The Legend of Heroes: Zero and Ao No Kiseki
The long-running JRPG franchise The Legend of Heroes has hit more popularity in the west recently, due to the release of the Trails in the Sky and Trails of Cold Steel subseries. These games are all connected, however, taking place in the same world, Zemuria, but in different nations.
With Trails of Cold Steel 3 finally making its way West later this year we’re finally getting more of the picture, but there’s a vital piece missing from the Zemuria games, Zero No Kiseki and Ao No Kiseki. These two games form a duology set in Crossbell, a city-state that borders the Erebonia Empire from Trails of Cold Steel.
You play as Lloyd Bannings, a rookie police detective who joins the Special Support Section of the Crossbell Police, a brand new unit meant to assist the city and citizens directly
Zero and Ao have pretty typical gameplay for The Legend of Heroes, but they were the games that introduced some nice quality of life improvements for the franchise, like being able to teleport around the city sections instantly.
Like other games in the series, both Zero and Ao are heavily story-based and considering they reference events from other games and feature familiar characters, they’re a pretty important piece of the overall puzzle. Considering we’re getting every other game in the series, outside of Trails of Cold Steel 4 (not confirmed yet), it’s a shame that we don’t have ports of Zero and Ao.
Hopefully, that’s something that changes with the rising popularity of The Legend of Heroes.
Yakuza Isshin
Speaking of series with recent popularity, Yakuza has absolutely exploded into a cult hit over the last two years. On top of that, we’ve gotten a ton of Yakuza games over the last two years, including Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami, Yakuza 6, and Yakuza Kiwami 2. Yet, there’s one title that fans have been begging for, Ryu Ga Gotoku Isshin.
This fascinating game is set in the Bakamatsu Period and replaces historical figures with Yakuza characters like Kiryu, Majima, Saejima and more. It’s a huge twist on the Yakuza formula, both in terms of gameplay and story.
It’s still a crime drama at its core that deals with a Tosa Clan coup d’etat, as you assume the role of Sakamoto Ryoma (Kazuma Kiryu). This time around you only play as Ryoma, but he has access to four different combat styles; hand-to-hand, sword, pistol, and Wild Dance.
Of course, there’s also plenty of wacky minigames and substories to tackle as well. With the popularity of Yakuza right now it seems like Isshin would be the perfect title to tide over western fans while Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio develops the next Yakuza.
Valkyria Chronicles 3
Valkyria Chronicles made its triumphant strategic return in 2018 with Valkyria Chronicles 4, but for whatever reason, there’s one title we’re still missing from the series. Valkyria Chronicles 3 on PSP got skipped right over in the West, probably due to the much lower sales of Valkyria Chronicles 2 versus the first game.
Still, Valkyria Chronicles 3 puts an interesting twist on things by having you play as Gallian Squad 422, a squad of criminals forced into service by Gallia and ordered to perform the most dangerous missions. The main character, as you might expect, each have a colored past, including Kurt Irving, an army officer falsely accused of treason who seeks redemption.
Valkyria Chronicles 3 uses the tried-and-true gameplay of the series but helped introduce some nice changes that carried over into Valkyria Chronicles 4. The character-focused submissions were easier to unlock and play through, and the skill and leveling systems were greatly streamlined for easier customization.
The greatest asset Valkyria Chronicles 3 has, however, is its story; easily one of the best of the whole franchise. It’s more thematically complex than the other games, and it’s an important piece for the overall picture, which makes it even sadder that we’ve never seen a localization.
Tales of Innocence
Tales is one of the longest-running JRPG franchises out there, with countless entries across a multitude of systems. There are a number of Tales games you could pick for this slot, but one of the most interesting is Tales of Innocence, originally released on the Nintendo DS.
What really makes Innocence stand out from the rest of the franchise is its unique story and themes, set in a world that’s divided between the divine “godlike” realm of Devaloka and the lower human world of Naraka. A main part of the story revolves around Avatars, Develokans reincarnated as humans, and part of the main party is made up of Avatars.
Tales of Innocence uses a variation of the series’ Linear-Motion Battle System, letting you fully control one character’s movement and attacks. You can also fine-tune the AI’s behavior for the other three party members, and each character has a tension gauge that, when full, allows them to enter an Awakened state where their attacks deal more damage.
