Emulation is a godsend. There was a PS1 conversion of Mortal Kombat 2 that was exclusive to the Japanese market. What was so good about this port was that the enemy difficulty was actually fair and not cheap. Unlike the relentless arcade version.
Was it a standalone release? I remember buying MK3 on the PS1 as it had a cardboard case (there was a shortage of the PlayStation designed PAL cases in 1995) and then Ultimate MK3 came out. I had a few Japanese imports, but never knew MK2 was an option.
@@boilerhousegarage Yes a stand-alone release. The music doesn’t sound very good though and is inferior to the arcade because it’s using the PS1’s sound.
I find it very strange that the PS1 version of MK2 was only released in Japan. Couldn’t they release it in Europe or NA? I mean the Saturn version did. Darius Gaiden was a JP exclusive on the PS1. Most of the time, the Saturn version stayed in Japan but the PS1 version saw an international release.
As a lover of Legend of the Mystical Ninja, I wish the original SNES game gad sold better in the west so we could've also gotten all those Ganbare Goemon sequels that stayed in Japan. It's crazy to think Konami bothered bringing the N64 games Stateside considering all the titles that they skipped.
Panzer Bandit is the one i most have fun playing with my sister. i remember bought the game and i have fun playing that game. In fact the game is quite popular in my place.
My wife bought me tobal #2 and I played it with a boot disc. It is awesome. The game has since been translated into english and can be downloaded so that you can play the whole quest mode in english!
There's a myriad of great games and compilations from all genres that never left Japan. And to add insult to injury they insisted on making the Playstation region locked. Of course there's ways to subvert that but you shouldn't have to.
I'm not sure I'd call Harmful Park 'Parodius like.' It's literally just a Parodius clone. If it wasn't produced by the same devs I could definitely see why it had limited worldwide release.
Panzer Bandit looks pretty similar in gameplay to Guardian Heroes from Sega's Saturn console. It might be worth it purchase if I can find an English patch for it. And for those interested, there is an Englash patch for LSD.
I remember that Tobal game absolutely blew my mind..It was the only game to perfectly combine action adventure and fighting into one perfect, fluid, addictive game..I haven't seen anything like it since...The closest we got was Shaolin Monks but not even that game's one on one fights were so smooth...
Sad the Japanese game studios thought so little of American gamers. I remember back in the 90's (yes, I'm that old), reading an article in a gaming magazine on why Japanese game developers thought about American gamers with regards to their games. In short, they felt they were too hard for Americans to play, especially RPGs. I was like have they've played an LJN game before? LOL Okay, not fair but most LJN games were just buggy and had awful game design choices.
I remembered playing Chipo Ralph and No Daban with my father during my earlier day, i was 5 or 6 ath the moment. It was my uncle's and i have no idea how or where did he got it😂 lucky me i guess
Add to this list almost all anime/manga inspired games that don't have "Pokemon", "Dragonball", or "Avatar" in their titles. Especially if it's a game about giant mechs. And if it has the word :Macross" or "Gundam" in its title, it's almost an iron-clad guarantee that not only will it never be released outside of Japan, but absolutely no fan translator will ever touch it.
Well Macross is explained. The NA distribution rights for anything Macross is held by Harmony Gold and they throw lawsuits out at such a rate that would make Billy Mitchell jealous. No translator (official or not) will not touch it out of a very justified fear they will be sued into oblivion.
...except Bandai did release Gundam: The Battle Master outside of Japan as Gundam Battle Assault, with one change: they replaced Zeta Gundam with Wing Gundam. (The moves and stuff are untouched, it's just Wing instead of Zeta) Ironically enough, Gundam Battle Assault 2 would get released in Japan (apparently after the US) as a budget title simply called "The Gundam".
@@lurkerrekrul True that. It's particularly unfortunate for other Gundam games on the Snes (and a couple of SD Gundam strategy games on both Snes & Nes), because by the time Gundam started to take off in the US with Gundam Wing in 1999 thanks to Cartoon Network, the Snes was long dead and the PSone was reigning supreme.
@@DragoonMS Actually Sony said no to 2d to Capcom when Capcom was planning to release Megaman games in the west but the tables flipped against Sony when Capcom threatened them with making Resident Evil games Saturn only exclusives, So Sony had to give Capcom free pass.
