An abridged list of games Nintendo elected to publish in Japan but not in NA

[Tek7]

Below is a list of games that Nintendo has published in Japan but not in North America:

Gameboy Advance

• Boundish
• Coloris
• Custom Robo GX
• Densetsu no Stafy
• Densetsu no Stafy 2
• Densetsu no Stafy 3
• Dialhex
• Digidrive
• Dotstream
• Eyeshield 21: Devilbats Devildays
• Fire Emblem: Fūin no Tsurugi
• F-Zero Climax
• Magical Vacation
• Mother 1 + 2
• Mother 3
• Orbital
• Rhythm Tengoku
• Soundvoyager

DS

• ASH: Archaic Sealed Heat
• Card Hero: High Speed Battle
• Chōsōjū Mecha MG
• DS Rakuhiki Jiten
• English Training: Have Fun Improving Your Skills! (Japan and Europe Only)
• EZ-Talk
• Fire Emblem: Shin Monshō no Nazo ~Hikari to Kage no Eiyū~
• Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland (Japan and Europe Only)
• Game & Watch Gallery Collection 2
• Irozuki Tingle no Koi no Balloon Trip
• Jam with the Band (Japan and Europe Only)
• Jet Impulse
• Jump Super Stars
• Jump Ultimate Stars
• Last Window: The Secret of Cape West (Japan and Europe Only)
• Little Charo travel Eigo
• Mawashite Tsunageru Touch Panic
• Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2
• Nihon Keizai Shinbunsha Kanshuu
• Nintendogs: Shiba & Friends
• Okaeri! Chibi-Robo! Happy Richie Oosouji!
• Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan
• Otona No DS Kao Training
• Otona no Joushiki Yoku Training
• Pretty Cure Splash Star DS
• Project Hacker Kakusei
• Slide Adventure MAGKID
• Soma Bringer
• Tingle's Balloon Fight DS
• Tottoko Hamtaro Nazonazo Q: Kumonoue no? Shiro
• Wi-Fi Taiyou: Yakuman DS
• Yakuman DS
• Zekkyō Senshi Sakeburein

Wii

• And-Kensaku
• Another Code: R – A Journey into Lost Memories (Japan and Europe only)
• Captain Rainbow
• Common sense of people power TV
• Dynamic Slash
• Eyeshield 21: The Field's Greatest Warriors
• Fatal Frame IV
• The Last Story
• New Play Control! Chibi Robo
• New Play Control! Metroid Prime
• New Play Control! Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
• NHK Kōhaku Quiz Gassen
• Pandora's Tower
• Tact of Magic
• Xenoblade Chronicles (Japan and Europe only)

WiiWare

• Line Attack Heroes
• Tsūshin Taikyoku: Hayazashi Shogi Sandan
• Tsūshin Taikyoku: Igo Dōjō 2700-Mon
• Tsūshin Taikyoku: World Chess
• Tsuushin Taikyoku: Hayazashi Shogi Sandan
• Tsuushin Taikyoku: Igo Dojo 2700-Mon
• Yakuman Wii

Source: List of products published by Nintendo, Wikipedia

Notable titles marked in bold.

I wish Operation Rainfall all the success they're hoping for, but the list above doesn't leave me optimistic. If Nintendo refuses to publish a gem like Soma Bringer in North America--and, more importantly, refuses to allow niche publishers like Atlus and XSEED to publish SB in North America--chances don't look good for Xenoblade.

I'd love to be wrong, though. Xenoblade looks like an excellent game and was developed by the same company that developed Soma Bringer.

 

[Logos]

NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay I am better now..."shivers" oh nintendo what has happened to you?!?!

 

[Tek7]

NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay I am better now..."shivers" oh nintendo what has happened to you?!?!

Actually, refusing to publish or let other companies publish excellent games in North America is, unfortunately, par for the course.

 

[Logos]

I know but there are some really excellent games on that list...I guess I am going to have to start importing.

 

[Prince Mouse]

Well that kinda sucks . I like Custom Robo. Real awesome game.

 

[Tek7]

I know but there are some really excellent games on that list...I guess I am going to have to start importing.

The DS Lite is not region-locked. The DSi, DSi XL, and 3DS are. The Wii is region locked, but that's easy enough to fix by installing homebrew and using a region-free loader to play PAL and NTSC-J region discs.

In related news:

Nintendo posted the following regarding fan requests to localize and publish Xenoblade, The Last Story, and Pandora's Tower Sunday evening:

Hey fans, we appreciate your enthusiasm. Look for more updates to come soon!

