Best Import-Only Game You've... Imported
Monday, January 7th, 2008 - 10:20am
OK, let's get this out of the way.
OSU!
TATAKE!
OUENDAAAAAAN!!!!
So, intense cheerleaders aside, have any of you ever imported a game that was never released state-side (or for my European friends, lorry-side or whatever you call it), but was really good? A game that you played so hard you either figured out what all the Japanese meant (mostly) or found a translation? Maybe even a game you learned Japanese to play?
For me, that game would have to be Frame Gride for the Dreamcast. I don't know what the hell a Gride is, no. Maybe it's Glide, maybe it's Grid, that's not important. I saw this in a gaming magazine and was smitten... giant robots that look like knights hacking at each other with swords and guns. This was before there were big websites for importing (at least, to my knowledge), so I eventually found a copy on eBay, downloaded a boot disk, and muscled my way through it.
For a Dreamcast game, Frame Gride looks great, but more significantly it's a FROM Software mech game with EXCELLENT controls. You'd fight your opponent one on one but you could summon little "squire" robots to help you. Upon killing an enemy you'd get a random assortment of little gems which you could fuse together to create new weapons, armor pieces, and squires. You had a sword, a shoulder weapon, and a pistol with unlimited ammo (I think you had an energy bar that would recharge if memory serves). You also had an elemental core and depending on which ones you chose you could unleash different combo attacks, like shockwaves, lines of big stone spikes, and all that fancy stuff. Despite having giant robots the game also had a very medieval fantasy feel to it with some ideas I didn't see again until Hellgate: London. For instance, you can get an item that worked like a traditional missile launcher but the "missiles" would be glowing pixies, or a fiery phoenix.
But what will always stand out to me about this game is how easy it was to control for a FROM game. Analog stick to aim, right trigger to boost right, left trigger to boost left, both triggers and forward to boost forward, both triggers and back to boost back, both triggers and neutral to jump. Everything else was mapped to a button, with NO cumbersome weapon switching.
Ah, FROM, which intern did you have design that game, and why didn't you hire him?
So, anyone else out there have an import with a special place in their heart?
NOTE: This is not a doodle bug.
Twinkle Star Sprites on the PS2. Without a doubt the best fun you can have multiplayer. They even have it on GameTap now. Nanja Manja bitches!
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That would be, without a single doubt, the US version of Mario Kart for SNES. Really wanted to get the game ahead of Christmas instead of having to wait for the PAL version, so I got an import version along with an NTSC/PAL adapter for my console. Boy, was it worth it. And the game has aged really well. As for import games that never actually got released at our place some time later - Chrono Trigger never made it to Europe, so I had to get the US version.
I imported a bunch of other games for SNES and PlayStation, but those two would be my favourites.
There are some US-only games that I really wanted to play, so here goes the list of imports: Super Robot Taisen Original Generation 1 & 2 (GBA) and Tactics Ogre Knight of Lodis (GBA). I also didn't want to wait for euro release of DS Advance Wars, so that's one more import. Unfortunately it doesn't work with euro releases of GBA Advance Wars games, so I have bonus map for only one of them (I imported the 2nd one I guess).
Japanese-wise, I imported addictive Slitherlink and more recently also both Ouendans. I'm seriously considering returning to my Japanese (I took lessons some years ago), because Ouendan doesn't seem that difficult to grasp (short sentences, combination with pictures etc.). Next on my import-only list is Rhythm Tengoku for the GBA.
It's not Wandering Toast. Except in TF2, where it usually is.
I was living in Spain in 1993-94, and DragonBall was huge there... both manga and anime. I went over to a new friend's house, who showed me the second Super Famicom DBZ fighting game... it blew me away. When I got home, I imported #1-3, and eventually bought the fourth one as well. It's funny how every DBZ game that's come out in the US since then has sucked control-wise compared to those original SNES games.
I bought Umjammer Lammy on import a year or so before it came to the US... I had some dohickey for the PS1 which allowed import games to play. For a while, I was even subscribing to the Japanese official PS magazine which came with demo discs.
I'm a huge manga fan, and imported Jump Ultimate Stars for the DS... the gameplay just sort of left me cold, though--Kind of boring after a while. I did get a huge happy from importing Hot Shots Golf Portable 2 (although I've kind of plateaued right now with the difficulty). Most recently, I got the Hajime no Ippo boxing game for the PSP (if you've played the Victorious Boxing games on the PS2, it's nearly identical). I'm a big fan of the Ippo manga, so it was worth it for me.
But to answer your question... no, I guess I haven't been too blown away by most of the imports I've purchased.
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Dragon Ball Z 2 for the SNES, Still by far the best DBZ game ever to be made. Spending a few minutes (30) getting the code right to unlock everyone and hypermode. Behind that is DBZ Legends on the Saturn. Another awesome game with the inclusion of teleport air juggling made it feel pretty damn close to the TV series.
"We are at war, and the enemies are...the publishers. No, they're not. It's not that easy. The enemies are mediocrity, laziness, and fear, and they exist in all of us." - Tim Schafer
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Pop'n Music!
The darkness comes and the darkness goes
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I coulda sworn we had an import games thread somewhere, but I'll be damned if I can find it right now.
