Dark Age of JRPGs (2): Some games we cannot play

Alright, before we can go on with the regular program, here is one issue that we need to deal with first, cause it more or less affects already the next three releases following after The Dragon & Princess: The obscure nature of the subject brings with it that some games still left we simply can't access at all yet, and this is just a quick look at what they are from the information we could gather:

Spy Daisakusen (スパイ大作戦) - PC-80 (1982)

Different to the other games in this post, an image for Spy Daisakusen was actually findable, but for the life of me I can't figure out how to properly play this game, not even with a Japanese guide from the web. It's by the license masters PonyCa(nyon), so it doesn't surprise that Spy Daisakusen is actually the Japanese title for Mission: Impossible.

While The Dragon & Princess still is presented as part of the "KOEI adventure game series," this one is proudly proclaimed as a "Role Playing Adventure Game." It starts with this nice scene of the tape player, playing the typical kind of message for the series. "Good morning Mister Phelbs..."

The stats are actually completely random with no means to take influence, other than restarting the computer. After that you can chose the loadout for the mission, including weapons like a pistol, grenades or a submachine gun, and some miscellaneous items like a bag, the famous disguide kit from the series, and so on.

The game is played in this 3d view, but for some reason the scene is only visible for like a second after walking a step or turning around.

Trying to access the elevator at the end of the hall gets me killed at once, so I can only try to open the doors to both sides, which opens up this screen:

I guess the white spots are supposed to be enemies. One can chose an equipment item, and when I chose a gun the game asks whether I want to fire blindly or take aim. I always lose. I think. Next!

Genma Taisen (幻魔大戦) - PC-88, FM-7 (1983)

Based on a manga series with the same name, Genma Taisen is also by PonyCanyon. There has got to be a disk image floating around somewhere, as the Japanese retro gamers got perfect emulator screenshots for it, but we couldn't find it in English-speaking circles.

Like Dragon & Princess, it is mostly played in a text adventure-like mode, although this time there are some graphics in the upper right window. The monster designs are hilarious:

Khufu-ou no Himitsu (クフ王の秘密) - PC-80, FM-7 (1983)

Published once again by Koei, the title translates to "King Khufu's Treasure," and finding that is the goal of the game, which is a dungeon crawler through an Egyptian pyramid. Once again, the disk image has got to be somewhere out there, but it couldn't be found...

This seems to be what the FM-7 version looks like:

The (unfortunately marked) cover scans are from the PC88 Game Libary.

More screenshots of Khufu-ou no Himitsu.

