History AmericansHateTingle / VideoGames

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
** Lyra from ''[=HeartGold=]'' and ''[=SoulSilver=]'', while fairly popular in her home country, there are many Western fans who hate her for her {{Moe}} appearance, and others who hate her [[ReplacementScrappy simply for not being Kris]], although she still has supporters.
** [[SeriesMascot Pikachu]], just like in the anime. It's undoubtedly the most popular Pokémon in Japan and a huge cultural icon. But it gets shafted by Western fans for being one of the "[[RidiculouslyCuteCritter cutemons]]" and a symbol of the [[Anime/{{Pokemon}} anime]] (which is listed above), and for its SpotlightStealingSquad tendencies. Pikachu earned a mediocre ranking in no less than ''two'' Pokémon popularity polls hosted by American gaming websites, with almost all of the top slots being dominated by more {{Badass}} species.
** This was the case for Charizard in the English-speaking competitive battling until Pokémon X and Y came out.[[note]] More accurately, Smogon, the most well-known and well-played metagame community in the English-language regions.[[/note]] This was due to Charizard actually being not very useful until the buff for Generation 6 - which in itself isn't really much to hate about. What caused the hate, however, was [[{{Scrub}} scrubs]] atempting to use Charizard notwithstanding the above - [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff ironically because Charizard was otherwise loved in the very same language regions]]. See the TierInducedScrappy, and TheScrappy entry within the Pokémon pages. Of course after the buff for Gen 6, Charizard has been much better loved.
** Legendaries aren't immune either. In Japan, Reshiram is the more popular of the two [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Generation V]] legendaries, and ''Pokémon Black'' (where you obtain Reshiram) sells more than ''Pokémon White'' (where you obtain Zekrom). In North America, it's the opposite: ''Zekrom'' is the more popular and ''White'' sells more than ''Pokémon Black'', while Reshiram is a BaseBreaker.
** Jynx was a big one for this. Americans disliked it intensely because, although it was based on a Japanese style, to Americans [[UnfortunateImplications it looked like a blackface stereotype]]. Changing Jynx's skin tone to purple in all future releases hasn't made the stigma go away, either.
** The French translations of the games don't do very well in Quebec, the only place to where they were officially exported from Europe.[[note]] ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' are multilingual, so now this is more a question of language selection options than different language copies.[[/note]] This is largely due to the (relatively short-lived) French-Canadian dub of the anime using the English names rather than France's French names, and the province only having English-language games (including at the height of "Pokémania") until 2010. See [[http://tongfuk.tumblr.com/post/26964086926/youknowquebec-chetiflor-shitty-flore-trans this Tumblr post]] (which labels the French names as SnarkBait) and [[http://blogues.journaldemontreal.com/tousdesgamers/retour-en-enfance-pokemon/ this French-Canadian review]] of ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' (which is based on the English version of the game and doesn't even mention it).
** Due to the popularity of sites like Smogon and Serebii.net, unofficial competitive Pokémon battling is done largely as single battling, whereas in Japan, there is roughly even popularity between single battling, double battling, triple battling, and rotation battling. This has lessened over Generation V, however, due to Nintendo hosting numermous online competitions (with prizes) where only double battling is allowed. This has prompted many (but not most) of the formerly singles-only battlers to give double battling a chance, though good comprehensive coverage of double battling strategies is still difficult to find.
** Tierno from ''X'' and ''Y'' is fairly popular over in Japan, managing to score third place on a popularity poll. When western fans bother to pay attention to him, [[TheScrappy it's not good]].

* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy''
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', Cait Sith was never the most popular character, in no small part due to his {{Jerkass}}ery in the beginning of the game, and the fact that his LimitBreak [[ScrappyMechanic relies on]] [[RandomNumberGod pure dumb luck]]. And ''then'' he started speaking in ''[[Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren Advent Children]]'', [[BrokenBase itself a divisive movie]], with a [[OohMeAccentsSlipping very poor Scottish accent]]. Many fans from Scotland, and Britain in general were not amused.[[note]]Ironically, the voice actor is British himself.[[/note]] In a ''Famitsu'' poll for best video game characters held in 2010, the characters from ''Final Fantasy VII'' that made the cut were Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Sephiroth, Zack, and ''Yuffie'', who, while [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap not nearly as disliked as she used to be]], is still a semi-BaseBreaker in North America.
** Rinoa from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' is a very popular character and a pop culture icon in Japan. In the West, she's something of TheScrappy due to her personality and getting herself into trouble.
** Tidus from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' is very popular in Japan. However, in the West, he's a [[BaseBreaker divisive figure]], mostly because he looks exactly like actress Meg Ryan and because he spends most of the game whining, which is only made worse by Creator/JamesArnoldTaylor's over-the-top delivery.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII''[='=]s Vaan is widely hated in the West, and Creator/SquareEnix's ExecutiveMeddling to make him the protagonist is criticized since Vaan plays nearly no role in the main story and is the typical pretty boy character avatar for the player. In Japan, he has enough of a fanbase to get him big roles in two spin-offs ''and'' added into ''[[VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy Dissidia 012: Final Fantasy]]''. He was RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsA2'', with him much more mature and edgier.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' itself, as well as Lightning, are this in the West. A Japanese publication wanted to give the game a 120 out of 100, while Western reviewers tended to blast the game for its linearity, among other issues. The company even came out and said that the game was reviewed poorly in the West because of different cultural expectations of [=RPGs=]. Lightning herself is a symbol of the game, and also some of its flaws, such as her unintentional SupportingProtagonist status. What makes this worse is how sequels, references to Lightning, and cameos keep popping up, making it impossible for those who disliked the game to avoid it.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendaryStarfy'' is among the best-selling Nintendo franchises in Japan, but only one game was ever released in America, and it only received modest sales. This is likely due to the cutesy title character, and it being one of the few games not subjected to AmericanKirbyIsHardcore. Despite positive reviews and an extensive marketing campaign, American gamers' tendency to favor manliness over cuteness caused the character to be dismissed. The game itself happened to also be incredibly "wordy" so even younger players might be turned off by the required reading to understand the game (unlike a Franchise/{{Kirby}} or [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]] game where there's little dialogue to get in the way of the platforming action.). Even his Assist Trophy in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Brawl'' is met with derision rather than praise.

* While the NintendoEntertainmentSystem was ''the'' icon of [[TheEighties The Third Generation of Gaming]] in North America, it was rejected in the UK where the technically-superior home computers already dominated the market by the time the console was distributed in 1987. (Creator/{{Rare}}, despite being based in the UK, had to produce its early NES games mainly for the North American market) [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJaCmHVkezw This video]] further elaborates on why the NES wasn't successful in this region.

* Raiden wasn't as hated in Japan as much as he was in America and Europe when ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 2|SonsOfLiberty}}'' first came out. Most of the complaints players had in Japan wasn't with Raiden himself ''per se'', but from [[ReplacementScrappy not being able to play as Solid Snake]]. This is probably because being {{Bishonen}}, as Raiden is, isn't a big deal to Japanese gamers, whereas in the West, such characters are seen as overly effeminate, especially in an action game. It helps that Creator/KenyuHoriuchi, Raiden's Japanese voice actor, actually made him sound like a real adult, giving him a voice almost as deep as Creator/AkioOhtsuka's performance as Solid Snake, instead of the approach that Creator/QuintonFlynn went with.

* Creator/{{Sega}}'s iterations of ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}'', while prevalent in Japanese arcades, never caught on in the West, where people were already hooked to other versions, such as Creator/{{Nintendo}}'s iconic 1989 Game Boy version.

* Atari released a modified version of the UsefulNotes/{{Atari 2600}} in Japan dubbed the Atari 2800. It was no match for the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem Famicom]] juggernaut. The case design was reused for the UsefulNotes/Atari7800, where it was no match against the NES juggernaut.

** This was the case for Charizard in the English-speaking competitive battling until Pokémon X and Y came out.[[note]] More accurately, Smogon, the most well-known and well-played metagame community in the English-language regions.[[/note]] This was due to Charizard actually being not very useful until the buff for Generation 6 - which in itself isn't really much to hate about. What caused the hate, however, was [[{{Scrub}} scrubs]] atempting to use Charizard notwithstanding the above - [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff ironically because Charizard was otherwise loved in the very same language regions]]. See the Tier-Induced Scrappy, and The Scrappy entry within the Pokémon pages. Of course after the buff for Gen 6, Charizard has been much better loved.

