History Main / NoExportforYou

* ''{{Xenosaga}} I&II'' for the DS. Another Namco game.

** ''Xenosaga: A Missing Year'' was ''promised'' to be translated and released by Namco... [[OrphanedSeries but wasn't]]. No small loss though, since it only explains why Shion didn't just quit Vector but joined a terrorist organization actively working to cripple the company, where Doctus comes from and who/what she really is, and why Shion's suddenly developed an intense disgust for her father, you know [[SarcasmMode minor plot points]].

*** One of the reason why Tales of Graces couldn't reach America (and a lesser extent Vesperia) was the no-win situation[[DigitalPiracyIsEvil Namco suffers from Piracy]] and the Sony Computer Entertainment America. Vesperia was classified as a port and thus must have a certified check by SCEA before being given the OK to import here (Which is costly and time consuming), if the check fails. It is a definite NoExportForYou which will mean anger will be directed at Sony, not Namco. And for Nintendo Tale series, [[DigitalPiracyIsEvil Piracy]] had a negative effect on sales where Namco cannot control the pirates so easily overseas, this affected Namco's opinion of oversea gamers since they are often the first to receive the official firmware updates from Sony/Nintendo

* ''Any'' DatingSim or dating-based VisualNovel. ''So many'' successful anime have been based off of these games that ''we'll'' never see (e.g. ''[[FateStayNight Fate/Stay Night]], {{Tsukihime}}, [[{{Shuffle}} SHUFFLE!]]''... etc.)

*** I think the original poster meant that "we'll never see" the ''games'' on which these popular anime are based.

*** One of the reason why Tales of Graces couldn't reach America (and a lesser extent Vesperia) was the no-win situation Namco suffers from Piracy and the Sony Computer Entertainment America. Vesperia was classified as a port and thus must have a certified check by SCEA before being given the OK to import here (Which is costly and time consuming), if the check fails. It is a definite NoExportForYou which will mean anger will be directed at Sony, not Namco. And for Nintendo Tale series, Piracy had a negative effect on sales where Namco cannot control the pirates so easily overseas, this affected Namco's opinion of oversea gamers since they are often the first to receive the official firmware updates from Sony/Nintendo

** A little background: The first five volumes were released by DarkHorseComics to generally positive reviews, with [[WollseyIsm a brilliant translation]] and few if any edits to the the manga's sometimes high, though never really gratuitous, level of sex and violence. There was even surprisingly little bitching about the fact DarkHorse had chosen to release the English version mirrored, a practise that was already falling out of favour when they began releasing in the early '00s. Then came Volume Five, featuring a sex scene between the hero and his girlfriend that had to be trimmed down for various reasons, mostly out of fear that since not only were both of them highschool-aged, but Hoichi was considerably more mature-looking than the childlike, MoeMoe Akane, would open Dark Horse up to [[PedoHunt the depredations of increasingly fascistic law enforcement agencies trying to stamp out depictions of underage sex in the media]]. While nothing important to the story was cut, and some say the edits even improved the overall flow of the story, as the sex scene was a bit overlong and gratuitous, the fans still went ballistic. Dark Horse was flooded with hatemail. Frustrated by the fans turning on them after going to so much trouble to get the thing published in America in the first place, they dropped the entire series out of spite (though by some accounts they had already been planning to drop some of their non-cash cow titles due to budget cuts, it's generally agreed ''Exaxxion'' probably would not have been the one to get the axe if the damn lolicons had kept their filthy mouths shut). While scanslations of the remaining chapters are available, the {{Woolseyism}}, sadly, is not. Depending on the chapter, the fan translations range in quality from SoOkayItsAverage to {{Translation Trainwreck}}s that make you wonder just ''what'' the translator's first language actually was.
* The M.U.S.C.L.E. toys and the NES game of the same name, both based on ''{{Kinnikuman}}'', were exported to the US, but the anime was not.

* The Japanese iTunes store requires a credit card issued in Japan. So you non-Japanese listeners are SOL. Similarly, many music albums from Eurasian countries are only available on foreign sites like amazon.de, etc. and of course, foreigners can't import them either.
** I guess I was wrong. You CAN use a US card on the foreign Amazon sites.
*** For physical CDs, most music stores will ship worldwide (it's easier to list those who don't: Walmart.com), or you can even turn to {{eBay}}. However, for digital albums, they're mostly restricted to the country the store is hosted in, or the continent the store is hosted in if the store is generous. So, if the album you're after is available in CD format, you have a fighting chance to own it legally. Otherwise, your only option is to [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes hope someone passes on a digital copy into the vast darkness of the interweb]].
**** Spotify is a similair case, it is an aweseome on demand streaming service but only available to a small selection of european countries (getting more though, but the reason why it launches in one country and not in the other are a mystery to the consumer).
** Actually, that's true of every iTunes stores, to buy from the American one, you need a credit card issued in the US, same for Canada, France, etc... Probably has to do with copyrights in different regions. Anyway, just an hint, you don't need a credit card to use pre-paid cards for iTunes stores, think about it...