<p align="justify">Alright, before we can go on with the regular program, here is one issue that we need to deal with first, cause it more or less affects already the next three releases following after <i>The Dragon & Princess</i>: The obscure nature of the subject brings with it that some games still left we simply can't access at all yet, and this is just a quick look at what they are from the information we could gather:</p> <p align="justify"><b>Spy Daisakusen (スパイ大作戦)</b> - PC-80 (1982)</p> <p align="center"><img src="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/blog/jrpg/spy.jpg" width="500"></p> <p align="justify">Different to the other games in this post, an image for Spy Daisakusen was actually findable, but for the life of me I can't figure out how to properly play this game, not even with a Japanese guide from the web. It's by the license masters PonyCa(nyon), so it doesn't surprise that <i>Spy Daisakusen</i> is actually the Japanese title for <i>Mission: Impossible</i>.</p> <span class="fullpost"> <p align="center"><img src="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/blog/jrpg/spy-00.png" width="500"></p> <p align="justify">While <i>The Dragon & Princess</i> still is presented as part of the "KOEI adventure game series," this one is proudly proclaimed as a "Role Playing Adventure Game." It starts with this nice scene of the tape player, playing the typical kind of message for the series. "Good morning Mister Phelbs..."</p> <p align="center"><img src="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/blog/jrpg/spy-01.png" width="500"></p> <p align="justify">The stats are actually completely random with no means to take influence, other than restarting the computer. After that you can chose the loadout for the mission, including weapons like a pistol, grenades or a submachine gun, and some miscellaneous items like a bag, the famous disguide kit from the series, and so on.</p> <p align="center"><img src="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/blog/jrpg/spy-02.png" width="500"></p> <p align="justify">The game is played in this 3d view, but for some reason the scene is only visible for like a second after walking a step or turning around.</p> <p align="center"><img src="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/blog/jrpg/spy-04.png" width="500"></p> <p align="justify">Trying to access the elevator at the end of the hall gets me killed at once, so I can only try to open the doors to both sides, which opens up this screen:</p> <p align="center"><img src="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/blog/jrpg/spy-05.png" width="500"></p> <p align="justify">I guess the white spots are supposed to be enemies. One can chose an equipment item, and when I chose a gun the game asks whether I want to fire blindly or take aim. I always lose. I think. Next!</p> <br> <p align="justify"><b>Genma Taisen (幻魔大戦)</b> - PC-88, FM-7 (1983)</p> <p align="center"><img src="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/blog/jrpg/genmataisen.jpg" width="500"></p> <p align="justify">Based on a manga series with the same name, <i>Genma Taisen</i> is also by PonyCanyon. There has got to be a disk image floating around somewhere, as the Japanese retro gamers got perfect emulator screenshots for it, but we couldn't find it in English-speaking circles.</p> <p align="center"><img src="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/blog/jrpg/genmataisen-01.png" width="500"></p> <p align="justify">Like <i>Dragon & Princess</i>, it is mostly played in a text adventure-like mode, although this time there are some graphics in the upper right window. The monster designs are hilarious:</p> <p align="center"><img src="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/blog/jrpg/genmataisen-02.png" width="500"></p> <br> <p align="justify"><b>Khufu-ou no Himitsu (クフ王の秘密)</b> - PC-80, FM-7 (1983)</p> <p align="center"><img src="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/blog/jrpg/khufuou.jpg" width="500"></p> <p align="justify">Published once again by Koei, the title translates to "King Khufu's Treasure," and finding that is the goal of the game, which is a dungeon crawler through an Egyptian pyramid. Once again, the disk image has got to be somewhere out there, but it couldn't be found...</p> <p align="center"><img src="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/blog/jrpg/khufuou-00.png" width="500"></p> <p align="center"><img src="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/blog/jrpg/khufuou-01.png" width="500"></p> <p align="justify">This seems to be what the FM-7 version looks like:</p> <p align="center"><img src="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/blog/jrpg/khufuou-02.png" width="500"></p> <br> <p align="justify">The (unfortunately marked) cover scans are from the <a href="http://homes.ragamutama.com?out=http%3A%2F%2Frefugee2005.sakura.ne.jp%2F" target="_parent">PC88 Game Libary</a>.</p> <p align="justify"><a href="http://homes.ragamutama.com?out=http%3A%2F%2Fblogs.yahoo.co.jp%2Fhongkong_densiyuugi%2F1348985.html" target="_parent">More screenshots of <i>Khufu-ou no Himitsu</i></a>.</p> </span>

Dark Age of JRPGs (1): The Dragon & Princess (1982)

Most traditional histories of role-playing games in Japan open somewhere along these lines: "In the beginning when Enix created the JRPG, they called it Dragon Quest. And Enix saw that it was good." More elaborate investigations might point out that there was a Westerner named Henk Rogers who brought the gospel genre to the Land of the Rising Sun. Well, we've already shown that this is not a full account either, as there has been about a dozen games that more or less apply to the "RPG" label before that.

But even when knowing about the games' existence, it's not easy to actually experience them. Aside from the language barrier, actually obtaining a Japanese home computer game from the early 1980s may well feel like a quest for the holy grail, leaving emulation as the only option. But even tape and disk images are by far not as easy to come by as your average NES or SNES ROM, the emulators aren't well documented in English and as we will see, some titles just don't seem to be accessible to non-Japanese retro gamers, or even not at all.

