[Stumpokapow]

It used to be that when people complained about Nintendo's abominable localization practices, I sort of didn't care. We have it better that Europe, a lot of stuff is still making it over, a lot of the stuff that's being passed on is junk, and most of the decisions tended to be at least sort of justified by sales potential.

Until recently when I realized that none of these are true and Nintendo of America just really sucks at properly bringing over software. Europe now has exclusives; Tingle on DS, Disaster: Day of Crisis, and possibly Captain Rainbow will all be making the journey to Europe while North America isn't getting anything... and guess what, Nintendo in Japan just announced 13 Wii games and a half-dozen DS games; Nintendo of America turned around and announced the localization of two Wii games and a DS game. Gee, thanks guys! A real record of faith in your parent company's products. I'm sure people will be happy to hear you've got a grand total of two titles announced for the 1st half of 2009 and one of them should have been released this Christmas anyway.

Is it localization costs? No, it isn't. Games are being localized by Treehouse, tested by NoA's testing team, and then thrown into a void. Case in point: ASH-Archaic Sealed Heat. This game was localized. This game was tested. It's been done and ready for release for six months. It's ESRB rated. No planned release at this time. None of this is in dispute.

Is it a busy release schedule? Hell, no. It's not even a case of giving other titles excessive room to breathe. Nintendo is going full calendar months without releasing titles.

Is it prestige? Thanks for Donkey Kong Barrel Blast. I'm glad you passed on a half-dozen DS titles during the same meeting you approval that stinker for import.

Is it release costs and promotion or sales potential? No. Nintendo's localization decisions on their face have nothing to do with this. We got Chibi Robo DS exclusively at Wal-Mart (enjoy your low-5 digit sales, guys!). We got Magical Starsign (hope the massive GameFAQs ad campaign helped when the game was ten bucks four months after release). We got Endless Ocean; a solid title to be sure but hardly a breadwinner. If we were allowed to share the leaked NPD data that's popped up over the years there'd be pages and pages of examples of Nintendo passing on obviously profitable titles and localizing swill that bombs. In the mean time, enough people imported Ouendan from Play-Asia (last available number was solidly into the five digits) at twenty dollars over the would-be domestic price to make a domestic localization and release profitable.

It's certainly not creative potential; why else would we get Custom Robo DS, the fifth time the exact same game was released, but skip out on theta, Mag Kid, and other more experimental DS titles.

After this weeks conference various game writers asked about some 2008 Nintendo products that aren't coming over. Disaster (the game has English VA, plays to western audiences, and is being localized for Europe so will have English text)? Well, they're waiting to see how it does in Europe. Fatal Frame IV? NoA passed; some other publisher has it. Soma Bringer? What's that? Seriously.

But the proof is in the pudding:


(Two notes: I excluded Virtual Boy, N64 Disk Drive, SNES Nintendo Power mail-order games, the recent Club Nintendo DS games, and I did not include the Famicom/Disk System in the early years of the graph because I understand that having to cross-engineer FDS titles to NES was a bit of a pain and I'm willing to give them credit for that).

This chart is designed to be biased in favour of Nintendo of America. I specifically gave Nintendo credit for any game that would not be well suited for America (Mahjong, DS novels, etc). I specifically gave them credit for any licenced games. When Nintendo released a game in Japan and then later released an upgraded version but we only got one or the other (Animal Crossing Cube, Clubhouse Games), I gave them credit for both. I counted bitGenerations as one title. Edit: I also gave them credit for Cubivore / Polarium Advance / anything else they punted off to another publisher. I'm bending over backwards here to make Nintendo of America's record look good.

Well, it doesn't look good. It's pathetic. Hey game journalists, stop asking questions about individual titles not being localized and ask Nintendo why they're localizing a substantially lower preportion of their titles regardless of genre, quality, or profile. I'm sure your readers want to know about Mother 3, but the more troubling thing is that more titles have gone unlocalized in the last three years than in the previous ten.

Need some game suggestions for 2009 to fill the holes? How about Fatal Frame IV, Disaster: Day of Crisis, Captain Rainbow, Soma Bringer, Glory of Heracles, Band Bros DX, We are Fossil Diggers, Card Hero DS, Make 10 (already released in English-speaking territories), theta, Kurikin Nano Island Story, Tingle, Project Hacker, Chou Soujuu Mecha MG, either of the DS Starfy titles, or ASH?

I've done Nintendo the favour of writing their canned reply so they don't need to bother: "Nintendo is always evaluating new titles for domestic release. A variety of factors are included in each and every decision. We regret that we are unable to domestically release all titles our fans ask for, but we are committed to delivering a broad slate of titles in 2009 and beyond. Keep checking back for news about great new games."

