Nintendo Alienates Their Biggest Fans: 5 Nintendo Games that May NEVER Be Released


This year's lineup of games for Nintendo's systems are running a bit thin. Sure, we've got The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and a few 3DS games to look forward to, but the number of games that are targeting the experienced gamer crowd are dwindling in numbers year after year.

That doesn't mean that these core games don't exist however. There are numerous hardcore RPGs and action games that are have been released in Japan, but Nintendo of America has no interest to localize them to the United States. Nintendo's pretty secretive about the decisions that they make, so why they chose to disappoint so many of their fans is anyone's guess. And disappoint they did! Many of Nintendo's most devoted fans are pissed off– so mad that they've decided to start rallies and online/offline petitions in order to tell Nintendo that they want these games to be localized. The following are five of the games that are in highest demand to be released in the United States.
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5. Captain★Rainbow
(Released in Japan for the Wii on 08/28/2008)

Why This Game Needs to Be Released in the US:

  • Vulgar adult humor that is untypical of Nintendo
  • Cast of characters from classic Nintendo games

Why This Game Will Probably NEVER be Released in the US:

  • Vulgar adult humor that is untypical of Nintendo
  • Poor sales in Japan- A total of 22,682 copies were sold in Japan in 2008.
  • Nintendo likes to torture their fans

Captain★Rainbow (yes, the star is a part of the game's title) is an action-adventure game in which players take control of a guy named Nick whose super hero alter ego is Captain★Rainbow (and yes, the star is a part of the character's name, as well). Unfortunately for Captain★Rainbow, he's a has-been TV superhero whose popularity has been fading. In order to regain his glory days, he goes around Mimin Island and tries to grant the wishes of all of the island's inhabitants. The cool part of this is that the island is full of Nintendo characters of the past, such as Little Mac and Birdo.

The game is full of crude and adult humor, which is probably one of the many reasons why Nintendo decided not to release it in the United States. At one point in the story, you find Birdo's vibrator in order to prove she's actually a female– a story like that will surely piss off just about every American soccer mom imaginable.

4. Pandora's Tower (Released in Japan for the Wii on 05/26/2011)

Why This Game Needs to Be Released in the US:

  • An English-translated European release of the game has been confirmed for 2012
  • The Wii needs more RPGs!
  • Good sales during its first week of release in Japan– sold 21,445 units, and was the third best-selling game in that week.


Why This Game Will Probably NEVER be Released in the US:

  • Nintendo likes to torture their fans
  • Core games typically don't sell well on the Wii in the US

Pandora's Tower is one of the games that the fan-operated petition campaign Operation Rainfall is trying to convince Nintendo to localize here in the United States. Although there aren't any plans to release this action-RPG stateside, the recent announcement of a European localization has fans hopeful that Nintendo of America (NOA) may be secretly working on a localization of their own.

3. Xenoblade Chronicles (Released in Japan for the Wii on 06/10/2010)

Why This Game Needs to Be Released in the US:

  • Directed by Tetsuya Takahash, who worked on Xenogears and Xenosaga
  • It's a deep JRPG targeting the core audience
  • Japanese Magazine Famitsu awarded the game 9/9/9/9 in its review
  • Debuted at #1 in its week of release in Japan, selling 83,000 copies


Why This Game Will Probably NEVER be Released in the US:

  • Nintendo likes to torture their fans

Xenoblade is a Wii-exclusive RPG that is directed by Tetsuya Takahashi, the man whose work includes the Xenosaga series and the PS1 cult favorite Xenogears. Clearly, this game is going to garner quite a cult following. The game is the second of three that are under the aforementioned Operation Rainfall campaign to convince Nintendo for a US localization.

Xenoblade is one heck of a deep RPG. The game features a battle system similar to that of Final Fantasy XII, in which attacks are automatic and happen in set intervals. The game also pushes the envelope for Japanese RPGs, and abandons many features that made previous games in this genre feel very outdated. For example, players can save anywhere. When was the last time a JRPG did that, right? An extensive amount of character customization is also in the game, as well. Every item that you equip onto the characters will also be on them- whether it be during a battle, field map, or cutscene.

Although there have been an extensive amount of rumors going around that the game will indeed be heading to the United States, nothing official has been confirmed yet. The game is planned to be released in August in Europe, and has been confirmed for an Australian release. On June 29, 2011, Nintendo confirmed on their Facebook page, “there are no plans to bring these three games to the Americas at this time.” Lies? Let's hope.

2. The Last Story (Released in Japan for the Wii on 01/27/2011)

Why This Game Needs to Be Released in the US:

  • Directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of the Final Fantasy series.
  • Music composed and produced by Nobuo Uematsu, the composer for the classic Final Fantasy games.
  • The game features 6-player cooperative and competitive online modes, where users either team up to face monsters or battle each other.


Why This Game Will Probably NEVER be Released in the US:

  • The game was noticeably absent from E3 2011
  • Nintendo likes to torture their fans

The Last Story is a collaboration between Mistwalker and Nintendo, two huge companies that are responsible for some of gaming's most cherished games. The head of Mistwalker, Hironobu Sakaguchi, is best known to be the creator of the Final Fantasy series. Many people see similarities between The Last Story and Final Fantasy (which is a good thing). Heck, even their names are similar.

Although their have been rumors that The Last Story will be Mr. Sakaguchi's last game that he will be working on, it's not true. It was a translation error from Mistwalker's official blog. What he meant to say is that he was working on it as though he was working on his last game.

The Last Story is the third game in which Operation Rainfall has tried to convince NOA to localize for the United States. Of the three games, it's currently the most anticipated game according to their official blog.

1. Mother 3 (Released for Japan of the Game Boy Advance on 04/20/2006)

Why This Game Needs to Be Released in the US:

  • It's the sequel to the cult-classic Earthbound for the SNES
  • It took over 12 years in the making, development starting from the SNES!


Why This Game Will Probably NEVER be Released in the US:

  • Nintendo likes to torture their fans


Mother 3, the third game in the Mother series of games (known in the US as Earthbound), is a game that suffered through many years of troubled development and delays. It was originally developed for the SNES in 1994, but the project moved on to the Japan-only Nintendo 64DD. Due to the failure of the 64DD, it was moved once again to the Nintendo 64. However, due to trouble with programing the engine in 3D, the project suffered through many years of delays and was eventually cancelled. It eventually resurfaced and was released for the Game Boy Advance in 2006, after 12 years of troubled development.

Despite the over-a-decade long development, Mother 3 amassed such a strong cult following that it was constantly at the top of numerous “most wanted” lists, including Nintendo Power and Famitsu. Numerous sites have gone though great lengths in order to persuade Nintendo to localize the game for the US, including Starmen.net. However, these cries fell onto deaf ears, for Nintendo made absolutely no effort to release the game stateside. Five years after the Japanese release of the game, and there hasn't been a single peep out of Nintendo of America regarding any possibility of an official US release. Although this upset many loyal fans of Nintendo, they refuse to give up hope. With the upcoming Virtual Console releases of Game Boy Advance games on the Nintendo 3DS, let's just hope that Nintendo finds it in their hearts to release this game after a decade of torturing of their biggest fans.

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