Some of the greatest JRPGs of all time struggled to find an audience, especially outside of Japan. Yeah, they flopped commercially despite widespread acclaim, since not every game can be Final Fantasy or Persona. Certain masterpieces weren't even given a chance to fall on their faces, with publishers preemptively deciding that a North American release would only result in catastrophic failure.
Except for the first example in this article, I don't want to focus on JRPGs that weren't released outside Japan, because it is far more interesting to discuss games that were given the chance to fly but ended up crashing at launch. Some of these games eventually became bona fide classics, but basically nobody played them at first.
We need an example of a JRPG that literally nobody played in Western nations, and Mother 3 might be the poster child for Nintendo's hard-headedness. Famously, the original Mother on the NES stayed in Japan; for the sequel, Nintendo released it in America as EarthBound, only for it to crash due to an inflated price and weird marketing. Naturally, Nintendo used this as an excuse not to release Mother 3 outside of Japan.
In 2015, Nintendo released Mother 3 for the Wii U Virtual Console... only in Japan. In 2024, Nintendo released Mother 3 as a Nintendo Classic... only in Japan. Why is the rest of the world not allowed to officially play one of the best and most creative JRPGs of all time? Seriously, Nintendo just needs to piece together a translation and drop the game for $9.99 on the store. I don't think that is asking for much.
At least the Mother 3 fan translation exists.
Timing isn't everything, but it sure matters. A daring JRPG that challenged the genre's fantasy-laden status quo, Resonance of Fate gave us guns, steampunk, and an odd job crew. More importantly, tri-Ace released the game in March 2010, which also coincided with the debuts of God of War 3, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Yakuza 3, Final Fantasy 13, and Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver. This quirky JRPG was sent out to be slaughtered, and that's exactly what happened.
Even for those few people who picked it up, Resonance of Fate doesn't leave a particularly great first impression, as the first few hours act as a terrible tutorial that barely explains the combat mechanics. If there is one JRPG that needs a detailed crash course on its mechanics, Resonance of Fate is it. Many folks moved on before they really dove into the fantastic, strategic battle system, the weapon customization, and the campaign's surprisingly slice-of-life vibes.
Don't be fooled by Nier: Automata's success; the odds weren't stacked in its favor. After roughly a decade of decent cult classics, Cavia dropped its most audacious project yet: a Drakengard spin-off fueled by Yoko Taro's deconstructive writing and unusual narrative structure. In a weird move, Nier received two alternate versions with different protagonists (a father or a brother), although Western nations only got the old man.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://gamerant.com/jrpgs-masterpieces-games-nobody-played/
