The 5 Best Games That Still Aren’t Officially Available in the US

Right now, we have unprecedented access to video games. Platforms like Steam offer tremendous access to AAA and indie titles alike, while services like Nintendo Switch Online are bringing plenty of classic titles to modern hardware.

But a ton of games are still unavailable for gamers all over the world. Plenty of popular, influential, and acclaimed titles never got English localizations. Translation issues, timing, and censorship all prevented these five games from officially reaching Western audiences, though that may not have stopped fan translators.

1

Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei

Atlus’ Megami Tensei franchise, from which Shin Megami Tensei, Devil Summoner, and Persona all spun off, is one of the most pivotal franchises in JRPG history. But its very first release never officially reached Western audiences. Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei, a role-playing dungeon crawler for the Famicom, follows high school student Akemi Nakajima, who uses a computer program to summon demons. As expected, this does not go well, and Nakajima and his girlfriend have to bring down the forces of Lucifer.

Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei had slim chances of getting an English translation. To maintain a family-friendly image, Nintendo of America had a strict (though not always consistently applied) policy of censoring religious references in games, including symbols related to Satan. A game where you fight the Biblical devil never really stood a chance.

2

Policenauts

Image: Konami

Set in the mid-21st century. Policenauts follows Jonathan Ingram, an LAPD “policenaut” sent to protect humanity’s first space colony. A malfunction causes Ingram to fall into a 25-year cryosleep. He is found, revived, and becomes a private eye, investigating the murder of his ex-wife’s husband. Policenauts. With heavy inspiration from movies and television, a hard sci-fi premise, and an interest in social commentary, it should come as no surprise that Policenauts is the work of Death Stranding and Metal Gear auteur Hideo Kojima. Specifically, it’s an early Kojima game, so characters have normal names like “Jonathan Ingram” and “Lorraine Hojo,” rather than cool names like “Die-Hardman” and “Hot Coldman.”

A localization for Policenauts was planned, but scrapped. Kojima fans ended up putting together a fan translation, which took 7 years to pull off.

3

Fire Emblem: Thracia 776

Image: Intelligent Systems/Nintendo

Thracia 776 is one of four Fire Emblem games to never get a Western release. Set within the same timeline as Genealogy of the Holy War (another of the four), Thracia follows Leif, a young prince fighting to liberate his homeland from an evil empire. Leif is somewhat unique as far as Fire Emblem protagonists go. For one, he doesn’t have blue hair. For another, the story forces him to grapple with his mistakes and inexperience more than most Fire Emblem lords, making his growth over the course of the game all the more satisfying.

While re-released for the Wii and Wii U’s virtual consoles in Japan, Thracia 776 never got a proper English release.

4

Sweet Home

Image: Capcom

Before there was Resident Evil, there was Sweet Home — one of the most influential games you’ve probably never heard of. Released alongside a horror film of the same name, Capcom’s Sweet Home laid the groundwork for the survival horror genre. The story is fairly straightforward: a group of documentarians looks for valuable paintings in a spooky mansion. Sweet Home includes the survival horror staples that would become synonymous with Resident Evil: inventory management, puzzle solving, and quick time events. Those quick time events are quite critical — messing up can permanently kill a character, affecting the game’s final ending.

Sweet Home is another title that was never likely to get an English release. Before it was one of the most influential games in the survival horror genre, it was a tie-in game for a Japanese movie. And a gory one at that.

5

Mother 3

Image: HAL Laboratory / Nintendo

No list on this topic would be complete without Mother 3. Released in 2006, Mother 3 followed EarthBound Beginnings and Earthbound, and remains the only game in the Mother trilogy not to get an English localization. Considered by many to be one of the best RPGs of all time, Mother 3 follows protagonist Lucas through a story of industrialization, environmentalism, family, and grief. Though it takes on a heavier story than the first two EarthBound games, it retains a bright aesthetic and offbeat sense of humor.

In some respects, it’s a miracle anyone got to play Mother 3 in the first place. Development started in 1994, was canceled in 2000, and then revived in 2003. After a 12-year period, with development on four different consoles, Mother 3 finally reached the Game Boy Advance in 2003. When asked why Mother 3 never got an English release, former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime said it didn’t make business sense. Mother 3 was a late Game Boy Advance game. Nintendo didn’t want to spend money on an older platform while it transitioned to the Nintendo DS. But, with regular additions to the Nintendo Classics available to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers, many fans are continuing to hold out hope for an English release.