Time to learn Japanese

Today I put on my wizard hat and make some guesses about some Japanese exclusive 3DS games. It seems like there are entirely too many awesome games that are not scheduled to, or will never make it the US. Aside from importing these games, because of region blocks, Nintendo fans have been moderately successful in petitioning developers and publishers to take a risk on the American audience.

Does it have to come to that every time? With the eShop doesn't that cut most of the costs of localization? They wouldn't have to worry about packaging and shipping, and at the very least they could do was add English subtitles and menus. I have no idea how hard it is to localize a game. It make no sense to keep games that other audiences will enjoy locked up in Japan.



Monster Hunter 4

While American MH fans anticipate the release of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate in March of next year, Japanese fans will get the next game in the series that same month. Monster Hunter 4 looks sick, with interesting environmental mechanics, new weapons, new and old monsters and everything else that has made the series a phenomenon overseas. I hope that this makes it the US someday, but I don't think it will be for a long time. Release date: March 2013.

This is a technical video from Capcom which demonstrates some of the new features found in the game. I'm specially interested in the terrain features, new weapon combos, and how it runs on the 3DS. Looks really good!

Probability of coming to the US: Someday, only if MH3 Ultimate does well in the US, which I think it will.

Youkai Watch

Level 5 is cranking out the interesting RPG/anime games lately. This is an old trailer, but recent news is that Youkai Watch is coming to the 3DS soon, with no release date. I love cartoon style cell shaded video games. This game combines a ghost Pokemon-type game with lighthearted anime adventure... which looks awesome. Level 5 looks like they're producing more 3DS games these days, which is good for portable consoles. Release date: 2013?

Probability of coming to the US: Not sure. Level 5 seems hit and miss with US releases. If Ni No Kuni does well... then perhaps.  

Bravely Default

This RPG has been noted for its interesting approach to turn based combat and interesting job based  mechanics that would evoke the same praise as early Final Fantasy games. Famistu gave this game a near perfect score as they are apt to do these days. Everything looks great about this game, even though I've heard some players have been annoyed by the battle mechanics.

In an interview with RPGLAND, producer Tomoya Asano said that there were no plans to bring this to the US, but using social media to spread the word about the game would helps it's chances. Great. Whatever that means. Make sure to add #BDFF at the end of all your sandwich tweets. Release date: October 14.

Probability of coming to the US: Who knows. Keep tweeting. Square Enix is sure to release another Final Fantasy game here, but anything else is a question mark. I don't think we'll see Bravely Default for a long time.

E.X. Troopers

Jeremy Parish from 1Up.com picked this as his favorite game from TGS this year. He mentioned that Capcom built it from the failed wreckage of Mega Man Legends 3, but who actually knows. With as much interest from game websites, I wonder if Capcom will relent and push it for US localization.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Magnagate and the Infinite Labyrinth

I'm kind of a sucker for funny cartoon animals beating the crap out of each other. Add randomized dungeons and augmented reality features and bam! That might be a game that I want really really bad. From this trailer you can see Pikachu and all his Pokemon friends wandering through dungeons, and fighting each other. This time you can take pictures with the 3DS to create portals or "Magnagates" to enter dungeons? That's awesome and something out of the box from the usual way of making games. Release date: November.

Probability of coming to the US: Probably. Most Mystery Dungeon games get US releases. Year from now?

Let's not forget that Nintendo recently showed off some more special edition 3DS LLs in a recent Nintendo Direct. The special red Mario bundle looks interesting... folks have compared it to the pattern you see on men's boxer shorts. The Animal Crossing edition is more of the same as well, but still so cool (I'm a sucker for Animal Crossing). The black 3DS LL included with Monster Hunter 3G looks nice. I'm not sure why Nintendo didn't put one out in black sooner. The yellow Pikachu edition is crazy. That brings the total exclusive models in Japan to seven. We have just red and blue. Totally lame. Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime explained that white and silver hardware doesn't sell in the US. That's idiotic. Everyone owns a white iPod or iPhone. Consumers want options... hearing about what's available overseas is ridiculous. What's worse is that Europe has the yellow Pikachu version as well as the Silver version. Europe!