According to my friend that spent like eight years in Japan, both actually, kek - but that's not the reason behind a lot of these games not being released by western publishers. The vidya industry is a business like any other, so if they thought something wouldn't sell here, they wouldn't bother bringing it over. And honestly, they were most likely right. Lots of these titles are very quirky, experimental or just cute for the sake of cuteness. I can enjoy them, you can enjoy them, but the Call of Duty / FIFA crowd most likely wouldn't.
Yes they're based. But the real reason is that no one would have bought shit like that here. Maybe today with how Japanophilic we are but not 30 years ago
Reminds me of the action button review of buko no natsume. Tim Rogers worked at Sony for a few years when Boku no Natsume was about be re-released on the PSP. His boss asked him if they should consider an English localization. Rogers, who loved the game, instantly said no, and talked about the scenes where you bathed with your cousin as a reason why. One of his coworkers was surprised at pointed out that a similar scene was featured in a Studio Ghibli film (I think it was Totoro?) made it to the West, and Rogers pointed out in return that actually, there was a big issue with that.
Meanwhile Millenial Kitchen's Shin Chan game got an English release last year and the biggest criticism on Steam is "why isn't this as funny and brutal as the real Shin Chan cartoon?" (by which they mean the English dub, which was basically Ghost Stories tier despite being shown on kids cable channels and was more akin to South Park than the original manga).
Yes they're based. But the real reason is that no one would have bought shit like that here. Maybe today with how Japanophilic we are but not 30 years ago
>Maybe today with how Japanophilic we are but not 30 years ago
Secret of Mana was my first exposure to anime and I bought it because I thought it was like Ferngully or something. And I didnt even realize until years later that there was tons and tons of that big eyed shit.
Usually, it's either they didn't have the means or money to release the game overseas, or they didn't think Westerners would buy it. Just looking at this from a straight business perspective.
Some Japs refuse to work with westerners, because the Japs are being moronic.
Other Japs refuse to work with westerners, because they know those localizers are moronic and will butcher both their code and their script with their idiotic dev teams.
Some publishers didn't have the money to get their game localized, or couldn't for other reasons (licensing, etc.) Others probably felt their games wouldn't appeal to people outside Japan and didn't bother trying.
that's ridiculous. JRPG mechanics are direct ripoffs of western tabletop and video game mechanics. FF/DQ were basically just japanese interpretations of ultima/wizardry.
Because it takes time, effort, and money to localize a game, and not every single game ever made probably deserves that. I'd assume this is a troll post, but with how stupid I've been seeing people get lately, you're probably being serious.
When I look at Famicom games that never made it out of Japan, I can't help but think many would have performed well out of a Japan, and in the end, if you compare what the west got and what it didn't get, there is often no rhyme or reason and it's pure luck.
One of the reasons though is publishers wouldn't localize and release everything, and if given a choice between a game for which you have to do nothing (already in English or the few words there are were translated by an intern at the Japanese studio) with a small black&white booklet, versus a game with a lot of text that would require programming changes, and a 30 pages colour booklet, they will choose the former, even in the case of a series that's a best seller.
Then, those same publishers will make up excuses like "oh no the west wouldn't like this game", which in reality means "people likes what WE tell them to like".
Case in point with Final Fantasy selling more in the US than in Japan, constantly being in Nintendo Power's top 10, and the sequels not being released because "oh no the west doesn't like RPGs".
But then most cases there really just isn't an explanation, simple quality action games that would have sold more in the west but didn't make it...I also suppose that Japan also had a greater number of small publishers.
Based on Reiji Asakura, who wrote Revolutionaries at Sony (a book about the creation of the playstation), Japanese publishers in the 16-bit era decided on profitability.
If the game sells very well in Japan, it stays in Japan.
If the game does not sell in Japan, it is released in the West.
So Ken Kutaragi had to convince the Japanese publishers, for the Playstation to release their games both in Japan and in the West.
According to my friend that spent like eight years in Japan, both actually, kek - but that's not the reason behind a lot of these games not being released by western publishers. The vidya industry is a business like any other, so if they thought something wouldn't sell here, they wouldn't bother bringing it over. And honestly, they were most likely right. Lots of these titles are very quirky, experimental or just cute for the sake of cuteness. I can enjoy them, you can enjoy them, but the Call of Duty / FIFA crowd most likely wouldn't.