** ItGetsWorse. About 85% of music videos in [=YouTube=] would be moved to a recently launched service named ''Vevo'', which is basically Hulu for music videos (complete with the US-only availability).

* Pretty much the only reason for RegionCoding is to enforce this. [[ScienceMarchesOn Doesn't work, though.]]

** If you think about it, that list only includes countries that are considered "First world". There isn't a single "Thrid world" country (Africa, South America, Central America and whole Asia except for Japan) in that list.

** The long-missing first game in the series was even ''localized'', but never released because it was near the end of the lifespan of the NES. The compilation, ''Mother 1+ 2'', also wasn't localized... so much for ''[[EarthboundZero Mother 1]]'' getting released over here. Of course, it's not as bad as other examples; the prototype English ''Mother 1'' [=ROM=] is all over the place, and the music quality of ''Mother 1+ 2'' is notoriously bad.

** And if Americans think they've got it bad, consider the number of games that have never been released in Europe, or horribly delayed if they were.
** Keep in mind though, some (probably not all) of the European releases actually ''need'' those number of delayed months converting into PAL format and translating into four other languages. [[IGotBetter It's got somewhat better, though]].
*** And there are the portable games that don't get translated, but still take months to be released. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking And the booklets are in black-and-white]].

* ''[=~Evil Twin: Cyprien's Chronicles~=]'' has, to this troper's knowledge, only been released in Europe.

* Toei has a fatal case the stupids when it comes to pricing OnePiece and DragonballZ for UK distribution. What should have been a simple change of rights from 4kids/AB Groupe to Funimation has become a five year flustercluck that has had some truly baffling twists like the 4kids OnePiece airing on Cartoon Network Too for two weeks in 2009.

* 4Kids were forced to drop plans to release ''{{Yu-Gi-Oh}}: Duel Monsters'' subtitled when a (Japanese) voice actor complained of the action (or something, it's rather unclear and many people spectate that the estate of Bakura's first JP voice actress is throwing a fit). GX and 5D's will be subbed and shown (In HD in 5D's case) on youtube (along with SonicX on...Hulu) but the first series of DM will never get an unedited translation (Read, one that would require that voice actor to be in it).
** Actually, it was because Yugi's voice actor's contract had expired and it would cause a lot of licensing issues for 4Kids.
** Also presumably it's too much trouble for them to assemble an English voice cast and do an uncut dub-only release, even though they HAD been doing an uncut dub for a bit earlier...

* Amazingly, even ''this'' has been inverted. ''{{Bakugan}}'' is indeed a true anime, created in Japan and airing there first. The latest season, however, is exclusive to the US and Canada, and there are no plans as of yet to release it in Japan.
** Un-inverted (?); it'll start airing on Japan March 2010.

** The same has happened with the ''GeGeGeNoKitaro'' anime, although it's probably due to the fact that [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids the main character was born in a graveyard from his mother's corpse]]. Although, [[ShortRunInPeru a very small amount of the manga was released in the US]], but since then no one in the US has tried realeasing it. Not even scanlation groups have touched it for Christs sake (Hint to any Scanlation Groups out there, please try and remedy this situation)!

* Don't hold your breath waiting for an English ''SchoolDays'' release. There's no sign so far that it's even being considered -- anime ''or'' manga. You can't really blame 0verflow for not trying it... but considering the vast amounts of violence and NightmareFuel ''already'' on anime store shelves, isn't there room for a [[KillEmAll nice boat]]?

** Likewise, ''DigimonSavers''.
*** ''DigimonSavers'' is now airing in the UK, but it's on a horribly obscure channel with little to no advertising.

* Remember the awesome DVD menu for [[NeonGenesisEvangelion End Of Evangelion]], AKA The Best DVD Menu Ever. Not if you live outside North America you don't.

** The first two series have been not only been ''slaughtered'' in reviews (mostly for the artwork, which was supposedly incredibly crude), they've never had the kind of visiblity or popular support Jotaro and company had (note especially the Capcom fighting game that was released in America...that's pretty impressive). Furthermore, the violence in the first two series, while certainly not at Fist of the North Star level, skews considerably more graphic than the fantastic Stand-aided action of #3. Like it or not, series the third was, is, and always be where it's at, and with a manga that's so unusual for Viz, it's no surprise they played the percentages here.
*** ''Slaughtered' in reviews'. Where do you get that from? Part 2 is, in every discussion I've found on the topic, generally considered one of the high points of the series, and none of the parts were 'slaughtered' by critics.
** ''BoboboboBobobo'' got similar treatment, as Viz released the 11th volume as "Volume 1", and the ninth volume as a one-shot graphic novel, supposedly due to the "content".
*** The skipping of the earlier volumes was supposedly at the request of the author.