So here we're going to try a number of these lost games to let you know what they are, what's interesting about them, and whether it may be worthwile to track them down. Since many of them are borderline unintelligible without the proper documentation, among the most punishing of their kind and often frankly terrible games, don't expect any in-depth analysis or Let's Play-degree coverage; we'll just be playing them long enough to be able to tell what they're all about and how they work. Without further ado, behold the very first computer role-playing game ever developed in Japan:

The Dragon & Princess ドラゴンアンドプリンセス - PC-88, FM-7 (December 1982)

Today it may surprise gamers that the game was published by Koei, but back then, they were the RPG company in Japan, accounting for half of all the titles released by the end of 1983.

The player has control over a party of five characters, although their stats are fixed, and all one gets to customize are their names. The two main stats appear to be Power (Pw) and Spellcasting (Sp) - at least Sp is not speed, cause the turn order is always fixed. However, there is no command to actually cast a spell during combat, so the weaker characters are at a severe disadvantage.

Other than most of its immediate successors, The Dragon and Princess is actually so kind as to spell out the keyboard shortcuts for you at the beginning, which are similar to what you'd know from the likes of Ultima. During the test play run, (S)earch, (G)et or (R)ead never brought any results, and the only human beings encountered were the king and princess in the starting castle.

The party is sent out by the king to kill bandits and bring back the treasure they stole, plain and simple. The eponymous dragon might factor in after the required amount of gold is delivered, but so far there's been no sight of him.

The main adventuring mode is entirely text-based and works like any other text adventure: (L)ook gives a brief description of the surroundings, while the numeric keys are used to move to each of the four cardinal directions. If you've learned some Japanese, you'll notice that all text is in katakana, which due to its simple layout was basically the standard computer font, until higher resolutions became the norm and allowed for proper kanji and hiragana display. Unfortunately, katakana, being usually used for foreign loanwords only, is likely not the script most learners are best used to reading. The party might be randomly attacked by some animals, bandits or monsters, upon which the game creates an overhead tactical view.

The version that could be retrieved actually appears to be an upgraded version, since some Japanese sites have a screenshot of a much more simplistic combat screen:

The tactical options are severely limited and the game suffers from Final Fantasy I syndrome, with characters and enemies alike fumbling most of their attacks, drawing out even the most small-scale battles. The fact that these mode exists in the first place is pretty damn interesting, though: Japanese sources date the game's release at late 1982, which means it was published before Ultima adopted the tactical party combat in Exodus. This leaves only two explanations: Either Mr. Hayase and Locke got this idea on their own, or they've played the obscure Tunnels of Doom (1982) on a Texas Instruments computer, the first RPG to ever use this kind of combat.

Unfortunately, there is no balancing whatsoever to the fights: During my run, I encountered a single snake, then two spiders, all of which were completely helpless. On the way back through the same territory, my party was ambushed by a brigand and a monster. The latter alone completely obliterated the heroes, ending my futile attempt at getting anywhere in this game.

In case anyone wants to try out the game themselves, the only available version of the game is hidden within a compilation disk. Thanks go to the community over at Tokugawa Corp. for their relentless efforts to unearth and share old Japanese computer software.

