Here’s a phrase you’re going to hear a lot in this article. There is an English fan patch for this game. Half, if not all of these entries have complete, or at least English work done on them by dedicated fans. So yes, all of these games, no matter how hard companies like Sony, or Nintendo try to prevent it, have ROMs online. If something was uploaded to the Internet once, guess what, it’s going to remain there forever. That’s just the way it is. So while even those outside of Japan can easily find these games, thus rendering this article useless, or a lie, well emulation is in a gray spot.
A lot of people don’t care if they rip games off, but then there are also those that want to pay for things. I know there’s a lot of Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed games right now, but guess what? If the majority of people pirated these titles the sales would decrease and thus companies would not be incentivized to make more. They make more because they sell well. It’s math, or business 101. What I’m getting at is, Nintendo, Sony, whoever is listening, if you help make these games available people will buy them. I would in the hopes that it would somehow guarantee more titles to be translated, or for more sequels to arise. You get what I’m going for here? I know it’s a bit muddled so let’s get away from my analogies and get to the games already!
25 Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII
To celebrate Final Fantasy VII’s tenth anniversary, Square Enix announced a myriad of projects to celebrate this momentous milestone. All of them, like the film Advent Children, were released in North America. All except for one. There was a phone game based on the Turks that took place before the events of the main. The idea of playing this on a flip phone gives me carpal tunnel just thinking about it. That said I’d love to see a modern phone remake if not for consoles. That’s the bigger dream though.
24 Dragon Quest X
Anyone else playing Dragon Quest XI right now? I’m slowly making my way through it and basking in all its glory. Did you know the last mainline game that came for the West was Dragon Quest IX for the DS in 2010? That’s right, eight years! We, unfortunately, missed Dragon Quest X, which was an MMO. It’s not like Square Enix didn’t have an opportunity since it exists on nearly every console since its Wii debut in 2012. I’m not big on MMOs, but it looked fun regardless.
23 Secret Of Mana Collection
Okay I admit it. I fudged that name a little to familiarize and entice you better. This Switch game is actually called the Seiken Densetsu Collection.
The tree of life is calling once again.
It contains the PS Vita remake of Adventures of Mana, which is the first game, the original SNES version of Secret of Mana, and the best inclusion, Seiken Densetsu 3. That last game never got translated into English officially, but there is a great fan patch for SNES. If ever there were a time to port it over, it’d be now.
22 Castlevania: Kid Dracula
When you think of Castlevania, chances are Symphony of the Night, or one of its Metroidvania successors probably comes to mind. Before that, all of them were straight up linear action platformers, but there was a duo of spinoffs that changed up the formula. Akumajo Special: Boku Dracula-Kun, was a Famicom game that starred the son of Dracula and was a cutesier platformer. We never got it, but we did get the sequel, which was just called Kid Dracula on the Game Boy in North America.
21 Front Mission 2
Front Mission first launched on the Super Famicom in 1995 for Japan. As of now, there are over a dozen games, but the West has received so few. That said it was hard to pick exactly, which one to highlight so I went with the weirdest in my opinion. See we started with the third game, and then the fourth, and then a remake of the first. It just feels odd we never got two in this regard. You know what I mean?
20 Dragon Ball Z: Legend Of The Saiyans
It may come as a surprise to you that there have been a lot of Dragon Ball games. I know, duh, right? Well, what you may not realize is that what we’ve received in the West pales in comparison to that of Japan.
Want to see me turn into a Super Saiyan?
Take Dragon Ball Z: Legend of the Saiyans for example. It’s a card-based RPG that goes through the Frieza saga starting with the beginning of Dragon Ball Z. It’s for the SNES and of course, dedicated fans translated it. Have fun!
19 Captain Rainbow
I covered Captain Rainbow a long time ago in an article about jokes not intended for kids in Nintendo games. This one, in particular, has a lot. Anyway, Captain Rainbow is like the Island of Misfit Toys from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer except in this case it’s about obscure Nintendo characters and franchises the company forgot about. Think of it as an even weirder Kingdom Hearts with a lower budget. We probably never saw it in the West because a lot of the references are from games only released in Japan. Go figure.
18 Jump Ultimate Stars
Are you excited for Jump Force, the fighting game that crosses over a bunch of Manga like Naruto and Dragon Ball Z? I’m curious, but I don’t like the look of it. I think it would do better in a cel-shaded style similar to CyberConnect2’s Naruto games. I would also rather play this spiritual predecessor, Jump Ultimate Stars, more. It released for the DS in 2006 and is a Super Smash Bros. clone with awesome pixel art. I played it with some friends in college and it rocked. It’s easily enjoyable even in Japanese.
17 Lost Planet: E.X. Troopers
All right so I changed this name too. In Japan, it’s just called E.X. Troopers, but it is indeed a spinoff of Lost Planet. It also has scraps of the team that worked on Mega Man Legends so I imported it post haste, which is something I rarely do.
What if Mega Man Legends was a Manga?
