Games with Western IPs that were Only Released in Japan - Left in Japan 14

[@spacepope8495]

I love how you always include a snippet of gameplay with no commentary just music and sfx, I don’t know why more channels don’t do that

[@slycooper4067]

Right!? I think it makes the episodes so easy to watch too. This is one of the very few gaming channels I follow anymore honestly

[@rabidguineapig]

one thing that annoys me about some youtubers is how they would comment on a game's music and they don't play any of it

[@UltimateGamerCC]

@@rabidguineapig yeah, that's really ass backwards youtubing for sure.

[@ClassicCo-op]

I agree. It’s a nice touch. It’s something I have started to include in my own videos now.

[@St4rTr3v1Ut10n]

Right? Don't they need to pad the runtime too? I like when seeing what a game is actually like. SegaLord X does that too and it's great.

[@JohnPannozzi]

There's lots of more Japanese-only games based on Western properties: A Week of Garfield for Famicom, lots of Popeye (a game for Super Famicom, a volleyball game for Game Gear, at least one of the Game Boy titles), Donald Duck's Magical Hat for Super Famicom, Super Back to the Future for Super Famicom, Snoopy Concert for Super Famicom, King Kong 2 for Famicom and MSX (based on King Kong Lives), Spider-Man: Lethal Foes for Super Famicom, Batman for PC Engine, I think Wacky Races for CD-I or 3DO, and so on.

[@ParanoidThalyyMVS]

Hey, I was waiting for an excuse to not go to bed yet, thanks for the massive amount of entertaining videos you have provided to us over the years, you're the best on KZbin, I always like to watch some Game Sack when I'm feeling down in the dumps so, thanks for distracting me!

[@Jesse__H]

Game Sack is the _best_ audio-visual comfort food on youtube.

[@deathmachinezack]

@@Jesse__H so would that mean game sack is the most delicious audiovisual comfort food

[@ParanoidThalyyMVS]

@@deathmachinezack Question to answer your question... Have you ever seen Joe's face?

[@STICKOMEDIA]

Same bro

[@Iliek]

Ah yes praise the man who makes time waster videos that distract us from our meaningless lives.

[@Aaron-Magica17]

If you can believe it, Beavis and Butt-Head was very popular in Japan, despite its very coarse nature. It was aired undubbed in the region with Japanese subs. This show's success may have been what led to a dub of King of the Hill being done later, to much less success (only Season 1 got dubbed)

[@BfDelano]

Uncle is Uncle O'Grimacey. He was used to promote shamrock shakes (the green mint shakes) around St Patrick’s day in the 70s. He’s one of the more obscure McDonald Land characters.

[@nicholastosoni707]

Someone on Facebook said that one of the actors who portrayed him at an event was an IRA sympathizer who very publicly aired his views. MCD very swiftly pulled the character.

[@BfDelano]

@@nicholastosoni707 "Someone on Facebook". Sure. It's a costumed character. They can easily replace the person in the suit. Just like you replace the person in the Chuck E Cheese costume when you find out he's on the registry.

[@starlightwitch12]

It seems that the McDonalds Monogatari game was the inspiration for the eCDP, which was a rare Japan only McDonalds training game that was included on a DS variation given to McDonalds Japan employees.

[@emmanuelmckoy5899]

It wasent

[@videothumbtv]

I like at the end of the game segments Joe is letting the gameplay breathe a bit in editing, full on gameplay with sound really let's you feel the game out at the end. Gamesack rules & Joe is a master.

[@bigduke5902]

I totally agree. It's shocking someone else noticed this.

[@peristrojka]

The Beavis and Butthead point and click game was released here in the Netherlands (and maybe other European countries as well) on the PC. I used to have it. It was in English with original voices.

[@mystilearmor]

Yes, I came here to say the same. I had this game on PC and I grew up in the Netherlands.

[@TheLastLineLive]

Yeah he mentioned that in the video.