<p align="justify">Most traditional histories of role-playing games in Japan open somewhere along these lines: "In the beginning when Enix created the JRPG, they called it <i>Dragon Quest</i>. And Enix saw that it was good." More elaborate investigations might point out that there was a Westerner named Henk Rogers who brought the <s>gospel</s> genre to the Land of the Rising Sun. Well, <a href="http://homes.ragamutama.com?out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hardcoregaming101.net%2Fhistory%2Fhistory2.htm" target="_parent">we've already shown</a> that this is not a full account either, as there has been about a dozen games that more or less apply to the "RPG" label before that.</p> <p align="justify">But even when knowing about the games' existence, it's not easy to actually experience them. Aside from the language barrier, actually obtaining a <a href="http://homes.ragamutama.com?out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hardcoregaming101.net%2FJPNcomputers%2FJapanesecomputers.htm" target="_parent">Japanese home computer</a> game from the early 1980s may well feel like a quest for the holy grail, leaving emulation as the only option. But even tape and disk images are by far not as easy to come by as your average NES or SNES ROM, the emulators aren't well documented in English and as we will see, some titles just don't seem to be accessible to non-Japanese retro gamers, or even not at all.</p> <p align="justify">So here we're going to try a number of these lost games to let you know what they are, what's interesting about them, and whether it may be worthwile to track them down. Since many of them are borderline unintelligible without the proper documentation, among the most punishing of their kind and often frankly terrible games, don't expect any in-depth analysis or Let's Play-degree coverage; we'll just be playing them long enough to be able to tell what they're all about and how they work. Without further ado, behold the very first computer role-playing game ever developed in Japan:</p> <style> .DialogCon { text-align: center; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); width: 825px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); } .xDialog { position: fixed; z-index: 1000; left: 262px; top: 56px;opacity:0;} @media screen and (max-width: 600px) { .DialogCon { width:300px; height: 120px; } .xDialog { width:300px; height: 120px; left:0px;} } </style> <div class='xDialog' id='xDialog'> <div class='DialogCon'> <div class='googleads DialogClose' style='z-index: 999; position: absolute; overflow: hidden; right: 0px; top: -50px; height: 25px; width: 50px; background: url("data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhNAAPAMQAAP/u7v8REdGZmcJ3d/8iIv9VVf+ZmaQzM/fu7v+qqv8zM5UREf93d9mqqsqIiP+7u/Dd3f+IiP/d3f9mZv/MzP///40AAP8AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACH5BAAAAAAALAAAAAA0AA8AAAXnoCWOJHmdaKqubHuW8OjOdBvHdZ6Pi0MOA5luaBM5KgLRoIJYiFKKRwWQIFwqktREgp2cFFxJ4Vopj18jAXKJOAgvBAAgYpBYsahJhRKhVLwScxQKVxIREVZoaWVtJicGFWcBJ3gnFBKTARIUF4EMKJUpJUsVDSUoXCuhoakFAFh3ZVkoP0wNSI4XkGeJoRQAmQCcAQERFQmFEZ+0SkxuaklPJ3FzBgBeWIcFenx+XgkUkMjZEWcXIwcQbiICAk4WUH5Uk2VlERdbXScRXA/09fcU3XhDpKDAgfAMKkSYSyERhgQd6ggBADs=") 100% 100% no-repeat;'> <script async='async' src='//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js'></script> <!-- 300x250 --> <ins class='adsbygoogle' data-ad-client='ca-pub-3396732801174915' data-ad-slot='8919006265' style='display: inline-block; width: 300px; height: 250px; opacity: 0.01; z-index: 999;'></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script> </div> <div class='DialogArea' style='line-height: 0; width: auto; height: auto;'><div style='padding:1px;'><div style='border:40px dashed#FF0000;'> <center> <table background='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTZef2smB-4WzKsOkrjN080E4YRXcWmVbIq6jcTxUMgr56k-eUFqy-Jm7D6EXXqB1WQfk-XifK51XMT1BsWcREtTRxd8-6dGx6m_nWYjXwYtdWuSM5xKwP0FgJhf4pxe8oEKqIizH5_bYtcQc3HUz44jaH9QX0JyjQKcO_NqOZwd1QZx9dzpk_d77Uaw/s300/Best%20Auto%20Insurance.png' border='0' height='250' width='300'> <tr> <td><div align='center'> <script async='async' src='//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js'></script> <!-- 300x250 --> <ins class='adsbygoogle' data-ad-client='ca-pub-3396732801174915' data-ad-slot='6596095257' style='display: inline-block; width: 300px; height: 250px; opacity: 0.01; z-index: 999;'></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script> </div></td> </tr> </table> </center> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div><p><b>The Dragon & Princess ドラゴンアンドプリンセス</b> - PC-88, FM-7 (December 1982)</p> <p align="center"><img src="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/blog/jrpg/dragonandprincess-01.png" width="500"></p> <span class="fullpost"><p align="justify">Today it may surprise gamers that the game was published by Koei, but back then, they were <b>the</b> RPG company in Japan, accounting for half of all the titles released by the end of 1983.