** For that matter, Asian-developed arcade music games in general took a dive in what little popularity they had when ''Guitar Hero'' and ''Rock Band'' came along, due to the aforementioned song lengths and lack of recognizable songs. Today, ''BEMANI'' games are {{Cult Classic}}s at best outside of Asia; it's not hard to find longtime Creator/{{Konami}} fans in the West who have never heard of games like ''VideoGame/{{jubeat}}'' or ''VideoGame/SoundVoltex''.

* Although ''VideoGame/ReflecBeat'' has somewhat of a fanbase in its native territory of Japan, Western ''Franchise/{{BEMANI}}'' fans have a very low opinion of it, citing the randomized and chaotic-looking way the notes fall. Amongst a certain section of the fanbase that likes to crack ''BEMANI'' arcade software, ''Reflec Beat'' gets the least development of any active ''BEMANI'' series (although this could have more to do with there being an [[IOSGames iOS port]] that's very close to the original sans screen size). However, this has changed in 2014, as the crack of ''Reflec Beat colette'' was released to very popular reception, encouraging many fans to buy multi-touch screens to play the game.

*** For that matter, Asian-developed arcade music games in general took a dive in what little popularity they had when ''Guitar Hero'' and ''Rock Band'' came along, due to the aforementioned song lengths and lack of recognizable songs. Today, ''BEMANI'' games are {{Cult Classic}}s at best outside of Asia; it's not hard to find longtime Creator/{{Konami}} fans in the West who have never heard of games like ''VideoGame/{{jubeat}}'' or ''VideoGame/SoundVoltex''.

* The ''[[OtherSegaSystems Sega Pico]]''. The educational console is extremely popular in Japan that games was made for it up until 2005, when it was replaced by it's successor ''Advanced Pico Beena''. Outside of Japan however, due to horrible mismarketing by Sega themselves, parent groups being extremely conservative and seeing all video games as evil and a waste of time regardless of title or platform at the time, and the preference of Americans as a whole, the console died within 4 years of release.

* The ''Sega Pico''. The console is extremely popular in Japan that games was made for it up until 2005, when it was replaced by it's successor ''Advanced Pico Beena''. Outside of Japan however, due to horrible mismarketing by Sega themselves, parent groups being extremely conservative and seeing all video games as evil regardless of title or platform, and the preference of Americans as a whole, the console died within 4 years of release.

* UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} is extremely popular amongst Western PC gamers, who hail it as the greatest thing to happen to the PC gaming market, but it is quite obscure in Japan. Most of Japan's PC game output consists of [=MMORPGs=] that are not on Steam, as well as doujin games, and doujin game fans in Japan prefer physical copies to digital ones. Its popularity differs in other regions as well, in part due to pricing policy, and in part due to how the internet availability fares in those regions, much like any other digital platform.

*** For that matter, Asian-developed arcade music games in general took a dive in what little popularity they had when ''Guitar Hero'' and ''Rock Band'' came along, due to the aforementioned song lengths and lack of recognizable songs. Today, ''BEMANI'' games are {{Cult Classic}}s at best outside of Asia.

* Japanese [[MobilePhoneGame mobile games]] such as ''VideoGame/PuzzleAndDragons'' and ''VideoGame/BraveFrontier'' are beloved in their home country, but reviled by Westerners as not "proper" games due to not being on a PC or some sort of dedicated gaming device. It gets worse if the game in question uses a [[AllegedlyFreegame "free-to-play"]] model, which is seen by Westerners as a disgusting attempt at a cheap cashgrab with PayToWin implications. Part of the success of mobile gaming can be attributed to Japan's culture of being overworked;[[note]]To illustrate how bad this culture of work stress is: There is a term for death by overworking, 過労死 (''karoushi'')[[/note]] since there is simply not enough time for many to sit down with a console or PC, it is more feasible to carry around handheld systems and mobile phones and use those for gaming instead, since those can be played on a commute train, at a cafe, etc. Westerners, in comparison, have the free time necessary to enjoy console and PC games, and thus see mobile games as simply cheap cashgrabs and novelties designed for "casual gamers". For this same reason, Japanese developers such as Creator/{{CAVE}}, Creator/{{Taito}}, and Creator/{{Konami}} are becoming increasingly disliked by Western fans for shifting away from console games to mobile games, viewing it as acts of abandoning their overseas fanbases. Similarly, the director of ''Final Fantasy XV'', Hajime Tabata, citing the aforementioned reasons, has said that whether or not Final Fantasy XV is successful after its release could signal the end of console gaming in Japan.

