These are games that seemed like it would have been a slam dunk for localization, but for some reason, they were just never localized for the West. Hopefully in the future, I'll be removing these titles from this list when it is no longer the case... hopefully.
I don't understand why Sega never localized this Yakuza spin-off. This is currently the only title in the series that we haven't received in the US (with the exception of Yakuza PSP and Yakuza: In the End... which could very well be added to this list later). The Way of the Samurai games are fun romps through Japan, so I don't understand why this title couldn't have been released here as well?
This is a really really REALLY bitter pill. It seems that due to some deal with Nintendo being the publisher in Japan, it was the sole decision of Nintendo on whether or not they would release it in the US... and it was no. I have no idea why either. A almost similar situation was done with Samurai Warriors 3 where Nintendo published it in the US. If Nintendo didn't have a problem with localizing Samurai Warriors 3, then why not this game?
Everyone knows this story. 'Nuff said.
Apparently Front Mission 4 didn't sell too well for Square Enix that they decided not to localize Front Mission 5 and instead decided to turn it into an action/shooting hybrid type of game. The result: Front Mission Evolved wasn't THAT bad of a game, but it definitely was NOT was the fans wanted. Thankfully, thanks to the efforts of some fans, it was finally translated.
This is a tough one. It's pretty hard to get really mad at XSeed for not bringing this over. In fact, I was surprised and glad that they made the effort to bring over the first Retro Game Challenge over here. Unlike most of the other games on this list, mostly everyone knows why this wasn't released here. The first one didn't sell enough copies to justify a sequel, which is extremely unfortunate. The sequel also had much more dialogue to translate (the text adventure game) which would have taken much more time than the first one did. Thankfully, a translation is already being worked on and it's in good hands (being done by the guy who did Super Mario Crossover!).
I don't want to go too much into detail with this title, but I will say that it would have been cool to play a US version of this game.
Such an awesome and peculiar concept. Sadly, since it was released very late in the Dreamcast's cycle (one of the final titles released for the Dreamcast), the US release wasn't going to happen. Still, thanks to the efforts of fans, we may be able to play an English translation of this title soon!
I just don't understand why Nintendo of America doesn't want to localize these titles? Is it because it's late in the Wii cycle? NoA localized Baten Kaitos Origins as one of the last titles for the Gamecube, so... WHAT IS IT? Hey NoA, it's great that we're getting Zelda, Fortune Street, and Rhythm Heaven for the Wii this year, but COME ON.
See Xenoblade.
See Xenoblade. Again... these will already be available in English. Would it be really hard just to change the region coding and release it in limited numbers if NoA really thinks that it's not going to sell well? It worked for Atlus!
Another European/Japan exclusive release. NoA decided to pass this over due to the poor sales of Trace Memory for the DS. Yet, I still don't understand why they still couldn't try to release it here. We got two Endless Ocean games and they even released Mystery Case Files for the Wii here as well. MYSTERY-CASE-FILES. You're telling me that Another Code R was passed up, but MYSTERY CASE FILES was a great idea to release? Well, at the very least we get the option to at least import this title so we don't completely miss out.
Now unlike most of the games on this list, this is a game that I'm not really sad that we missed out on.
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