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[Zalasta]

2008 called, it wants its argument back! Nintendo isn't riding high on piles of printed money anymore; they could definitely use whatever edge they can get by tapping the core market with unlocalized games these days.

Well, I think people are dreaming if Nintendo will consider localizing a handful of niche titles to make up for the profit they have been losing. If this is an "edge" it would've been done long time ago. Nintendo is one of the least likely companies to change its ways.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

Captain Rainbow
ASH: Archaic Sealed Heat
Justification: Apparently lousy

I don't think it's fair to call Captain Rainbow lousy; the few English impressions I've found are quite positive. The game's innuendo and general quirkiness, in addition to its commercial failure in Japan, are more likely the reason NoA passed on it.

 

[BluWacky]

Level-5 games have only been brought out in America and Europe by being published by platform holders, either Sony or Nintendo (White Knight Chronicles II being released by D3 in NA will be the first exception I'm aware of). Level-5 has no distribution network in place to release their games themselves outside of Japan yet. Nintendo can definitely be blamed for localizing an English-language version of Inazuma Eleven for Scandinavia, but not releasing it in the UK or NA.

The UK one is puzzling, but why would you release a footie RPG in North America? That's a sane localisation decision, not a stupid one.

 

[Hypatia]

Does Nintendo really hate us that much? ):

On the plus side it's the perfect excuse for learning Japanese.

... wait... maybe that's their plan.

 

[angelfly]

Should DS games even be listed? They're region free so at worst we have to import the specific games. The problem systems in my eye are Wii and 3DS since at worst we're importing a new system as well as the specific games. I don't care whether companies don't have faith enough to localize things but don't take away the option for me to import it.

 

[Princess Skittles]

Should DS games even be listed? Their region free so at worst we have to import. The problem systems in my eye are Wii and 3DS since at worst we're buying a new system. I don't care whether companies don't have faith enough to localize things but don't take away the option for me to import it.

Yes, the thread is about Nintendo's extreme negligence in bringing these games out to English speaking territories.

 

[Ushojax]

The UK one is puzzling, but why would you release a footie RPG in North America? That's a sane localisation decision, not a stupid one.

Because it's a good game? EA still releases FIFA in America, Konami does PES. If it had come out during the World Cup it could have been a mega-seller.

 

[slaughterking]

Level-5 games have only been brought out in America and Europe by being published by platform holders, either Sony or Nintendo (White Knight Chronicles II being released by D3 in NA will be the first exception I'm aware of). Level-5 has no distribution network in place to release their games themselves outside of Japan yet. Nintendo can definitely be blamed for localizing an English-language version of Inazuma Eleven for Scandinavia, but not releasing it in the UK or NA.

It's certainly one of the most hilarious dick moves to not at least cover all of Europe with the games release, but I assume it was either those selected few countries or no countries at all. It's really a case of "better than nothing" for me.
I don't see how Nintendo is bound to release any 3rd party game just because the original developer/publisher is not capable of releasing their games themselves.

 

[slaughterking]

Should DS games even be listed? They're region free so at worst we have to import the specific games. The problem systems in my eye are Wii and 3DS since at worst we're importing a new system as well as the specific games. I don't care whether companies don't have faith enough to localize things but don't take away the option for me to import it.

No, at worst you're stuck with an imported game you can't play because of a considerable language barrier.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

Could the weak dollar have anything to do with their attitude? Circa 07 they were still putting out titles like Hotel Dusk, Trace Memory and Elite Beat Agents, these days it seems like those titles wouldn't have a chance in hell of coming to America.

At the end of the day, this is probably the long and short of it. To base off charlequin's teenage son analogy, NOA has already gotten shit for not making the profit they need to and it reflects poorly on NCL (who has to lower profit forecasts in light of the collapsing dollar).

There was an interview with Reggie a few years back, when Wii's were still hard to find, and he expressed frustration about how NCL will never let them up Wii shipments to really meet demand because of the weak dollar. Since the dollar was comparatively powerful then, I imagine the noose has tightened and some people are afraid for their jobs.

But this is a games business and you can never hit it big without taking risks. It seems like Nintendo focused all their power on trying to make DQ and MonHun big, with the latter not really working. If they had used at least some of that time, energy, and money to bring over any number of games, maybe they would have seen more success.

I dunno, as a localizing branch, they're pretty terrible. Probably one of the greatest translation groups in the industry, but they only work once in a blue moon. They're just too goddamn risk-averse. There's no convincing them that, even if a JRPG like Xenoblade does not sell gangbusters here, it's worth it to keep Nintendo brand awareness alive.

