Japanese Games Released First in the West

[cicada88]

Name some games from Japanese developers that were either Western exclusive or were released first outside of Japan.

Preferably good / respected games

I'm mainly interested in pre Playstation, but you're welcome to discuss any title you want.

Arcade games welcome.


StarTropics / StarTropics 2 for NES--never released in Japan

Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! for NES--while they had the limited non Mike Tyson version that released as a contest prize, the Mike Tyson version dropped on the NES before Famicom

Legendary Wings for NES--decent Capcom NES STG port with coop, never released in Japan

G.I. Joe for NES--2 games never released in Japan

Kickmaster for NES--never released in Japan


Some other crappy NES games like Jaws, Friday the 13th, Karate Kid


Super-Punch Out!! for SNES--never saw a normal retail release in Japan but did get an official flash cart release 4 years later

Balloon Kid for Game Boy--never released on B/W Gameboy in Japan but it did see a sprite swapped Sanrio version for Famicom and a colorized GBC "remake" on their flash cart service 10 years later

[Imhotep]

Ninja Cop / Ninja Five-O (GBA)
it's been a while since I've played it, but back then I thought it was one of the genre's best.

Frankenstein: The Monster Returns (NES)

[BIL]

Shinobi (2002) was released in the US first. Sadly the later JP and PAL versions nerfed the difficulty, chopping out the intense third skill tier. Instead of Normal -> Hard -> Super they got Easy -> Normal -> Hard. Removed all human-type enemy dismemberment, too. One of those Japanese games I won't touch in non-US format.

[Mortificator]

The NES Strider.

Which is especially weird, since it's an adaption of a Japan-only manga series.

[BrianC]

NES, not released in Japan:
Base Wars
The Lone Ranger
Rollergames
Monster in My Pocket
Barker Bill's Trick Shooting
Gumshoe
Monster Party

SMS, not released in Japan:
Choplifter
All lightgun games
Time Soldiers
Cloud Master
Wonder Boy III
Asterix
Gain Ground
Sonic the Hedgehog series
Castle of Illusion
Land of Illusion
Lucky Dime Caper
Power Strike II
Columns
Psycho Fox
California Games
Rampage
Ghostbusters
various others

SMS is an interesting case. I keep hearing about how bad the US did compared to Japan, despite how the US actually got more SMS games than Japan. EU made out epsecially well with a ton of exclusives and Brazil got some especially odd exclusives like a port of SFII and some quickie GG ports. Some games like Time Soldiers show evidence of being planned for JP release like having FM on the cart, JP language when played with an adapter on a JP system, or both.

The Lolo series is an odd case. The first NES game is actually a compilation of levels from the JP exclusive Eggerland series with updated graphics. The JP Adventures of Lolo and Adventures of Lolo II use the same graphics and engine that Lolo II and III US use, but have different level sets.

[zinger]

Trampoline Terror (although a JP version was planned, as Explode Star).

[BrianC]

Game Boy Gallery for GB is an interesting case. It was the first of the GB Game & Watch collections, but was only released in AU. Unlike later GB releases, there were no updated versions. The games in the collection are Mario's Cement Factory (retitled Cement Factory), Ball, Flagman, Manhole, and Vermin, all of which appeared in later collections. The graphics of the games were "updated", but stick to the original gameplay. Flagman DD in Wario Land 2 is based off this version and reuses the SGB border and some of the graphics. Also, as far as I know, only the b/w version of Game & Watch Gallery 2 was released in Japan and Game & Watch Gallery 4 GBA was never released there.

[GaijinPunch]

SMS is an interesting case. I keep hearing about how bad the US did compared to Japan, despite how the US actually got more SMS games than Japan

Sure you're not thinking of the MegaDrive? I don't think the SMS went down as doing good sales anywhere outside of Europe.

[dunpeal2064]

I think the first Sonic the Hedgehog was released in the states before coming out in Japan. Their version has some nice scrolling effects in the first stage that ours didn't, they fixed the spike glitch (So invulnerability actually works on spikes), and they added extends at every 50k points (We got no extends).

[gameoverDude]

There is Time Crisis: Crisis Zone for PS2 which was a no-show in Japan. I'll bet this got a few importers in Japan going for it.

[Pretas]

Many of Konami's later NES games were never released in Japan, whether due to licensing restrictions or the more rapidly waning support for the Famicom in its home country. Contra Force was originally intended to be released in Japan as Arc Hound, which explains why it feels so much different and worse than Contra 1 and Super.

SMS is an interesting case. I keep hearing about how bad the US did compared to Japan, despite how the US actually got more SMS games than Japan

Sure you're not thinking of the MegaDrive? I don't think the SMS went down as doing good sales anywhere outside of Europe.

SMS was a big deal in Brazil.

[BrianC]

SMS is an interesting case. I keep hearing about how bad the US did compared to Japan, despite how the US actually got more SMS games than Japan

Sure you're not thinking of the MegaDrive? I don't think the SMS went down as doing good sales anywhere outside of Europe.

I think you misread. I'm definitely talking about the SMS. I wasn't saying it got good sales here, just that the SMS got more games in the US than Japan. I often see comments that complain about how much better Japan did with the SMS, despite the fact that it didn't do well. The only games that Japan got that didn't come here were a couple games with a lot of JP text (one based on a live action JP TV show), a couple sports games, the paddle games, and those two Tecmo ports. US got Time Soldiers, Psycho Fox, California Games, the lightgun games, the PB games, Golden Axe Warrior, Wonder Boy III, Choplifter, Rampage, Ghostbusters, Castle of Illusion, Columns, and Could Master. Maybe I'm mistaken, but I'm under the impression that SMS made out better in US than in Japan, even though it didn't do nearly as well as Europe. Also, since this topic was about games released first in the west, not just US, I listed a couple EU games.

