azulmagia
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- Posted: Mon, 20 Jul 2015 05:04:40 +0000
OK, so like this new used video games store opens up downtown. I go check it out. It has TONS of stuff. I particular there are shelves full of PS1 games, most at fairly OK prices. My eye, by chance, hits the titles in the "i" region, and from the back of my head I recall an incredibly-cool looking PS1 game I once read about in a magazine, a certain Squaresoft-released shmup called IS: Internal Section.
It was not there. "Oh well," I say to myself, and go home. But something was nagging at my craw, so I did a little research. To cut to the chase:
(And, oh yeah, if you check out their forum, one guy says the game CD won't even play on his Japan-compatible PS3...)
Anyway, this thread is about the games that you're tearing your hair out because they were only released in Japan. Here are some usual suspects.
- A suspiciously high number of these games were also released by Square: Seiken Densetsu 3, Tobal 2, the SNES Romancing SaGa games...
- Shmups, too, are pretty notorious for this this, particularly "cute 'em ups" and bullet hell games. TV Tropes has this to say of the Touhou games: "Although the games are playable on any Windows PC with decent specs and have no form of region-lockout DRM, ZUN has expressed no interest in bringing the games outside of Japan, physically or digitally. Should you try to import the games, expect to pay at least 30 USD for just one game. It's no wonder 99.9% of Western fans simply pirate the games. As an exception to this, Playism announced bringing Double Dealing Character West, after some teasing by ZUN."
- Dating sims, most notably Tokimeki Memorial.
- A great many things "culturally specific" to Japan, like games based on popular anime or manga. As well a mahjong games, real mahjong games that is, not that ******** tile-matching bullshit.
- Since this controversy has been completely forgotten by now, I might as well bring up the Sony PocketStation. Final Fantasy VIII and SaGa Frontier 2 both have mini-games you can load to your PocketStation, play, and win items that you can bring back to your main game. These features were ported to the North American localizations of these two games. Too bad Sony never brought the PocketStation here as well, which may account for the fact that I've never heard of anyone actually playing these mini-games.
It was not there. "Oh well," I say to myself, and go home. But something was nagging at my craw, so I did a little research. To cut to the chase:
Quote:
Often described as a twisted fusion between Tempest and S.T.U.N. Runner, this Positron game was released exclusively in Japan in 1999, at a time when the PlayStation games catalogue was already vast and varied.
(link)
(link)
(And, oh yeah, if you check out their forum, one guy says the game CD won't even play on his Japan-compatible PS3...)
Anyway, this thread is about the games that you're tearing your hair out because they were only released in Japan. Here are some usual suspects.
- A suspiciously high number of these games were also released by Square: Seiken Densetsu 3, Tobal 2, the SNES Romancing SaGa games...
- Shmups, too, are pretty notorious for this this, particularly "cute 'em ups" and bullet hell games. TV Tropes has this to say of the Touhou games: "Although the games are playable on any Windows PC with decent specs and have no form of region-lockout DRM, ZUN has expressed no interest in bringing the games outside of Japan, physically or digitally. Should you try to import the games, expect to pay at least 30 USD for just one game. It's no wonder 99.9% of Western fans simply pirate the games. As an exception to this, Playism announced bringing Double Dealing Character West, after some teasing by ZUN."
- Dating sims, most notably Tokimeki Memorial.
- A great many things "culturally specific" to Japan, like games based on popular anime or manga. As well a mahjong games, real mahjong games that is, not that ******** tile-matching bullshit.
- Since this controversy has been completely forgotten by now, I might as well bring up the Sony PocketStation. Final Fantasy VIII and SaGa Frontier 2 both have mini-games you can load to your PocketStation, play, and win items that you can bring back to your main game. These features were ported to the North American localizations of these two games. Too bad Sony never brought the PocketStation here as well, which may account for the fact that I've never heard of anyone actually playing these mini-games.