I imagine the pound and euro doing better than the dollar has a lot to do with why NoE chooses to do all these projects.

 

[hamchan]

Must say, it feels weird for PAL land to have better localization over America this time. Though to be fair it is only Nintendo published stuff, we still get shafted on Atlus games and every other publisher.

 

[Sagitario]

I guess I will be importing:

Disaster: Day of Crisis
The Last Story
NPC! Pikmin 2
Pandora's Tower
Xenoblade Chronicles

Plus, that Saint Seiya game.

Wouldn't be the first time I had to import games from Europe, though.

 

[JazzmanZ]

I'm pretty irritated by Nintendo not bringing over many of these games. Xenoblade, Last Story, Tingle 1+2, Last Window, and Zangeki no Regenleiv for example, but not everything was worth localizing.
.

Blame the mass idiots for this one, Nintendo made a poll one time saying if they should bring the Tingle game for the DS over here, but the end results were 'no tingle sucks'.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

It's certainly one of the most hilarious dick moves to not at least cover all of Europe with the games release, but I assume it was either those selected few countries or no countries at all. It's really a case of "better than nothing" for me.
I don't see how Nintendo is bound to release any 3rd party game just because the original developer/publisher is not capable of releasing their games themselves.

Nintendo certainly isn't bound to release any 3rd party games, though it's not a bad idea to draw attention to their platforms and keep the release list from becoming barren by doing so. But I can't believe Level-5 told Nintendo they couldn't release Inazuma Eleven in the UK or US; it's more likely they gave Nintendo all the Western rights and Nintendo made the decisions on what territories to release in. In fact, Nintendo of UK even said they intended to release Inazuma Eleven after the anime aired there. I don't know what happened with that.

And if "better than nothing" is all that matters, we may as well close this whole thread. After all, you can mod your Wii and import Xenoblade. That's better than nothing! You can import Fire Emblem: Shin Monshō no Nazo and play it on your region-free DS with a translation FAQ. That's better than nothing! Why are people upset with Nintendo again?

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

When was Pandora's Tower hinted at for the EU? Excel Expo?

 

[Ushojax]

Blame the mass idiots for this one, Nintendo made a poll one time saying if they should bring the Tingle game for the DS over here, but the end results were 'no tingle sucks'.

It really was especially stupid. Apparently people have no qualms playing as a 12 year old fairy but a 35 year old one? Hell no. Even NoE couldn't be bothered with the second Tingle game.

 

[jay]

you can mod your Wii and import Xenoblade. That's better than nothing! You can import Fire Emblem: Shin Monshō no Nazo and play it on your region-free DS with a translation FAQ. That's better than nothing! Why are people upset with Nintendo again?

I agree. God damn Nintendo is awesome.

 

[Foffy]

Must say, it feels weird for PAL land to have better localization over America this time. Though to be fair it is only Nintendo published stuff, we still get shafted on Atlus games and every other publisher.

Isn't that because Atlus doesn't have a European branch more than anything else?

 

[Gameboy415]

Great thread OP!

Just one correction:
Make 10: A Journey of Numbers was only released in Europe (and Japan), not America.

I just imported it along with Last Window and Face Training so now I have all the Euro-exclusives other than Inazuma Eleven.

Here's a few more Japan-exclusive DS games published by Nintendo:

Chousou Card Battle: Card Hero - sequel to a GBC game similar to Pokemon TCG
DS Rakuhiki Jiten - Japanese-English Dictionary
Eyeshield 21 - based on the Football manga
Kanji Sonomama Rakubiki Jiten - An updated Japanese-English Dictionary that allows you to write kanji on the touch screen
Yakuman DS - Mahjong game, a second wifi version was released too

In terms of DSiWare, there is also a "Too Much Tingle Pack" that has lots of little mini-games and apps featuring characters from the Tingle series and a free health advice app designed by the creators of Mother 3.

As for Wii, here's a few more JP exclusives:

Eyeshield 21 - based on the Football manga
NHK Kōhaku Quiz Gassen - a TV game show quiz game
NPC Metroid Prime - released as part of the Metroid Prime Trilogy outside Japan
NPC Metroid Prime 2 - ^ ditto


If anyone's interested, I could post about Japanese Nintendo-published exclusives from the older generations (NES-GC and all the handhelds).
I spent most of my 5 years in Japan tracking down exclusive Nintendo-published games so I have just about all of them!

 

[Princess Skittles]

Make 10: A Journey of Numbers was only released in Europe (and Japan), not America.