Innocence sports a fantastic cast of characters, and in traditional Tales style, it has an emotional story that effectively subverts JRPG tropes. Again, there are plenty of Tales games that’d be great to see localized, like Destiny 2 and Rebirth, but Innocence is easily the one that would make the most sense, especially with the existence of Nintendo Switch.
Phantasy Star Online 2
Ah Phantasy Star Online 2, the notorious MMO that fans have been waiting years for, only to hear…. well, nothing. Back in 2012, it was announced by SEGA that the game would be getting an English release in the West, but then shortly after the game was delayed indefinitely. To this day we’ve never heard an official cancellation.
Even more infuriating is that the game was translated into English for the Southeast Asia release. Unlike many MMOs out there, Phantasy Star Online 2 puts an emphasis on action combat, giving players a huge selection of weapon types and playstyles to choose from.
The game has experienced great success in Japan and the surrounding areas, even getting an anime adaption in 2016. It’s still going strong years later due to strong support from Sega in updating and adding new content. Phantasy Star Online 2 just hit Nintendo Switch in Japan in April 2019, and yet, we still can’t even get a PC release over here.
Mother 3
How many Nintendo Directs have we seen over the years, with comments filled asking for a Mother 3 release? Fans have been begging for this entry in the Mother franchise for years, but all we’ve gotten is multiple ports of Earthbound.
Mother 3 is the game that introduces Lucas, strange considering he’s a fighter in Smash and we can’t actually play his game here. Mother 3 uses the same turn-based combat as past games but introduces an interesting new twist.
When you attack the enemy directly with a weapon, you can hit the button in time with the background music to attack up to 16 additional times. On top of this, each enemy has a different musical rhythm, making each battle different.
The story of Mother 3 picks up some time after Earthbound and sports a colorful cast of characters, with the same trademark strange humor of the latter game.
Instead of being a world-trotting adventure, Mother 3 chooses to mainly focus on one location, Tazmily Village. The village changes and grows as the game progresses, and it’s a nice change from your typical JRPG formula.
Out of all the unlocalized Japanese games out there, Mother 3 is one of the ones that we need the most.
The Great Ace Attorney
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is a series like no other, combining crime scene investigation with absurd courtroom drama. The series has a style and charm that just make it so much fun, and although we’ve gotten most Ace Attorney games in the West, there are still a few glaring omissions.
Chief among those is The Great Ace Attorney, properly known as Dai Gyakuten Saiban: Naruhodō Ryūnosuke no Bōken. This fantastic idea takes the Ace Attorney formula and puts in back in time near the end of the 19th century, the Meiji Era in Japan. The historical setting is used to phenomenal effect, really making The Great Ace Attorney unique from the other games.
The story focuses on Ryunosuke Naruhodo, an ancestor of Phoenix Wright, as he works to become a full-fledged defense attorney. Part of the game takes place in Japan, while the other part sees Ryonosuke travel to England to further his studies, where he meets the famed detective Sherlock Holmes.
By all regards, The Great Ace Attorney and its sequel are some of the best games in the entire Ace Attorney franchise, and it’s a damn shame that we don’t have a way to properly play them.
City Shrouded in Shadow
City Shrouded in Shadows is a dream come true for fans of classic anime and monster movies like Godzilla. The game takes tons of famous Japanese properties and throws them into one massive survival game, including the likes of Godzilla, Evangelion, Patlabor, Gamera, and Ultraman.
Despite the inclusion of all these properties, you don’t actually play as any of them, instead of assuming the role of a civilian trying to escape the massive destruction caused by their battles. You’ll need to work with other survivors, avoid alien threats, escape Yakuza hitmen, and more in order to survive.
Of course, many of the giant beings you encounter are benevolent, like Godzilla, but the sheer destruction caused by their fights is still a danger.
City Shrouded in Shadow is such an interesting, unique idea, and one that could only be done by the world of video games. Seeing these massive titans fight from the perspective of a human is great fun, and it’s something that would surely appeal to fans the world over.
Are there any other Japanese games of JRPGs you’d like to see may their way west? Let us know in the comments down below.
Published: Apr 24, 2019 02:45 pm