I noticed some of these games were sequels that never made it to other countries. One game I always wanted to play was the Japanese only released King's Field, From Software's first ever game. When King's Field 2 came out in Japan, it was released in America and was treated as if it was the first game. Luckily, it's easy to find the true first game online translated into English on the PC. Still, I wish it was released outside of Japan. I loved the lore, dungeon crawling first-person gameplay, and game mechanics, many of which are used in the current Soulsborne games. Sure, it came out before analog controllers, one of the Japanese PS1 release title games, but it's easy to get used to the controls.
My friends and I used to go into Japantown in San Francisco, to check out Japanese exclusive games for Nintendo, Sega, and Sony back in the late 90’s. Of course, the games had no translation, so you had to at least be able to read and understand a passable amount of Japanese to even figure out the controls, and following along with the storyline, (if there was one to speak of) was almost impossible. Along with two of my three friends that would do this, I was actively taking a college Japanese-language course. I was still bitterly disappointed that some of these games never received an American port, because they did seem quite fun.
in 2000, I once got to play in a Korean arcade on a Korean game cabinet and had to guess what I was doing by context clues and colorful graphics. It was a fun game though. Something in the same genre as Double Dragon... but... not that IP. IE you run around beating the ---- out of entire armies and um... stuff. I have no idea what the plot was since I couldn't read Korean.
Far from the only one to notice that Garia looks like Elena. Did you catch one particular bit that had a girl named Mia?? Mia looked an awful lot like Chun-li.
I'd add Tales of Phantasia on this list. (Yes, I know it was mentioned on your "SNES games you couldn't play" list, but the PS1 version was a masterpiece... even if compared to its Super Famicom counterpart.)
There's a good selection of games here, thank you. Sometimes, a game never got a western localisation, and was clear to see why. Sometimes though, the decision not to localise just left me scratching my head. 🤷♂️
Was and still is the same even on other platforms, such as the 3rd in the Summon Night: Swordcraft Story series on GBA and the DS exclusive Tales of releases, just have to wait for a proper English patch to be done.
Was and still is the same even on other platforms, such as the 3rd in the Summon Night: Swordcraft Story series on GBA and the DS exclusive Tales of releases, just have to wait for a proper English patch to be done.
The Saga series is another victim, IIRC. Long live the ROM hacking and translation community. Some of those guys have done amazing work. Providing they don't get C&D letters, that is!
I heard of some of these games. Also used to play a 3D Goemon game for the PS1. It was only a few hours long, but I quite liked it. Don't remember the title though. But even now I think it's my 2nd favourite Goemon game since the 2D action-platformer Goemon games have never really done all that much for me. With my favourite one being the N64 game everyone knows and loves.
I forgot about Slap Happy Rhythm Buster! There were so many unusual Playstation games. Anyway, I love Tobal 2. I think it was one of the first Playstation fighting games to use high resolution interlaced mode, which was really eye popping compared to the previous low resolution fighting games. But resolution isn't everything. Pep- pep- PEPSIMAN!
Mizzurna Falls is a fascinating early open world game with Twin Peaks vibes and there are 2 fan translations now. Unfortunately, I can't play it due to the in-game time schedule. I'm struggling enough with time outside of games (severe time blindness), I can't have punishing time schedules in games, that drives me mad. 🙃
Did rent Tobal No.1 though, unusual game. Had a beat em up mode & a separate rpg-like quest mod. Then a got one of the new Digimon toys recently & had the same mechanic, influenced by Tobal I guess
Wow, 4 new (to me) games for me to find and play. Thanks. Rakugaki Showtime Physically owning Rakugaki Showtime might... that might take a while though.
Title of the Video was misleading. Just becauae a game wasn't released outside of Japan it doesn't automatically mean "they" (whoever they are) wouldn't let us play them.
This is why half my PS1 collection is imported titles. So much great stuff that western publishers deemed unfit for American and European audiences... Wish the prices on some of these weren't what they are, though...