Ah, yes, it was supposed to be there, corrected.

I'll manage the rest of your suggestions later on.

 

[slaughterking]

Nintendo certainly isn't bound to release any 3rd party games, though it's not a bad idea to draw attention to their platforms and keep the release list from becoming barren by doing so. But I can't believe Level-5 told Nintendo they couldn't release Inazuma Eleven in the UK or US; it's more likely they gave Nintendo all the Western rights and Nintendo made the decisions on what territories to release in. In fact, Nintendo of UK even said they intended to release Inazuma Eleven after the anime aired there. I don't know what happened with that.

And if "better than nothing" is all that matters, we may as well close this whole thread. After all, you can mod your Wii and import Xenoblade. That's better than nothing! You can import Fire Emblem: Shin Monshō no Nazo and play it on your region-free DS with a translation FAQ. That's better than nothing! Why are people upset with Nintendo again?

Uhm, no. I don't know why you're twisting my words here, but that is absolutely not what I'm saying.

To Nintendo Inazuma Eleven is like any other random third party game. Tales of Hearts, Tales of Innocence, 7th Dragon, Inazuma Eleven, Saga 2, Sigma Harmonics etc. Those are games from other unrelated companies that are stuck in Japan and only the respective publishers are to blame for that.
The fact that NoE saw even a small opportunity in releasing IE in some territories is great and the only way I could give them some blame here is if they are actively keeping other interested publishers from releasing the game in NA.

 

[faridmon]

Its bloody strange we never got Fossil Fighters while we are getting the sequel Super Fossil Fighters.

NOE does not make sense sometimes.

 

[Masked Man]

To clarify: to what extent is the failure to localize X game the fault of NoA? What kind of responsibility does NCL have over the decision to localize or not?

Regardless, it's downright criminal that we haven't seen some of these titles stateside.

Glory of Heracles and Mario Super Sluggers are US-only and Card Hero is Japan-only.

Um, no? Published in Japan as "Glory of Heracles: Proof of the Soul" (ヘラクレスの栄光 魂の証&#26126 and "Super Mario Stadium Family Baseball" (スーパーマリオスタジアム ファミリーベースボー&#12523.
EDIT: Did you mean "US-and-not-Europe"?

 

[slaughterking]

EDIT: Did you mean "US-and-not-Europe"?

Yes, obviously. I think Japan is the only region to claim the privilege of meaningful exclusive Nintendo titles.

 

[Foffy]

I have a question. Should we also link to fan-translated efforts on some of the Japan-only titles? For example, there's a translation for Soma Bringer that puts all of the text in English if you patch the game, and one's planned for the Fire Emblem title.

I mean, if we're giving people solid directions to embrace localized games on Wii from other regions, is it out of the question to guide people to places where some of these games have fans painstakingly translating some of the games into English?

 

[Sammy Samusu]

Okaeri! Chibi-Robo! Happy Richie Ōsōji!

I need this game so badly.

 

[Instro]

I feel like Nintendo is basically the only major company still doing this kind of stupid shit too. I mean the only games that dont make it out of Japan from other companies are usually incredibly niche, and even then some still make it out. I have no idea if this is NoA/NoE's fault or Nintendo as a whole, but its becoming increasingly frustrating that I don't have easy access to games I want to play. Even worse is that they region lock their devices making it impossible to import without modding your console.

And seriously, I should not have to import a game like Hotel Dusk 2 when it already has an English translation. The work was already done yet it didn't get released in NA, its beyond ridiculous to have games getting translated yet only hitting NA or EU.

 

[creid]

Level-5 games have only been brought out in America and Europe by being published by platform holders, either Sony or Nintendo (White Knight Chronicles II being released by D3 in NA will be the first exception I'm aware of).

Strange, I never noticed this before.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

Uhm, no. I don't know why you're twisting my words here, but that is absolutely not what I'm saying.

To Nintendo Inazuma Eleven is like any other random third party game. Tales of Hearts, Tales of Innocence, 7th Dragon, Inazuma Eleven, Saga 2, Sigma Harmonics etc. Those are games from other unrelated companies that are stuck in Japan and only the respective publishers are to blame for that.
The fact that NoE saw even a small opportunity in releasing IE in some territories is great and the only way I could give them some blame here is if they are actively keeping other interested publishers from releasing the game in NA.