[@hadamana]

​@@TheLastLineLive The Netherlands, specifically?

[@mystilearmor]

@@hadamana Joe mentioned the pc release in North America, but not Europe. Although it's possible that WAS the North American release and I just happened to stumble upon it.

[@TheLastLineLive]

@@hadamana well Joe's point was that the ps1 version specifically never left Japan. He didn't make this claim to the PC version.

[@kosmosyche]

There was that Super Back to the Future Part II game for Super Famicom that was released only in Japan. It's also probably the best Back to The Future game by far, considering all the others were total trash and that one was half decent.

[@Anonymous-oh4xw]

Fans of the movies must have been so disgusted to know that.

[@Hartior]

I'm pretty surprised that Super Back to the Future II wasn't included in this video. That aside, great video

[@UltimateGamerCC]

yeah, maybe in the next one if there's enough games for a sequel, i guess that went sort of unsaid because AVGN made that game very well known when he revisited the BttF games.

[@ccricers]

Complete with the quote, "all the best stuff is made in Japan"

[@UltimateGamerCC]

@@ccricers "American Components, Russian Components... ALL MADE IN TAIWAN!"

[@yiorgo187]

Big respect for having the paid sponsor at the end of the video

[@Jesse__H]

Joe does that 100% of the time, if he even accepts a sponsor at all. You love to see it.

[@Mimi.1001]

@@Jesse__H When GameSack was sponsored by Sol Cresta (or more like PlatinumGames and/or Hamster), he put the ad before the actual episode (It's the one on the Nintendo Wii), so not 100%. But yeah, that was an actual video game and something he genuinely cares for, so it makes sense and is excused. :)

[@lordsosa9383]

respect this boom plow i just slapped you face boy

[@ChaossX77]

The game juice?

[@M3troid.]

There are 2 games that you should include on a eventual second episode: Donald Duck Mahou no Boushi and Popeye: Ijiwaru Majo Seahag no Maki. Both are on Super Famicom.

[@acecarrera1]

Can't help thinking that Die Hard game is a reskinned Bloody Wolf. Woof!

[@damageinc5752]

That Die-Hard game looks a lot like Bloody Wolf.

[@EvaFull]

I got the same vibes when watching that footage.

[@Sergiovsousa]

What I like in the Die Hard game is that they managed to have diferent sprites according to which hand is holding the weapon...

[@Taranchule]

I'm not sure if it's been covered before, but Shadowrun on the Sega CD is a Japan-Exclusive text adventure that's completely different from both the SNES and Mega Drive versions.

[@t0xcn253]

Although I can only guess at the first question, I actually kind of understood Butthead's reply and Beavis's rejoinder in Japanese, something like: "BH: Uh Beavis, it's already dead. BV: Oh, that's right." Which would suggest he had asked him something about whether it would hurt the frog to cut into it maybe? Very considerate.

[@bombjack1984]

Quest For Fame is an Aerosmith game that was only released in Japan on the PS1, similar to the Beavis and Butt-Head game (it also did have a Western PC release).

[@cactoidpinata]

I was going to say something about Virtual Stupidity getting a PC release, but it looks like plenty of people knew that. I still have my disc and it's an awesome game!

[@Dimensiom]

So because I am stupid I decided to start studying Japanese and now I have a compulsion to try to pronounce any Japanese text that I see that does not use Kanji (because I have not yet started studying that). This episode really triggered that urge in places, especially with Star Wars.

[@julianmedina2452]

I enjoy a lot this episode after having rough day, thanks Joe!

[@otaking3582]

Beavis & Butthead only ever aired in Japan with English audio and Japanese subtitles, but for the PS1 game, they actually got a famous Japanese comedy duo to dub the title characters.

[@emmettturner9452]

Knight Rider for PC Engine Batman for PC Engine Back to the Future for Super Famicom The GBC version of Donkey Kong Land III

[@emmettturner9452]

Oh yeah… a completely different Airwolf for Famicom.