* A brain-breakingly moronic version of this trope is the state of GoNagai's SuperRobot anime ''Grendizer'' in the French-speaking world. When ToeiAnimation exported it to France in TheSeventies, they conveniently "forgot" to notify Go Nagai of the fact and proceeded to reap a colossal fortune from merchandising without giving him one red yen in royalties; since the series was only marginally popular in Japan, he only found out '''ten years''' later, which led to a long legal spat between Toei and Dynamic Planning (Nagai's personal publishing company), meaning rebroadcasts and video releases simply couldn't happen after 1985[[hottip:* :A Toei series being reduced to KeepCirculatingTheTapes because of a lawsuit with (one of) the creators not receiving money over merchandising... [[CandyCandy Sounds familiar?]]]], to the chagrin of millions of fans (yes, it was ''[[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff that big]]''); when they finally reconciled, it seemed that a DVD release would finally see the light of day... And then a French company issued an unauthorized box set, Toei and Dynamic sued the company, {{eBay}}, and even ''individual buyers'' for copyright violation, and it's been in limbo ever since. The entire fiasco has the French fanbase in tears.

* A brain-breakingly moronic version of this trope is the state of GoNagai's SuperRobot anime ''Grendizer'' in the French-speaking world. When ToeiAnimation exported it to France in TheSeventies, they conveniently "forgot" to notify Go Nagai of the fact and proceeded to reap a colossal fortune from merchandising without giving him one red cent in royalties; since the series was only marginally popular in Japan, he only found out '''ten years''' later, which led to a long legal spat between Toei and Dynamic Planning (Nagai's personal publishing company), meaning rebroadcasts and video releases simply couldn't happen after 1985[[hottip:* :A Toei series being reduced to KeepCirculatingTheTapes because of a lawsuit with (one of) the creators not receiving money over merchandising... [[CandyCandy Sounds familiar?]]]], to the chagrin of millions of fans (yes, it was ''[[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff that big]]''); when they finally reconciled, it seemed that a DVD release would finally see the light of day... And then a French company issued an unauthorized box set, Toei and Dynamic sued the company, {{eBay}}, and even ''individual buyers'' for copyright violation, and it's been in limbo ever since. The entire fiasco has the French fanbase in tears.

Well, you might ask, if there is a licensing problem for distribution, how could the show have even been made for broadcast? Wouldn't there have been licensing issues then too? Well, yes and no, and I'm glad you asked that question because it requires explaining about {{copyright}} and the general licensing systems cobbled together over the decades that we've had mechanical reproduction on video and sound.

There are two types of licensing involved in a television or radio program. Performance licensing and reproduction licensing. Performance licensing, which is needed for broadcast, is easy; networks pay a blanket fee of about 3% of their income to the major performance licensing agencies, ASCAP and BMI, and to a lesser extent SESAC. This solves the problem and they can use any music they want. In the US, use of phonograph records in broadcast doesn't require licensing (which is why radio stations originally started playing recorded music) so that's it; in Europe broadcasters pay an additional fee. So thats it; licensing for the use in a broadcast is automatic and is just a cost.

However, to reproduce a work containing a song in a video, such as a release of an episode of a TV program, they have to get a reproduction permission for the music, and if it was from a CD or other phonorecord, they would need permission to reproduce the record performance also.

In the case of someone who wants to make a recording such as a cover version of a song, that's considerably easier. Makers of sound recordings can get an automatic license to do a cover version; if the music publisher won't agree on a license, you file a form with the U.S. Copyright office and twenty bucks, then you pay a fee to the music publisher for each one you sell.

This automatic license is not available for films, anything you use has to be negotiated with the rights holder directly, for each and every item used. If you miss any and the rights holder finds out, they can get anything from severe monetary damages (potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars) to (in certain cases) "impoundment and destruction" of the infringing work.

* A brain-breakingly moronic version of this trope is the state of GoNagai's SuperRobot anime ''Grendizer'' in the French-speaking world. When ToeiAnimation exported it to France in TheSeventies, they conveniently "forgot" to notify Go Nagai of the fact and proceeded to reap a colossal fortune from merchandising without giving him one red cent in royalties; since the series was only marginally popular in Japan, he only found out '''ten years''' later, which led to a long legal spat between Toei and Dynamic Planning (Nagai's personal publishing company), meaning rebroadcasts and video releases simply couldn't happen after 1985[[hottip:* :A Toei series being reduced to KeepCirculatingTheTapes because of a lawsuit with (one of) the creators not receiving money over merchandising... [[CandyCandy Sounds familiar?]]]], to the chagrin of millions of fans (yes, it was ''[[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff that big]]''); when they finally reconciled, it seemed that a DVD release would finally see the light of day... And then a French company issued an unauthorized box set, Toei and Dynamic sued the company, {{eBay}}, and even ''individual buyers'' for copyright violation, and it's been in limbo ever since. The entire fiasco has the French fanbase in tears.

