering to try them out even if just for a brief period without finishing them. I don't know if Xbox does anything like this with Game Pass (I don't even know if they really have any Japanese exclusive titles given their struggles with that market) but I know Sony hasn't ever put up anything onto PS+ that was a Japan exclusive release and I wonder how many Japan-exclusive PlayStation games could garner some attention from new audiences if they were offered in some way on PS+ outside the region.