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[Heimdall_Xtreme]

We used to have a limited selection of games we always wanted to play, but due to localization restrictions, we never could.

These are mine.
















Games that never made it to America

 

[kevboard]

Serial Experiments Lain... although I think it's supposedly barely even a game, and more like an interactive software CD

GANTZ on PS2. My japanese isn't good enough to play it. I saw it at an import shop back in the day... looked interesting.

otherwise tho, I can't think of any. most titles that were hard to come by I did play through emulation back in the day. like some NES, MSX and MAME titles.

maybe some Wonderswan titles.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

 

[Mister Wolf]

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

Serial Experiments Lain... although I think it's supposedly barely even a game, and more like an interactive software CD

GANTZ on PS2. My japanese isn't good enough to play it. I saw it at an import shop back in the day... looked interesting.

otherwise tho, I can't think of any. most titles that were hard to come by I did play through emulation back in the day. like some NES, MSX and MAME titles.

maybe some Wonderswan titles.

Gantz is actually a good game, and it was made by Konami.

This game is great too, also is a Konami game

 

[ReBurn]

Nothing comes to mind. If I couldn't play it then it was probably weeb shit anyway.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

The Samurai Shodown RPG

 

[Danjin44]

 

[CastorSoze]

I actually own Disaster Day of crisis and Project Zero 2 on the Wii since I'm in Europe. And some day I may even play Disaster.

I remember hearing of a game that was going to feature Godzilla and Evangelion. Looking it up now, City Shrouded in Shadow (Kyoei Toshi), it looks like it released on PS4 in 2017, exclusively in Japan.

 

[Sunraku]

Dragons Dogma Online

 

[Burning Blade]

Goemon 2 and 3.

 

[digimaster7]

Yakuza Kenzan, if rgg studio doesn't announce shit in a few years I might caved and play it on emulator using the google translator app

 

[6502]

Disaster was good.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

Yakuza Kenzan, if rgg studio doesn't announce shit in a few years I might caved and play it on emulator using the google translator app

But a localized version was released. You can play it now.

 

[El Hee-Ho]

Dragons Dogma Online

Got some good news for you: the game got revived by fans and it's playable, with a ton of content available and most stuff translated to english.

Thread 'Dragon's Dogma Online'

Mar 11, 2025

Just wanted to bring this to your attention: Dragon's Dogma Online has been revived, it's fully playable and currently has multiple servers that offer different approaches to the game:

• DDON Server: basically the closest to the original.
• Dogma Rising: smaller server, with a few more custom tweaks. They've blunt some of the MMO grindiness to give a more pure Dragons Dogma experience. Leveling seems faster, and money/blood orbs seem more readily available.

I've tried Dogma Rising...

• El Hee-Ho
• Replies: 32
• Forum: Gaming Discussion

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[Heimdall_Xtreme]

They already had everything... English voice acting. And they didn't release it.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

Cancelled and banned in America... I'm one of the few people who have a physical copy.

 

[nial]

But a localized version was released. You can play it now.

That's Ishin!, not Kenzan!
Even then, it's not the original 2014 PS4 game, it's an inferior remake.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

I have Ex Troopers on PS3 (Danjin). It's a beautiful game, but I didn't understand anything

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

That's Ishin!, not Kenzan!
Even then, it's not the original 2014 PS4 game, it's an inferior remake.

I wanted to share some good news

 

[digimaster7]

But a localized version was released. You can play it now.

this is ISHIN, I already have 100 hours on this

 

[Tobimacoss]

Dead or Alive 7.

Due to location in Space/Time.

 

[Halfkut]

if we are talking language barriers then Segagaga is my white whale

I believe a translation is actually coming tho

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

Language barriers.
It's a visual novel.

And the story is extremely interesting.

 

[PeteBull]

Holy Squaresoft jrpg Trifecta never came to PAL region playstation, so back in mid 90s in europe we had to pirate that shit: FFT, Xenogears and Parasite Eve

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

Dragon Quest X.

 

[reinking]

Samurai Shodown RPG.

 

[Ceallach]

Coupla mentions of Samurai Shodown RPG. It has an English translation for those interested. Its really good. The campaigns are petty short too.

DQX is it for me.

 

[CastorSoze]

They already had everything... English voice acting. And they didn't release it.

You probably mean the physical release back then, but I think it's on the Switch N64 online.

 

[Juja]

I had heard of Terranigma and attempted to play it on an emulator years ago, but the layers were all screwy. My wife bought me a repro cart a few years ago, and playing it for the first time was like magic.

