This is a list of 5 games that I believe have no chance of getting released officially in English but that I hope get fan translated. When I say "fan translated" I mean that a very kind person, or group, creates an English translation patch for the game or even a detailed translation walkthrough. Any and every game deserves to get translated but these are just a few of my personal picks. Enjoy.
The Tengai Makyou series is a very long running RPG franchise in Japan that was created by Hudson and Red Company. The majority of the Tengai Makyou franchise has never left Japan so I would love to see any entry in the series get translated, however if I had to pick one it would be "The Fourth Apocalypse." This entry on the Saturn is considered by many fans to be the best in the series and it is certainly one of the most beautiful. "The Fourth Apocalypse" features some amazing art design with great 2D artwork. The sprites and backgrounds are cute and colorful, the enemies/bosses are hand animated, and the cut-scenes are very high quality. I have not played very far into the game myself but from what I have seen and from what I’ve read "The Fourth Apocalypse” seems to be one of the great untranslated JRPGs. Hudson is no longer in business and Red Company seems to have given up on the Tengai Makyou franchise so it’s up to fan translators to localize this Saturn classic.
The Sakura Wars series is a fun mixture of a dating sim and a strategy RPG. All the games in the series are worth playing and fortunately a wonderful man named Kayama has created English translation guides for every entry, all of them except this PS2 remake. "Sakura Taisen: Atsuki Chishio Ni" is a complete overhaul of the first game in the series, Sakura Taisen. The remake features new graphics, a new 3D battle system, and a rewritten story with new chapters. Atsuki Chishio Ni is just a fun upgrade and I hope that at the very least someone creates a translation guide so that fans of the series can enjoy the new story content.
Kevin Gifford, game journalist, freelance translator, and overall cool guy, mentioned "Linda Cube Again" on a podcast I was listening to. Mr. Gifford stated that "Linda Cube Again" was one of the few games that he would translate himself if he had the time, which is high praise. I had not heard of "Linda Cube Again" before so I decided to start researching and immediately became interested in the game. "Linda Cube Again" is a remake of a late PC-Engine RPG named Linda Cube. The game's story is a Sci-Fi rendition of Noah's Ark with gameplay similar to Pokemon, which sounds awesome. I would really love to play this game and be able to understand it. The game's artwork is great, the setting is original, and everything just looks completely off the wall. Hopefully someone will take on the job of translating "Linda Cube Again."
"Famicom Detective Club Part II: The Girl in the Back" is a great adventure game with a spooky atmosphere, an interesting mystery, and good music. Although The "Girl in the Back" is the 2nd part in the Famicom Detective Club series it is actually a prequel to this game, "Famicom Detective Club: The Missing Heir." I would love to see these characters in another mystery and if the game is half as good as The Girl in the Back then it should be worth the hard work of translating it.
"Metal Slader Glory: Director's Cut" is a remake of a late NES adventure game developed by Hal Laboratory in 1991. The original Metal Slader was one of the biggest games ever made on the NES. The game was stored in a 8MB cartridge that was jam packed with surprisingly detailed animations and artwork for a game of its vintage. This remake for the SNES has new event scenes, more colorful artwork, and new music. The "Director's Cut" is also notable for being the last SNES game released by Nintendo. I've played most of MSG:DC and it looks like a fun sci-fi adventure but I can't understand any of it. "Metal Slader Glory" is one of the few Nintendo games that has never been translated and, from what I've heard from people who can read Japanese, the game deserves to be.
