Favourite import exclusives (wallet damaging content warning!)

[crocky-chocky]

Cripes. There's some brilliant looking PS2 games I've been missing out on.

Chulip's art style looks particularly ace. Uh, how much would a US PS2 set me back?

Dobutsu Bancho on the GC gets my vote. Not the best gameplay experience, but the concept, visuals and music have all really stuck in my mind.

[Decider-VT]

Here's another good one for anyone who likes retro games:

Probably the best Christmas present I got last year. Fun times with Star Prince and mince pies.

[Phar]

Any games from the Densha De Go! or Tokyo Bus Guide series.

Yeah Densha Final is one of my favourites as well, never got round to playing Tokyo Bus Guide 2, loved the first one on the DC though.

These are some of my favourites

Bulk Slash



Mr Mosquito 2



Battle Gear 3



Aconcagua

[Jay]

Bulk Slash looks ace. Never seen that before.

[nakamura]

Battle Gear 3

Very good racer that. Pity we never saw a home version of BG4. It took me a while to get my BG3 working as it needed some sort of password.

[Phar]

Bulk Slash looks ace. Never seen that before.

Yeah it's well worth checking out if you get the chance, a very underated game. I always got this 'PC Engine type game if it could do 3D' vibe from it, probably because it was done by hudson.

Very good racer that. Pity we never saw a home version of BG4. It took me a while to get my BG3 working as it needed some sort of password.

I would love to see BG4 on a current gen system, probably not much chance now Square-Enix own Taito, seems like all they do these days is put out Cooking Mama and mobile games with the occasional PSN/XBLA title.

[dvdx2]

I'm always said when people say this.

The slow down was intentional. There's a secret menu you can unlock which disables the slowdown and locks the frame rate. The slowdown helps with racking up massive combos later on, where you need to quickly change your aim while the combo meter is still rolling. If you're really into your chaining and high scores on big bosses like the fortress it's essential.

Nicked from gameFAQs

just tried it.

i dont think it was intentional

The games resolution and fluidity takes a massive hit with the uniform processing mode on - yes the frame rate is stable but its looks gash. Frame rate looks halfed.

Bit like the 'optional' mode in sega rally for the DC, which locks the but chops a load of background detail.

[nakamura]

I would love to see BG4 on a current gen system, probably not much chance now Square-Enix own Taito, seems like all they do these days is put out Cooking Mama and mobile games with the occasional PSN/XBLA title.

And rubbish Final Fantasy complations.

I didn't know Square owned them as well. Pity.

[importaku]

Well this is going to be a long post seeing as theres far too many imports that don't ever get out of Japan. I'll stick to the DS as thats where theres a lot of my faves, Nintendo has a shameful release record for stuff (yeah where is chibi robo NOE) & thats why i'll never be a domestic game buyer for DS

Sakasete Chibi Robo:
Great portable chibi robo, running round your own park cleaning up & helping out, really fun game.


Okaeri! Chibi-Robo! Happy Richie Oosouji
Plays like the gamecube one but they improved it with pretty much new everything, back in the house & cleaning up has never been so much fun. Must be my OCD side lol.


Blazer Drive
One of the games i discovered by accident, a very cool twist on the card battling genre of games. Using stickers you place on your arms to battle, easy to learn & lots of strategy to use.


Irozuki Tingle no Koi no Balloon Trip
A point & click adventure but starring Tingle, really bonkers at times but i love his fruity games


Kousoku Card Battle: Card Hero
Another card battling game but this time from Nintendo, lost countless hours on this one.


Do-Konjou Shougakussei: Bon Bita
Toilet humour based platformer, from of the bizzare world of koro koro comics.


Nanashi no Game
First person horror game that is actually pretty scary even on a handheld, headphones are a must for the creep out factor.


Nanashi no Game Me
Sequel that manages to keep the scare factor & then crank it up some more, you find your hands getting rather sweaty when playing.


Minna no conveni
Plays a bit like the cooking mama games but your running a convinience store. Actually pretty fun, then again i have weird tastes so it might just be me but i love shop based stuff.


Game Center CX: Arino no Chousenjou 2
Sequel the the awesome Game center CX, managed to improve on the first game in every way. If you loved the first then you owe it to yourself to get this.


Keroro RPG: Kishi to Musha to Densetsu no Kaizoku
Plays like the "tales of" series of rpgs however with Keroro gunsou characters, very good rpg & has lots of attacks where you summon various Namco game characters like pacman to use as attacks.


Bokura no Terebi Game Kentei
Basically like a Namco version of made in wario, different enough not to be a outright copy.