</p> <p align="center"><img src="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/blog/jrpg/dragonandprincess-02.png" width="500"></p> <p align="justify">The player has control over a party of five characters, although their stats are fixed, and all one gets to customize are their names. The two main stats appear to be Power (Pw) and Spellcasting (Sp) - at least Sp is not speed, cause the turn order is always fixed. However, there is no command to actually cast a spell during combat, so the weaker characters are at a severe disadvantage.</p> <p align="center"><img src="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/blog/jrpg/dragonandprincess-03.png" width="500"></p> <p align="justify">Other than most of its immediate successors, <i>The Dragon and Princess</i> is actually so kind as to spell out the keyboard shortcuts for you at the beginning, which are similar to what you'd know from the likes of <i>Ultima</i>. During the test play run, (S)earch, (G)et or (R)ead never brought any results, and the only human beings encountered were the king and princess in the starting castle.</p> <p align="center"><img src="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/blog/jrpg/dragonandprincess-04.png" width="500"></p> <p align="justify">The party is sent out by the king to kill bandits and bring back the treasure they stole, plain and simple. The eponymous dragon might factor in after the required amount of gold is delivered, but so far there's been no sight of him.</p> <p align="center"><img src="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/blog/jrpg/dragonandprincess-11.png" width="500"></p> <p align="justify">The main adventuring mode is entirely text-based and works like any other text adventure: (L)ook gives a brief description of the surroundings, while the numeric keys are used to move to each of the four cardinal directions. If you've learned some Japanese, you'll notice that all text is in katakana, which due to its simple layout was basically the standard computer font, until higher resolutions became the norm and allowed for proper kanji and hiragana display. Unfortunately, katakana, being usually used for foreign loanwords only, is likely not the script most learners are best used to reading. The party might be randomly attacked by some animals, bandits or monsters, upon which the game creates an overhead tactical view.</p> <p align="center"><img src="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/blog/jrpg/dragonandprincess-07.png" width="500"></p> <p align="justify">The version that could be retrieved actually appears to be an upgraded version, since some Japanese sites have a screenshot of a much more simplistic combat screen:</p> <p align="center"><img src="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/blog/jrpg/dragonandprincess-old.png" width="500"></p> <p align="justify">The tactical options are severely limited and the game suffers from <i>Final Fantasy I</i> syndrome, with characters and enemies alike fumbling most of their attacks, drawing out even the most small-scale battles. The fact that these mode exists in the first place is pretty damn interesting, though: Japanese sources date the game's release at late 1982, which means it was published before <i>Ultima</i> adopted the tactical party combat in <i>Exodus</i>. This leaves only two explanations: Either Mr. Hayase and Locke got this idea on their own, or they've played the obscure <i>Tunnels of Doom</i> (1982) on a Texas Instruments computer, the first RPG to ever use this kind of combat.</p> <p align="center"><img src="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/blog/jrpg/dragonandprincess-09.png" width="500"></p> <p align="justify">Unfortunately, there is no balancing whatsoever to the fights: During my run, I encountered a single snake, then two spiders, all of which were completely helpless. On the way back through the same territory, my party was ambushed by a brigand and a monster. The latter alone completely obliterated the heroes, ending my futile attempt at getting anywhere in this game.</p> <p align="justify">In case anyone wants to try out the game themselves, the only available version of the game is hidden within a <a href="http://homes.ragamutama.com?out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hardcoregaming101.net%2Fblog%2Fjrpg%2FOldmix2.d88" target="_parent">compilation disk</a>. Thanks go to the community over at <a href="http://homes.ragamutama.com?out=http%3A%2F%2Ffullmotionvideo.free.fr%2FphpBB3%2Findex.php%3Fsid%3D160cc113aec1b1ed87fa4aa981f5c5c2" target="_parent">Tokugawa Corp.</a> for their relentless efforts to unearth and share old Japanese computer software.</p></span>