[Hcoregamer00]

Yeah, Nintendo has done a bad job lately, especially with the amazing DS games that NEVER get a USA release.

[soultron]

Time to learn Japanese, because Nintendo is too busy trying to appeal to your mom.

Either that or dump your life savings into ATLUS USA stock.

[Cdammen]

It's like they don't want to make money... maybe their vaults are full? ;)

[Blackace]

be glad ASH is in limbo.. be very glad..

[Pai Pai Master]

Doesn't ASH suck though? Maybe they're doing you a favour.

You could hardly say that's more tragic than Mother 3 or something. At least it didn't bomb.

[Hive]

I'll just say this-- I've imported a crazy amount of Nintendo-related titles since 2005. Nintendo has increased its output the last few years, but it's no secret there's a trend forming here...

[WickedLaharl]

what about soma bringer? is it any good?

[Stumpokapow]

Nintendo is too busy trying to appeal to your mom.

They're not even doing that. Why did it take two years for Cooking Navi? Meanwhile Nintendo has released another cooking program and they're working on a third. Where's Common Knowledge Training or the Wii edition? Where's the My Household Guide software? Where's the upcoming shitty fashion dress-em-up game?

Make 10 is released in Europe and Australia. It's a math training game. Where's that?

We just learned that Maths Training, which has been out in Europe for six months, will be localized for the middle of next year.

This is not me complaining about Nintendo targeting another demographic. This is me complaining that Nintendo is phoning it in altogether.

Doesn't ASH suck though? Maybe they're doing you a favour. You could hardly say that's more tragic than Mother 3 or something. At least it didn't bomb.

ASH is done. It's localized. It's tested. It's ESRB rated. They've already done all the work. They HAVE brought it over, they just didn't bother to release it.

I already addressed both the quality issue and the sales potential issue. Nintendo's localization policy right now is a joke.

[LiK]

Japan Virtual Console > NA Virtual Console

[biggkidd32]

If they bring over Mother 3 all will be forgiven. But that's not happening. NoA sucks.

[Caj814]

Japan Virtual Console > NA Virtual Console

Thats was going to be the fact as soon as Virtual Console was first announced for the Wii.:lol

If they bring over Mother 3 all will be forgiven. But that's not happening. NoA sucks.

Give it a few more weeks,the translation patch is almost ready to be released :D

[Neo C.]

I'm still surprised that Europe get Disaster, but US doesn't. The US is treated like second class.

[Barkley's Justice]

ok, who's bedroom is this?

[speedpop]

what about soma bringer? is it any good?

I thought it was a cool action RPG, till I shelved it because I couldn't understand what was going on in the game.

[Man God]

At least this isn't as crazy a rant as that guy who thinks Layton 2 is never coming out.

Cry more, I'm sure you'll get results this way. If a couple of petitions and an art book couldn't get Mother 3 here you think some shitty forum post and a weighted graph are going to get you a shitty game like ASH?

[Segata Sanshiro]

ok, who's bedroom is this?

Bubble Man's, obviously.

[The-Switcher]

I thought I read everywhere that ASH was ASS.

[HK-47]

If they bring over Mother 3 all will be forgiven. But that's not happening. NoA sucks.

You are too forgiving then. Mother 3 should have been here years ago. Even if it does make it, that doesnt take away from the fact that NoA is miserable pile of morons

[batbeg]

At least this isn't as crazy a rant as that guy who thinks Layton 2 is never coming out. Cry more, I'm sure you'll get results this way. If a couple of petitions and an art book couldn't get Mother 3 here you think some shitty forum post and a weighted graph are going to get you a shitty game like ASH?

animefacepalm

[cw_sasuke]

3rd Partys are happy. Castlevania,Locks Quest, Crono Trigger etc. will need those potential sales.

[HK-47]

At least this isn't as crazy a rant as that guy who thinks Layton 2 is never coming out. Cry more, I'm sure you'll get results this way. If a couple of petitions and an art book couldn't get Mother 3 here you think some shitty forum post and a weighted graph are going to get you a shitty game like ASH?

Principle genius. Its the principle. I dont see a US date for Soma Bringer, or either Band Brothers, or fucking Disaster which is a goddamn western type game

[Stop It]

Yes, I hate NoE too, the bunch of....wait a minute.

After all these years of bashing NoE for taking ages to localise games, at least they have eventually done so, recently it seems that quite a few mid-tier Ninty games have been confirmed for Japan/Europe but not the US, which is frankly absurd.

I extend my sympathy as a long time NoE victim to you guys who are getting the shaft there in the states. A 45% non-localisation rate is a bit shit really.

[Jme]

Overall post - Very nice work. The situation is far worse than I realized. ;_; Especially with the tables tilted in NoA's favor.