[cicada88]

I think the first Sonic the Hedgehog was released in the states before coming out in Japan. Their version has some nice scrolling effects in the first stage that ours didn't, they fixed the spike glitch (So invulnerability actually works on spikes), and they added extends at every 50k points (We got no extends).

Interesting. Good to know this

[Pretas]

Sonic was a character designed specifically to appeal to American audiences. Apparently, NiGHTS was meant to fulfill a similar role in Europe.

[GaijinPunch]

SMS was a big deal in Brazil.

Yeah, that one I was aware of as well.

I think you misread.

Yep, I did. The Japanese one had FM sound which was pretty mind blowing for the time.

[BrianC]

yeah, I have the JP SMS. FM sound definitely makes a big difference with some games, though the odd thing is that only two games removed the code for it from the US version and some western games even have it. There were also some games like Walter Payton Football that have unfinished FM code (which is why it doesn't work on the JP SMS or Mark III with FM Module). I'm not sure how the JP one did sales wise, I just know that the last JP game, Bomber Raid IIRC, came out in 1988. I think the last US game came out around 1991 (though there is some debate over this since some late games had the exact same packaging as the EU version, but with a sticker over the bar code).

Advance Wars 1, Advance Wars 2, and Advance Wars Days of Ruin were released in the US first, despite earlier games in the series staying in Japan. Days of Ruin never had a cart release in Japan and was only made available as a Club Nintendo download there.

Freedom Force was another JP designed NES game that didn't make it to the US. I haven't played it, but I heard good things and plan to get it.

[quash]

Metal Gear Rising came out in the US two days before its JP release. Also only came out on 360 in non-JP regions.

[Perikles]

The 16-bit ports of Sunset Riders were never released in Japan, the same is true for Rolling Thunder 3 on the Genesis. Run Saber on the SNES is yet another case of this.

[BrianC]

Nintendo's NES Tetris never came to Japan. The BPS FC Tetris is different. Tetris and Dr. Mario SNES never came to Japan on cart. They only got Dr. Mario without Tetris on that Bandai sattelite service thing.

Not sure if it counts, but the Tengen NES Fantasy Zone is a real oddity. Different from the Sunsoft FC version, but was still programmed in Japan.

[STG]

Elite Beat Agents for the DS also fits this criteria, although I preferred the soundtracks of Ouendan 1 and 2.

[cicada88]

Power Blade (NES) kind of counts in that it is heavily modified from the original Japanese game.

Same to a lesser extent with Journey to Silius (NES).

[Pretas]

Sonic 3D Blast took nearly three years to arrive in Japan, and they only got the Saturn version. It was actually one of the last Saturn games released, just a few months before Final Fight Revenge put the last nail in the coffin. Wonder why it was held back from JP so long when they got shit like Sonic Labyrinth at launch.

[Jonathan Ingram]

Europe received Silent Hill 3 nearly a month and a half earlier than Japan.

Sonic 3D Blast took nearly three years to arrive in Japan, and they only got the Saturn version.

Sonic 3D Blast was developed by Traveller's Tales. It's about as Japanese as Maximo: Ghosts to Glory is.

[zinger]

A lot of people from Sega of Japan were involved in making Sonic 3D Blast.

[Pretas]

A lot of people from Sega of Japan were involved in making Sonic 3D Blast.

Exactly, and it's a Japanese IP. Would still be noteworthy regardless, considering that every other major Sonic game was released in Japan in a much more timely fashion.

I've heard there was a significant sense of rivalry between the Western and Japanese branches of Sega through the 1990s, and it was difficult to get them to fully cooperate on anything. For instance, I strongly doubt that the Saturn's much-maligned surprise release in the US had been approved by Sega's Japanese execs, and there had to have been resentment when a number of key developers left Japan for Sega Technical Institute to work on Sonic 2. My guess is that 3D Blast being held back from Japan was at least partly a result of this internal strife.

[BrianC]

Same to a lesser extent with Journey to Silius (NES).

As far as I know, the only thing different with Journey to Silius is the main character sprite. Even most (all?) of the cutscenes are the same. Raf World came out first in Japan and the differences are minimal, AFAIK, so I don't feel it counts.

[cicada88]

Same to a lesser extent with Journey to Silius (NES).

As far as I know, the only thing different with Journey to Silius is the main character sprite. Even most (all?) of the cutscenes are the same. Raf World came out first in Japan and the differences are minimal, AFAIK, so I don't feel it counts.

It doesn't exactly count but the main character did completely change so I just threw it out there

[Limbrooke]

The Advance Wars games have a tendancy to be delayed in Japan. Initially, the first of the GBA games was put off due to September 11th, 2001 and didn't see release until both it and the sequel were bundled together in... 2004.

Days of Ruin (Dark Conflict) on DS also never saw release until 5 years after the physical release as a DSiWare only download.

[BrianC]

The Advance Wars games have a tendancy to be delayed in Japan. Initially, the first of the GBA games was put off due to September 11th, 2001 and didn't see release until both it and the sequel were bundled together in... 2004.

Days of Ruin (Dark Conflict) on DS also never saw release until 5 years after the physical release as a DSiWare only download.

I mentioned this (not in as much detail, though) a few posts earlier. Dual Strike was the exception and came to Japan first. Funny how the Famicom Wars series went from a series that stayed in Japan to a series that mostly came to the west first.

It doesn't exactly count but the main character did completely change so I just threw it out there

As far as I know, that's about the only thing that changed. A single sprite change does not a different game make.

[Pretas]

Days of Ruin (Dark Conflict) on DS also never saw release until 5 years after the physical release as a DSiWare only download.

It was actually a Club Nintendo promotional exclusive in Japan, which is now impossible to get due to the shuttering of the service.