[@DaCaptainDerpy]

Always enjoy seeing these videos. I think an interesting topic would be to look at every licensed video game

[@ElectricOutcast]

Don't know if anybody mentioned this, but there exists a sequel to Monopoly on SNES and an UNO game for Super Famicom that never left Japan.

[@JohnRiggs]

In Donald Land do you have to spend all your points on a power-up, then when you pull up to the next window they tell you to park your car in a random stall until your power-up is ready?

[@MrNegativecreep07]

Is it just me, or does the tune at 5:33 sound like Papa Roach's Last Resort?

[@Iliek]

Ah welcome to the comment section John Manchild.

[@felman87]

That Star Wars game certainly takes liberties with the source material. You didn't mention this in the video but at 13:31, the Leia Hologram is asking Luke for help. Weird, as Leia has no idea who Luke is. The message was for Kenobi.

[@GameSack]

Yeah I probably would've mentioned it if I could read it, but it makes sense since you need to rescue Obi-Wan on a completely different planet for no reason.

[@Cole.....]

How can you forget Uncle O'Grimacey, the mascot for the Shamrock Shake?

[@El_Guapo74]

Amazing Mr. Sack can still come up with fresh topics, well done

[@Godsgood111]

A sack full of surprises

[@AskDrannik]

I played Virtual Stupidity on PC years ago thanks to Home of the Underdogs. Shame it never came out in the States for Playstation, as it's a solid point-and-click.

[@Subfightr]

Omg home of the underdogs... Thank you so much for the memory, that was a great time! Rip

[@Subfightr]

Omg home of the underdogs is still around!!! My bad!

[@EvaFull]

You can get it for Windows ‘95

[@_bhp]

virtual stupidity is an incredible game, it's really like playing an episode of the show. highly highly recommended.

[@uubrmanx]

8:09 The PC version of Virtual Stupidity was released worldwide (unless it wasn't released in Asia?) though. The PS1 release is just one of a string of mid-90s point-and-clicks that got Japanese-only console ports.

[@EvaFull]

Was just about to make this same comment about it being released in 1995 for Windows ‘95.

[@tsuikagura]

Yep I played that game in English 95 too.

[@miragebangbravern]

He did outright stated that in the video

[@Bubba__Sawyer]

Joe _did_ make note of that.

[@srenvestergaard4249]

Great episode as always. Loved the “theme with a theme”. :-)

[@shawdawg3675]

I feel like the Die Hard PC Engine game was supposed to be a Bloody Wolf sequel or game like it, then someone got the license and they turned it into Die Hard

[@CaptainConfuzion]

Definitely looks very similar with improved graphics

[@theironfox2756]

Has anyone else notice Game Sack times the title cards with the commercial break?

[@ElectricLuvz]

I actually had Namco Star Wars back in the day and when I eventually went to college in the states I told some of the clerks working at Software Etc. about it and how it was different from the JVC one. They basically told me I was full of it or must be mistaken as there can't be more than one officially licensed Star Wars game for the NES. The japanese scene just wasn't as well known back then.

[@kekeke8988]

They weren't wrong though. Namco Star Wars was never officially licensed for the NES. It was a Famicom exclusive, wasn't it?

[@mindphaserxy]

I think the Beavis ans Butthead spitting mini game was a freebie or demo on PC back in the day. I remember playing it a ton.

[@arboris]

"Beavis and Butthead - Virtual stupidity" was on a lot of PC demo disks, yea. Played it a whole lot too.

[@EvaFull]

It was released for Windows ‘95

[@StormsparkPegasus]

Virtual Stupidity has the honor of being the only good Beavis and Butthead game. I still have the Win95 version in a drawer somewhere. (That version is obviously where they got the voices for the English patch for the Playstation version.)

[@FoxMcCloudFF7]

"He only plays video games all the time because he can't score" You gonna let him talk about you like that Joe? Just kidding, you know I love ya Joe, hope you're having a Happy Easter!

