No, not the face-rubbing or skimpy outfits or forced undergarments. Lord knows
the internet has already discussed those enough.
I'm talking about their decisions about which games to localize. How confident are you guys that cool Japanese games on Nintendo platforms will actually get localized? Do you think it's worse or better than before? And which games are you still waiting for?
I think they've definitely made steps in the right direction recently. Making the 3DS region locked was an enormous step in the wrong direction, though. I'm not sure about the business vagaries of an unlocked system, but they don't seem to bother Sony or Microsoft. Or previous handheld Nintendo. So they should really cut that out. It just pisses off the most hardcore fans AND encourages hackers to blow their system wide open. In the name of justice, even!
But they seem to be localizing more stuff recently. The localization lag is inordinately long, in some cases (see: Picross 3D 2 rumors), but I think they've localized the vast majority of their games recently. Even going so far as to localize some third-party games, like the Dragon Quest remakes or the Bravely games, for gunshy publishers (mostly just greedy Squeenix).
Seemingly out of desperation to fill their platforms with content, they've even started righting previous localization wrongs. Which is awesome. The Mystery of Murasame Castle, Mother, and (probably) Mother 3 releases are nice, feel good events for everyone. My main wish is that they would go much further with this initiative. Especially since the Wii U Virtual Console can address pretty much any legacy Nintendo platform. Why not fill out the lineup with Custom Robo, Doshin the Giant, Another Code R, Kuru Kuru Kururin, and even Japanese games like Zangeki No Reginleiv? I mean, many of them need either minimal translation or no translation whatsoever. And there was a precedent for localizing untranslated games on the Wii VC. Why did that stop? Did parents complain or something? Let's Goemon it up!
As for the 3DS, as great as all of the recent localization announcements (and game announcements) have been... I DON'T LIKE RPGs. So they all kind of taste like ashes in my mouth. Especially when games like Rhythm Tengoku Best, Jam With The Band 3DS, and Culdcept 3DS already exist. I mean, Nintendo hasn't even given those last two series a chance in America, and they're SO GOOOD. At least let someone else localize them!
In conclusion, Nintendo is one of my favorite video game companies. Thank you for listening to my presentation.
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