For every great Japanese RPG that gets translated, localized and released in the States, there are several that never have been and probably never will. It's sad, really, to think of the number of games which we, living in America, will never get the opportunity to play or, if we do, will have to play on the computer as a fan-translated ROM. There is still hope, however. Square, for one, have finally released every iteration of their flagship Final Fantasy series, including FF III which many believed would never see the light of day in America. So with that hope in mind, let us consider these ten games which should have been released outside of Japan a long time ago.

1) Bahamut Lagoon (SNES). This strategy game was released by Squaresoft on the SNES console back in 1996 when the SNES was being phased out in favor of the N64. Sadly, America never saw a release of this deep and engaging game. The storyline was fairly innovative, featuring a world made up of floating land masses making it similar to Skies of Arcadia for the Dreamcast. But in this game your party can use dragons in battle and the battles themselves are strategy-based played out on a field map that your characters move through one square at a time. As of this writing, there are no plans for this game to be translated and released in America by SquareEnix.

2) Seiken Densetsu 3 (SNES). Squaresoft did not understand the American market at all during the SNES days. Instead of releasing the unadulterated version of Final Fantasy IV, we were given a censored version with gameplay made 20% easier at least. Then we didn't get Final Fantasy V. Instead, Squaresoft chose to release the stinky pile that is known as Final Fantasy Mystic Quest. If that title makes you think of certain Mickey Mouse games it might be because the gameplay and storyline for FFMQ are just as childish and boring. Finally, after releasing Seiken Densetsu 2 as Secret of Mana, one of the best action rpgs ever, Square decided that instead of giving us its superior sequel, we should get the steaming pile known as Secret of Evermore! Gee, thanks, Square. Good to know you hold your American market in such high esteem. So sadly, we never got to play Seiken Densetsu 3, and the next iterations of the Mana series that we did get to play weren't nearly as good as this one. Here's hoping that with all the remakes and rereleases SquareEnix is doing lately, they decide to translate and release this one, maybe even with Bahamut Lagoon included! It could happen: look at how they rereleased Final Fantasy IV with Chrono Trigger packaged together.

3) Sakura Taisen series (Saturn, among others). We have yet to get a SINGLE Sakura Taisen game in the U.S. while Japan has enjoyed five and an online game! This is a very popular strategy/romance/rpg series in Japan featuring depth in gameplay and plot. Maybe it's the romance sim that has kept it out of the American market. RPGs weren't the province of teenage girls ten years ago back when the first ST games started to appear. But what is keeping a release of them out of America now? Not only is there a female fanbase for this game, but there are plenty of GUYS who would love the chance to pilot a Koubu (mech) that runs on steam and romance several attractive female characters while battling enemies in a turn-based strategy setting. So come on, Sega, give us the games already! Haven't we waited long enough?

4) Gaiden games (read for consoles). Ok so this is cheating. I'm just going to lump a bunch of different games together under the "Gaiden" heading, which refers to a side-story that generally features a different gameplay style than the main series. I'm thinking of a few specifically: the Phantasy Star Gaiden and Adventure games for the Sega Game Gear handheld device, Play Novel: Silent Hill for the Gameboy Advanced, Radical Dreamers, a text-based adventure game based on Chrono Trigger released on the SNES and Lunar: Walking School on the Game Gear and later Sega Saturn consoles. The two Phantasy Star games are set in the same universe as the regular series, but have easier gameplay. PSG is a regular RPG with a lot of level building and random battles whereas PSA is more of a text-adventure point-and-click game. While there is little chance that either game will see release in America either on their own or bundled together, there's always hope that a comprehensive Phantasy Star compedium will be released here that includes PSI-IV and the two side-story games. Play Novel: Silent Hill is, of course, based on the popular survival horror franchise Silent Hill. It features the same basic story from the original Silent Hill game for the Playstation, but told in a choose-your-own-adventure style. It's really obvious why this game wasn't released here, but it would still be fun to play it if for no other reason than because you can play parts of the game as Cybil Bennet. Finally, Radical Dreamers is a game based on the popular Squaresoft title Chrono Trigger. It is also a text-based adventure similar to Play Novel: Silent Hill (except that the Silent Hill game featured FMV scenes whereas there isn't a whole lot of flashy graphics in Radical Dreamers). You set out to explore a manor playing as three different characters and have to find ways of unlocking doors and the like. Obviously this game wasn't released in America because text adventures have become a thing of the past (almost). Also, it's a love story. Sakura Taisen wasn't localized because of the romance aspects, so there's little chance of a text adventure with romance being localized. What a shame. Finally, Lunar: Walking School (Sanposuru Gakuen in Japanese) is a side story adventure based on the popular Lunar series of RPGs localized by Working Design, which is now defunct. It was originally released in Japan on the Sega Game Gear handheld, but a remake was released for the Sega Saturn console. There's no reason that the remake couldn't be translated into English! So many Gaiden games don't get brought over to America even though the fan base for the original series is well established. We can hope that will change in the future, but it isn't too likely, even with the release of Final Fantasy X-2. (Imagine if THAT game had been text-based!)