There’s a lot of text so the story was incomprehensible to me, but the action was easy enough to grasp. Kind of crazy why this was never officially translated since Lost Planet did pretty well in North America.
16 Digimon Adventure
When Pokémon debuted in 1998 in North America I was all over it. I was even watching Digimon because I couldn’t get enough of anime and more specifically anime about catching monsters. The game side was pretty poor, but I kept up with the continuing seasons for a while. Nothing will ever top that original season for me though. If you’re like me than you might be thrilled to know a PSP game released in Japan, Digimon Adventure, that is essentially a retelling of it. Plus there’s a great fan translation. It’s on the easy side, but it’s still really good!
15 Yakuza Ishin
In Japan, the Yakuza series is referred to Ryu Ga Gotoku. So this game is then called Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin. Again, I cheated with the name a little, but you get it. Anyway, Ishin is a side story that stars all the regulars of the series, like Kazuma Kiryu, but is set during the time of the samurai. It’s awesome! Why can’t we get this, but every other game in the series? Does Sega not think Westerners know what samurai are?
14 Dead Or Alive Xtreme 3
Dead or Alive: Xtreme Beach Volleyball was, let’s be honest, was made primarily to arouse fans. While most bought it to watch bouncing polygons, it was actually a pretty decent volleyball game.
Lock the door and lower the shades.
That said as time went on they stopped putting volleyball in the title even though that’s still the main event. Like Phantasy Star Online 2, the Asian territories of this game are in English and yet we never officially got it.
13 Metal Gear Solid 3 Pachinko
Few things upset me more than Konami as a company right now. They used to be a premier game developer and now they mostly deal in Pachinko machines, which for those unaware, are for gambling. I mean just look at this Metal Gear Solid 3 edition. They remade a majority of the cutscenes using Metal Gear Solid V’s engine. They look fantastic! It’s such a waste to use them in something so useless. I know it’s not really a game, but I had to include it so I could vent a little.
12 Mobile Suit Gundam AGE
Mobile Suit Gundam AGE is based on an anime of the same name. Like Pokémon, there are actually two versions of this for the PSP. Why should you care about a Gundam game for the PSP? For starters, it was developed by Level-5 who also worked on Dark Cloud, Yo-kai Watch, and several other great RPGs. This too is an RPG of the action variety and is just charming as all heck. There’s an English patch that’s mostly complete as of right now so at least there’s that.
11 Itadaki Street: Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary
Itadaki Street: Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary is a mouthful, yes? Let’s start at the beginning. Itadaki Street dates back to the Famicom. It’s like Monopoly, but with mini-games and RPG elements kind of like Mario Party.
Are Slimes cuter, or are Chocobos?
There have been several official and unofficial spinoffs with this one being the most recent starring your favorite Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy figures. There was actually a PSP game before this, also exclusive to Japan, but there is a fan patch for that one.
10 Ni No Kuni: Dominion Of The Dark Djinn
Another amazing Level-5 game, and maybe their best, was Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. While that was a great PS3 game, I was a little sour we didn’t get the DS predecessor, Ni no Kuni: Dominion of the Dark Djinn. It is essentially the same game only slightly different. The biggest change is that it came with a giant spellbook. You needed it to learn runes you had to cast by drawing on your DS’ touch screen. I can see why that task would be daunting to English localizers and thus why it never left Japan.
9 Namco X Capcom
If there is one thing I love in video games above everything else it’s a good crossover. The weirder the game is the better. If the game is fun than that is better still. Most of these happen in fighting games, but every once and awhile we’ll get a whacky RPG. Namco x Capcom was the beginning of a series of collaborations between the two companies. While the West didn’t receive this PS2 title, we did get two spiritual successors in the form of Project x Zone on 3DS.
8 Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade
Why choose this game above all other Fire Emblem titles that didn’t come over to the West? Simple. This is the game that introduced Roy. You know, the character Westerns first saw in Super Smash Bros. Melee way back in 2001!
It’s time to smash and clash blades!
It kind of boggles my mind that we get to play as these iconic Nintendo characters in Super Smash Bros. that are relevant to only one market. Also, as long as I’m complaining, there are too many Fire Emblem characters!
7 Phantasy Star Online 2
Phantasy Star Online 2, as I mentioned earlier sort of jumping the gun, is available in English. That’s only for the Asian release though. How does that make any sense? If the translation is already there for an English speaking audience then why not port it over? Like Dragon Quest X, Sega has had tons of chances. The game first launched in 2012 for PCs. It’s since been released on the PS Vita, PS4, phones, and the Nintendo Switch. Quick dragging your feet, Sega!
6 Pokémon Card GB2: Here Comes Team GR!
I enjoyed playing the Game Boy version of the Pokémon Trading Card game. I know it seems silly for a lot of reasons. So the cards were the only way for kids to “catch” Pokémon in reality. That’s why they were so popular. The games were a hit for expanding that idea into a video game and creating a livable world. Why would I play a virtual card game when the “real” virtual Pokémon universe is on the same system? It doesn’t make sense but I loved that game. This sequel, thankfully fan patched into English, is also good.