Today, they posted the following:

Thank you for your enthusiasm. We promised an update, so here it is. We never say “never,” but we can confirm that there are no plans to bring these three games to the Americas at this time. Thanks so much for your passion, and for being such great fans!

I was always among the first to defend Nintendo when people asked, "Where are the good games?" I would rattle off a list of fantastic first-party and third-party games that didn't receive the attention they deserved.

But in light of how poorly Nintendo PR handled this decision and how NoA stubbornly refuses to publish these titles (or let Atlus, XSEED, or DS publish them), I can no longer defend Nintendo's repeated claim that it cares about "core gamers."

I'm strongly opposed to piracy (obviously), but I'm not opposed to importing and using homebrew to disable region locking on the Wii. There are PAL region (read: localized for English-speaking audiences) releases planned for Xenoblade and The Last Story. There's at least a menu translation patch in the works for Pandora's Tower; now that Nintendo has confirmed they have no localization plans, I don't doubt that project will expand to include story text (if that hasn't happened already).

Refusing to localize JRPGs for North America may have made (some) sense back in the NES and SNES days, but Final Fantasy VII was a tremendous commercial success 14 years ago and fans have been developing fan translation patches for Wii and DS games for years now. Nintendo didn't localize Soma Bringer for North America, but my wife and I played through it anyway thanks to a fan translation patch.

</rant>

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to check how prices on Play-Asia compare to other import shops.

 

[Tek7]

RawmeatCowboy at GoNintendo had a similar (and more eloquently phrased) response:

That's all Nintendo could offer fans that were hoping to see Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story and Xenoblade Chronicles in the states. To say that it's disappointing to wait for a statement like this would be an understatement. It's also quite obvious that thousands of fans are upset as well, as you can see for yourself through Twitter or Facebook.

I've never, ever felt like this as a Nintendo fan. I'm quite shaken by the reaction from Nintendo. I guess I shouldn't be, seeing how Nintendo usually responds to questions like this. I guess this just makes more of an impact because of all the time and effort that so many fans put out. To look at all the manpower and time that people put into this cause just to get the statement above seems like a kick in the face.

Should fans have expected something other than what we got? I guess not. Should we have thought that there was a possibility that one of those games might actually make it here? I guess not. Was it silly to believe that Nintendo might actually change plans or decisions based on a loud fan reaction? I guess not. Plenty of people will say that they told us so, that we wasted our time and laugh us off. It's just a shame that Nintendo proved them right.

For all that I've said above, I'm actually at a loss for words. With that said, I know you guys have plenty that you want to say. Please feel free to do so in the comments below.

I promise...unlike Nintendo, I'll listen.

Source: GoNintendo 'End of Day' thoughtless

In other news, it looks like Namco Bandai shares the blame for Soma Bringer never seeing a US release:

As of May 6, 2007, Nintendo owns controlling interest in the company after Namco Bandai sold 80% of its 96% stake in Monolith Soft to Nintendo. This went into effect May 1, 2007. It is now a first-party developer for Nintendo.

Soma Bringer was the first game Monolith Soft finished after the sale.

If only Namco Bandai had sold Monolith Soft to Atlus instead.

In the back of my mind, I had a tiny hope that Monolith Soft would break away from Nintendo after a contract with a set time period was up, but it looks like their relationship is of a more permanent nature. Here's hoping key staff will leave Monolith Soft and either join Atlus or form a new development studio. (Monolith Soft was founded by Hirohide Sugiura after he left Square, so it would be a funny-in-an-interesting-way turn of events.)

EDIT: Monolith Soft has confirmed they are working on a Wii U title. It will probably also be awesome and NoA will probably refuse to localize that game, too. /sigh

Here's hoping someone figures out a way to circumvent region locking on the Wii U by the title Monolith Soft finishes their Wii U game.

 

[Keero]

In a perfect world, the games get translated and are found to be crap. :|

 

[Tek7]

In a perfect world, the games get translated and are found to be crap. :|

Except all 3 already received great reviews. And all 3 were developed by well-respected companies:

• Xenoblade was developed by Monolith Soft, which also developed Soma Bringer and Baten Kaitos.
• The Last Story was developed by Mistwalker, which was founded by the creator of the Final Fantasy series.
• Pandora's Tower was developed by Ganbarion, which developed the Jump Super Stars and Jump Ultimate Stars games for the DS.

These 3 games are in high demand with good reason: They're solid, original (read: NOT sequels) games on a system that's severely lacking in the RPG genre (my apologies to everyone that was hoping Arc Rise Fantasia would be good) and new IPs, developed by Japanese development studios with strong reputations.