We have it good in gaming nowadays. Compared to yesteryears, finding and playing the games we want is much easier. Whether you’re gaming on a Nintendo Switch, a Steam Deck, on a PC, or on a modern console, unless it’s an exclusive, chances are you’ll get to play it on all of them,

To think there was a time when games didn’t get translated or ported over seems pretty crazy nowadays. Personally, I still have vivid memories of playing Trails in the Sky on the PSP back when I was a kid.

Trails in the Sky | Courtesy of lparchive

I spent ages looking for its sequel, not even realizing that it had been a Japanese-exclusive release. In a world where millions of people enjoy playing games, it just seems crazy not to release games that are sure to sell. But that’s life, I guess!

While Trails SC eventually found a release decades later on Steam, other games are not so lucky and still face issues that prevent them from being released to this day. Let’s take a look at some of them, and try and figure out just why they never got a translation. Who knows? You might be surprised to recognize them!

Fire Emblem Thracia 776

The Fire Emblem series is one game series that Nintendo Fans everywhere will recognize for sure. With their last game, Fire Emblem: Engage, selling over a million copies, Fire Emblem’s become a household title, especially when you consider series protagonists like Robin, Marth, and Ike appearing in other Nintendo games like Smash Brothers!

However, while Fire Emblem does enjoy international acclaim, it wasn’t always like this. Its first English release was a title called Fire Emblem: Blazing Blade, released in 2003 on the Game Boy Advance. This strategy-RPG combined turn-based tactics with a mix of permadeath and RPG progression and found enough success to release a sequel and follow-up games on the Gamecube, Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn.

Boxart of Fire Emblem: Blazing Blade

However, Blazing Blade wasn’t the first Fire Emblem game—it was the seventh. Its earlier games purportedly did not find a release outside of Japan because its designers feared Western audiences would find them too difficult. In a move similar to what Final Fantasy did to its release of Mystic Quest, the earlier Fire Emblem games were reportedly seen as too difficult to understand, and executives were unsure if its gameplay systems would find traction in the West.

Boxart of Fire Emblem: Thracia 776

No better can this be seen than in Fire Emblem: Thracia 776. While a total of 7 Fire Emblem games have never been officially translated, Thracia 776’s game design embodies every supposed fear that would purportedly turn fans away. It was a difficult game, with mechanics that were hard to understand and events that can feel unfair and unfun to new players. Plus, since Thracia 776 had permadeath, it felt especially cruel when maps were designed in ways to catch players off-guard and kill characters

Fire Emblem: Thracia 776

Needless to say, Thracia 776 is a wonderful game, and once you learn its unique quirks, it can actually be enjoyable. It paints a story of a nation at war, of an exiled prince learning what the burden of leadership meant, and weaves it between segments of difficult gameplay and satisfying payoffs. But for newcomers? It’s definitely one of the harder titles in the series, and even today, it has an imposing reputation for those brave enough to try their hand at playing it. Fan-made patches exist for those brave enough to try their hand to play it, but officially? Thracia remains undisturbed, with no news of its translations.

Fire Emblem: Thracia 776

Mother 3

Nintendo’s Mother series is everything an RPG aspires to be. It’s unique, interesting, and fun. Its gameplay is a mixture of artistic and quirky, and while it is a little strange at times, it’s a game series that manages to capture one’s attention in all the right ways.

Mother

One only needs to look at how people remember EarthBound to see just how much people love it. It was just a charming little title that, to this day, still has games like Undertale that cite it as their primary inspiration. 

While EarthBound was a cult hit, its sequel, Mother 3, was anything but. Developed in 2006 for the Game Boy Advance, Mother 3 was a highly anticipated title that took the Japanese gaming world by storm. It topped sales charts and preorder lists and even had Japanese stars discussing how influential the game was on their lives.

Mother 3 | Courtesy of lparchive

English audiences had no such recourse. While Mother 3 saw success in Japan, it was never actually released in the West and remains unplayable for English audiences. Speculation as to why it was never localized is still a hot topic today, with theories ranging from programming issues to localization issues that wouldn’t do the game justice.

To this day, Mother 3 remains as a sore point for Nintendo fans. While a fan translation patch does exist, English fans of the Mother series still eagerly await an official release.

Shadow Tower Abyss

Everyone’s heard of From Software. From games like Armored Core VI to Dark Souls, From Software is a household title at this point, a harbinger of stoic game design that makes players earn their wins. Their games are known to be tough but fair, and while at times rage-inducing, there is a method to their madness. You have to earn your wins, and From Software really goes out of its way to make you earn it.

Dark Souls: Prepare To Die

Nowhere is this seen more than in Shadow Tower Abyss, a cult classic PS2 title that serves as the Souls Series's progenitor for all intents and purposes. It embodies the same sense of adventure and exploration, making players search for items and weapons to survive in a hostile world filled with monsters and magic.

Shadow Tower Abyss

The different tools you could use to defend yourself made Shadow Tower stand out. Your armaments extended not just to swords and daggers but to magic rings, spells, and even guns. It was a game that demanded a lot from you, making you manage every bullet and every healing item just for the chance to survive.

And if you did? The payout was glorious. You went from rusted daggers and broken swords to flaming blades, grenade launchers, and sniper rifles. You cleaved through your enemies, tearing through mutated animals, restless undead, and fearsome dragons.

Shadow Tower Abyss

It was a fantasy action-adventure game at its finest. While its English release had been in development, the port was canceled long before it was done, and Shadow Tower remains a fantastic game that only a few really remember.

Significance

These three games never really found a release outside of Japan, even while audiences around the world begged for an official release. While they’re playable today because of fan translations, it’s disappointing to see how long their pleas are denied. It highlights just how important preserving video games can be. Had fans not kept these games alive, they would be mere footnotes in gaming history, remembered only in Japan and nowhere else.

We shall do our best to support game developers who try to keep classic inspirations alive. Supporting titles like JESTER is supporting the classics and a step toward ensuring that publishers everywhere know that games, no matter their obscurity, inspirations, or viability, should still be released for their fans to play.

For the uninitiated, JESTER is a game inspired by classics like Pac-Man and Zelda. Based on painter and author Mahi Binebine’s Le Fou Du Roi, JESTER has you navigating mazes, dodging enemies and obstacles, all in an effort to get to the dungeon's heart. While difficult, it’s a game meticulously crafted to give you the retro experience you deserve. Every victory you earn is hard-won, and your success and failure hang on a precipice.

As gamers, these are the kinds of games we demand from developers. If we’re paying for a premium, we should demand a premium experience that’s worth our money. Together, let’s make our voices heard and keep gaming/s standards high. At the end of the day, we’re all in this together and should keep our hobby accessible and fun for all. Support the classic game devs that keep gaming going!

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