1. Mother 3
Mother 3is the last game in the belovedMotherseries. For some unfortunate reason, this game never received an official translation. Its Japan-only release in 2006 has left any non-Japanese speakers with only fan translations.
Mother 3introduces Lucas and his family. It takes place on Nowhere Islands, and pans out in a total of eight chapters. WithMother 3receiving praise for its amazing storyline and music-based combat, it’s a huge shame that this game never reached the West.
2. Dai Gyakuten Saiben
Dai Gyakuten Saiben(orThe Great Ace Attorney) is a spinoff of the popularAce Attorneyvisual novel series. The game was released in 2015 for the Nintendo 3DS, and features 3D graphics found in newerAce Attorneygames. Although a sequel toDai Gyakuten Saibenwas released in 2017, a localized version of either game still doesn’t exist!
As a fan ofAce Attorney, it’s disheartening to hear that I’ll never get to experience the cases that take place at the end of the 19th century. Players even get to take control of Ryunosuke Naruhodo, Phoenix Wright’s ancestor. For now, fan translations will have to suffice.
3. Dragon Quest X
Doesn’t an MMORPG version ofDragon Questsound awesome? Well, too bad—Dragon Quest Xis the series' first MMORPG, and it’s only available in Japan. You can still play the untranslated game if you’re outside of Japan, but it requires quite a bit of work.
InDragon Quest X, you can fully customize your character and traverse the world of Astoltia. As you complete quests, you can team up with other players to tackle monsters.
4. Gyakuten Kenji 2
TheAce Attorneyseries is guilty of releasing yet another game that doesn’t have a translation.Gyakuten Kenji 2is the sequel toAce Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth. We (fortunately) got an official localization of the first game, but Capcom decided not to release the second game outside of Japan.
Like the firstAce Attorney Investigationsgame, you play as the prosecutor Miles Edgeworth. You’ll have detective Dick Gumshoe, as well as the young thief Kay Faraday on your side, as you present your case to the harsh judge, Hakari Mikagami. Thanks to fan translations, you can play an unofficial English version.
5. Jump Ultimate Stars
Jump Ultimate Starsis the ultimate anime fighting game, and we may never see it released in the West. Sure, we haveJump Force, but that game ended up being one of the worst games released in 2019.
Jump Ultimate Starswas released for the Nintendo DS in 2006, and features 56 playable manga characters. Not only can you play as some of your favorite anime and manga characters, like Naruto, Ichigo Kurosaki, Goku, Dio Brando, Gon Freecss, but you can also engage in combat similar toSuper Smash Bros. Luckily, you don’t have to go through any trickery to play this game—the imported game can work on a DS from any region.
6. Captain Rainbow
Captain Rainbowis a quirky action-adventure game that was released for the Wii in 2008. This game involves chatting with minor Nintendo characters, like Birdo and Litte Mac.
You play as Nick, a seemingly normal man who can change into the former TV show, Captain Rainbow. Since Captain Rainbow’s show isn’t popular anymore, he visits Mimin Island to make his dreams come true.
Will We Ever See These Games Localized?
There’s still hope for every game on this list. In 2020, we’ll see the long-awaited localized versions ofTrials of Mana, as well asPhantasy Star 2. Seeing both of these games get official translations is groundbreaking.
In addition to Japan-only video games, Japan also harbors a ton of arcade games that we’ll never see in North America. Why can’t theseawesome Japanese arcade games just come West?