Reminds me of the action button review of buko no natsume. Tim Rogers worked at Sony for a few years when Boku no Natsume was about be re-released on the PSP. His boss asked him if they should consider an English localization. Rogers, who loved the game, instantly said no, and talked about the scenes where you bathed with your cousin as a reason why. One of his coworkers was surprised at pointed out that a similar scene was featured in a Studio Ghibli film (I think it was Totoro?) made it to the West, and Rogers pointed out in return that actually, there was a big issue with that.
Meanwhile Millenial Kitchen's Shin Chan game got an English release last year and the biggest criticism on Steam is "why isn't this as funny and brutal as the real Shin Chan cartoon?" (by which they mean the English dub, which was basically Ghost Stories tier despite being shown on kids cable channels and was more akin to South Park than the original manga).
>Millenial
Millenium. I seem to be suffering from a minor form of brain poisoning, forgive me.
Yes they're based. But the real reason is that no one would have bought shit like that here. Maybe today with how Japanophilic we are but not 30 years ago
>Maybe today with how Japanophilic we are but not 30 years ago
Secret of Mana was my first exposure to anime and I bought it because I thought it was like Ferngully or something. And I didnt even realize until years later that there was tons and tons of that big eyed shit.
Usually, it's either they didn't have the means or money to release the game overseas, or they didn't think Westerners would buy it. Just looking at this from a straight business perspective.
Some Japs refuse to work with westerners, because the Japs are being moronic.
Other Japs refuse to work with westerners, because they know those localizers are moronic and will butcher both their code and their script with their idiotic dev teams.
They are all hardcore elitists. Not hardcore gamers, these elitists, they are racists. They are literally gaming racists.
Some publishers didn't have the money to get their game localized, or couldn't for other reasons (licensing, etc.) Others probably felt their games wouldn't appeal to people outside Japan and didn't bother trying.
back in the day the excuse was that burgers are too stupid to figure out the math / probability mechanics of JRPG combat
while this is certainly true, idk if that was actually the reason
that's ridiculous. JRPG mechanics are direct ripoffs of western tabletop and video game mechanics. FF/DQ were basically just japanese interpretations of ultima/wizardry.
Not to mention that JRPGs are the dumbest form of a video game and there is nothing to get wrong
Low quality bait
Because it takes time, effort, and money to localize a game, and not every single game ever made probably deserves that. I'd assume this is a troll post, but with how stupid I've been seeing people get lately, you're probably being serious.
Which one is the best and comfiest in this series? The first N64 one looks great
When I look at Famicom games that never made it out of Japan, I can't help but think many would have performed well out of a Japan, and in the end, if you compare what the west got and what it didn't get, there is often no rhyme or reason and it's pure luck.
One of the reasons though is publishers wouldn't localize and release everything, and if given a choice between a game for which you have to do nothing (already in English or the few words there are were translated by an intern at the Japanese studio) with a small black&white booklet, versus a game with a lot of text that would require programming changes, and a 30 pages colour booklet, they will choose the former, even in the case of a series that's a best seller.
Then, those same publishers will make up excuses like "oh no the west wouldn't like this game", which in reality means "people likes what WE tell them to like".
Case in point with Final Fantasy selling more in the US than in Japan, constantly being in Nintendo Power's top 10, and the sequels not being released because "oh no the west doesn't like RPGs".
But then most cases there really just isn't an explanation, simple quality action games that would have sold more in the west but didn't make it...I also suppose that Japan also had a greater number of small publishers.
Based on Reiji Asakura, who wrote Revolutionaries at Sony (a book about the creation of the playstation), Japanese publishers in the 16-bit era decided on profitability.
If the game sells very well in Japan, it stays in Japan.
If the game does not sell in Japan, it is released in the West.
So Ken Kutaragi had to convince the Japanese publishers, for the Playstation to release their games both in Japan and in the West.
>I can't help but think many would have performed well out of a Japan
And others would horribly fail - case in point, pic related.
I wouldn't want to deal with any western morons if I didn't have to either, probably live a lot longer that way.
>Are the Japanese Elitists or Racists?
it must be some kind of oppression. what else could it possibly be?
Why dont you just learn jap and import?
Are you stupid, lazy and poor?
Rich coming from a pedo
Doing things costs money.