Need some game suggestions for 2009 to fill the holes? How about Fatal Frame IV, Disaster: Day of Crisis, Captain Rainbow, Soma Bringer, Glory of Heracles, Band Bros DX, We are Fossil Diggers, Card Hero DS, Make 10 (already released in English-speaking territories), theta, Kurikin Nano Island Story, Tingle, Project Hacker, Chou Soujuu Mecha MG, either of the DS Starfy titles, or ASH?

Nitpick: You forgot to mention DS Air / Jet Impulse. Which was also translated, rated, and done. Hell it even had a page on nintendo.com (since removed). Googling for it you can still find the changed logo for the US release (I still think Jet Impulse is a better name though).

[Allan Holdsworth]

I fully agree. With the Wii they aren't that bad, but the amount of unlocalized first-party DS games is ridiculous.

But what do you mean by this:

It's certainly not creative potential; why else would we get Custom Robo DS, the fifth time the exact same game was released

Same game?

[Father_Brain]

I approve of this post. What makes things even worse is that, with extremely rare exceptions (Cubivore, Polarium Advance), NOA blocks interested third parties from picking up the games they won't localize themselves.

[PepsimanVsJoe]

I never realized the situation was this bad.
Honestly NoA this is freaking pathetic.

[Segata Sanshiro]

At least this isn't as crazy a rant as that guy who thinks Layton 2 is never coming out. Cry more, I'm sure you'll get results this way. If a couple of petitions and an art book couldn't get Mother 3 here you think some shitty forum post and a weighted graph are going to get you a shitty game like ASH?

I don't know, but his post contains some interesting data, which means that in one post he has contributed more useful information to these forums than you have in 1500.

[LiK]

Thats was going to be the fact as soon as Virtual Console was first announced for the Wii.:lol

indeed, just supporting the OP's post.

[Stumpokapow]

The reason ASH is used as an example is not because I'm in desperate need for a mediocre game. It's because there's absolutely no reasons they haven't released it and they've already done all the work and spent the money (I know they haven't confirmed this, but you can't ESRB-rate a game without a near-final product and multiple localization and testing sources have confirmed the game was worked on and finished), and you're kidding yourself if you think that after doing all that the reason they're not releasing the game is because it's not a great game rather than something symptomatic of the broader issue the graph raises.

This really isn't a thread about ASH or any one game. Like I said in the post, I wish people would stop complaining that <x game they want> isn't being localized and realize that the broader trend AWAY from localizing games regardless of merit is awful.

[WickedLaharl]

At least this isn't as crazy a rant as that guy who thinks Layton 2 is never coming out. Cry more, I'm sure you'll get results this way. If a couple of petitions and an art book couldn't get Mother 3 here you think some shitty forum post and a weighted graph are going to get you a shitty game like ASH?

you seem more upset than the OP does.

[Man God]

I don't know, but his post contains some interesting data, which means that in one post he has contributed more useful information to these forums than you have in 1500.

Sounds about right, actually.

I want some more stuff localized too, just like any Nintendo fanboy but really there is no point to this whole discussion other than to let off some steam.

This also doesn't reflect the fact that Nintendo's output has gone way up in the past five years or so and that the quality of the localizations they do produce has also gone up year over year since 1998 or so.

[Mejilan]

They actually have some of the best localization folks in the business.
I wish they'd use them more.

A lot more.

[Mockingbird]

Wait what? Some other publisher has Fatal Frame 4? Didn't Tecmo say to ask Nintendo? And, I guess that means that if Disaster isn't a huge success at launch in Europe, then there's no way we'll be getting the game in 08? Then, I suppose, YOU EUROPEANS BETTER GO OUT AND BUY THAT GAME ON DAY FUCKING ONE!!!

Also, supposedly, Reggie is going to read this article and response for Disaster here: http://wii.ko mbo.com/article.php?artid=12887

[Fuu]

Jesus, people, ASH being a bad game or not has nothing to do with the argument and what is stated on the OP.

Something like Captain Rainbow I'll concede, but stuff like Card Hero and Soma Bringer? I don't get such decisions either and would appreaciate some sort of explanation in a future interview.

[Error]

I don't know, but his post contains some interesting data, which means that in one post he has contributed more useful information to these forums than you have in 1500.

Oh snap.

you should've held back a bit. :lol

[duckroll]

and you're kidding yourself if you think that after doing all that the reason they're not releasing the game is because it's not a great game rather than something symptomatic of the broader issue the graph raises.

There could be a lot of reasons behind it, but I can assure you that it is not the only game that has been fully localized and simply not released. It is also not the only RPG, And it is also not only Nintendo that does this.

