Despite Japan being a powerhouse in the games industry, many games from the region are never launched in the West. It's a massive undertaking to localize these games, when they may well have been written with no intent to do so. This is made harder by the fact that unless there's a good chance of it selling in America, a game won't be launched for the rest of the world either.
This happens so much more often than people might expect, and in ways you wouldn't even think of. So many of your favorite games, even the ones that are entirely fictitious, sometimes have to go through a dramatic rework to make sense in other languages. These are some fun examples of the process in action.
6 ཧ Animal ⭕Crossing
Starting as a quaint little life sim about living in the forest amongst a bunch of animal villagers, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Animal Crossing (Animal Forest in Japan) has quickly grown into one of Nintendo's biggest IPs, becoming one of the best-selling series on Switch. Who doesn't want to live with a bunch of animals?
The original Animal Crossing only came to the West with the GameCube version, originally appearing in Japan on the N64. The game was intrinsically Japanese, from its outfits to holidays, so a Western launch wasn't initially envisioned. Whole new events, names, and all of the text had to be redone, and at the time it was Nintendo's biggest translation project to date. Even now, Animal Crossing has slight variations depending on your language.
5 Pokemon
Launched way back in 1996, Pokemon rapidly became the biggest media franchise in the world — a terrifying feat for what was such a small team at the time. Game Freak has grown immensely since then, and Pokemon has struggled to keep up. However, every year brings more than a few new launches, and all of them require intense translatioꦺn effort.
From the very beginning, Pokemon was set in real regions of Japan, and even featured an American as a Gym Leader. That all got wiped away as the years went on. The real change, though, is how nearly every single Pokemon is named uniquely in each language. Some, like Pikachu and Lucario, are the same universally. Meanwhile, Gengar is known as Gangar in Japanese, and Ectoplasma in French. There are so, so many more examples.
4 🐻 Earthbo🗹und
168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Earthbound is a series with some history to it. It's fondly remembered as one of the most iconic SNES games out there, from its distinctive art style, dialogue, and the immense influence it's had on the indie gaming scene (168澳洲幸运5开奖网:hi, Undertale). One of the most interesting parts of Earthbound's history, though, is that "Earthbound" isn't even its original name.
Originally launched as Mother 2 in Japan, it came to the West almost a year later as Earthbound, to avoid confusion — the original Mother was never localized. Mother 2 was a big satire of America though, and a lot needed to be changed as a result. From Japanese language puns needing to be changed to fit an American audience to the *ah🌸em* KKK being rem𓆏oved and replaced with a purple bedsheet gang, the game has too many differences to count.
3 🎃 Fire Emblem: Fates
168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Fire Emblem, until the massive success of Awakening, had a bit of a troubled history in the West. Though the series began in Japan back in 1990, its first appearance in the West was actually through Marth and Roy's inclusion in Super Smash Bros. Melee. The Blazing Blade was the first game officially launched in the West in 2003, though the series has since found firm footing. That said, Fire Emblem Fates still went through a slightly more comprehensive rework compared to other entries.
Fates, titled Fire Emblem: If in Japan in reference to its multiple versions, was a big shift for the series in many ways. There were multiple versions, new weapons, and a more Japanese-inspired setting. With that came more intense translations. For one, there was a feature in the game, My Castle, that in the Japanese launch allowed you to touch the face of your companions to build support. Understandably, that was removed. So too was the support conversation that had you try to force a gay character to be straight. It's pretty clear why that was removed. As a result, the game removed the ability to play in Japanese.
2 Wolfenstein ꦫ
When people think of the foundation of FPS games, they usually go to Doom. That's fair, and it was a massive foundation indeed! 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Wolfenstein came first though, back in 1981, and its 3D entry in 1992, just a year before Doom. Though it was quickly eclipsed, Wolfenstein has found its own little niche in the first-person shooter scene of the modern day, in its glee to allow you to punch, shoot and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:oblitꦆerate Nazis in any way you see fit.
Obviously, the Wolfenstein games are alternate history, but they're definitely portraying something a little closer to home. As such, the game went through some rather dramatic changes to fit the German launch, where various WW2 details needed to be handled sensitively. In fact, the modern games are some of the only ones to have been launched in Germany at all, and this required renaming of characters, changing of symbols, and plenty more.
1 Yakuza
Ah, Yakuza, a series that's gone through a lot of localization drama. Always known in Japan as Ryū Ga Gotoku (Like A Dragon, literally), it's been known as Yakuza in the West up until the seventh entry — Yakuza: Like a Dragon, with the eighth dropping the 'Yakuza' part.
Following the launch of the original Yakuza in Japan, Sega was determined for it to succeed in the West. However, they anticipated that perhaps an all-Japanese cast wouldn't attract market attention. So, they opted for a more... sharp translation, and an all-star cast that included Mark Hamill as Majima. Interestingly, Yakuza games didn't get another English dub until Judgement. Wonder what went wrong the first time around?