With mod chips being more the norm then not. actually we could play these games. If i wasn't for half this list being super rare games. Not that many Japanese people got to play them in the first place 🤣🤣
😅 LSD may be a Japan-only release, but I have the ROM running happily on my un-modded PSP as a PS1 Classic title, and the PSVita makes the game MUCH MORE enjoyable. I have spent years (in-game time) on the title in a few playthroughs.... It has some VERY RARE Encounters, which play videos which are STUNNING. Especially for a PS1 game. Now we can upscale it with a handheld
I love my X3. Got it on Kickstarter for walking home after a back shift. Clips to backpack strap no problem. The case is great as a night light for camping with the kids. Great video, please keep up with the outtakes at the end!
Thank you - I would like to add, however, that even though you mentioned you're not keen on the thumbnail it did do it's job - you clicked on the video and watched it (hopefully all the way through). Hope you have a good day today xx
Gradius Gaiden was actually released on the PSP in the greatest collection I have it not really enjoyed the game especially the fact that the Vic Viper wasn't the only ship you could use, the fashion beta is the orange one the Jade night is the green one in the Lord British is the purple one
All games here are pretty interesting except for LSD which I found to be boring as sin. No amount of visual flare, no matter how strange the visuals are is gonna keep me awake in this never ending walking sim snore fest.
Can guarantee she never played any of these games, and this is a conglomeration of a TH-cam channel gen scheme where they find a British voice woman and slap her in front of a camera while someone else writes the scripts. Does the research and actually video editing.
Emulation is a godsend. There was a PS1 conversion of Mortal Kombat 2 that was exclusive to the Japanese market. What was so good about this port was that the enemy difficulty was actually fair and not cheap. Unlike the relentless arcade version.
Was it a standalone release? I remember buying MK3 on the PS1 as it had a cardboard case (there was a shortage of the PlayStation designed PAL cases in 1995) and then Ultimate MK3 came out. I had a few Japanese imports, but never knew MK2 was an option.
@@boilerhousegarage Yes a stand-alone release. The music doesn’t sound very good though and is inferior to the arcade because it’s using the PS1’s sound.
I find it very strange that the PS1 version of MK2 was only released in Japan. Couldn’t they release it in Europe or NA? I mean the Saturn version did. Darius Gaiden was a JP exclusive on the PS1. Most of the time, the Saturn version stayed in Japan but the PS1 version saw an international release.
If I’m not mistaken cdromance has a rom that has this merged with the English version I haven’t tried it yet though
As a lover of Legend of the Mystical Ninja, I wish the original SNES game gad sold better in the west so we could've also gotten all those Ganbare Goemon sequels that stayed in Japan. It's crazy to think Konami bothered bringing the N64 games Stateside considering all the titles that they skipped.
5:00 I've never heard a bullet hell game called a shoot'em up. I like it.😊 That's what my grandmother called action movies.
I love how Lady Decade sings "Trea-sure!"
That is what you are!
Rakugami Showtime was a masterpiece. The first game I was keen to get all the hidden characters while I was a kid. What a fantastic time.
The US wasn't allowed Thrill Kill despite being made in the US. Yet we got Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style, which is damned near the same game.
Panzer Bandit is the one i most have fun playing with my sister. i remember bought the game and i have fun playing that game. In fact the game is quite popular in my place.
i clicked to find out how the nude lara croft in the thumbnail was involved and found nothing what a rip!!!.
You can always visit the hub dude.
So she could trick people like you into giving her views
So Tobal is basically what we got with Ehrgeiz.
If you get a chance, Pepsiman (which is oddly in English, but released JP only) and Gear Fighter Dendoh were easily two of my favorite imports!
My wife bought me tobal #2 and I played it with a boot disc. It is awesome. The game has since been translated into english and can be downloaded so that you can play the whole quest mode in english!
Somehow I foresaw Gradius Gaiden would be here. Fantastic game.
One of the best shooters ever made. The best Gradius game in my opinion. It's just gorgeous and gameplay is sublime.
@@darinherrick9224 Not to mention the soundtrack.
LSD looks like it would be really cool in VR
Still got a original CD of Panzer Bandito for PS1. I dont even know why its on sale here😂. A good game i keep playin repeatedly on my childhood.
Adventures of Little Ralph whips absolute ass
I like how she sings "Trea-sure" and "Daytona". I'm surprised she doesn't sing "Sega" too :)
There's a myriad of great games and compilations from all genres that never left Japan. And to add insult to injury they insisted on making the Playstation region locked. Of course there's ways to subvert that but you shouldn't have to.
