Summary
It used to take a long time for games to arrive in North America and Europe from Japan. The biggest example is theFinal Fantasyseries. The first game was released in Japan on the NES in 1987, but it wouldn’t receive a Western release until 1990. After that, the series skipped two games and rebrandedFinal Fantasy 4asFinal Fantasy 2on the SNES.
The saga is very long, but eventually, the ship righted itself. Now, it’s common to get games on the same day as in Japan. Interestingly, many iconic Japanese video game franchises originally started as PC exclusives.
1Dragon Slayer/The Legend Of Heroes
This is a two-for-one deal as far as PC RPGs go.The Legend of Heroesis decades old, but it is still a niche series in the West because the release schedule is rather wonky. There are also a lot of branching games, so it can be hard to discern one from another. One example would beThe Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky. This series began under theDragon Slayerbanner, which first appeared in 1984 for the Japanese PC-8801 systems.
The game would not be released on a console until the Game Boy in 1990. Most of theDragon Slayerseries remained PC exclusives first before moving on to other hardware in Japan.The Legend of Heroesis a spinoff that started withDragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes, which was also a PC-8801 game, but it was released in 1989. It took a long time, but as of the past decade, most games in this series launch simultaneously on PCs and consoles.
2Metal Gear
Metal Gearwas released in 1987 on the MSX2 computer in Japan. Even then, it was seen as a solid breakthrough inthe stealth genre. It was ported that same year to the NES in Japan and a year later in the West. Due to its popularity, there was an exclusive NES sequel in 1990 calledSnake’s Revenge.
The true sequel was also released for the MSX2 in 1990 calledMetal Gear 2: Solid Snake. Western fans would not be able to enjoy that game or the MSX2 original version of the first game until 2006 viaMetal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence. It’s also worth mentioning that the launch ofMetal Gear Solidin 1998 made this series a console staple.
3Romance Of The Three Kingdoms
Romance of the Three Kingdomsis a series that is based on a Chinese epic of the same name, depicting warring families and kingdoms in a seemingly never-ending conflict. It’s one of the country’s most famous pieces of lore, and it has been recounted in games for generations. Western fans are probably more familiar withDynasty WarriorsthanRomance of the Three Kingdoms, but they are more or less covering the same ground.
Now,Romance of the Three Kingdomsbegan in 1985 on PC-88 systems in Japan; it would later be released on the NES in 1988. From there, the games would usually be released on PCs and consoles the same year but months apart.Romance of the Three Kingdoms 13was the first game in the series to simultaneously launch on PCs and consoles in 2016.
4RPG Maker
Video game enthusiasts have a lot of options to create games nowadays. They can create levels in games likeSuper Mario MakerorLittleBigPlanet, while bigger games likeDreamsallow players to create seemingly anything they want to.RPG Makerpredatesall of these games, and it is a series that focuses on the RPG genre alone.
Things began withRPG Tsukuru Dante 98in 1992 in Japan for the PC 9801. The first game in the series to hit consoles wasRPG Tsukuru: Super Dantevia the SNES in 1995. Most games in this series are still PC exclusive, but one of the latest releases,RPG Maker MV, did hit the PS4 and Switch in 2020 in North America. Will this trend continue, or willRPG Makerbe a PC series predominately?
5Shin Megami Tensei
Shin Megami Tenseiis what the series is known as today, but it started differently. The first game launched asDigital Devil Story: Megami Tensei, and it was released in Japan on the MSX computer in 1987. A few months later, it went to the NES equivalent in Japan.
The sequel was an NES exclusive in 1990, and from there, the series primarily became a console RPG franchise. While there are still games coming out today in the main series, most RPG fans are probably more familiar withthePersonaspinoffs.
6Ys
TheYsgamesare still niche action RPGs in the West, but the series is almost as old asThe Legend of Zelda. Things began in 1987 withYs I: Ancient Ys Vanished, which launched in Japan on the PC-88 in 1987. A year later, it got an NES port. The first three games would follow this pattern more or less, with the games first appearing on Japanese PCs before reaching consoles.
In 1993, the fourth game got two different versions.Ys IV: Mask of the Sunwas made for the SNES andYs IV: The Dawn of Yswas made for the PC Engine, which was a console, believe it or not. This is not where the series solidified itself as a console franchise, though, as sequels and remakes bounced back and forth between PCs and consoles.