*** On a side note, Tommy Yune, representative for Harmony Gold, has stated that they're willing to license ''MacrossZero'' and sublicense it to ADVFilms, but Big West took the license off the market.

*** At this point it's also "old" by anime standards; try getting young fans to buy something that began in 1989 that doesn't have the word "Dragonball" in it. Nevermind how good it is...

** The first two series have been not only been ''slaughtered'' in reviews (mostly for the artwork, which was supposedly incredibly crude), they've never had the kind of visiblity or popular support Jotaro and company had (note especially the Capcom fighting game that was released in America...that's pretty impressive). Furthermore, the violence in the first two series, while certainly not at Fist of the North Star level, skews considerably more graphic than the fantastic Stand-aided action of #3. Like it or not, series the third was, is, and always be where it's at, and with a manga that's so unusual for Viz, it's no surprise they played the percentages here.

*** Headmasters, Super God Masterforce and Victory were released in the UK as part of the Takara Collection. All three series received a English dub for a Singapore TV station. The Headmasters featured the dub as an extra...Masterforce and Victory thankfully decided not to bother

* Don't hold your breath waiting for an English ''SchoolDays'' release. There's no sign so far that it's even being considered -- anime ''or'' manga. You can't really blame 0verflow for not trying it... but considering the vast amounts of violence and NightmareFuel ''already'' on anime store shelves, isn't there room for a [[KillEmAll nice boat]]?

* Only one volume of KoiCupid was released in America due to the publisher, Broccoli Books, going out of business.
* Toei has a fatal case the stupids when it comes to pricing OnePiece and DragonballZ for UK distribution. What should have been a simple change of rights from 4kids/AB Groupe to Funimation has become a five year flustercluck that has had some truly baffling twists like the 4kids OnePiece airing on Cartoon Network Too for two weeks in 2009.
* Remember the awesome DVD menu for [[NeonGenesisEvangelion End Of Evangelion]], AKA The Best DVD Menu Ever. Not if you live outside North America you don't.
* ''KilalaPrincess'' has become this. First off, TokyoPop released the volumes split in half. What was Volume 1 in in Japan is Volumes 1 and 2 in America. Then they didn't release anything past Volume 4--Volume ''2'' in Japan. There are 5 Japanese volumes.
* The [[CrossesTheLineTwice infamous]] ''KodomoNoJikan'', which features not so innocent elementary aged girls (7 - 11) and one who tries to seduce her [[HotForTeacher teacher]], manga was going to be released as "Nymphet" (even that name is just asking for controversy) but they decided to not. If you look at later chapters, it's a good decision since it borderlines softcore porn at times and even [[NoPeriodsPeriod certain scenes]] ask controversy.
* The U.S. only got the first two seasons of ''[=RockMan.EXE=]'' (a.k.a. ''MegaManNTWarrior''). The remaining three seasons, ''Stream'', ''Beast'', and ''Beast + '', and the movie were never licensed.

** The real problem is the MPAA. Teenage slasher fics are nothing new, but there's a difference between a psychotic monster going on a rampage and the nation's government forcing a high school class to become murderers. There is no way in hell a film with that kind of content can get an R rating, meaning you can forget about a wide release or big marketing campaign. That's not even considering the inevitable protests that would erupt with even a small-scale release. Too much pain for too little money; I can't see anyone ever taking a chance on this.

* ''SouthOfNowhere'' has yet to see the light of day in Australia--likewise with post-season 3 reruns of ''DegrassiTheNextGeneration''. Possibly due to costs, but implications can be drawn when you consider that Season 3 of ''SoN'' aired in France first.

* TheArk ''almost'' got all their albums distributed in the US, but opening a 2006 tour in DC, Ola made an ill-advised joke about how you "[[TooSoon never know where planes are going in this country]]," and that this one was heading "in the right direction...[[RefugeInAudacity toward the White House]]." Cue a plane back to Sweden, a distributor who wouldn't return their calls, and a single album (their most recent at the time) with a US version, which is hard to find due to them being known as "the guys who made that joke at the embassy."

* BoyBand [=N* SYNC=] had several singles that were only released in Europe, eg "You Drive Me Crazy", "Together Again", and "I'll Never Stop".

* Many {{Limited Special Collectors Ultimate Edition}}s of SquareEnix games seem to never, ever leave Japan, no matter how successful the original version was overseas. One of the worst examples is ''KingdomHearts [[KingdomHeartsII 2]]: Final Mix + '', which adds several boss fights to the original game, as well as a new Form and a full 3D remake of the Game Boy Advance title, ''ChainOfMemories''.