Region locking really is the most fucktarded invention in media history.
English patches are a blessing
@@rayojordan2838 Absolutely.
Having played Bushido Blade, I can't imagine the translation being that intensive or time consuming.
Yeah there's barely any dialogue in it
This is one of the best videos you ever made.
I'm not sure I'd call Harmful Park 'Parodius like.' It's literally just a Parodius clone.
If it wasn't produced by the same devs I could definitely see why it had limited worldwide release.
Panzer Bandit looks pretty similar in gameplay to Guardian Heroes from Sega's Saturn console. It might be worth it purchase if I can find an English patch for it.
And for those interested, there is an Englash patch for LSD.
I remember that Tobal game absolutely blew my mind..It was the only game to perfectly combine action adventure and fighting into one perfect, fluid, addictive game..I haven't seen anything like it since...The closest we got was Shaolin Monks but not even that game's one on one fights were so smooth...
Ehrgeiz is practically the same. Check it out if you never heard of it.
Sad the Japanese game studios thought so little of American gamers. I remember back in the 90's (yes, I'm that old), reading an article in a gaming magazine on why Japanese game developers thought about American gamers with regards to their games. In short, they felt they were too hard for Americans to play, especially RPGs. I was like have they've played an LJN game before? LOL Okay, not fair but most LJN games were just buggy and had awful game design choices.
I remembered playing Chipo Ralph and No Daban with my father during my earlier day, i was 5 or 6 ath the moment. It was my uncle's and i have no idea how or where did he got it😂 lucky me i guess
Played Tobal 2 back when came out. Had to do the PlayStation disc swapping trick to get it to work.
Add to this list almost all anime/manga inspired games that don't have "Pokemon", "Dragonball", or "Avatar" in their titles. Especially if it's a game about giant mechs. And if it has the word :Macross" or "Gundam" in its title, it's almost an iron-clad guarantee that not only will it never be released outside of Japan, but absolutely no fan translator will ever touch it.
Well Macross is explained. The NA distribution rights for anything Macross is held by Harmony Gold and they throw lawsuits out at such a rate that would make Billy Mitchell jealous. No translator (official or not) will not touch it out of a very justified fear they will be sued into oblivion.
...except Bandai did release Gundam: The Battle Master outside of Japan as Gundam Battle Assault, with one change: they replaced Zeta Gundam with Wing Gundam. (The moves and stuff are untouched, it's just Wing instead of Zeta) Ironically enough, Gundam Battle Assault 2 would get released in Japan (apparently after the US) as a budget title simply called "The Gundam".
@@DragoonMS OK, that's one game, but there are tons more than never left Japan and never got translated.
@@lurkerrekrul True that. It's particularly unfortunate for other Gundam games on the Snes (and a couple of SD Gundam strategy games on both Snes & Nes), because by the time Gundam started to take off in the US with Gundam Wing in 1999 thanks to Cartoon Network, the Snes was long dead and the PSone was reigning supreme.
There were a crazy amount of psp macross or Robotech games that never made it here.
Thanks for the demo and info. What true gems. Your presentation is great and informative. Have a great day
The stupid ps1 anti 2d policy in the west made many developers to restraint from releasing many 2d gems outside Japan.
Exactly. If you weren't a big name developer/publisher like Capcom (or SNK, to a lesser degree), you could forget about it.
@@DragoonMS Actually Sony said no to 2d to Capcom when Capcom was planning to release Megaman games in the west but the tables flipped against Sony when Capcom threatened them with making Resident Evil games Saturn only exclusives, So Sony had to give Capcom free pass.
Harmful Park looks like fun.
I played and imported Tobal no2 back in the day. The game was awesome. Pity it didn't get the attention it deserved
Thanks to piracy I had it in Europe
I noticed some of these games were sequels that never made it to other countries. One game I always wanted to play was the Japanese only released King's Field, From Software's first ever game. When King's Field 2 came out in Japan, it was released in America and was treated as if it was the first game. Luckily, it's easy to find the true first game online translated into English on the PC. Still, I wish it was released outside of Japan. I loved the lore, dungeon crawling first-person gameplay, and game mechanics, many of which are used in the current Soulsborne games. Sure, it came out before analog controllers, one of the Japanese PS1 release title games, but it's easy to get used to the controls.