Tottado! Yowiko no Mujintou Seikatsu
Love this one, the minigames make me giggle a lot. Based on a tv show where you have to survive on an island with nothing but a handful of cooking ingredients.


Item Getter: Bokura no Kagaku to Mahou no Kankei
Another great rpg where items are everything. Harvesting ingredients from everywhere & combining or distilling them to make new items. Kind of a weird one but i like it a lot, shame it's pretty buggy though.


Ganbare Goemon: Toukai Douchuu
Solid platformer, pretty old now but weirdly the only Goemon game konami had released in a long time. Uses both screens pretty good on some levels & the Impact robot sections are alwys fun.


Taiko no Tatsujin DS
Pretty good transition of the music series onto the DS, song selection pretty good.


Meccha! Taiko no Tatsujin DS: 7-tsu no Shima no Daibouken
More of the same but the inclusion of a story mode to make it more substantial. All of these are great music games.


Taiko no Tatsujin DS: Dororon! Youkai Daikessen!!
As with the other two this adds even more stuff including an RPG mode where you battle by plying songs, my fave of the DS taiko games.


Houkago Shounen
Plays a bit like the psp boku no natsuyasumi series of games. A story based game where your moving away & have only 2 weeks to try & have as much fun as you can. You can play old Japanese childrens games & other fun stuff.


Doraemon: Nobita no Kyouryuu 2006 DS
Another solid card battle game based onthe movie Nobita's dinosaur. Actually Sega is pretty good at making Doraemon games.


Doraemon: Nobita no Shin Makai Daibouken DS
Same card battle game system as the previous but with more rules & totally improved cards, really enjoy these ones a lot.


Doraemon: Nobita to Midori no Kyojinden DS
A wonderful platformer, Sega just drop sonic & make more of these please. The sprite animation is awesome.


Theres still tons more but i'll stop for now, so many great games for DS but most are unknown. Still it's fun to hunt them down as theres meny hidden gems still that i haven't got. Shame that a lot of the ones i have listed are now out of print & they are only a few years old, makes finding some of the others im missing pretty hard.

[Family Fry]

Still gutted we will never see both nanashi no game/s over here or translated

[charlesr]

Ace post, although a one line description of each would be really cool if you ever get time.

What's the one with teh chicken and the diving suit?

[importaku]

Yup tell me about it, even more annoying when you see some of the rubbish Square Enix decide to release in the west. Nintendo have said that they are going to bring more of their overlooked titles that have only been released in Japan so far to the west but now that the 3DS is on it's way i really wonder if they will go through with it. I've got a funny feeling that stuff like Solatorobo & Ninokuni are probably going to end up staying in Japan.

Anyway part 2 of my import list

Zettai Zetsumei Dangerous Jiisan DS
More toilet humour based minigames, based on another koro koro comic strip


Solatorobo: Sore kara Coda e
Really beautiful looking action RPG, one of the last few great DS games that will come out.


Kochira Katsushikaku Kameari Kouenmae Hashutsujo: Machiteba Tengoku! Makereba Jigoku! Ryoutsuryuu Ikkakusenkin Daisakusen!
Another minigame compilation but well animated & funny, play this almost daily on my lunchbreaks at work.


Ninokuni: Shikkoku no Madoushi
My favourite RPG on the DS, great story. Lovely graphics & animation, wonderful ochestral soundtrack & tons of secrets. Plus it has that awesome book too.


Ketsui Death Label
Cut down boss rush version of Ketsui but pretty fun in small bursts


Hudson x GReeeeN Live!? DeeeeS!?
Not really a game & unless you like the band Greeeen it won't have any appeal but it's like a virtual concert where you can listen to their music & watch them perform.


Keshikas Kun
Another based on a koro koro comic series where you play as an eraser & you have to battle various stationary in top down levels.


Slide Adventure: Mag Kid
One of those experimental DS games tha Nintendo likes to do every so often, has a plug in optical mouse that you use to play the game.


Mawasunda!!
Based on an arcade game where all the minigames involve rotating.

[davs]

I've really enjoyed Meccha! Taiko no Tatsujin DS over the years, great fun. Never played the PSP versions though, does anybody know how similar they are to the DS versions? Do they feature different tracklistings?

[importaku]

Ace post, although a one line description of each would be really cool if you ever get time.

What's the one with teh chicken and the diving suit?

Ah thats a crazy one i did a first play of years back

http://ntsc-uk.domino.org/showthread.php?t=86083&highlight=tottado

It's a game based on a Japanese tv show, island survival via the medium of bizzare minigames. Has Shinya Arino of Game center CX fame in it.

[edit] added a line or 2 about each game

[hush]

I like this one