History NoExportForYou / VIDEOGAMES

* Nintendo often withholds things from America. The original ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBrosTheLostLevels Super Mario Bros. 2]]'', which was deemed [[PlatformHell too hard]] for Americans; we were instead given a [[DolledUpInstallment retooled]] version of ''Doki Doki Panic''. Fortunately, it eventually became available in the SNES game collection ''SuperMario All-Stars''. However this was partially a decision by Nintendo of America because the then chairman disliked it and thought it added little to the series. (Though, it really didn't -- it was basically a MissionPackSequel made by people who didn't think that the original was hard enough.)

** And now the worst has come to pass: nobody outside of Japan is getting ''AceAttorneyInvestigations 2'', at least not on DS. Capcom has kept the door open for a release some other way, but it seems more a token gesture than anything else. (However, if they turned out to have intentions to change the system, it wouldn't be the first time a company did so -- Rising Star Games, the European publisher of the ''HarvestMoon'' series, didn't get around to releasing the NintendoGameCube game ''Harvest Moon: Magical Melody'' in its region until its system's successor, the {{Wii}} had already replaced it, resulting in a port to the latter for that region and later in North America by the publisher there, Natsume.)

** And now, because of the low sales ratings Trials and Tribulations got in Europe (gee, how did that happen?), they decided to skip the Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg) entirely in releasing. Apparently, one large store-chain sells them, but with hardly enough copies to have one copy in each store.

** And now the worst has come to pass: nobody outside of Japan is getting ''AceAttorneyInvestigations 2'', at least not on DS. Capcom has kept the door open for a release some other way, but it seems more a token gesture than anything else.

* There is no {{Atlus}} Europe so any game they make or translate has a hard time coming there. Their house games aren't TOO bad off, as other companies pick them up sometimes (Like Nintendo with ''TraumaCenter''). The games they translate though, like the ''SummonNight'' or ''SuperRobotTaisen'' for the Game Boy Advance? Yeah, that Europe never gets.

* The original ''SpyroTheDragon'' trilogy, despite having been released as a whole in the Northern American PlaystationStore ''within a single month'' (that is, one game per week), have yet to be released on the European one. The situation with the ''PSOne Classics'' in Europe is so bad, the high request actually caused Ross Mc Grath of the European PS Blog to write a post entirely devoted to the Classics alone and how ''[[{{Understatement}} long]]'' it takes before one of them is released on the European store, mostly blaming it on technical issues and legal reasons. He also once commented that, on that regard, "there has been some progress [with the Spyro games] but it's not that notable". We could assume that the "legal reasons" have something to do with the music composed by [[{{Music/ThePolice}} Stewart Copeland]], but even then, the fact the (thankfully) entirely re-released ''CrashBandicoot'' trilogy still includes the [[EasterEgg Spyro demos]] - with music and all - instantly [[{{Jossed}} josses]] that option entirely. However, the most [[{{DarthWiki/WallBanger}} frustrating]] aspect of this is the fact that, together with Crash Bandicoot, Spyro is pretty much ''the Sony mascot of the nineties''.

** A Wii version of ''pop'n music'' is being produced for the Japanese and US audiences, though it only uses the Wiimote & Nunchuck instead of the standard control scheme.

* ''[[{{ptitlero6cb5aiu8ib}} THE iDOLM@STER]]'' in any form. Surprise surprise, it's Namco.

* The [[TheLegendaryStarfy Starfy]] series until 5 (The Legendary Starfy) was never released outside of Japan for apparently being [[BlatantLies ''Too Japanese'']]. Even then, The Legendary Starfy was never released in Europe.

* ''{{Cubivore}}'' was not released in Europe.

** 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.

* ''[=~Evil Twin: Cyprien's Chronicles~=]'' has only been released in Europe.

* In Japan, ''TheLegendOfZelda FourSwordsAdventure'' came with a bonus game, called ''Tetra's Trackers'', (Early versions were called Navi's Trackers) set in the [[AlternateTimeline Timeline of]] ''TheWindWaker''. The game was about [[{{Tsundere}} Tetra]], using ancient Hylian magic to [[MesACrowd split Link into four]] and [[MundaneUtility play a game with him]]. The game was a Multiplayer, using the Gamboy Advance as controller and screen for the individual players and the TV-screen as a status-check. In order to not have the players permanently look at the TV-screen and lose time, Tetra, [[TheObiWan The King of Red Lions]] and Sue Belle were ''fully voiced'' (This was before [[TwilightPrincess Midna]]) and would tell the players what was going on right now. Persumably because of said, japanese voice-acting, the game was never released outside Japan, much to the dismay of Tetra Fans who wanted to hear her talk.

