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Thread: Console games released in PAL territories but not in North America

  1. #1

    Console games released in PAL territories but not in North America

    PAL television standard territories are used to being scammed of games released in North America. This thread is devoted to the opposite, games released in PAL or PAL variant countries that were not released in North America. Many of these games did see release in Japan though. I jampacked as many games I find interesting into one post but there are tons more.

    "Classic Series" Mario Bros.(Nintendo, NES)
    Mario Bros. was released in North America but I'm talking about the German re-release. It's worth mentioning due to it being upgraded with cinemas. I haven't played it but I'm curious to know if it has the improved control found in the Japanese release Kaettekita Mario Bros. http://www.nesworld.com/gerelese.htm

    Shenmue II(Sega, DC, 2001)
    I couldn't wait for Microsoft's Xbox release so I bought the Euro version. It was worth it.


    Mr. Gimmick(Sunsoft, NES, 1993)
    No gimmicks here, just a great platformer. The Famicom version has superior sound though.


    Alien Soldier(Sega/Treasure, MD, 1995)
    One of the best run 'n guns ever.


    Parodius(Palcom/Konami, NES/SNES, 1992)
    Palcom was a European label of Konami.

    http://www.vgmuseum.com/pics2/parodius.html

    Sonic Chaos(Sega, SMS, 1993)
    I consider this the best of the 8-bit Sonics. The Game Gear version was released in North America and it's the same game aside from a few minor differences like the title screen and some of the music.


    Brian Lara Cricket(Codemasters, PC/PS1, 1999)
    Cricket and rugby games tend to get left in PAL zones.
    http://www.itreviews.co.uk/graphics/.../games/g32.jpg

    Banana Prince(Takara, NES, 1992)
    The English in the pic is from a translated rom. I think Germany was the only country outside of Japan to get this game.


    Kuru Kuru Kururin(Nintendo/Eighting, GBA, 2001)
    Avoid the edges. Pleasantly simple.


    Legend of Illusion(Sega, SMS, 1994)


    Radikal Bikers(Infogrames, PS1, 2000)
    An impressive port of Gaelco's arcade game.
    http://www.planetacaratulas.com/cara...sx-Trasera.jpg

    Keio Flying Squadron 2(JVC, SS, 1996)


    Nightmare(Sancho, 2600)
    Climb your way to safety.


    Over Horizon(Takara/Hot-B, NES, 1991)
    http://www.nesplayer.com/features/PAL/39.gif

    Ninja Gaiden(Sega, SMS, 1992)
    Initially I hated this game and considered it nothing more than a bastardization of Tecmo's great franchise. It has grown on me though and on its own it's pretty good.


    Terranigma(Enix/Quintet, SNES, 1996)
    There was no American branch of Enix at the time so we were denied despite the game being fully translated into English.


    Masters of Combat(Sega, SMS, 1993)


    Devil World(Nintendo, NES, 1984(In Japan, I don't know the year of the PAL release))
    I guess Nintendo was too afraid to release this into Jesusland. They even took the Tamagon(little dragon) trophy out of Super Smash Bros. Melee.


    Fighting Vipers 2(Sega, DC, 2001)
    http://www.consoles-otaku.com/testsa...Vipers_2/2.jpg

    Hell Night(Konami/Atlus, PS1)
    I'm interested to know what this is about. There is an arcade game of the same name but since the PS1 game is often labeled as "adventure" I assume it's different.

    Klax(Tengen, 2600, 1990)
    The lowest port graphically but it plays well.
    http://www.ntrautanen.fi/marko/sao/p..._2600/klax.gif

    Bubble Bobble(Sega/Taito, SMS, 1991)
    The best pre-32-bit home version of Bubble Bobble. It came out in 1988 in Japan as Final Bubble Bobble.
    http://bto8.smspower.org/segapower/1362/052.gif

    Ufouria(Sunsoft, NES, 1991)
    A neat platform adventure starring an altered version of Sunsoft mascot Hebereke. This pic is from the Japanese version as I couldn't find a Euro one.


    Pop'n Twinbee(Palcom/Konami, SNES, 1993)
    http://www.vgmuseum.com/pics2/pop.html

    [b]Pop'n Twinbee Rainbow Bell Adventures(Konami, SNES, 1993)
    Being a platformer, this was a side-story to the shooter series. It's quite good too but maybe Konami thought it was too pastel.