Inazuma Eleven differs from the other "random third-party games" you mention in two respects. First, Namco Bandai, Sega, and Square-Enix all have branches in North America and Europe that are perfectly capable of localizing and releasing games should they want to, unlike Level-5. (Yes, I'm aware of Level-5's California office, but until they actually announce anything I'm going to treat them as if they don't exist.) Second, Nintendo has selected Inazuma Eleven out of all the other third-party DS games you mention, localized it into several languages, and given it a partial European release. It's clear that they don't think of it as just some random unimportant third-party game, but a title important to promote that will get people interested in the DS. It's a similar situation to Nintendo's established partnership with Level-5 on the Layton series. In the hypothetical situation that Nintendo released the next Professor Layton game in Europe but not North America, or vice versa, would you say that they wouldn't deserve any criticism?

To make it clear, I do blame Level-5 for not being interested enough in the international success of one of their key franchises by making sure Inazuma Eleven gets a proper worldwide release.

 

[Jomjom]

I feel like Nintendo is basically the only major company still doing this kind of stupid shit too. I mean the only games that dont make it out of Japan from other companies are usually incredibly niche, and even then some still make it out. I have no idea if this is NoA/NoE's fault or Nintendo as a whole, but its becoming increasingly frustrating that I don't have easy access to games I want to play. Even worse is that they region lock their devices making it impossible to import without modding your console.

And seriously, I should not have to import a game like Hotel Dusk 2 when it already has an English translation. The work was already done yet it didn't get released in NA, its beyond ridiculous to have games getting translated yet only hitting NA or EU.

Nintendo does a lot of stupid stuff. Nothing's going to change until they take a major hit to their coffers. Casuals are not well enough informed to really care about all the dumb Nintendo decisions (friend codes, no real online infrastructure, games not being localized, region locking, the list goes on). Worst of all, hardcore gamers, the ones that should care about this, keep supporting them simply because of nostalgia and Nintendo fanboyism. So when you have basically the entire video game market supporting them despite these horrible decisions, what incentive do they have to do extra work to make those changes?

 

[_Alkaline_]

Nintendo does a lot of stupid stuff. Nothing's going to change until they take a major hit to their coffers. Casuals are not well enough informed to really care about all the dumb Nintendo decisions (friend codes, no real online infrastructure, games not being localized, region locking, the list goes on). Worst of all, hardcore gamers, the ones that should care about this, keep supporting them simply because of nostalgia and Nintendo fanboyism. So when you have basically the entire video game market supporting them despite these horrible decisions, what incentive do they have to do extra work to make those changes?

First of all, there's no such thing as hardcore gamers.

Secondly, this whole "keep supporting them simply because of nostalgia and Nintendo fanboyism" thing...maybe some people like playing Nintendo games. Cause, you know, they're good.

 

[IrishNinja]

oh man, we're not getting Pikmin 2 NPC either?! jesus, NOA...Xenoblade and Last Story were mean, but that just stings.

+1 to twitter/FB cause.

 

[WillyFive]

Nintendo of America treats us like dirt.

We still need Mother 3.

 

[Foffy]

Nintendo of America treats us like dirt.

We still need Mother 3.

At least Mother 3 made sense. By the time it came out, the GBA was a very dead platform outside of Japan.

There's next to no excuse for many of the games that are suffering the same fate on Wii and DS, two of Nintendo's most popular platforms ever.

 

[Ushojax]

We still need Mother 3.

Mother Trilogy for 3DS.

Believe

 

[Gravijah]

At least Mother 3 made sense. By the time it came out, the GBA was a very dead platform outside of Japan.

Even a quick port to the DS would have been nice.

 

[Takao]

DS:

Kousoku Card Battle: Card Hero

There's probably more we don't know about.

 

[slaughterking]

Inazuma Eleven differs from the other "random third-party games" you mention in two respects. First, Namco Bandai, Sega, and Square-Enix all have branches in North America and Europe that are perfectly capable of localizing and releasing games should they want to, unlike Level-5. (Yes, I'm aware of Level-5's California office, but until they actually announce anything I'm going to treat them as if they don't exist.) Second, Nintendo has selected Inazuma Eleven out of all the other third-party DS games you mention, localized it into several languages, and given it a partial European release. It's clear that they don't think of it as just some random unimportant third-party game, but a title important to promote that will get people interested in the DS. It's a similar situation to Nintendo's established partnership with Level-5 on the Layton series. In the hypothetical situation that Nintendo released the next Professor Layton game in Europe but not North America, or vice versa, would you say that they wouldn't deserve any criticism?

To make it clear, I do blame Level-5 for not being interested enough in the international success of one of their key franchises by making sure Inazuma Eleven gets a proper worldwide release.