5) Dragon Quest V and VI (SNES). It is downright criminal that these two games in the greatest Japanese RPG series have never come to America. It's also arguably criminal that it has taken this long for the Dragon Quest series to catch on with American gamers. Considering the fact that a remake of DQV was released for the PS2 (in Japan) and that there has been renewed interested in the Dragon Quest series, there is some glimmer of hope that SquareEnix will see fit to localize these two games for release in America, hopefully sometime during my lifetime. Though I will say that I'm still waiting (along with all the other fan boys) for a Dragon Quest IV Gameboy cartridge (since DQ I-III have already been released on the Gameboy). I won't hold my breath, but I still do hold out hope.

6) Moon: Remix RPG Adventure (Playstation). Ok, now we're venturing into uncharted territory. How many of these lists have you read that have THIS game on them? For those of you who are unfamiliar with the game Moon, it places the player in the role of a young boy who at the start of the game has sat down in front of the television to play a game on his GameStation (*cough*) console. The player then plays that game which is a parody of every console RPG ever made. It's hilarious to see all the cliches being poked fun at. Even better is when the boy tries to go to bed and gets sucked into the game world instead. He soon discovers that the plucky Hero from the game isn't so noble or great after all. So he has to set things right by showing a more peaceful, loving way to coexist with all the creatures of the forest and the people in the game world. While this game does have some flaws, none of them truly detract from the sheer brilliance of the plot. Such a brilliant and hilarious game deserves a wider audience.

7) Mother 1 & 3 (NES & SNES). What a shame that we never got to play these two games. Mother 2 was released as Earthbound in the States and it was one of the most innovative and refreshing RPGs ever. There was no medieval setting nor was there any ancient yet futuristic machines. Instead the game takes place in the modern world. Aliens have attacked your town and you have to band together with your friends to stop them. Filled with witty humor and sly references, this game almost seemed tailor-made for America featuring hamburgers, baseball bats and yo-yos. The other two games in the series are just as good and should have been released over a decade ago. Is there any hope that we will see them eventually, maybe on a Gameboy Advanced cartridge? It would certainly be nice, but my fingers have already cramped up from being crossed for so long.

8) PoPoLoCrois series (Playstation and PS2). Ok so the third game in the series sucked. And a PSP PoPoLoCrois was released that mixed parts of the first two games along with some new content. That isn't good enough and it's not a good reason to keep these games to yourself, Japan! We want 'em, dammit, and we should have had them a long time ago! It isn't like we don't like cute, cuddly games with vibrant colors and cheerful characters. So these are kiddie games, you say. That doesn't matter, they're also insanely awesome! So make with the translating and no one will get hurt.

9) Shining Force 3 scenarios 2 & 3 (Sega Saturn). Anyone who has played SF3 knows what a fun strategy game it is. How many are aware that there were two other games made based on SF3? Scenarios 2 & 3 were sold on seperate discs as stand-alone games. However, the plot of all three is basically the same: the war between two nations and the unleashing of an ancient evil. The difference is that each game is told through a different person's perspective and a lot of plot points are revealed only in one of the scenarios. Only playing one scenario (as we in America were forced to do) means that only a third of the plot is actually revealed with the complete ending never being seen. So instead of releasing yet another crappy Shining Force spin-off game that isn't even a tactical rpg (I'm looking at you, Neo and Exa!) how about Sega and Camelot give us what we REALLY want: the lost scenarios from Shining Force 3!!!

10) Eien no Filena (SNES). Yet another fairly unknown RPG from Japan that never made it to our shores, and we are less because of it. This game is about a girl who hides her femininity in order to participate in the gladiatory events of her town. Gladiators must fight to the death, but it is a life that is actually easier than being a woman! There are a lot of class and gender observations throughout this game which make the player think about the world long after the game is over. Why didn't this game get translated? Was it solely for the lesbian subtext a la Xena: Warrior Princess? Who knows. It's a great game that should have been localized for America. Sadly there doesn't seem to be much hope of that happening.

Each year, more and more RPGs are released in Japan and here in America we get a small handful of those. Some of the best RPGs are never released in English. These are the ones I would love to play in a format other than fan-translated ROM. While researching this article I came across a very long list of other games including Baroque, Venus and Braves, the remake of Ys IV: Mask of the Sun, Destiny of an Emperor I & II, Lagrange Point, LOL: Lack of Love, Chronicles of Radia, Madou Monogatari, Princess Crown, the first Star Ocean game, the Sega CD Shadowrun game, Sweet Home (possibly the first survival horror game and definitely the first horror-RPG), and a slew of other titles that not only weren't released here but have a dirth of information regarding them. It's sad that we are denied the opportunity to play so many great RPGs, especially when we end up with games like Quest 64, Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, Quest Adventure, Adventure Quest, or any other permutation. Don't we deserve good games too?