[@JamesW6179]

That attempt at "Eigo Asobi", amazing.

[@jamesmacintosh4009]

Wake up to gamesack!! Greetings from Scotland

[@thisisnotachannel]

I love that I've been subscribed to this channel since 2011, and I can still have a Sack 'sode show up in my feed that I somehow haven't watched yet!

[@JustAnotherGamerUS]

the sarcasm during die hard is amazing

[@Jesse__H]

Definitely an interesting idea for an episode. I'd never even considered IPs from one country having exclusives in another country. I guess the opposite of this episode (Japanese IPs with Western exclusives) would have a ton of games huh?

[@kekeke8988]

Oh yes. Lots of exclusive Kamen Rider and Anpan man games in America.

[@stephandolby]

Ah, Beast Wrestler... or as I've come to know it, Bwoob-Bwoob.

[@AirknightTails]

Apologies if this was covered already. But I'm surprised that Super Back to the Future 2 wasn't covered here

[@chaseman94]

There's an Airwolf game on the Famicom that's way different than the one Acclaim published on the NES and also Super Airwolf for the Mega Drive.

[@benitosierrajr3958]

7:00 ah yes, the Bluto/Brutus copyright naming problem.

[@After4th]

Super Back to the Future II on Super Famicom. Multiple Disney games published by Kemco that had altered licenses in the west since Capcom had the exclusive rights in North America. Crazy Castle games were originally Mickey Mouse before altered to Bugs Bunny as one provided. Kemco made a Donald Duck version of Alternative World Games. The western version was altered to Peanuts.

[@AnthonyFlack]

The Neverhood was another western PC point & click that was ported to the Playstation and only released in Japan (as "Klaymen Klaymen"). The CD audio returns to the start of the track each time a new screen loads - which is often - ruining one of the game's best features and making it hard to recommend.

[@fireflocs]

Japan also got an exclusive sequel to The Neverhood called Klaymen Gun Hockey.

[@jbleichman]

3:32: Three of the more forgotten McDonalds mascots: Captain Crook (created to promote the Filet-o-Fish), The Professor, and, uh, Grimace’s Irish uncle O’Grimace, who showed up for the Shamrock Shake promotion.

[@treedeblue]

We all love the end scenes, gamejuice 😂

[@chrisgullo3893]

The Die Hard game is exactly like the movie. You just forgot you took acid before playing it.

[@5ushiBoy]

I loved the theme within a theme. Great episode Joe Red!

[@plaztik767]

Great upload, I absolutely adore your content, and production quality. Hands down best retro content on KZbin !

[@emmettturner9452]

Japanese does have an R sound. They are missing the L sound which is why they often substitute R. Granted, they hyper-correct the R/L thing and end up saying R-words with L, but that’s a different thing.

[@ilikecurry2345]

Hence why Palutena and the Crash Man/Clash Man debate exist.

[@Vulpas]

"Squirrel doctor" lmao

[@justinm6392]

Joe you make such quality videos … thank you man

[@steelcurtain187]

That’s so weird I remember always wanting and waiting for that beavis and butthead game and being disappointed it never came out. Looks cool for sure if you were a fan like me in the 90s

[@BAIGAMING]

6:45 It's so interesting because Mario was originally meant to be a Popeye game but they couldn't get the licensing rights. So I suppose someone else ended up making the Popeye game?

[@jsb0714]

NIntendo did eventually get the rights.

[@kekeke8988]

Donkey Kong, not Mario.

[@guardianbeardizer6361]

This is why I love that Piko is grabbing up Japan only & Unfinished games & publishing them. Great list!

[@MrRom92DAW]

Fantastic concept for a video, I love it! It’s hard sorting through the stuff that was only released in Japan and then also trying to find the stuff that’s actually appealing and not some weird anime game or something

[@gstein86]

Great episode as always! Some of these are deep dives that I never heard of before.