Operation Rainfall: The Nintendo of America Localization Persuasion Initiative

I just caught wind of this from NeoGAF.

Basically, Japan's been getting no shortage of noteworthy Wii releases, foremost among them-


Xenoblade


Gorgeous looking action RPG made by members of the Xenosaga team.

Amazing music.

Pandora's Tower: Until I Return To Your Side

Interesting looking action RPG. Beautiful art design.

The Last Story

Probably the least remarkable of the bunch, relatively speaking. Another endeavor from Hironobu Sakaguchi and Nobuo Uematsu. So you know the music's going to be good.

The big deal? These are supposedly getting European releases. Xenoblade was already confirmed. Nintendo of America has not made any plans to localize these games, even going so far as to deny NoE a spot to market them because they're not 'planned for the western market'.

So how can we change NoA's tune? Glad you asked!

From NeoGAF, c/o Mockingbird:

There is an increasingly growing campaign, spanning multiple forums and gaming sites (NeoGaf, IGN, Kotaku, Destructoid, Nintendoeverything, and more), trying to get Nintendo to listen up and release Xenoblade (also known as Monado: Beginning of the World), The Last Story, and Pandora's Tower in the U.S.

The campaign includes snail mail writing, e-mail, phone calls, facebook, and twitter and the turn-out has been beyond all expectations thus far. Comments on Nintendo's Facebook had passed 1,300 in just 24 hours. (see below on how to contribute to this.)

But actions speak louder than words, so to convey that Nintendo fans really want this, people have decided to show for it by pre-ordering on amazon -- hoping to get it to the #1 sales rank in video games from #12,000+

Results:

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #30 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
#1 in Video Games > Wii > Action
#5 in Video Games > Wii > All Games

See this too: http://666kb.com/i/bunsqwbujfsk3nuqf.gif

So the deal is this, please pre-order it to help get it released in the U.S. Remember: actions speak louder than words.

Pre-Order at Amazon

It costs nothing to pre-order! also, if the game does come out, the MSRP will surely drop to $49.99.

If you don't intend to buy the game, don't pre-order just to cancel, and you absolutely should not order more than one copy just to inflate the numbers. It'll cause the campaign to backfire.

-------
Let them know on Facebook/Twitter:

http://www.facebook.com/Nintendo/pos...1?notif_t=like

http://twitter.com/NintendoAmerica

----------

How it the campaign came about:

2008: Nintendo of America stops localizing select games from Japan. Fans found this questionable, but decided to wait it out a bit.

June 2009: Nintendo of America announced Monado: Beginning of the World for release in North america. Monolithsoft fans rejoiced and gave out a small amount of forgiveness over their trespasses in 2008.

May 2010: Monado: Beginning of the World is released as Xenoblade in Japan to completely outstanding reviews and overwhelmingly positive impressions on Gaf and 2-ch. Word of mouth of the high quality of the game spread and gave the game some decent legs. North american fans eagerly anticipate the release date reveal during E3 2010.

June 2010: During E3 2010, Nintendo had no news / announcements regarding Xenoblade in the U.S. a whole year had passed since E3 2009 -- where Xenoblade was announced for a US release. Nintendo fans grow slightly worried but still very hopeful for an announcement later in the year. Meanwhile, many other games, such as The Last Story and Reginleiv, were left unannounced as well.

June 8, 2011: at the end of Nintendo's E3 2011 press conference, Xenoblade, The Last Story, and Pandora's Tower were still left out of the upcoming release list. With the end of the Wii's life-span fast approaching, Nintendo fans lost almost all hope for a release of the three J-RPGS.

June 22, 2011: IGN user themightyme, proposes "Operation: Rainfall," a campaign to get Nintendo's attention and inform them that Nintendo fans are fed up and want Xenoblade, The Last Story and Pandora's Tower.

June 23, 2011: Mathieu Minel, marketing manager of Nintendo France revealed that "Nintendo of Europe wanted to show Xenoblade Chronicles at E3 2011, but Nintendo of America wouldn't let them because they didn't want to show products they aren't planning to sell." (http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/26928). Nintendo fans start to remove the knives from their backs.

June 24, 2011: Clinging to the last bastion of hope, many Nintendo fans started to gather and lend their voice for operation: rainfall.