I mean this thread is not strictly about criticism. I think Nintendo doesn't deserve any criticism for a lot of games that are in the OP of this very thread. Like some stuff just doesn't make any sense to release outside of Japan and I think we're just trying to get a comprehensive overview of the release policy of Nintendo's own titles -- and IE just doesn't fit the bill here.

And your hypothetical situation is very hypothetical indeed. Would Reggie deserve criticism for punching me in the face for no apparent reason? Yes, he would! But I don't think he would do that if our currently non-existent relation doesn't change dramatically. And I doubt NoA would drop Layton just like that.
But yes, if they would somehow still start to ignore the series without an obvious change of the circumstances I think they would deserve criticism.
I don't think this would have anything to do with this thread, though.

 

[Princess Skittles]

Mother Trilogy for 3DS.

Believe

Mother 3 for the eShop would actually make sense.

 

[Gravijah]

Mother 3 for the eShop would actually make sense.

Which means it's not going to happen.

 

[WillyFive]

Ever? I dispute that. Compare with NoE circa the early nineties. Heck, even up to the end of the Gamecube (HOW LONG did it take to get Animal Crossing?)

But NoE is a lot better now.

 

[Foffy]

Even a quick port to the DS would have been nice.

True, but Nintendo is never known to go above and beyond for fan demands. In fact, one of the major criticisms of the company is they play it safe a lot of the time, which is something I'm sure has already been said in this thread.

 

[Princess Skittles]

Which means it's not going to happen.

Pretty much. [/seppuku]

 

[Ushojax]

But NoE is a lot better now.

No question, but they still do a lot of dumb shit. Long delays for recent Kirby games, 50Hz VC games, no UK release for Inazuma Eleven, no confirmed release for Rhythm Heaven Wii, atrocious management of the eShop and Nintendo channels, etc. Plus their in-house translation are nowhere near as good as Treehouse, though much better than they used to be.

 

[Notorious_Roy]

Even though NoE does a pretty decent job these days I will never forgive them for not bringing Super Mario RPG to Europe. NEVER.

 

[charlequin]

Well, I think people are dreaming if Nintendo will consider localizing a handful of niche titles to make up for the profit they have been losing.

Nobody expects Nintendo to start doing it. This thread is just people (rightfully) expressing that the fact that they don't is reflective of how Nintendo of America are fucking terrible at their job.

But this is a games business and you can never hit it big without taking risks. It seems like Nintendo focused all their power on trying to make DQ and MonHun big, with the latter not really working. If they had used at least some of that time, energy, and money to bring over any number of games, maybe they would have seen more success.

Exactly. Nintendo is outrageously risk-averse compared to their competition, despite the fact that they have far less reason to be (their overall business model is much safer and they have a much larger cash cushion) and the fact that every single success Nintendo has had in the last ten years was the result of a significant, unpredictable risk.

To clarify: to what extent is the failure to localize X game the fault of NoA? What kind of responsibility does NCL have over the decision to localize or not?

Some titles are mandated for localization by NCL; some are refused for localization by NCL (or have conditions set on them that effectively do so -- see Fatal Frame 4, which would've been available had the developers fixed the bugs); some are left to the local branches' discretion. We generally don't know which are which, although absent an obvious reason (like with I11) a game coming out in Europe but not America or vice versa is a strong clue that it was a title left to branch discretion.

I feel like Nintendo is basically the only major company still doing this kind of stupid shit too.

Quite a few large third party publishers have backslid this generation, actually. Square-Enix's overall record got worse this gen after they basically gave up on handheld titles; Namco and Konami's already shitty records remained shitty; Sega got significantly worse; Capcom, once the shining star of JP -> US localization, has even started significantly slipping of late.

 

[Princess Skittles]

Square-Enix's overall record got worse this gen after they basically gave up on handheld titles;

I thank many deities that The World Ends With You made it out of Japan, it seemed doomed from inception.

And hey, what happened when they did release it here? IT WAS SUCCESSFUL.

Obviously that isn't going to happen with every oddball game, but ugh, missing out on stuff like The Game With No Name and SaGa 2 just hurt my soul.

 

[EatChildren]

It should be noted that although Fatal Frame IV was never localised, there's a solid fan translation patch out there that works with a retail copy of the game, streaming the translation from your SD card.

It doesnt fix the bugs, but it does make the game playable to English speaking folk.

 

[lunchwithyuzo]

- Guru Guru Logic DSiWare

Isn't this Snapdots? It's on the US store, I downloaded it months ago.

 

[heringer]

Old?

http://www.destructoid.com/letter-writing-campaign-for-last-story-pandora-s-tower-204505.phtml