* ''[=~Mario's Picross~=]'' had an SNES version and a sequel to the Game Boy version that never got released outside of Japan. However, most of the puzzles are available for Wireless Download through ''Picross DS''.

** Level 5 DID take over localization and they ran a poll about which (of ten current Japan only games) were people most interested in. Not only did PWvsPL win by a landslide, they had to beg people to vote for something else. Not confirmation, but they at least know people are interested.

* The Amiga [=CD32=]. All of it. And all because of an injunction that blocked all imports to the United States of Commodore products over failure to pay a patent royalty. This injunction turned out to be the CreatorKiller for Commodore, as the United States would've been a key market in selling the Amiga CD32 to put the company back in the black.

* When RockBand3 was released, canadian airwaves were bombarded with ads and reviews praising the pro mode that [[IKnowMortalKombat lets you learn guitar for real.]] Unless you were one of the few people lucky enough to snap one of the ultra rare pro mode controllers sent to a western Canada store, you are still flat out of luck getting anything BUT the game disc as eastern game stores were denied all but a small handful of Wii version keyboards. To this day, guitars and drum kits are still unseen on shelves and cannot be obtained outside of making an international postal order.

*** AceAttorneyInvestigations was never released in any language other than Japanese and English. A German group of fans is rebelling against this and currently doing a fantranslation, simmilar to the English one that was done for {{Mother 3}}.

** ''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.

** [[FridgeLogic If SCEA didn't let companies release games for the PS2 in America without an English dub how did Sega release Yakuza 2 stateside eventhough it's dub was entirely in Japanese?]]

* ''HarvestMoon Back to Nature [[DistaffCounterpart For Girl]]'' will never be released outside of Japan in it's original form[[hottip:*:Due in no small part to the rage-inducing fact the game ends once you get married. You don't even get the series-standard PlayableEpilogue]]. ''More Friends of Mineral Town'' is essentially an [[EnhancedRemake enhanced 2D port]] of this game, and the PSP release ''Boy and Girl'' combined both versions of ''Back To Nature.''

* NanashiNoGame for NDS published by SquareEnix and it's sequel.

* The NES version of ''{{Strider}}'' was planned to be released in Japan, but only came out in America. It was actually developed ''before'' the arcade version and even had a tie-in manga in Japan that more or less followed the same story (as opposed to that of its arcade counterpart).

* ''[[SonicTheHedgehogCD Sonic CD]]'', when it was being released in the United States, gained a "Special Edition" soundtrack composed by Spencer Nilsen that completely excised the original one by Naofumi Hataya (Europe, meanwhile, got Hataya's soundtrack). Sounds fine, right? Except this is the only soundtrack America has gotten ever since then. The PC version used Nilsen's soundtrack in all three regions, and the version in ''Sonic Gems Collection'' only uses Hataya's soundtrack in Japan (Unless you're using the PS2 version and you're still able to change your PS2's language to Japanese). Crossovers are odder in the issue: Although hacking has hinted that both soundtracks would have their theme songs usable on ''SuperSmashBros. Brawl''[='=]s Green Hill Zone, only Nilsen's soundtrack is represented in the version released to the masses (Even the Japanese version); meanwhile, ''[[MarioAndSonicAtTheOlympics Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games]]'' and ''[[SegaSuperstars Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing]]'' (which itself seems to be No Export For The Japanese so far in spite of its roster) only have Hataya's soundtrack represented (For the latter, there is the justification that Sumo Digital is a ''British'' developper.). The 2011 port will finally use Hayata's soundtrack in all three regions... but that's because [[http://www.sonicretro.org/2011/08/sega-staffer-speaks-sonic-cd-details-revised-as-sonic-4-prequel/#more-4520 in a major twist of fate]], Nilsen's soundtrack is now the one getting screwed over by licensing issues!

* The ''PocketStation'' was a hand-held console produced by Sony which never seen the light of day outside of Japan and was planned to be released overseas. Upon playing it, you can transfer data from the memory card slot to a designated game and receive useful items, features, and [[HundredPercentCompletion 100% completion]]. One notable game with the PS function is ''FinalFantasyVIII''. It was referenced in the localized versions but was DummiedOut unless you import a PS from Japan, but the PC version included the program.