* ''Franchise/MortalKombat'': The franchise is infamously unpopular in Japan, to the point that none of the games have seen a release there since ''Mortal Kombat 3'' and other Western fighting games were tarred with its brush until ''VideoGame/SkullGirls'' came out (the Animesque and Kawaisa tropes may have had a major hand in SkullGirls's popularity with Japanese gamers). Reasons vary, from [[TheyJustDidntCare the lack of real work on creating authentic mythology]] to the series' infamous downward spiral after ''3'', to generally not being quite as deep or well-designed in terms of visuals or gameplay as many Japanese fighters. The heavy focus on gory violence is also often criticized. It's not without a small following, but it doesn't even have a cult classic status out there.

* Mexicans really hate T. Hawk in ''Franchise/StreetFighter'', perhaps because he's supposed to be Mexican but obviously isn't. El Fuerte has gathered better reception from them. The Jamaican kickboxer Dee Jay, who was added to the ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' roster under the suggestion of American playtester James Goddard, is beloved by the North American fanbase (and also in his home country). In Japan, he rarely appears, and when he does, he doesn't do much of anything. Humourously enough, Dee Jay and T. Hawk both happen to be the only new characters from ''Super Street Fighter II'' left out from the console versions of ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV'' (which included [[MsFanservice Cammy]] and [[BruceLeeClone Fei Long]]); however, both ended up returning in ''[[MissionPackSequel Super Street Fighter IV]]''.

* Barry Burton of ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'', despite being a minor character, has achieved praise and [[MemeticMutation Memetic status]] in the West for his [[LargeHam ham-handed acting]], [[BadBadActing cheesy lines]], and his family man values (even if they're only shown in the first game), while in Japan, he's mostly ignored. The opposite is true for [[TheMedic Rebecca Chambers]], with her being the closest thing the series has to a {{Moe}} character. In the West, to this day, she's still divisive.
** Leon has generally been the more popular of the series' two male protagonists on both sides of the pond, but Chris' hulking up by ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'' and his [[HoYay relationship and working with]] his partner Piers Nivans in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'', along with the story during his scenario and some CharacterDevelopment, has boosted Chris' popularity in Japan (in regards to Piers, the seemingly {{Bara|Genre}} overtones may have something to do with it). Like Rebecca, [[BaseBreaker he's divisive still in the West]].

* ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' is by far the #1 CashCowFranchise in Japan. In North America, however, its sales are dismal. People usually say that it is because it is immature and childish because of the way it treats its subject matter.[[note]]Keep in mind anyone that it came around the time that there were pretty mature [=CRPGs=] such as ''VideoGame/{{Wasteland}}'' already on the market when this game hit North American store shelves.[[/note]] Europe does, however, seem to go for a middle ground though, perhaps because of the game's medieval European setting. It doesn't help, that they seemed to put no effort in their North American marketing. Such as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrjU4WZeaSk a commercial]] for ''Dragon Quest IX''. While they did get Creator/SethGreen to promote it, the commercial makes the game look like an incredibly generic sword and sorcery RPG, saying nothing unique or interesting at all about it.

* Japanese [[MobilePhoneGame mobile games]] such as ''VideoGame/PuzzleAndDragons'' and ''VideoGame/BraveFrontier'' are beloved in their home country, but reviled by Westerners as not "proper" games due to not being on a PC or some sort of dedicated gaming device. It gets worse if the game in question uses a [[AllegedlyFreegame "free-to-play"]] model, which is seen by Westerners as a disgusting attempt at a cheap cashgrab with PayToWin implications. Part of the success of mobile gaming can be attributed to Japan's culture of being overworked;[[note]]To illustrate how bad this culture of work stress is: There is a term for death by overworking, 過労死 (''karoushi'')[[/note]] since there is simply not enough time for many to sit down with a console or PC, it is more feasible to carry around handheld systems and mobile phones and use those for gaming instead, since those can be played on a commute train, at a cafe, etc. Westerners, in comparison, have the free time necessary to enjoy console and PC games, and thus see mobile games as simply cheap cashgrabs and novelties designed for "casual gamers". For this same reason, Japanese developers such as Creator/{{CAVE}}, Creator/{{Taito}}, and Creator/{{Konami}} are becoming increasingly disliked by Western fans for shifting away from console games to mobile games, viewing it as acts of abandoning their overseas fanbases.

