What Nintendo Leaves in Japan

Nintendo didn’t start releasing Fire Emblem games in the US until 2003, even though the series had been going strong in Japan since 1990. Next week Nintendo will release Glory of Heracles (DS) in the US. The Greek themed RPG has been popular on Nintendo consoles in Japan since 1987. This got me thinking: What games is Nintendo still leaving under lock and key in Japan? Here’s a list of games Nintendo has left in the land of the rising sun, just for their recent consoles.

Sports

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Eyeshield 21: Field Saikyō no Senshi (Wii), Eyeshield 21: MAX Devil Power (DS): Games based on a crazy anime that’s based on American Football

Horror

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Fatal Frame IV: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse (Wii): The newest installment in the creepy Tecmo ghost horror series.

Action/Adventure

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Captain Rainbow (Wii): A yo-yo wielding superhero goes on a quest to restore his lost popularity.

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Slide Adventure: MAGKID (DS): A game where character movement is created by actually sliding your DS around.

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Tottoko Hamtaro: Nazo Nazo Q — Kumo no Ue no ? Shiro (DS): A quiz game built around the deadly adorable Hamtaro anime.

Project Hacker: Kakusei (DS): A Phoenix Wright style adventure game revolving around a hacker and his detective partner.

Tingle’s Balloon Fight (DS): It’s Balloon Fight with Tingle

Strategy/RPG

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Tact of Magic (Wii): A strategy RPG that has you using the Wii Remote to make magic signs during battle

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Mother 3 (GBA): Technically an Mother title did come to the US, but Nintendo has infamously refused to do so again, despite fan outcry and the growth of the RPG genre’s popularity.

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Soma Bringer (DS): An action RPG from the creators of Xenosaga.

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Tingle’s Balloon Trip of Love (DS): An adventure game sequel to Freshly-Picked Tingle’s Rosy Rupeeland

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Kousoku Card Battle: Card Hero (DS): A card battling game from the creators of Fire Emblem. NOA registered the Card Hero name in May 2009, so it may come to the US yet.

Fighting

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Jump Super Stars (DS), Jump Ultimate Stars (DS): A 2D Smash Bros style game that is filled with Shonen Jump heroes from Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Dragon Ball Z and more.

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Chosoju Mecha MG (DS) Challenge giant robots in fights, races and more in this stylus controlled mech game.

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Exclamation Warriors Sakeburein (DS): Control Sentai superheroes by yelling various commands at your DS

Music

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Daigasso! Band Brothers (DS), Band Brothers DX (DS): Music games that let you play more than 60 instruments in more than 31 songs.

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Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan (DS), Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii: Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 (DS): Cheer on people in their day-to-day lives in these music games by the creator of Gitaroo Man.

Other

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PokePark Wii: Pikachu no Daibouken (Wii): Mini-gameathon based on the Pokemon theme park in Japan.

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Mawashite Tsunageru Touch Panic (DS): Like Pipe Dream with the added challenge of navigating a smiley pink ball.

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Jet Impulse (DS): Defeat an evil dictator in this flight sim.

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Welcome Home Chibi-Robo! Happy, Rich Big Sweep! (DS): Another Chibi-Robo game for the DS that still has the little robot doing housekeeping tasks.

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Tomodachi Collection (DS): It’s like the Sims for your Miis, on the DS.

There are quite a few of these I’d like to see brought to the US, no matter how unlikely that may be. Which of these games seem the most interesting to you?

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