** ''KingdomHeartsCoded'' is yet another mobile phone game, and those never get released outside Japan (except FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears for some reason). So, again, when dealing with Square Enix, its a bad idea to not be Japanese.

**** And as of E3 2010, he '''has'''! ''Kingdom Hearts: ReCoded'' will be a DS title that will allow the game to be played overseas.
** And in the era before the mergers, it was very rough to be an Enix fan. Enix of America was their localization firm in the United States that abruptly closed shop in 1995, simply because Enix of Japan had no interest in localizing their titles in the US anymore. One particularly odd case was the Enix game ''{{Terranigma}}'', which got swallowed up in the aftermath. Enix allowed Nintendo of America to publish ''Terranigma'''s predecessor, ''IllusionOfGaia'', stateside, but when it came time to release ''Terranigma'', they wouldn't allow it. Clearly this took Nintendo by surprise, as they had been running previews of the game in the company-owned ''Nintendo Power'' before the closure. The game was still translated to English for a European release via Nintendo, who localized it for the rest of Europe as well...just not in the United States. Pretty much every American that's played this game did so running a ROM of the PAL English version. Enix left a few more games stranded in Japan until they got a clue and started up another publishing house in America just to get ''DragonQuestVII'' out the door.

** ''Before Crisis Final Fantasy VII'' - its been almost five years, no word at all about an international release. Its particularly annoying since an ad for this game was included in the North American DVD of ''Advent Children'', and there was promise of it being released sometime in 2006. So even a spin-off to one of the most successful games of all time is not immune to getting the No Export treatment. So as for you Turks fans... sorry about your mistake of not being born Japanese.
** And finally, one of the company's most infamous oversights in this regard: ''SeikenDensetsu3''. It is the one and only WorldOfMana game not to be released outside of Japan[[hottip:* :Well, unless you count that cellphone game]]; unfortunately, many fans of the series who have played it via emulation or importing believe it to be the ''best'' of the series. As Square-Enix doesn't seem to be in a hurry to remake it, it doesn't seem like it'll ever have a chance to come over any time soon.

** It's more likely due to the fact that the SaGa series games that were released in North America are well known for their inconsistent reception. Add in the general popularity of other franchises, and it is unlikely to happen. Then again, Square-Enix has changed its' mind before...

**** Which is a real shame, since one company that was interested in translating other games in the series was ''Atlus''.

* ''{{Mother 3}}'', and the fact that Nintendo somehow thinks that people don't like ''{{Earthbound}}'' (the fact that ''Earthbound'' was a financial disaster probably did little to help that). Sadly, while many have thought this might change with the release of ''SuperSmashBros Brawl'' (after all, ''Melee'' finally got ''FireEmblem'' to start coming over), Nintendo has mysteriously never localized ''Mother 3'', repeatedly denied any work or interest in it, and never even offered a reason why. That, of course, didn't stop [[http://mother3.fobby.net the fans from taking care of it]].

*** The most reasonable hypothesis for why ''Mother 3'' won't be officially localized is because the game is a landmine of licensing issues (see an excerpt of the [[http://earthboundcentral.com/2009/02/earthbound-legal-issues/ changes needed to localize ''Earthbound'']] for a comparison), particularly in its use of [[http://cruiseelroy.net/2009/01/mother-3-musical-allusions/ musical excerpts and audio samples]] of everything from the Adam West ''Batman'' TV show to ''SpaceInvaders''. Since author/producer Shigesato Itoi refuses to alter the game to remove those references and Nintendo refuses to override him due to [[ProtectionFromEditors Itoi's fame]], they're left with either trying to placate ''dozens'' of license holders... or just block the title from leaving Japan.
** The long-missing first game in the series was even ''localized'', but never released because it was near the end of the lifespan of the NES. The compilation, ''Mother 1+ 2'', also wasn't localized... so much for ''[[EarthboundZero Mother 1]]'' getting released over here. Of course, it's not as bad as other examples; the prototype English ''Mother 1'' [=ROM=] is all over the place, and the music quality of ''Mother 1+ 2'' is notoriously bad.

* Nintendo also chose not to import ''Rhythm Tengoku'', a fun, original RhythmGame from from creators of the ''WarioWare'' series, seeing as the GBA was dead in the water by the time it came out. The DS version got localized, though, and can be found as Rhythm Heaven.
* ''[[OsuTatakaeOuendan Osu! Tatake! Ouendan!]]'' and its sequel also never came over due to the extreme difficulty of localizing foreign concepts. In an example of TropesAreNotBad, a GaidenGame using the same engine using local music was used instead, and the result was the critic- and fan-favorite EliteBeatAgents..
* Speaking of Nintendo, the ''FireEmblem'' series, for a long time, was released only in Japan, until MarthDebutedInSmashBros and proved there might be a market for the series after all. They still canceled plans to localize the first GBA title, ''Fuuin no Tsurugi'' (''The Sword of Seals'', aka "The One With Roy"), which was still in development when ''Melee'' was released.