*** Due note though, that ''Famitsu''[='s=] scores are not necessarily reflective of the Japanese fans themselves and the 4th entry is actual well-received among the fans there, setting most of the standards and concepts of the series today.

** The series in general has a bit of this to the West, though less "hate" and more "ignorance". A combination of NoExportForYou for over a decade, an anime-styled RPG (which are less popular in the West) and a turn-based strategy RPG at that (which makes players afraid to try since "[[ItsHardSoItSucks it sounds too complicated]]." [[NintendoHard They aren't completely wrong, though]],) as well as the fact that [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny later and more advanced series were ported before most of Fire Emblem was]], make this series mostly an unknown to the West, except from big RPG and strategy fans. Japan? It's not ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'', but it's up there and is the second Nintendo series with most fan art on Pixiv. Note the first is ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'', the only series to outdo ''Fire Emblem'' on LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters. Now you know why 99% of ''Franchise/FireEmblem''-based jokes focus on Marth, Roy and Ike's ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' appearances.

* ''Mortal Kombat'': The franchise is infamously unpopular in Japan, to the point that none of the games have seen a release there since ''Mortal Kombat 3'' and other Western fighting games were tarred with its brush until ''VideoGame/SkullGirls'' came out (the Animesque and Kawaisa tropes may have had a major hand in SkullGirls's popularity with Japanese gamers). Reasons vary, from [[TheyJustDidntCare the lack of real work on creating authentic mythology]] to the series' infamous downward spiral after ''3'', to generally not being quite as deep or well-designed in terms of visuals or gameplay as many Japanese fighters. The heavy focus on gory violence is also often criticized. It's not without a small following, but it doesn't even have a cult classic status out there.

* The ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' series is infamously unpopular in Japan, not only for the extreme violence and dark nature, but also for its [[DragonsUpTheYinYang wishy-washy East Asian nature]] and being too real for them, to the point [[NoExportForYou none of the games have seen a release there]] since ''Mortal Kombat 3''. It also caused many other Western fighting games [[HitlerAteSugar to be considered as such]], until ''VideoGame/{{Skullgirls}}'' came out.

* ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' is by far the #1 CashCowFranchise in Japan. However, in North America, its sales are dismal. People usually say that it is because it is immature and childish because of the way it treats its subject matter.[[note]]Keep in mind anyone that it came around the time that there were pretty mature [=CRPGs=] such as ''VideoGame/{{Wasteland}}'' already on the market when this game hit North American store shelves.[[/note]] Europe does, however, seem to go for a middle ground though, perhaps because of the game's medieval European setting. It doesn't help, that they seemed to put no effort in their North American marketing. Such as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrjU4WZeaSk a commercial]] for ''Dragon Quest IX''. While they did get Creator/SethGreen to promote it, the commercial makes the game look like an incredibly generic sword and sorcery RPG, saying nothing unique or interesting at all about it.

* ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' is by far the #1 CashCowFranchise in Japan. However, in North America, its sales are dismal. People usually say that it is because it is immature and childish because of the way it treats its subject matter.[[note]]Keep in mind anyone that it came around the time that there were pretty mature [=CRPGs=] such as ''VideoGame/{{Wasteland}}'' already on the market when this game hit North American store shelves.[[/note]] Europe does, however, seem to go for a middle-ground though, perhaps because of the game's medieval European setting. It doesn't help, that they seemed to put no effort in their North American marketing. Such as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrjU4WZeaSk a commercial]] for ''Dragon Quest IX''. While they did get Creator/SethGreen to promote it, the commercial makes the game look like an incredibly generic sword and sorcery RPG, saying nothing unique or interesting at all about it.