[@jeffm5056]

You probably already did Goonies on the Famicom already. I never understood why we got it on the PlayChoice arcade but not the NES.

[@chowmein0941]

If you make a sequel, you should probably include Snoopy Concert for the SNES. It even supports the mouse.

[@billcook4768]

I gotta go back and rewatch Die Hard, as I don’t remember some of those scenes. The good news is now we have another Christmas Game (tm) to play.

[@bennyhaha66]

This guy's sarcasm is legendary

[@frankbizzoco1954]

Another Mickey game was Mickey to Donald Magical Adventure 3, which i thought was pretty decent. Also Labrynth on Famicom, which is not easy at all, but it is faithful to the movie for the most part. I always like to compare the differences between games that were released in both regions too. Like Aliens vs Predator on Snes. Its Japanese counterpart was pretty different, yet the same. It even had a 2 player mode. And the Godzilla games on NES, and PC Engine. The ones in Japan actually had the Godzilla theme by Akira Ifukube. I guess it was a licensing issue. I had no idea that Beavis and Butthead game existed. Cool video!

[@EsmeAmelia]

The Mickey and Donald game was later released on the GBA in America, so it wasn't technically "left in Japan."

[@frankbizzoco1954]

@@EsmeAmelia So it got here eventually? Kind of like Bio Miricle Bukutte Upa. Well thats good to know. Thanks!

[@SameNameDifferentGame]

Someone else has probably mentioned it already, but there is a continue code on Star Wars, but it requires a controller to be plugged into the Famicom's auxiliary controller port to do it.

[@xboyindahouse]

Donald no Magical World only came out in Japan in early 1994 for the Sega Game Gear, which has similarities to McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure on the Sega Genesis.

[@thewiirocks]

I'm surprised you don't remember the Big Mac Police! He was a staple of the McDonald's play place. You'd climb up through a tube at the base, then find yourself in a round "jail", which happened to also be the mouth of the Big Mac.

[@GameSack]

I remember him I just ever heard him called that. In fact I don't think I ever heard his name.

[@GamingWithDrew]

I love the segue from beaver to Beavis and Butthead. "Huh huh huh huh, he said beaver."

[@taipion64]

Thanks! These videos are becoming a Sunday morning ritual for me. I don’t know any more region locked in Japan games but I’d love to see a largest game by file size on every console video if that hasn’t been done yet.

[@Tactical-92Yankee]

If you'd like to continue the famicom star wars there is a hidden continue code. At game over screen hold up and hit A 8 times. Costs 30 power forces. Enjoy! Big fan.

[@Godsgood111]

Yes I love the Raiden shirt. Please say you heard my request to do a modern shmups video with a cameo from shmup junkie! You two are the most entertaining and genuine guys on KZbin.

[@90sGasPrices]

I don’t go out all the time, but it happens every once in a while. There is nothing more “therapeutic” than firing up a game sack episode just waiting to fall asleep.

[@AlanAndalon]

Knight Rider on the PC Engine. I have it and it never got a US release.

[@dwood78part23]

Talk about odds- Japanese only games based on Western IPs. An interesting one nonetheless.

[@jeremysteelman2900]

That intro song still rocks my face off

[@SFJPMoonGames]

Great dive in to more unknown areas, well done dude 👍🏻

[@TurboVolcano1988]

There was also quest for fame featuring Aerosmith for the psx that was only released in Japan as well as Cyberwar for the psx which i believe was the follow up to the lawnmower man sega cd game.

[@OldManDoom]

Just for reference, the mirror was telling you that you could put a water balloon on the switch to open the door. Which the game play clip showed you figured it out

[@DemureDave]

I got a chuckle outta your game juice ad. 😆

[@CorporalDanLives]

If you wind up doing another one of these, check out Sgt. Saunders' Combat, which is Japan SNES only and based on a 1960s army show on ABC!

[@belstar1128]

Japan was the king of gaming 30 years ago even America could not touch them.