Really quick:
Dotstream and Soundvoyager for the GBA
Vib Ribbon for the PS1
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Pipe Threader Manual wrote:
My Ouendan 2 just arrived a minute ago. I'm looking forward to cracking that open when I have some time. The original kind of ruined my taste in music for months. Imported Phoenix Wright 2 because it had English text on the Japanese cart, and was annoyed that the third game didn't follow suit. I also played that witch touching game, Doki Doki Majo Saiban. Not so hot. Don't import that one.
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Favorite puzzle: Grim Fandango -- the metal detector
Besides Ouendan and Ouendan 2...
- DJ Max Portable 1 & 2
I have a thing for rhythm games.
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I imported the DS version third game a few months ago(about two months before it was released in the US), and that did come with the english translation.
WoW-Dark Iron: Cuberen(80 Druid), Spacecube(70 Shaman), Deathcube(60 Deathknight)
I have only imported two games but there are more games that I want to import
I have imported Final Fantasy X and X-2 International Versions because they had the bonus content
but I plan to start importing more.
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"With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility"
Mex refering to Actresses:
Make no mistake, I'd hit them all so hard that my pelvis would have to be classified as a deadly weapon, I just don't think they're all
*high five*
I'm loving DJ Max Portable 1, but I just can't get my fingers to move fast enough to pass the first stage of 3 songs
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Pipe Threader Manual wrote:
Ouendan 2, with the first Ouendan a close second.
"I'm absolutely retarded. Not 100% sure why." - atom
"Dhelor + intarwebs = Great ideas." - wordsmythe
"Do I what I do: hate everyone." - Quintin_Stone
right on.
I've been waiting for 5 years, and about 10 Atari released DBZ games, for someone to tell me why characters CAN'T JUMP. They cannot frigging jump. The controls in DBZ #2 for the Super Famicom were nearly perfect.
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It did. Either that or I played through Phoenix Wright 3 in Japanese and didn't notice.
NOTE: This is not a doodle bug.
Spore
I think he means the actual cartridge, i.e., on the label.
"I'm absolutely retarded. Not 100% sure why." - atom
"Dhelor + intarwebs = Great ideas." - wordsmythe
"Do I what I do: hate everyone." - Quintin_Stone
No, sorry, I meant that the game itself didn't have an English option. That's what I had been told, anyway. Guess I could've played it much earlier by importing. Does anyone know if Apollo Justice will be bilingual, too?
Steam ID: http://steamcommunity.com/id/nyles
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Favorite puzzle: Grim Fandango -- the metal detector
I bought a Japanese dreamcast just for Frame Gride. And of course I later purchased Twinkle Star Spirtes on its release. (sorry Edwin, Dark Ran is the best!)
Ufortunately the stats for the mechs were all in Japanese in Frame Gride so it was a bunch of guess work (bigger bar = better) when customizing them. I'm sure there was a lot I missed out on. I never beat that bitch of a final boss. Its not that he was hard, I could get close to beating him ~%50 of the time. Its just that he always got off the last shot. (though I swear one time I got the last shot off but the game killed me first). My favorite shoulder weapon was the one that fired indirect, homing, arcing, luminous, green seagulls.
edit: Oh and I begged and begged for years for the Armored Core games to at least adopt if not improve upon the Frame Gride control scheme.
Being fangoriously devoured by a gelatinous monster.
Definitely Ouendan.
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Definitely Daigasso! Band Brothers, a neat rhythm game which, on the hardest level, essentially turns your DS in to a musical instrument. The single-cart wireless multi-player is phenomenal, with most songs having a full eight parts that can be shared around up to eight players, so I guess these days you could call it a portable Rock Band, just without the peripherals.
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Gyakuten Saiban 4, as it's called in Japan, is already out and is Japanese only.
"I'm absolutely retarded. Not 100% sure why." - atom
"Dhelor + intarwebs = Great ideas." - wordsmythe
"Do I what I do: hate everyone." - Quintin_Stone
On a newer side, I've been enjoying my import of The Witcher
I'm not really a girl. I just play one in video games.
My Gaming Blog
Elysium wrote:
Star Wolves, a Homeworld/Privateer/lite-RPG from Russia.
The Witcher will probably replace it at the top of my list once I get around to importing it.
Mother 3, but that's obvious.
Yet even then we ran like the wind,
whilst our laughter echoed under cerulean skies...
I imported Smash Brothers on the N64 when there was no indication of whether it was actually going to make it stateside. Never regretted it; I freaking loved that game, we played the heck out of it long before it was ever released in the US, and even after, I kept the import and we STILL kept playing the heck out of it. It got about 1.5 years of near-constant gameplay at college.
It was what replaced Goldeneye for us.
Cobra Command (the cartoon laser version) for the Sega Saturn.
MaxShrek .. The reason you keep falling, is there is no bottom.
Horror Vacui
Well then, I hope they use the same team to translate it. There were some awkward spots in the Ace Attorney games, but overall they did a bang-up job.
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Favorite puzzle: Grim Fandango -- the metal detector
Definitely Tobal 2.
Best 3d fighter outside the VF series. It (and its prequel) had an excellent dungeon crawl mode as well.
Other than that the Macross game for the PS2 left previous versions (and robotech ones as well) far far behind.
Most definitely GuitarFreaks & DrumMania Masterpiece Gold. Great music, good fun. More addictive (for me at least) than Guitar Hero.
~end
PSN: EndlessSupra
A man after my own heart.
NOTE: This is not a doodle bug.
Spore