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Nintendojo.com says:
source: http://www.nintendojo.com/features/columns/top-ten/top-ten-games-that-never-left-japan
What do you guys think? Should these games be localized outside of Japan, or are they not worthy of being played? Let me know in the replies down below.These are some of the games that were never released outside Japan. So, let's get started.
Famicom Wars and Fire Emblem seriesIntelligent Systems is one Nintendo’s greatest in-house development teams, with great games gushing out of every orifice. However, a ton of games made by the studio have yet to emigrate from Japan. The two main series that gave Intelligent Systems its reputation, Famicom Wars and Fire Emblem, have barely left the country at all.
Yes, it’s true that we now have several Fire Emblem and Advance Wars games in Western territories. However, the majority of titles in both series have never been localized. I counted them up, and between both series, a whopping 14 titles are still Japanese exclusives. These are games that built the foundation for console turn-based strategy, released across the Famicon, Super Famicom, and Game Boy systems. They basically started the genre, so why haven’t we seen more of them?
Heck, did you know that a Fire Emblem game came out in 2010 for Nintendo DS, long after the series had gained a foothold outside Japan? Yeah, we never saw that one either, but I wouldn’t be able to tell you why. Intelligent Systems is sitting on a goldmine of legacy titles with Fire Emblem and Wars. Why haven’t we seen some Virtual Console releases? Or better yet, we should get a couple anniversary collections. It would be about time, because 2013 is the 25th anniversary of the release of original Famicom Wars, and 2015 will be Fire Emblem’s 25 year milestone. Show us some strategy love, Nintendo!
8. Card HeroIf you think of any style of video game, chances are that Nintendo has dabbled in that genre in some way. Trade & Battle: Card Hero was Nintendo’s foray into the world of battling card video games. Card Hero came out for Game Boy Color in 2000, and put gamers in the role of Hiro, an aspiring card duelist of the game Card Hero– which is similar to Yu-Gi-Oh!, Pokémon TCG, and various other monster card games. Players in Card Hero have a master card that must be protected at all costs by using magic spells and summoning creatures.
Nazo no Murasame JōAlso known as The Mysterious Murasame Castle, this was the Famicom game from 1986 starring Takamaru, the same that inspired the shuriken game in Wii U’s Nintendo Land. The game takes place in feudal Japan, and Takamaru must travel through various castles to defeat evil ninjas summoned by aliens who have taken over the daimyo lords. Sweet. Nazo no Murasame is similar to The Legend of Zelda in its presentation, but not its gameplay. Takamaru takes linear paths through the castles, focusing more on action than exploration. He only has a katana and shuriken at his disposal, and the game is known for being fiendishly difficult.
These types of games never seem to get localized, do they? Homeland was a GameCube game released in 2005, and is unique in the fact that it actually used the Broadband Adapter for online play. It was developed by Chunsoft, a developer with a massive gaming pedigree. These guys made the first five Dragon Quest games, the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games, and the Zero Escape series. Homeland is an adorable RPG that puts you in control of a custom character, and depending on various factors, you can experience about a dozen unique storylines, each one with multiple endings.
Homeland
A key feature of the game is the mascot system, where players take the form of various mascots they have unlocked. Each mascot has its own unique stats, and more are gathered as the various stories are played. The gameplay is standard RPG stuff: exploring, fighting, and getting treasure. However, the crux of Homeland lies in its online features. You can link up with other players with the GameCube and join forces to complete quests. Some storylines even require multiple heroes to be cleared. You can also chat, share, and hang out if you want. Another feature is the ability to become the game-master, which makes you a veritable Homeland deity who can oversee other players’ quests and even set the game parameters.
Mother 3You knew this one was coming. Mother 3 is a sore spot for many gamers, who remain baffled why Nintendo still has no plans to release this phenomenal game outside Japan. To sum it up, the game is the third entry in the acclaimed Mother series, the second of which did release in North America as EarthBound. Mother 3 started development as a Super Famicom title and then a Nintendo 64 title, but it was continuously delayed before being released for Game Boy Advance in 2006. It’s seriously one of the most critically acclaimed video games of the past decade, and there are no plans for an international release.
What makes this one so painful is that Mother 3 is just out of reach. Nintendo of America decided to release justEarthbound on SNES, and then completely snubbed the series forever more. But we were still fed droplets of information that reminded us of the Mother games. Nintendo teased us by having Lucas appear in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, along with other various locales from the Nowhere Islands. Earthbound was never re-released, and we got news of a GBA compilation from Japan while we quietly wept. The fact that we had gotten a taste of Mother before only made it worst. We kept hoping for a localization, a re-release, something… and this anticipation disappointed us at every turn. As Bane said in the The Dark Knight Rises: “there can be no true despair without hope.”
But the Mother community is ever vigilant, and a great fan translation of Mother 3 is readily available to play via emulation. If the game is ever officially localized, Nintendo has a guaranteed success on its hands. It’s too bad that the entire series has become mired in licensing issues and other strange roadblocks that seem to prevent its overseas voyages. Poor Europe never even got Earthbound in the first place.
SatellaviewOkay, so this isn’t technically a game, but this was quite a marvel of the time. Launching in 1995, the Satellaview was an add-on for the Super Famicom that allowed users to sign up for a unique subscription service that delivered special games via satellite signal. The Satellaview had some sort of new content to play every single day for over five years before the service finally ended in 2000. Here’s how it worked: games were broadcast on a set schedule,
and were only available to download at certain times. A game on Satellaview was stored on a RAM cartridge and space was limited, so it might need to be overwritten when you downloaded a new game. Games were usually episodic releases, with new levels gradually opening up each day after you completed the one before. The service also offered downloads of magazines, game demos and data, such as patches and add-ons that could be used with certain retail Super Famicom games. The interface of the Satellaview even took on the form of a little game. You played as an avatar who wandered around a town to access the various content in different areas. Some games even built upon this world and fleshed out the Satelleview town as an RPG.
Another very cool feature of the Satellaview was SoundLink, which added full voice acting to video games. SoundLink was a very interesting service, as it wasn’t actually in the game. Players had to boot up their games at a certain point in time, when live voice broadcasts would begin. Voice actors would guide players along, and voice out certain parts of the games that they were meant to be synched up with. It was like an interactive radio drama!
But what makes the Satelleview so great was the variety of games made available over the service. Nintendo released a staggering amount of content. Classic NES titles were re-released, and some such as The Legend of Zelda were remade with 16-bit graphics. The Satellaview also broadcasted brand new content from franchises like F-Zero, Fire Emblem, Kirby, Dragon Quest, Harvest Moon, and more. Totally unique titles like Zelda side-stories,Radical Dreamers, and a Super Mario Excitebike game also came out!
source: http://www.nintendojo.com/features/columns/top-ten/top-ten-games-that-never-left-japan
(that was racist).
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. I'm making the GC games run on my laptop, that's why! (Yes, I can't make them run of my Wii, since my brother broke all of my GC controllers)