[@datamanmachine]

True! Sadly the in the last 10+years they are not what they are used to.

[@panandscan4941]

Such a niche topic but I can’t wait to watch this with my morning tea tomorrow!

[@jamesnewman4351]

Your humour kind of reminds me of Bill Murray... Take that as a complement ! I love your videos 👍

[@allluckyseven]

There are likely many more of these western games only released in Japan, but I would guess they're for newer consoles. Might be a good idea to check out the Japanese PS2 library.

[@bigduke5902]

That PIA ad might as well be a commercial for Wilson countersink flanges.

[@Subfightr]

So glad to see you back. I honestly was worried about you when you didn't post a video last week. Glad you gave yourself a week off.

[@jbfarley]

His regular episodes have been released every 2 weeks for years now. The other stuff us a bonus

[@Subfightr]

@@jbfarleyI see. Thank you

[@D.E._Sarcarean]

Don't forget about the McDonalds only game that was released only to stores in Japan for the 3DS!

[@martianwoodpecker]

Not sure if it's been covered but Batman on the PC Engine.

[@ailaxl]

I'm so happy after all this time you still make videos for this channel. I'd like there to be more "hidden gems" though, like that Metal Jesus guy. Mmmmmm, hidden gemsssss.

[@johnbillings5260]

The loogie mini game was so fun once you got the hang of how long to hold the button down.

[@Shorai_3]

So, there's a McDonald's training game on the GBC that predates eCDP on the DS.

[@RunplaysinHD]

I see that you're lack of knowledge of PC games :) Beavis and Butt-head was released for Windows in English in 1995, and named the adventure of the year in every PC magazine of the era, it was a huge success and has a sequel came 2 years later, BB Do you. It was ported on Ps1 much later as well as some other adventures like Dark Seed or Neverhood I really advise you to start playing pc games also, there are thousands of fantastic DOS and Windows exclusives. PC has much bigger library than any console existing

[@RunplaysinHD]

(reply to someone's deleted comment)... then why put it in this video? It wasn't released only in japan, it was ported there much later. There are plenty of pc games that were ported in japanese, maybe hundreds of them. Just make another video dedicated to japanese ports

[@mgrsdgfsdafsdgrsdgfsdg6980]

Thats what I thought. I knew Ive seen a playthrough of this game with the correct English voices. Anyway, we all know Game Sack is a time-traveling Civil War Veteran from 1863, so his history may be a little off.

[@thepirategamerboy12]

The PS1 port of Virtual Stupidity was published by the same company as the Japanese PS1 port of Dark Seed II, actually. Also, in the PC version of Virtual Stupidity you can skip the dialogue, idk why you wouldn't just play that instead.

[@FoxbatStargazer]

Joe literally said that the PC version came out here, just not the playstation. Also that theres a homebrew english dub based on the PC version!

[@thepirategamerboy12]

Btw, there are also Japanese Windows releases of both Dark Seed and the Neverhood. They're hard to find, though. The odd thing with Dark Seed is that it was originally an IBM PC/DOS game, but it got a Windows 3.1 port in Japan-only by Namco that's not dumped as far as I know.

[@robbyrobot3303]

In 2018 I got a small Cornholio figurine in a gashapon machine in Japan, so I guess they still have some love for B and B

[@ArtemyMalchuk]

If you're up for Part 2, I'd consider Alice no Paint Adventure! It's a Japan-only Alice-in-Wonderland-themed Mario Paint.

[@Protoman85]

Star Wars by JVC wins for me just because it doesn't have one-hit kills

[@MagisterHamid]

For some reason many western point and click games were only released on Saturn in Japan. Phantasmagoria, Dark Seed, The Psychotron, Return to Zork for instance.

[@hicknopunk]

Return to Zork is also on the NEC PC-FX

[@MagisterHamid]

@@hicknopunk my point is that they were released on Saturn in Japan but not in the west

[@hicknopunk]

@@MagisterHamid ah!