OMG I LOVES KAWAI

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I have a strong preference for Japanese games - localized or not. Western games, for the most part, tend to be very high testosterone, cookie cutter games - like FPS, RTS ans sports games. None of these interest me. It's even more pronounced now that most Western games use the Unreal engine and look very similar.

I think part of it is the time I really got into games, meaning I had to buy them for myself. That time period was the early 90s - the 16-bit era. The difference between Japanese and Western games was embodied by the 2D fighter for me; specifically, Street Fighter II vs. Mortal Kombat. This duo embodies the difference between Japanese and Western game design philosophies.

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I haven't imported any Japanese games -- yet, cost is a bit of an issue -- though I enjoy reading about them here. Most of my favorite games are Japanese-developed (Zelda, Okami, Phoenix Wright, Final Fantasy, and so on), so I guess that answers that question. I think Western developers tend to lean on the "war-torn future" or the "medieval England" settings way too much, and, while Japanese developers have things they overuse too, they are a little more creative setting-wise, which is something that appeals to me.

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I like Japanese localized games a lot, even more than I thought. I just started playing Final Fantasy 3 and I am in love. I also love Magical Starsign.
I just ordered a lot of Japanese games, mostly puzzle games like Slitherlink and Nurikabe. I love them, and even though they should be localized, they are playable even in Japanese.
With the high euro, importing is cheap right now, so I still have 12 games in the post :D

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Most of the games I enjoy are from Japanese developers, but I don't import them - it's expensive and not worth the hassle of learning another language.

As for reading about them, I largely don't, unless something in the headline or the images from the game sparks my interest ("witch-touching" comes to mind) or it strikes me as something that will definitely get localized that I may want to play (like a Zelda or Harvest Moon title).

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I find that the Japanese games tend to be innovative unto the point of imitation, which are then reduxed by US and UK companies. I have had several which I prefer to play in Japanese (Ouendan is better than EBA, I'm sorry) and some which are only available IN Japanese (Tales of Eternia, anyone?). All in all, if you can understand even a smattering of the language, the Japanese titles are where it's at.
And yes, importing titles are expensive, which is a huge deterrent in my eyes. Thank God for the time I lived in Asia, otherwise I wouldn't have half the games I own today.

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I play mostly Japanese games (localized, never imported). For one thing, I love RPGs, and the Japanese do too. I also find that Japanese developers tend to do a great job with aesthetics and visual design, though not always with gameplay. But the Japanese developers tend to really focus on creating a "world" that draws you in.

The only non-Japanese games I own right now are the Ratchet & Clank series (PS2), the Burnout series (PS2), and Warcraft 3 (Mac). Those are all great games, but are far outnumbered by the 40-50 Japanese games I own for various systems.

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Yeah, I have to say I prefer Japanese too. They tend to take more risks in the games they produce (witch-touching? butt-biting bug? ouendan?), probably because there's a wider market of tastes over there. I mean, up until just recently, the market demographic for games in the States was guys 18-34, so the stuff being produced were pretty much only fighters, shooters, and sports title (none of which I'm too crazy about).

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Yeah I can understand why some games will never be localized, even though Okami, a very Japanese game as it is, was localized :P

I imported both Ouendan and Ouendan 2, without even playing them before. I got Ouendan back in October 2006 and got Ouendan 2 back in May 2007, and I can say they are both definitely great games.

I even bought EBA even though I didn't like the music selection that much, but I don't think EBA2 is going to happen anytime soon. Guess we'll have to wait till E3.

I know iNiS is making a Wii game so that might be another thing to import if it doesn't make its way to the US.

I've also played Daigasso! Band Brothers but wasn't that impressed with it so I didn't import it. I have play Taiko no Tatsujin DS as well and I think it's pretty good. I might import it someday.

I only ever import if it is a game I'm interested in that won't be brought over to the US.

And also, I prefer Japanese developed games because they have so much fantasy and worlds and stories that just suck you into the game. They also have some pretty niche titles that are awesome like No More Heroes and Ouendan.

