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[kurisu_1974]

When I got an MSX2 and played Konami games like Gradius, Vampire Killer, Metal Gear, Usas, Maze of Galious and Japanese PC RPGs like Ys and Hydlide. Must have been around 1986.

 

[LazyParrot]

Never, I guess? I like and play a lot of Japanese games, but my personal GOATs are all by Western developers.

 

[Punished Miku]

Growing up on NES and onward, virtually everything was Japanese on consoles and in arcades. There were only a few times a western developer had a breakout hit on console where it was noticeably a different style from Japan, like Donkey Kong Country, Tony Hawk, Mortal Kombat, Goldeneye, Cruisin' USA, Turok 2. Almost everything was Japanese until the Xbox popularized KOTOR, Morrowind, Halo, and then the 360 popularized Oblivion, Mass Effect, and western gaming really took off. This is obviously different if you were growing up on PC.

 

[TGO]

They have always been the best, sure they had a bad spell during the PS3/360 era but some the best games from that generation where still Japanese.

 

[Celcius]

Just chiming in to say yep I've always enjoyed japanese games more.
There have been some great games made by US and other countries too for sure but most of my favorites are japanese.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

Not the first time I noticed, but I think it's never been more pronounced until now. 2024 alone I've been playing granblue, ff rebirth, stellar blade, rise of the ronin, nier automata (never got to it), etc. while watching western game devs lose sight of whats important and flounder.

 

[BigBeauford]

Japanese games fell off a cliff for a good part of the HD era of gaming if we are being honest. Moving from sprite based graphics to full on cringe anime aesthetics with the tropes drove me from that sphere.

 

[PurePlatinum]

I don't think as a child I actively considered which games were developers where - BUT - there did come a time where I realized that most licensed games were crappy and the really good stuff was made by a handful of companies that were "The real video game companies". At this time in gaming history it was Konami, Capcom, Square and Nintendo. (PS2/GameCube era)

FFX was probably the first "big boy" game I played that made me realize this.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

Personally?

 

[Rudius]

During the PS1 days.

On PS2 East and West were both great (the highest point of all gaming), for PS3/4 the West was ahead, but now that it cares more about what type of genitalia you have and with whom you use it, Japan is once again the best.

 

[AJUMP23]

Super Mario Brothers. US invented video games, Japan improved them. Much like a lot of electronics.

 

[Loope]

Personally?

YEEES. Amazing game. It was so good when you got the elevator.

 

[Kataploom]

Ever since I played games, actually realizing some western games are good too and that I can like them sometimes is something I remember more because it was in the past 13 years or so lol

 

[Deerock71]

When booting up a game from

I was honestly going to say on about my 12th playthrough of RE4 on the GameCube it maybe started dawning on me.

 

[nnytk]

I grew up in the 90s, but it wasn't until I got the Gamecube that I realized many of my favorite games were made by Japanese developers. Titles like Zelda, Gotcha Force, Dynasty Warriors, Metal Gear Solid, Viewtiful Joe, and Okami quickly became staples for me. Tales of Symphonia was the first JRPG I ever finished—tough at times, but truly special. Over the years, SEGA and Atlus kept surprising me, and From Software redefined what gaming could be. Death Stranding was a wild experience, and more recently, Yakuza: Like a Dragon became a favorite. Also, the Nintendo Switch has continued to impress with incredible games like Splatoon, Breath of the Wild, and Mario Odyssey.

Japan truly dominates when it comes to the games I love—especially my favorite series, Monster Hunter. Also, shoutout to Otogi and Ninja Gaiden on Xbox, which blew my mind as a teenager!

 

[mayham2199]

I do really love Japanese games but overall my favorite games are from western devs. Mass Effect series, BG3, TLOU

 

[Wonko_C]

Since the NES era actually. It was pretty much western game = kusoge.

Nowadays western AAA games have become actually good, but they have different design philosophies to Japanese games. It's why I prefer indies because they tend to take after Japanese design.

 

[cash_longfellow]

Final Fantasy 1.

 

[Spukc]

Capcom is still king.
But nah. indie games?