My friends and I used to go into Japantown in San Francisco, to check out Japanese exclusive games for Nintendo, Sega, and Sony back in the late 90’s.
Of course, the games had no translation, so you had to at least be able to read and understand a passable amount of Japanese to even figure out the controls, and following along with the storyline, (if there was one to speak of) was almost impossible. Along with two of my three friends that would do this, I was actively taking a college Japanese-language course. I was still bitterly disappointed that some of these games never received an American port, because they did seem quite fun.
in 2000, I once got to play in a Korean arcade on a Korean game cabinet and had to guess what I was doing by context clues and colorful graphics. It was a fun game though. Something in the same genre as Double Dragon... but... not that IP. IE you run around beating the ---- out of entire armies and um... stuff. I have no idea what the plot was since I couldn't read Korean.
There's no chapter in the video for Gradius Gaiden, it's in the Panzer Bandit section
Am I the only one who noticed that Garia from Slap Happy Rhythm Busters looks a lot like Elena from Street Fighter 3?
Far from the only one to notice that Garia looks like Elena. Did you catch one particular bit that had a girl named Mia?? Mia looked an awful lot like Chun-li.
Number one console, the Play station X or PSX or just play station
Yeah, LSD Dream Simulator is... Out there, to say the least, lol.
@LadyDecade This channel is a Trea-sure!
Panzer Bandit makes me think of Guardian Heroes...
I'd add Tales of Phantasia on this list. (Yes, I know it was mentioned on your "SNES games you couldn't play" list, but the PS1 version was a masterpiece... even if compared to its Super Famicom counterpart.)
A fellow Essex girl who has a cool gaming channel? Where have you been all my life!?!
LSD on PS VR could kill.
Policenauts is one game I wished came to the states.
There's a good selection of games here, thank you.
Sometimes, a game never got a western localisation, and was clear to see why. Sometimes though, the decision not to localise just left me scratching my head. 🤷♂️
Was and still is the same even on other platforms, such as the 3rd in the Summon Night: Swordcraft Story series on GBA and the DS exclusive Tales of releases, just have to wait for a proper English patch to be done.
Was and still is the same even on other platforms, such as the 3rd in the Summon Night: Swordcraft Story series on GBA and the DS exclusive Tales of releases, just have to wait for a proper English patch to be done.
The Saga series is another victim, IIRC.
Long live the ROM hacking and translation community. Some of those guys have done amazing work. Providing they don't get C&D letters, that is!
Panzer Bandit is basically a less jankey Guardian Heroes. Not that Guardian Heroes isn't a good game but it does have a lot of jank.
I like how you said “Treasure”
this is my first time watching this but are you involved with watch mojo? i swear your voice sounds familiar
I heard of some of these games. Also used to play a 3D Goemon game for the PS1. It was only a few hours long, but I quite liked it. Don't remember the title though. But even now I think it's my 2nd favourite Goemon game since the 2D action-platformer Goemon games have never really done all that much for me. With my favourite one being the N64 game everyone knows and loves.
Not gonna lie these games should have come out to other parts of the world.
6:07 Jerry? JERRY!?
I forgot about Slap Happy Rhythm Buster! There were so many unusual Playstation games.
Anyway, I love Tobal 2. I think it was one of the first Playstation fighting games to use high resolution interlaced mode, which was really eye popping compared to the previous low resolution fighting games.
But resolution isn't everything. Pep- pep- PEPSIMAN!
Mizzurna Falls is a fascinating early open world game with Twin Peaks vibes and there are 2 fan translations now. Unfortunately, I can't play it due to the in-game time schedule. I'm struggling enough with time outside of games (severe time blindness), I can't have punishing time schedules in games, that drives me mad. 🙃
How could you forget Pepsiman? I would unalive for a US release to play on actual hardware.
Or at least have a similar game.
I hope Steam better put those games out for us.
Wow showtime looks like a PS2 game I'm surprised it's on the PS1 that doodling art style looks great
Lady Decade back again
Dragon Ball Z Ultimate Battle 22 and if you put in the code it became 27. Awesome game. Bushido Blade was great too❤
These games deseeve a reboot!