[Stumpokapow]

This also doesn't reflect the fact that Nintendo's output has gone way up in the past five years or so and that the quality of the localizations they do produce has also gone up year over year since 1998 or so.

If quality of localizations and the effort they put into localizations was the issue, then explain Disaster (being localized by NoA for NoE), Make 10 (ditto), ASH (localized by NoA and never released), or Jet Impulse (ditto). It also wouldn't impact DS games like theta which would require one person one week to translate and a similar amount of programming resources to implement the English.

Also, while Nintendo's output has gone up, their localization prospects have gone down both in terms of percentage localized and in terms of number of games localized.

Also, Nintendo's output was dramatically DOWN in 2008 and this didn't help prospects at all. In fact, 2006; their year with the highest output also had one of the best localization records.

There could be a lot of reasons behind it, but I can assure you that it is not the only game that has been fully localized and simply not released. It is also not the only RPG, And it is also not only Nintendo that does this.

Yeah, I certainly don't mean to imply that other publishers have had sterling records. The reason I use Nintendo is because I intuited that their record had gotten worse lately and then proved it with data.

ASH is just a particularly egregious example because it knocks out all of the publicly stated reasons for not localizing a title.

[Mike D]

First and foremost - Mother. NOA's negligence of this series is a joke, and if NCL has a say in it, they're just as guilty of not understanding their core audience. As cool as Sin and Punishment 2 is, I have to wonder what they're thinking. Why the heck would you spend the development time on that game, when they could have brought over a game like Mother 3? Mother 3 easily has a bigger fan base and would easily be guaranteed more sales. Or just a Compilation of Mother. That move doesn't make sense to me. Disaster also makes less sense, other than it would compete with Wii Music and Animal Crossing, and dear NOA is probably paranoid both have such negative vibes about them right now that Disaster could be a "threat" to their sales. So basically, why Disaster isn't coming is a shocker, and why Mother hasn't come here since Earthbound is just sad. NCL cited high VC sales of Sin and Punishment as reason for making a sequel? Why don't you try releasing EARTHBOUND here and see what happens.

There could be a lot of reasons behind it, but I can assure you that it is not the only game that has been fully localized and simply not released. It is also not the only RPG, And it is also not only Nintendo that does this.

Just in the Zelda universe...
Freshly Picked: Tingle's Rosey Rupeeland (Done in English, French and Spanish)
Navi Trackers - Part of FS+ in Japan (English was shown off at an E3 before FSA released here)

[Baker]

Wait. Fatal Frame 4 isn't coming out in the states?

[Father_Brain]

There could be a lot of reasons behind it, but I can assure you that it is not the only game that has been fully localized and simply not released. It is also not the only RPG, And it is also not only Nintendo that does this.

Interesting. Care to name any names?

[botticus]

I sure hope My Japanese Coach is good. Though that only helps with the DS.

[Y2Kev]

NoA PASSED ON FATAL FRAME?!!?

[Stumpokapow]

Wait. Fatal Frame 4 isn't coming out in the states?

***** (combo; they're a shitty site but they did interview Reggie so it's necessary to cite them) to Reggie: Fatal Frame 4?
Reggie: You'll have to ask the publisher about that one. We're not handling it.

[LiK]

whether ASH is a good game or not is purely subjective and a moot point. the OP simply used that game as an example.

[lyre]

First and foremost - Mother.

Only geeks and otaku care about that.

[leroy hacker]

Wait. Fatal Frame 4 isn't coming out in the states?

At E3, Tecmo said "Ask Nintendo," and now Reggie says “ask the publisher," whoever that is.

[Y2Kev]

***** (combo; they're a shitty site but they did interview Reggie so it's necessary to cite them) to Reggie: Fatal Frame 4? Reggie: You'll have to ask the publisher about that one. We're not handling it.

Why the fuck would they do that?

Oh here's a "core" title with a mature theme! Let's pass. Our release schedule is flowing with so many other games and we don't want to smother them. Our third parties need room anyway. De Blob and Mushroom Men would get crowded out by Fatal Frame.

[cw_sasuke]

***** (combo; they're a shitty site but they did interview Reggie so it's necessary to cite them) to Reggie: Fatal Frame 4? Reggie: You'll have to ask the publisher about that one. We're not handling it.

LOOOOOOOL,,,wait, wtf...i thought Nintendo IS the publisher ? At least that's what a Tecmo guy said at e3. Man Nintendo.... :-/

[ZealousD]

I can't even begin to understand the justification for localizing games for Europe but not NA.

Look Europe, I know you're a big game market and you really deserve better localization support than you have been getting, but NA is still the biggest console market in the world. I can't understand how Nintendo would think that Europe would be more receptive to Disaster than America would.