* Capcom seems to hate Europe too -- ''AceAttorney'' games are often subject to delays of several months between their North American and European releases. This is understandable considering how many languages the game needs to be translated to, but gets frankly bizarre when you consider that ''Trials and Tribulations'' wasn't released until October 2008, a full year after the American release. Even more bizarre is that the game was in localization hell for so long that the sequel, ''Apollo Justice'', was released ''before'' it.

* Fans of {{Wrestling Game}}s have long lamented the lack of such games that make the transition from Japan to the U.S., which leaves {{WWE}}'s licensed games as very nearly the genre's sole representatives in North America. In particular, Spike Entertainment's ''Fire Pro Wrestling'' and ''King of Colosseum'' franchises have garnered very vocal cults of [[ImportGaming Import Gamers]], but the former has only seen very limited North American release of only the most recent games, and the latter has yet to cross the pond at all. To be fair, with those two series in particular, there are a few licensing issues; ''King of Colosseum'' is a MassiveMultiplayerCrossover of several prominent Japanese wrestling federations, while ''Fire Pro Wrestling'' is... the same, with international promotions thrown in too, only [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed with the]] SerialNumbersFiledOff.

** BulletHell shooters are even rarer in the US, some of the few to make it were of course ''{{Ikaruga}}''(Gamecube and XBLA), ''Chaos Field''(Gamecube), ''GigaWing'' and ''Mars Matrix''(both Dreamcast), and the ''Castle of Shikigami'' series(the first game was renamed ''Mobile Light Force 2''; ''Mobile Light Force 1'' was the name of the US PSX version of ''Gunbird'').

* Oddly enough, ''MetalWolfChaos'' was never released in the US -- despite being fully voiced in English, with the game's main character being, you know, ''[[OurPresidentsAreDifferent The President of the United States]]''. In a HumongousMecha, no less.
** Cultural sensitivity might account for that, seeing as how the game is practically an [[RefugeInAudacity over-the-top]] parody of militant EagleLand, some Americans might not appreciate it. Of coure, the rest would think it was CrazyAwesome.

*** Specifically, in Japanese that "Objection!" is only a few characters long, but in English, at ten characters long, the move became nearly impossible to dodge (since collision with with word itself does the damage). Took Phoenix Wright from being a run of the mill character to being incredibly overpowered, and they couldn't figure out a good way to solve that problem.

*** Many fans consider this excuse to be complete bull, suggesting that syllabes could've been used instead of the letters. Ob-jec-ti-on-! Or even something like "Object-it-on!" even if that sounds more like something Viewtiful Joe would say.

* You'd think that someone would get on the ball and finally release ''ZeroWing'' in the United States for a console. But to this date, the console versions have never come out in the United States, and the only place the infamous GoodBadTranslation can be found is in the ''very'' limited release European [=MegaDrive=] version.

* ''{{Boktai}}'' had a third GBA game in Japan. English-speakers have to settle for the ROM and the fan translation patch.
* As big as ''MegaMan'' is in the West, it's bigger in Japan. Here are some of the things we never got:

** It's actually somewhat understandable. Does sending a game where you get to [[GodIsEvil fight God]] really seem like something to give to a country with people like SarahPalin?

* The first ''DJ MAX Portable'' game was a Korea-only release. But when people outside of Korea started importing the game, Pentavision took notice and released an "International" version with English text, though that version was met with some negative receiption due to its poor attempts to censor songs and its replacement of one song with a completely different song, and it was still a Korea-only release. ''DJ MAX Portable 2'', too had English- and Japanese-language options, and its internet ranking site acknowledges countries outside of South Korea. Despite this, the game was still Korea-only, which suggests that Pentavision wanted to release the game overseas but just didn't have the budget for it yet. Recently, Pentavision has been working with PM Studios on ''DJ MAX Fever'', an American release, and ''DJ MAX Technika'', an arcade GaidenGame that will also be getting an American release, in their efforts to recognize their non-Korean fans as well as to keep American arcades in business.

** The kicker in all this? It seems like Viz is using appearances in ''Jump Ultimate Stars'' to justify translating the original manga. It's one thing when hot properties like ''BlackCat'' start appearing in America. But when series like ''[=~I"s~=]'' and ''[=~Ichigo 100%~=]'' made it over? It's now pretty much down to everything that isn't old (''Space Adventure Cobra'') or too culturally particular (''[=KochiKame=]'') as to what doesn't get translated.