-------
Links

Operation: Rainfall (where it started) http://boards.ign.com/nintendo_wii_l...0/203345328/p1

Coverage of Operation Rainfall:

http://kotaku.com/5815447/how-badly-...oblade-for-wii
http://www.destructoid.com/letter-wr...r-204505.phtml

I'll be honest: I highly doubt this will make a difference. But it's definitely worth a shot.
I just caught wind of this from <a href="http://homes.ragamutama.com?out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.neogaf.com%2Fforum%2Fshowthread.php%3Ft%3D435214" target="_parent">NeoGAF.</a><br> <br> Basically, Japan's been getting no shortage of noteworthy Wii releases, foremost among them-<br> <br> <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br> Xenoblade<br> </span><br> <a href="http://homes.ragamutama.com?arsae_static=true&out=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fen%2Fd%2Fdc%2FXenobladeBox.png" target="_parent"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/dc/XenobladeBox.png"></a><br> Gorgeous looking action RPG made by members of the Xenosaga team.<br> <br> <a href="http://homes.ragamutama.com?out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DnNR-wsFAfiU" target="_parent"><i>Amazing</i> music.</a><br> <br> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Pandora's Tower: Until I Return To Your Side<br> </span><a href="http://homes.ragamutama.com?arsae_static=true&out=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fen%2F6%2F6a%2FPandoras_Tower_Cover_Art.jpg" target="_parent"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6a/Pandoras_Tower_Cover_Art.jpg"></a><br> Interesting looking action RPG. Beautiful art design.<br> <br> <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Last Story<br> </span><a href="http://homes.ragamutama.com?arsae_static=true&out=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fen%2Fd%2Fd8%2FLast_Story_Box_Art.jpg" target="_parent"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d8/Last_Story_Box_Art.jpg"></a><br> Probably the least remarkable of the bunch, relatively speaking. Another endeavor from Hironobu Sakaguchi and Nobuo Uematsu. So you know the music's going to be good.<br> <br> The big deal? These are supposedly getting European releases. Xenoblade was already confirmed. Nintendo of America has not made any plans to localize these games, even going so far as to deny NoE a spot to market them because they're not 'planned for the western market'.<br> <br> So how can we change NoA's tune? Glad you asked!<br> <br> From NeoGAF, c/o Mockingbird:<br> <br> There is an increasingly growing campaign, spanning multiple forums and gaming sites (NeoGaf, IGN, Kotaku, Destructoid, Nintendoeverything, and more), trying to get Nintendo to listen up and release Xenoblade (also known as Monado: Beginning of the World), The Last Story, and Pandora's Tower in the U.S.<br> <br> The campaign includes snail mail writing, e-mail, phone calls, facebook, and twitter and the turn-out has been beyond all expectations thus far. Comments on Nintendo's Facebook had passed 1,300 in just 24 hours. (see below on how to contribute to this.)<br> <br> But actions speak louder than words, so to convey that Nintendo fans really want this, people have decided to show for it by pre-ordering on amazon -- hoping to get it to the #1 sales rank in video games from #12,000+<br> <br> <b><u>Results:</u></b><br> <br> Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #30 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)<br> #1 in Video Games > Wii > Action<br> #5 in Video Games > Wii > All Games<br> <br> See this too: <a href="http://homes.ragamutama.com?arsae_static=true&out=http%3A%2F%2F666kb.com%2Fi%2Fbunsqwbujfsk3nuqf.gif" target="_parent">http://666kb.com/i/bunsqwbujfsk3nuqf.gif</a><br> <br> So the deal is this, please pre-order it to help get it released in the U.S. Remember: actions speak louder than words.<br> <br> <a href="http://homes.ragamutama.com?out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fproduct%2FB002IM1MYG%2Fref%3Das_li_ss_tl%3Fie%3DUTF8%26tag%3Dhardcorblog-20%26linkCode%3Das2%26camp%3D217145%26creative%3D399369%26creativeASIN%3DB002IM1MYG" target="_parent"><b>Pre-Order at Amazon</b></a><br> <br> It costs nothing to pre-order! also, if the game does come out, the MSRP will surely drop to $49.99.