    Hebereke's Popoitto(Sunsoft, SNES, 1995)


    Doshin the Giant(Nintendo, GC, 2002)
    James' review - http://www.the-nextlevel.com/reviews...hin_the_giant/


    Mega SWIV(Time Warner/Sales Curve, MD, 1994)
    http://www.genesiscollective.com/Genesis/Screenshots/Mega%20SWIV%20(GS).png

    Sitio do Picapau Amarelo(TecToy, SMS, 1997)
    Brazil got all kinds of original SMS content. The games developed in Brazil like this one aren't very good although I find them interesting because they're exclusive to one country. They also ruined several great Japanese developed games with awful sprite changes.


    Lone Soldier(Telstar/Tempest Software, PS1, 1996)
    I played this a few years back and I liked it. It's a war themed action game, very arcade-ish and third-person. Nick Rox did a preview in Gamefan but it was never released in North America.

    Power Strike II(Sega/Compile, SMS, 1993)
    Unlike the first SMS game which was an MSX port, this was an original release and definitely one of the best 8-bit shooters.


    Power Strike II(Sega/Compile, GG, 1993)
    The Game Gear in Europe also got a Power Strike II. It's a completely different game than the SMS one.
    http://www.vgmuseum.com/images/gg/aleste.html

    Tiny Toons: Buster's Bad Dream(Swing!/Treasure, GBA, 2002)


    King of Fighters '95(SNK, SS, 1995)
    http://www.retrogaming.it/saturn/kof95005.JPG

    Rez(Sega, DC, 2001)
    http://www.retro-games.co.uk/sega/dcast/rez_scr.jpg

    Fatal Run(Atari, 2600, 1990)
    http://www.atariguide.com/sss/mini-fatalrun.gif

    Maken Shao: Demon Sword(Midas/Atlus, PS2, 2002)
    The third-person PS2 version of Maken X on DC.


    New Ghostbusters II(HAL, NES, 1990)
    Much better than the Ghostbusters 2 game released in North America.
    http://www.vgmuseum.com/reviews/nes/nghostbstrs2/

    Renegade(Sega, SMS, 1993)
    A port(or you could say remake) of the Technos game.
    http://www.smspower.org/db/renegade-5.gif

    Rodland(Storm/Jaleco, NES)
    A port of the arcade game. According to this list the only European country it was released in was Spain. http://simplynes.emucamp.com/europe.html


    Acid Drop(Salu, 2600, 1992)
    A puzzle game similar to Columns.
    http://www.vgmuseum.com/pics6/acid.html

    Super Fantasy Zone(Sunsoft, MD, 1992)


    Hammerin' Harry(Irem, NES, 1992)

    Zero Wing(Sega/Toaplan, MD, 1992)
    An obscure, mediocre arcade shooter turned famous years later by this port.


    Vib Ribbon(Sony/Nana On Sha, PS1, 2000)


    Duke Nukem 3D(TecToy, SG, 1998)
    Duke on Genesis? Only in Brazil.
    http://www.vgmuseum.com/pics2/dukenukem3d.html

    Darxide(Sega/Frontier, 32X, 1995)
    A 3d shooter from the developer of the popular(in Europe) space sim Elite.


    Elite(Imagineer, NES, 1991)
    http://acorn.cybervillage.co.uk/emulation/nes/elite.gif

    Space Gun(Taito, SMS, 1992)
    This was based on the arcade game but not a direct port.
    http://www.smspower.org/db/spacegun-3.gif

    Mortal Kombat 2(Arena/Probe, SMS, 1994)
    The SMS lived long enough in some territories to get 3 Mortal Kombat games, Street Fighter II and a Virtua Fighter game.
    http://potato.emu-france.com/sms/images/Mortal_Kombat_2_(UE)_%5B!%5D.gif

    Deep Fear(Sega, SS, 1998)
    A survival horror game.
    http://www.computerandvideogames.com..._pic_23527.jpg

    Crackout(Palcom/Konami, NES, 1991)
    I incorrectly labeled this as a Japan exclusive in another thread but it did get a Euro release.

    Operation Wolf(Taito, SMS, 1990)
    http://potato.emu-france.com/sms/images/Operation_Wolf_(U)_%5B!%5D.gif

    Discworld II(Psygnosis/Perfect 10, SS, 1997)


    Aladdin(Sega, SMS, 1994)
    This was similar to the Genesis game although the levels are designed different enough to consider it a separate game.


