This post has not been edited by the GamesBeat staff. Opinions by GamesBeat community writers do not necessarily reflect those of the staff.
Note: This is my entry for the Secret Santa Bitmob Writing Challenge. The topic I was gifted was 'rage', so I decided to rant for a bit about how all the cool Nintendo games are staying in Japan lately. Enjoy!
I almost feel like we're living in the late '80s or early '90s again… back when video games in America were more of a crack shot after the failure of Atari and the big gaming crash. While Nintendo was picking up steam with the NES and SNES, publishers were more picky with what they brought over from the system's home country of Japan, usually stating the reason that the game wouldn't sell well with an American audience. This reasoning may of been true in some cases (such as game tie ins to anime Americans wouldn't have heard of), it also means we lost out on a lot of great games in the past, such as the Famicom Wars series, Bahamut Lagoon, and many more. Thankfully, in recent years publishers have worked towards bringing over series previously un-released in America, such as Fire Emblem, the Atelier series, and more, taking a chance with IPs that the fans want to see translated and on the store shelves.
So, what the hell happened, Nintendo?
This year, some really cool Wii games have been completely ignored by Nintendo of America. Americans gamers have found a bit of solace in the fact that Xenoblade Chronicles has finally been announced to come Stateside, but that news only came after the fact that the game sold well enough in Europe to seem 'worth it' for NoA to bring the game over. The game's already translated into English, how hard would it be to stick it on a US compatible DVD? In addition, the US fanbase begging for the game was large, and they spent a lot of time getting the word out about Xenoblade to other gamers, snowballing the amount of people that wanted to see it come out in America, and is (speculated as) another reason that NoA decided to bring the role-playing game over.
Congrats, Xenoblade fans.
With everything that went into it, the US release of Xenoblade Chronicles is a triumph for RPG and Wii fans alike. But, what about the other games that aren't making it Stateside?
The biggest disappointment for me this year is the lack of any sort of announcement for the Dragon Quest Anniversary Collection in America. The game has both the NES and SNES versions of Dragon Quest I, II, and III, and comes with a ton of bonus goodies that any Dragon Quest fan would drool over. The NES versions of these games have already been released in America, but the SNES ones would be new to our shores, and having the whole of the original trilogy on one disc is pretty awesome. The game came our in September in Japan, and for three months there hasn't been a single word of a translation from NoA. While it took a long time for the remake of Dragon Quest VI to come to America (which probably had to do with crazy stuff, since Nintendo is publishing this Square-Enix series now), seeing that the Wii is near the end of its lifespan, the lack of any word for the release of this Dragon Quest game in America makes the likelihood of such pretty bleak. I mean, at least NoA could say they're not going to release the game in America, instead of keeping hopeful fans waiting.
I'll never own this sleek game…
The exclusion of the collection in any of Nintendo's statements or press releases stirs up feelings of other Wii and DS games that got left in the dust. What happened to the DS remake of Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem, which fixed most of the problems gamers had with Shadow Dragon? How about The Last Story, the 'other' great Wii RPG that fans are clamoring for and is getting a trial run in Europe? And for that matter, how about Captain Rainbow… which I understand, but dammit, I'm including it anyway!
Seriously, Nintendo of America, do you hate us? All of these games I mentioned (well, maybe not Captain Rainbow, but anyway) have a large enough fan base to warrant a translation. If small companies like XSeed and Aksys can translate and bank their livelihood on niche titles, one of the largest gaming companies can spare a few translators and programmers to please their fans that like more than Mario and The Legend of Zelda.
Actually, Japan can keep this one…
Enough of the "test runs" in Europe and testing the loyalty of your fans, NoA… give us the damn games already!