Regional exclusives that got localized years later

[RE4-City]

F-Zero Climax is a japan only Gameboy Advance game that came out 20 years ago today on October 21st, 2004. It is the last F-Zero Game until F-Zero 99 came out last year but that a battle royal online F-Zero game.

Cool thing about the game is that Nintendo actually finally released this in North America on Nintendo Switch Online on October 11th, 2024.

So for nearly 20 years only people in Japan could play this game but that being said I feel sad that this franchise doesn't really get more games.

Another cool game that was exclusive in Japan for years was Sin and Punishment for the N64 which finally came to North America two generations later on the Wii Virtual Console in 2007. Also Fatal Frame 4 finally came to North America last year after being a Japanese Wii Exclusive a decade and a half, What games do you know of that got localized years after the original release?

 

[DarkLordOtaku]

A bit tangential to your question, but famously King's Field 1 was never localized for western audiences. When Fromsoftware released King's Field 2 in Japan, they renamed it to King's Field 1.

This is similar to the case for Final Fantasy, where II, III, and V were not localized at release, so FFIV released as FFII and FFVI was released as FFIII. Obviously, this started to cause some confusion.

 

[Zzero]

A bit tangential to your question, but famously King's Field 1 was never localized for western audiences. When Fromsoftware released King's Field 2 in Japan, they renamed it to King's Field 1.

This is similar to the case for Final Fantasy, where II, III, and V were not localized at release, so FFIV released as FFII and FFVI was released as FFIII. Obviously, this started to cause some confusion.

The same thing happened to Pokemon Stadium where Pokemon Stadium, a shitty game with only like 30 to 60 Pokemon, didn't get a foreign release but its sequels, Pokemon Stadium 2 and 3, did as "Pokemon Stadium" and "Pokemon Stadium 2."

 

[Zzero]

Anyways, to OP, Nintendo finally released English downloads of Mother 1 and Fire Emblem (the original) in the last ten years. And we finally got what amounts to the real versions of FF 2, 3 and 5 with the pixel remasters, as opposed to the chibi graphics in the DS versions. And for Europe they've gotten a lot of stuff that missed their region but did hit NA in the 80s and 90s.

 

[RE4-City]

Anyways, to OP, Nintendo finally released English downloads of Mother 1 and Fire Emblem (the original) in the last ten years. And we finally got what amounts to the real versions of FF 2, 3 and 5 with the pixel remasters, as opposed to the chibi graphics in the DS versions. And for Europe they've gotten a lot of stuff that missed their region but did hit NA in the 80s and 90s.

I completely forgot about Earthbound Beginnings and its funny because I actaully liked it a bit more than Earthbound. It is funny how at E3 2005 we were promised Earthbound on the Wii Virtual Console yet it didn't happen until July of 2013 with the Wii U and then two years later there was the Earthbound Beginnings announcement at the Nintendo World Championships 2015. Then I thought for sure we were getting Mother 3 on Wii U in early 2016 and yet it didn't happen. Hoping it happens one day but kinda like what would happen with a Code Veronica Remake, it will either censor the stuff about the gender issues some characters have or piss off the other side like they did with Paper Mario The Thousand year Door Remake where they kept Vivian's Japanese back story.

 

[Zzero]

I completely forgot about Earthbound Beginnings and its funny because I actaully liked it a bit more than Earthbound. It is funny how at E3 2005 we were promised Earthbound on the Wii Virtual Console yet it didn't happen until July of 2013 with the Wii U and then two years later there was the Earthbound Beginnings announcement at the Nintendo World Championships 2015. Then I thought for sure we were getting Mother 3 on Wii U in early 2016 and yet it didn't happen. Hoping it happens one day but kinda like what would happen with a Code Veronica Remake, it will either censor the stuff about the gender issues some characters have or piss off the other side like they did with Paper Mario The Thousand year Door Remake where they kept Vivian's Japanese back story.

There's zero possibility of M3 ever coming over for the aforementioned gender stuff. They're at risk from both sides there and the issue is more political than ever before.