<br> <br> <b><u><i>If you don't intend to buy the game, don't pre-order just to cancel, and you absolutely should not order more than one copy just to inflate the numbers. It'll cause the campaign to backfire.</i></u></b><br> <br> -------<br> <b><u>Let them know on Facebook/Twitter:</u></b><br> <br> <a href="http://homes.ragamutama.com?out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FNintendo%2Fposts%2F162340667167231%3Fnotif_t%3Dlike" target="_parent">http://www.facebook.com/Nintendo/pos...1?notif_t=like</a><br> <br> <a href="http://homes.ragamutama.com?out=http%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FNintendoAmerica" target="_parent">http://twitter.com/NintendoAmerica</a><br> <br> ----------<br> <br> <b><u>How it the campaign came about:</u></b><br> <br> 2008: Nintendo of America stops localizing select games from Japan. Fans found this questionable, but decided to wait it out a bit.<br> <br> June 2009: Nintendo of America announced Monado: Beginning of the World for release in North america. Monolithsoft fans rejoiced and gave out a small amount of forgiveness over their trespasses in 2008.<br> <br> May 2010: Monado: Beginning of the World is released as Xenoblade in Japan to completely outstanding reviews and overwhelmingly positive impressions on Gaf and 2-ch. Word of mouth of the high quality of the game spread and gave the game some decent legs. North american fans eagerly anticipate the release date reveal during E3 2010.<br> <br> June 2010: During E3 2010, Nintendo had no news / announcements regarding Xenoblade in the U.S. a whole year had passed since E3 2009 -- where Xenoblade was announced for a US release. Nintendo fans grow slightly worried but still very hopeful for an announcement later in the year. Meanwhile, many other games, such as The Last Story and Reginleiv, were left unannounced as well.<br> <br> June 8, 2011: at the end of Nintendo's E3 2011 press conference, Xenoblade, The Last Story, and Pandora's Tower were still left out of the upcoming release list. With the end of the Wii's life-span fast approaching, Nintendo fans lost almost all hope for a release of the three J-RPGS.<br> <br> June 22, 2011: IGN user themightyme, proposes "Operation: Rainfall," a campaign to get Nintendo's attention and inform them that Nintendo fans are fed up and want Xenoblade, The Last Story and Pandora's Tower.<br> <br> June 23, 2011: Mathieu Minel, marketing manager of Nintendo France revealed that "Nintendo of Europe wanted to show Xenoblade Chronicles at E3 2011, but Nintendo of America wouldn't let them because they didn't want to show products they aren't planning to sell." (<a href="http://homes.ragamutama.com?out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nintendoworldreport.com%2Fnews%2F26928%2529" target="_parent">http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/26928)</a>. Nintendo fans start to remove the knives from their backs.<br> <br> June 24, 2011: Clinging to the last bastion of hope, many Nintendo fans started to gather and lend their voice for operation: rainfall.<br> <br> -------<br> <u><b>Links</b></u><br> <br> Operation: Rainfall (where it started) <a href="http://homes.ragamutama.com?out=http%3A%2F%2Fboards.ign.com%2Fnintendo_wii_lobby%2Fb8270%2F203345328%2Fp1" target="_parent">http://boards.ign.com/nintendo_wii_l...0/203345328/p1</a><br> <br> Coverage of Operation Rainfall:<br> <br> <a href="http://homes.ragamutama.com?out=http%3A%2F%2Fkotaku.com%2F5815447%2Fhow-badly-do-you-want-the-last-story-pandoras-tower-and-xenoblade-for-wii" target="_parent">http://kotaku.com/5815447/how-badly-...oblade-for-wii</a><br> <a href="http://homes.ragamutama.com?out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.destructoid.com%2Fletter-writing-campaign-for-last-story-pandora-s-tower-204505.phtml" target="_parent">http://www.destructoid.com/letter-wr...r-204505.phtml</a><br> <br> I'll be honest: I highly doubt this will make a difference. But it's definitely worth a shot.