Seriously, it was me discovering this game for the first time as if it was one of my childhood classics. It was just like the first time I played Chrono Trigger when I was 9, but I was like... 36 or so at the time, so feeling like a kid again at my age was wild.

Tangentially related, Actraiser Renaissance finally went on sale for $12, so I bought it on Switch 2, and I can't put it down. Quintet really had The Touch back in the SNES days.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

You probably mean the physical release back then, but I think it's on the Switch N64 online.

That's right... I don't understand... They already had the game in English... They just had to release it. It would be a cult classic...

But at least we'd have it as a great game on the N64.

I'm playing it on Switch 2 and it feels like those old arcade games... Really cool.

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

Ciel NoSurge
Mother 3
Yokai Watch 4

Just to name a few

I plan to play these through emulation using fan translation next year

 

[LavitzSlambert]

I was never able to get to one of these machines, and they are so few and far between now.

 

[Xellos]

Mother 3
Terranigma
The Frog for Whom the Bell Tolls
Disaster Day of Crisis
Buddy Mission Bond
Policenauts
Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland
PS2 Goemon

 

[Signalis]

The Lost Planet game we never got. Reason for it not being localised outside of Japan: "Text in dialogue boxes were hardcoded as images, so they can't just change the text." Always looked so good

 

[Comandr]

City Shrouded in Shadow, easily. I have a tepid interest in the Disaster Report series, but I love kaiju. Telling a story from a perspective of a survivor of a kaiju attack is such a novel concept. Part of the reason why Cloverfield was such a fantastic movie. That said, I'd be better off just learning to read Japanese than hoping for a port of any kind at this point, even a fan translation seems like a pipe dream.

 

[vodka-bull]

Well they tried to prevent Where Winds Meet in austria.

But turns out

a) it's very easy to create a US PSN account and
b) they only thing they can prevent is me spending money on any items, because the PSN store doesn't have anything to sell for WWM

So basically I can play a f2p game and it'll stay f2p for me.

Other than that no, there's nothing I can't play because region locked systems never had anything I was interested in that wasn't available in my region.

 

[Dr. Suchong]

There's tonnes of games I can't play due to location.
My location specifically.
The location being "Work"

 

[Three]

Liksang and now PlayAsia always exist(ed) for me so nothing really. I always imported my games if I needed to.

 

[GymWolf]

Always wanted to play the hajime no ippo and toriko games but i think they only released in japan...

 

[Power Pro]

Dragon Quest X the thread.

I guess there are ways to play it now with some machine translation, but it just kinda feels too late. Dont have the time for MMOs that I used to. For so long though, Square-enix went the extra mile to make sure people couldn't even import it, which felt like such bull shit. Made sure the servers were region locked, and needed a Japan IP address. Always felt shitty, because even before final fantasy 11 came out in the US, i was able to import and play that game online with japanese language.

Then they did an offline version of Dragon Quest X, which hey..maybe that's their way to finally bring it over to western audiences in some fashion. No, that didn't happen either.

 

[Hudo]

Dragon Quest X

 

[xenosys]

Xenogears back in the 90s.

It never received a European launch, so I had to mod my PSX to play games from different regions. Had a dodgy dealer in the area that I paid £10 to for the US version.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

City Shrouded in Shadow, easily. I have a tepid interest in the Disaster Report series, but I love kaiju. Telling a story from a perspective of a survivor of a kaiju attack is such a novel concept. Part of the reason why Cloverfield was such a fantastic movie. That said, I'd be better off just learning to read Japanese than hoping for a port of any kind at this point, even a fan translation seems like a pipe dream.

I'd always wanted to buy this game. The premise is very different and very interesting.

 

[hououinkyouma00]

Serial Experiments Lain... although I think it's supposedly barely even a game, and more like an interactive software CD

GANTZ on PS2. My japanese isn't good enough to play it. I saw it at an import shop back in the day... looked interesting.

otherwise tho, I can't think of any. most titles that were hard to come by I did play through emulation back in the day. like some NES, MSX and MAME titles.

maybe some Wonderswan titles.

I'm sure somebody has told you already but the SEL PS1 game has been translated into English and is available online in iso form.

I believe there is also a playable version on browsers now

 

[Cakeboxer]

Wolfenstein 2009. Banned in my country and now not available on Steam anymore.

 

[Valonquar]

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

Resident evil 2 Arcade game