I didnt see rival schools....
Did rent Tobal No.1 though, unusual game. Had a beat em up mode & a separate rpg-like quest mod. Then a got one of the new Digimon toys recently & had the same mechanic, influenced by Tobal I guess
I had Tobal 2 as a kid in the US... got a store to mod my PS1 lol. Weird that they offered it, but they sold imports, so...
I had and have PS1 which plays NTSC/PAL games without mod
Nonsense you could play each and every one of these games if you had a Japanese PlayStation
You should do games that never got to japan
Wow, 4 new (to me) games for me to find and play. Thanks.
Rakugaki Showtime Physically owning Rakugaki Showtime might... that might take a while though.
@LadyDecade >>> Great video...👍
Ugh, where was this video while I was in Japan two weeks ago? Oh well, next year it is then.
what about Policenauts?
Treasure needs a collection to be released
Speed freaks 😁 the best game of psx🤩❤
Thanks to the aging (yet definitely emulating to it's full) EPSXE, we can play the JPN Playstation 1 games. Some of them are pretty cool
where you get the lara croft thumbnail picture at?
m'lady , what was the woman character from the thumbnail from?
Lara Croft from Tomb Raider
I'm glad we didn't get any of these games, giving the US bad track record of, unnecessary redrawing, butchering Japanese, and etcetera.
You won't get originals for less than a weeks wages. I own one or two of these. Sadly I've sold a few as well.
Title of the Video was misleading. Just becauae a game wasn't released outside of Japan it doesn't automatically mean "they" (whoever they are) wouldn't let us play them.
How many times can you say diverse in a video ?
I love your voice
This is why half my PS1 collection is imported titles. So much great stuff that western publishers deemed unfit for American and European audiences... Wish the prices on some of these weren't what they are, though...
There's a channel, Little Akiba Games that might help you. He's currently checking out sources for cheaper imports.
With mod chips being more the norm then not. actually we could play these games. If i wasn't for half this list being super rare games. Not that many Japanese people got to play them in the first place 🤣🤣
I just subbed. Could you say “Ryu”?
😅 LSD may be a Japan-only release, but I have the ROM running happily on my un-modded PSP as a PS1 Classic title, and the PSVita makes the game MUCH MORE enjoyable. I have spent years (in-game time) on the title in a few playthroughs.... It has some VERY RARE Encounters, which play videos which are STUNNING. Especially for a PS1 game. Now we can upscale it with a handheld
Goemon! 🙂
Lady Decade!❤❤❤❤❤❤😄
❤😊😊great video
I love my X3. Got it on Kickstarter for walking home after a back shift. Clips to backpack strap no problem. The case is great as a night light for camping with the kids.
Great video, please keep up with the outtakes at the end!
No Racing Lagoon?
Easier way to get Harmful Park was $6 on Japanese PSN.
I love games with 7175 in them!!
Decent video, just hate the click bait thumbnail.
Thank you - I would like to add, however, that even though you mentioned you're not keen on the thumbnail it did do it's job - you clicked on the video and watched it (hopefully all the way through). Hope you have a good day today xx
Gradius Gaiden was actually released on the PSP in the greatest collection I have it not really enjoyed the game especially the fact that the Vic Viper wasn't the only ship you could use, the fashion beta is the orange one the Jade night is the green one in the Lord British is the purple one
Yeah, i went to my friends hoose fo it.
Great ✨✨ 😀🤘🏼
Most of none heard of.How many of those you have played?
All games here are pretty interesting except for LSD which I found to be boring as sin. No amount of visual flare, no matter how strange the visuals are is gonna keep me awake in this never ending walking sim snore fest.
TreAsURE!🎶
soo Lara was clickbait?? good to know.
got fooled by the thumbnail.
Timeless.
Can guarantee she never played any of these games, and this is a conglomeration of a TH-cam channel gen scheme where they find a British voice woman and slap her in front of a camera while someone else writes the scripts. Does the research and actually video editing.
PS1 😎👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌
You seriously played Metal Gear Solid in your Playstation? Hope you didn't mind playing and power leveling FF7 again. 😂
Big Daddy Tophat's wife?