* {{Cute Em Up}}s in general. Though the occasional one makes it to North America, most of them don't get released outside of Japan, and the ones that do usually only make it to PAL regions. (This is probably for the same reason that [[AmericanKirbyIsHardcore American versions of video games don't get the cute packaging the Japanese versions have]].) Hopefully ''{{Parodius}}'' will be released on the US VirtualConsole...
** While ''{{Parodius}}'' hasn't made it yet, two other entrants in the genre, ''Fantasy Zone'' and ''{{Twinbee}}'' do have entries available on the Virtual Console. So there's hope yet that the series will leave this page.

** Also, anything made by Monolith Soft hasn't been released outside of Japan hardly at all, the three Xenosaga and two Baten Kaitos games that got released in North America aside (the former of which, as mentioned earlier got screwed in Europe in particular). This means we'll probably never get to see the Xenosaga side games/DS remake, Disaster, and Soma Bringer among things, even when there's been some pleading by the fans for them to release SOMETHING.

* ''FatalFrame 4'' was released in Japan with a counterintuitive control scheme (on the {{Wii}}, no less) and some game-breaking bugs. The game remains in Japan because Nintendo refuses to release the game worldwide without changes, but Tecmo refuses to make said changes without additional pay. The fact that the previous game reviewed and sold only slightly better than the plague overseas probably isn't helping matters, either.

* ''WarioWare Twisted'', due to some unknown health and safety controversy got a release literally every other major region in the world except Europe. Then, since the Mona Pizza video toy in WarioWare Touched requires the usage of said game to unlock, it also meant that unlockable (which was apparently music from WarioWare Twisted) also couldn't be gotten in Europe.

** Illusion doesn't release ''any'' of their games outside of Japan -- they even have [[http://www.illusion.jp/contact/japanese_only.html an apology]] on their website. Many of their more mainstream DatingSim games are actually [[GuiltyPleasure kinda fun]] to play and have ''huge'' modding communities outside of Japan. Even games like [=RapeLay=] or Biko (a "stalker game") are interestingly bizarre (bizarrely interesting?) examples of that piece of Japanese culture. They have even released a couple of [=RPG=] and Brawler style [[{{eroge}} H-Games]]. (Not to mention the company's mastery of the art of JigglePhysics.) Regardless of title, if you want to play them, outside of travelling to Japan to buy them, you have to rely on either ambiguously legal imports or torrents to get them.

*** I think the original poster meant that "we'll never see" the ''games'' on which these popular anime are based.
** J-List and Peach Princess sell the games, [=JAST=] and G-Collections translate/port the games. They have to be picky about their selections since neither company could conceivably handle even a fraction of the total number of games out there, having to limit themselves to only a small selection of the most popular titles. Those of us who ''do'' like these games can only cross our fingers that either of those companies has the resources for our favorites and be thankful for the handful we get, sometimes ''years'' after their Japan releases. So far, only a couple of [[NasuVerse Type-Moon]] or KeyVisualArts game have seen partial fanlated versions, with no official translations in sight, causing many a tear to be shed.

* Want to play the [[WorldOfWarcraft most-subscribed MMORPG in the world]] or the [[{{Starcraft}} official sport of South Korea]]? If you live in Japan, too bad. Because [[BlizzardEntertainment Blizzard]] virtually never exports its games to Japan.

** There is a way around it though, thankfully. The International version is easily bought online and it does allow the expansion, or the International "Gold" edition with everything is now out as well. All perfectly legal.

* Another game in limbo is Mobile Ops(or Gundam: Operation Troy). Namco/Bandai still have it as TBA for American release but have not said a word about it. Truly a bizare case since the game was desgined with Western audiences in mind.

* Australia, for what seems to be no reason at all, hasn't, and seemingly will never get RockBand 2. Of course, it's importable, but remember you need instuments. This is particularly dumb on Harmonix's part, as the market here is being eaten up by their direct competitors, Guitar Hero.

** IT was because she voiced they player's name based on their imput. It was apperntly to hard to do with english so they scrapped it.

* Three {{Godzilla}} console fighting games have been made by Atari/Infogrames, and the third one especially, ''Godzilla Unleashed'', is regarded by fans as the best Godzilla game of all time. So it's a bit of a puzzle why only the third game was not released in Japan, Godzilla's ''home.'' The Japanese fans are a bit pissed off about this, especially as it contained several of the films' [[EnsembleDarkhorse Ensemble Darkhorses]] who have never been playable before.

** ''BreathOfFire III'''s re-release for PSP never made it Stateside due to Sony Entertainment USA rules requiring a minimum of 20% new content. Europe got it, though, and fortunately the PSP is NOT region-locked. For identical reasons, the game is not available via Playstation Network in North America.