Sorry, I'm just not into FPS much. I mean the only Western Developed games I own are Metroid Prime Hunters & Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.

Japanese games are just more interesting overall, I'm not trying to sound like a jerk, but I haven't seen anything from Western devs that interest me one bit (besides Burnout games...)

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It depends on the console, for me. Nearly every game I own on Nintendo consoles are developed by Nintendo, Capcom and Konami. While on the PS2, the majority are covered by Insomniac, Sucker Punch and Naughty Dog in the US, Free Radical Design in the UK and Ubi in Canada.

It all depends. If I had to pick one I couldn't. Thankfully, I don't have to!

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With the SNES I electric nailfiled out the tabs and had like a dozen Super Famicom games I enjoyed, but now just have like 4 (Parodius 1 and 2, SDF Macross, and Pop'n Twinbee.)

I've imported though new around a dozen GBA games mostly from Japan, but one from the UK (Pinball Challenge Deluxe as it's a combo of Pinball Dreams and Pinball Fantasies which are some of the best of the PC/Amiga in the 1990s.) Some I got because they were not released (F-Zero Climax which is the only great GBA one) and some since some jagoffs decided to censor or break the games (Final Fight One with the girls/blood out, and Super SF2T with the broken Akuma that hoses the SRAM.) Also I had 3 I just kept between April-June of 01 when I got my imported GBA too.

The DS I got Electroplankton minus the earphones for free from someone who was a friend at the time. I'd like to get more but I find paying $15-20+ more for a JP title is inexcusable greed. Also I dunno where to get them outside of play-asia.com for the most part as it seems the American spots that did it all dried up and ebay is rife with fakes.

As far as games go, the first few line of posters there I'm with. Grew up on 8bit Nintendo into 16, etc and while I had a PC in 1990 on Japanese games 85-90% of the time were just more inventive, fun, more variety, better use of genres etc. Western games seem to focus too much overkill on FPS, RTS, sports, and racing to a disgusting degree and they've become so cookiecutter I can't touch most of it now out of a mixture of boredom and disgust.

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I like both imports and localizations!! For example, both Jump Stars games are awesome!!!! Also, I generally prefer the eastern games because they are generally more innovative and a lot more fun!!!

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I have to say that Japanese games are amazing compared to the overly American influenced games on the PS3 and XBOX 360... I posted a comment over on PS3 fanboy about Sony trying too hard to get the Amerian market by promoting FPS games on the PS3, and what a shame it was; boy was that a mistake! I got shot to bits.

Thankfully, you guys have the good sense to realise what I too have found - the Japanese games are just really really good: inventive, quirky, different and FUN.

My DS is my most used games system and yet I own Wii, PS3, 360 and PSP... The DS is just so damn cool I'm in love with it. Bring back point and click games, 2D scrolling shooters and games that make you think then I will be happy! OR maybe I'm just old.

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Joshua I understand that but I used to import quite a bit and cash conversion included the remaining importation shops have hiked their overhead profit $5-10 over what it used to be, and that greed is what I'm ripping on in my comments. I suppose I should have added that to my post, but I had no problem paying $10 over US price for a game, but $20 I do.

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I enjoy reading about interesting games regardless of their point of origin. Even if chances of it being localized are slim. I've picked up the Jump Super Stars and enjoyed it thanks to FAQs online. However a lot of the games I'm interested in will generally be more text heavy, so I'm very unlikely to pick up an import copy of one of those. Most of the DS games I've enjoyed have been Japanese in origin (the Ace Attorney series and Feel the Magic/Rub Rabbits) However there are several good western developed games.(Sam & Max games, Lucas Arts adventure games) I think the main things I look for are a good story and wacky hijinks.

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I read a lot of Japanese women's magazines; I see a lot of really cool things advertised for the DS. It seems like there are so many titles in Japan that are targeted toward the female audience- and I for one would love to be able to play some of those games. And that's in addition to productivity titles (budgeting, diary, and my personal favorite so far- a nail art designer). I'm hoping the yoga and pilates games that are coming out soon do really well so we get other offbeat things as well.

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