    For more info on PAL NES games check out this site - http://www.nesplayer.com/features/PAL/games.htm

    What I have listed so far are games released for consoles available in North America. Europe was also home to consoles that never saw release at all in North America.

    The VTech CreatiVision was released in few European countries and South Africa in 1981. It was a console that could be upgraded into a personal computer. Seeing as VTech was based in Hong Kong, it's likely its games were developed there too.


    Tank Attack(VTech, CreatiVision, 1981)


    Astro Pinball(VTech, Creativision, 1982)


    Crazy Chicky(VTech, CreatiVision, 1981)


    Sonic Invader(VTech, CreatiVision, 1981)
    A Space Invaders clone.
    http://www.dieterkoenig.at/ccc/cr/bi...er_screen1.jpg

    Police Jump(VTech, CreatiVision, 1981)
    Similar to Donkey Kong and one of gaming's earliest platformers.


    More info on CreatiVision - http://darkwatcher.psxfanatics.com/console/vtech.htm

    The Epoch Super Cassette Vision was released in Japan in 1984. It was the successor to the Cassette Vision which launched in 1981. Epoch licensed the Super Cassette Vision to a French company called Yeno(which had already released the Sega SC-3000 computer in France). I'm not sure if Yeno released it in any other European countries.


    Kung Fu Road(Yeno/Epoch, SCV, 1985)


    Star Speeder(Yeno/Epoch, SCV, 1985)
    http://www5e.biglobe.ne.jp/~kiden/de...e3/speed04.jpg

    Lupin III(Yeno/Epoch, SCV, 1984)


    *Note - the years listed are taken from the Japanese title screens, the France release years might be different.

    More Super Cassette Vision games shown here -
    http://www5e.biglobe.ne.jp/~kiden/supakase.htm

    The Epoch systems haven't been emulated yet as far as I can tell. If they have been please let me know.

    In 1990, Amstrad released a console version of their CPC computer line called GX 4000 in some European countries. Like Atari's previous attempt to do the same thing with the XEGS console, it was a commercial failure.


    Burnin' Rubber(Ocean, GX 4000, 1990)


    Pang!(Ocean, GX 4000, 1990)
    A port of the Capcom/Mitchell arcade game.


    Wild Streets(Titus, GX 4000, 1990)
    http://www.geocities.com/oth12fr/cpc/wildstreets.jpg

    Barbarian II(Ocean/Palace Software, GX 4000, 1990)
    http://cpczone.emuunlim.com/reviews/...an-2-1-big.gif

    Escape From the Planet of the Robot Monsters(Domark, GX 4000)
    A port of the Atari arcade game.
    http://cpczone.emuunlim.com/reviews/...game-2-big.gif

    More GX 4000 cartridges are shown here - http://www.pcwking.netfirms.com/cartridge.html

    Any additions, corrections, opinions, etc.. would be appreciated.
    Last edited by NeoZeedeater; 04 Mar 2005 at 06:22 PM.

  2. What kind of game is Banana Prince?

  3. That's awesome.

  4. There was a PAL-only PSX Beatmania release. Don't know if it had any exclusive songs (I think it had a couple), but the songlist wasn't based on any Japanese release.

  5. unless it's a different game, Discworld 2 was released on the Playstation is the USA.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Sqoon
    What kind of game is Banana Prince?
    I only played a bit of the rom but it seems to mostly a platformer with some item shops, nothing too text heavy.

    Quote Originally Posted by Kraftwerks
    unless it's a different game, Discworld 2 was released on the Playstation is the USA.
    Oops, I forgot to double check that. It must just be the Saturn one that's PAL only. I'll fix it.

  7. On the hardware front...a bit obscure, but Commodore released a Cart-only version of the C-64 called the 64GS in the UK and Ireland only.

    “The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, you know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done.” -George Carlin

  8. I was very interested in Headhunter for the Dreamcast. Needless to say, Europe got the game and we didn't.





    Darxide looks pretty cool. Has anyone played this title?
    Last edited by gamevet; 24 Feb 2005 at 10:16 PM.

  9. Wow, Consumer of New Zeed, that was the longest post yet! You European bastards and your Twinbee games...

    Let's not forget that they got the Mega Drive Mega Man: The Wily Wars compilation too.
    ...you assholes.

  10. #10
    I have done other posts that need to be constantly shrunk until the post size limit accepts it.

    The Wily Wars sort of came out in North America if you count the Sega Channel.

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