** Long before that, New Ghostbusters II for the NES was only released in Japan.

* ''Game/ClockTower: The First Fear'' was never released outside of Japan (probably because of the violence. It was a pretty scary game, especially for the SNES). However, its sequels all made it over. This made certain lines in the second game, the only direct sequel, a bit confusing. Nobody knows why [[spoiler:Dan]] is a significant name because the game only [[spoiler:shows him briefly in the opening and doesn't say his name]].

* None of the AliceSoft games will ever make it in the US due to their [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean con]][[RapeIsLove tro]][[HeroicSociopath ver]][[PlayingToTheFetishes si]][[RefugeInAudacity al]] [[PlotWithPorn nat]][[ValuesDissonance ure]]. AliceSoft [[UpToEleven even blocked of their website to any and all foreigners]]

** The bigger catch? Much like the proposed anti-{{Lolicon}} [[http://www.savemanga.com/ rules]] that would plant an automatic R-18 rating (read: no one under 18 admitted) on certain works (thankfully, {{Doraemon}} won't be among them), the preliminary proposed regulations about "abuse games" are vague enough that they would ban about 30-40% of the ero market. [[XanatosGambit A complete accident, of course.]]

** THE founder of the non-H Dating Sim genre, ''TokimekiMemorial'', is a notorious case of this, Konami having always refused to release the series outside of Japan (except for the Chinese market) on the (not that unreasonable, especially in TheNineties; less so nowadays) grounds that it's too Japanese culture-based and a WidgetSeries : case in point, their attempt in 2007 at an American-based adaptation of sorts, ''Brooktown High'', bombed royally ([[YourMileageMayVary Although one's could say]] they missed the point by using ugly 3D models [[AnimationAgeGhetto instead of anime graphics]] and uninspired script and characters; the lack of promotion didn't help either). However, a few ''Tokimeki Memorial'' references in other Konami games released internationally got through, such as Yae's "Kirameki Uniform" (aka the Summer version of the iconic SailorFuku of the first ''Tokimemo'' game) in ''[[GanbareGoemon Goemon's Great Adventure]]'', or the Kaori Yae (the EnsembleDarkhorse of ''Tokimeki Memorial 2'') Dog Tag in ''MetalGearSolid2''.

* Infogrames' series of [[TheSmurfs Smurfs]] videogames for the 8-bit and 16-bit game systems hardly saw a release outside Europe, with only a few exceptions.

** The ''Xenoblade'' one is particularly ridiculous, as it has not only come out in the UK and Australia, but it was fully translated and dubbed for ''Xenoblade Chronicles''! Way to give your market a giant middle finger, Ninty.

* Speaking of Capcom crossovers (yay chaining), Namco refuses to export ''VideoGame/NamcoXCapcom'' for no apparent reason because they're pricks (''again'') but unless you're a sucker for repetitive gameplay, you may agree.
** Somewhat ironically considering ''Tatsunoko vs. Capcom'', the main reason seems to be that they believe most Western players won't recognise half the cast, because their games weren't released here... Oh well, at least there's a (somewhat ''too'' accurate) translation patch.
*** Meanwhile, the ''SuperRobotWars'' spin-off ''EndlessFrontier'', which is a spiritual sequel to the above featuring its lead characters [[OriginalGeneration Reiji & Xiaomu]] (as well as [[{{Xenosaga}} KOS-MOS]]), got ported over here by Atlus (who ported the SRW OG games). Which means [[MarthDebutedInSmashBros Reiji & Xiaomu debuted in Super Robot Wars]].
** In another prime case of Capcom giving its Western fans the proverbial middle finger: remember that awesome ProfessorLayton / [[AceAttorney Phoenix Wright]] [[ProfessorLaytonVsAceAttorney crossover]] [[AndTheFandomRejoiced the internet exploded about]]? Well, unless Level 5 pulls something out of its ass, yeah, we're not getting that, either.
*** Level 5 DID take over localization and they ran a poll about which (of ten current Japan only games) were people most interested in. Not only did PWvsPL win by a landslide, they had to beg people to vote for something else. Not confirmation, but they at least know people are interested.
* NanashiNoGame for NDS published by Square Enix and it's sequel.