*** The most recent ComicBookAdaptation--a manga adaptation of ''BreathOfFire IV'' published by Mag Garden--is the ''sole'' example that has ever made it outside Japan officially (there are licensed Chinese and French translations). Still nothing in English, though, aside from a FanTranslation and no official announcements that an English-language licensee might be interested...
* The Playstation 2 remake of ''NightsIntoDreams'' was only released in Japan. Considering the reception and sales of its sequel,''Journey of Dreams'', a release in other territories does not look likely.

** No one had the balls to complain about the first ''SuperSmashBros.'' getting released in Europe first, either. For obvious reasons... [[CoughSnarkCough * cough* Brawl * cough* SIX MONTHS LATER * cough* ]]

* Take a look at [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_PSOne_Classics this list]]. Compare the number of entries for Japan compared to NA or Europe. 'Nuff said. Hell, some of the stuff on there ''came out in those regions'' the first time! [[WallBanger Gah!!]] Some I can understand (''SamuraiShodown'' got a CompilationRerelease), but ''{{Xenogears}}'' has already been localized! The VirtualConsole isn't ''quite'' as bad, but it's still got some missed opportunities on there (* cough* ''FireEmblem''* cough* ).

** This could all change, as [[InNameOnly "Cartoon Network"]] has taken the hint and will finally be showing the movie on November 8th, and, as is tradition for all "Big Things," they're milking it for all it's worth. Still, considering how long it's taken to actually get it to air, the milking can be shaken off for the most part.

** Actually, the "Do the Handicapped Go to Hell?"/"Probably" two-parter, "A Ladder to Heaven", and "Krazy Kripples" were also banned in Japan, though the last one was later dubbed later in their final season (7). ''Heaven'' was banned most likely due to the derogatory references about the Japanese, while the ''Hell'' two-parter is said to have been reportedly banned for conflicting with Japanese religious beliefs. WOWOW never dubbed season 8 or on, so one can only wonder what might have happened with "Good Times with Weapons".

* ''SouthOfNowhere'' has yet to see the light of day in Australia--likewise with post-season 3 reruns of ''DegrassiTheNextGeneration''. Possibly due to costs, but implications can be drawn when you consider that Season 3 aired in France first.

* Fans of {{Wrestling Game}}s have long lamented the lack of such games that make the transition from Japan to the U.S., which leaves {{WWE}}'s licensed games as very nearly the genre's sole representatives in North America. In particular, Spike Entertainment's ''Fire Pro Wrestling'' and ''King of Colosseum'' franchises have garnered very vocal cults of [[ImportGaming Import Gamers]], but the former has only seen very limited North American release of only the most recent games, and the latter has yet to cross the pond at all. To be fair, with those two series in particular, there are a few licensing issues; ''King of Colosseum'' is a MassiveMultiplayerCrossover of several prominent Japanese wrestling federations, while ''Fire Pro Wrestling'' is... the same, with international promotions thrown in too, only [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed with the serial numbers filed off]].

**** ''[[WallBanger "Unusual"?!?]]''

* The sudden disappearance of ''{{Stoked}}'' from the Cartoon Network schedule four episodes away from the end of the first season has left American fans out in the cold. Unless someone from Canada [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes decides to share]], the final four episodes of the show's first season and the entirety of subsequent seasons may never be seen in the United States.

*** Except that ''Gundam'' isn't "nice and clean" at all. For starters, beginning around the mid-2000s, most ''Gundam'' games became BadExportForYou since Bandai Namco couldn't[=/=]didn't bother to license the official music, meaning that they have to make due with a pool of generic tunes instead of the iconic theme songs and background tracks. Further, those four shows will probably never see any foreign release since 1) they flopped in Japan, and Sunrise would consider it a waste of time and money to try exporting them, 2) Sunrise seems to be trying their damnedest to forget that those failed shows exist except for compilations and retrospectives (seriously, TRY to find decent merchandise for ''GundamX''), and 3) after their attempt to sell the West on the One Year War failed, they stopped caring, especially since Japanese merchandise sales are more than the entire rest of the world combined. SoYeah.

* ''DoctorWho'' was broadcast in Germany with a quite decent dub - but in a [[FridayNightDeathSlot Saturday Afternoon Deathslot]] and with absolutely no advertising at all. After two seasons had passed without anyone noticing, the show was cancelled with the network announcing that they had no intention on ever picking it up again. Mail bombing another network, which broadcasts ''{{Torchwood}}'' has been unsuccessful so far. SoYeah (Yes, we get ''Torchwood'', but no ''Doctor Who'' - people keep wondering, who the hell that doctor is, about whom Jack keeps talking every now and then...)

**** Then again, they filled trademarks with one or two other Tales titles and they didn't come. [[SoYeah So... yeah.]]

** The game has been described by those who played it as ranging between SoBadItsGood and SoBadItsHorrible. [[SoYeah So... yeah.]]