Fans spam Nintendo for Last Story release

By Fred Dutton Published 24 June, 2011

Xenoblade, Pandora's Tower demanded too.

Wii users disgruntled at Nintendo's reluctance to localise a number of its Japan-only titles have launched a spamming campaign in an effort to coax the platform holder into action.

According to Destructoid, gamers have rallied around a lengthy thread on IGN's forum and unleashed a unified letter-writing and email offensive on Nintendo of America.

Nintendo's Facebook page has taken both barrels too, with gamers hijacking threads and demanding news on the status of Mistwalker's ambitious RPG The Last Story, which launched in Japan earlier this year to positive reviews.

Action adventure Pandora's Tower is also on the wishlist, as well as a US release for acclaimed Monolith Soft role player Xenoblade Chronicles.

The Wii's 2011 release slate is decidedly threadbare until Zelda: Skyward Sword finally launches later this year. Considering there's quality content waiting in the wings, it's not hard to see why some are getting frustrated.

Still, there's cause for some smugness among European Nintendo patrons. Xenoblade Chronicles has been confirmed for release on this side of the pond in September.

For those interested, there's a handy NeoGAF thread rounding-up all the Wii and DS titles Nintendo of Japan is keeping for itself.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (53) Latest comment 8 months ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Ror1984 #1 8 months ago

    I saw Xenoblade Chronicles running at the London Expo last month. It looked really good, so I'll be buying it. I'm also hoping for The Last Story over here... maybe I should get involved in this Nintendo-badgering tomfoolery.

  • Machetazo #2 8 months ago

    Where 75% of the titles on DS I regularly return to are American, and 30% (or thereabouts) of these were only released in that territory for English language, why are Nintendo such dicks as to insist on region locking on their system? Things they do release here, show up late (inherently overpriced) and the selection's bland.
    It's not much wonder the third parties have the hardest time on Nintendo platforms, because "own brand" is all you really hear anything about!
    Good on the disgruntled.
    Edited by 1 at 25/06/11 @ 00:25

  • Malek86 #3 8 months ago

    Serious question: why are JRPG fans always so much more vocal than other minorities? There are many games Nintendo hasn't localized, but most of the complaining seems directed at Xenoblade and Last Story. And this happens for other companies too.
    Edited by 1 at 25/06/11 @ 00:22

  • dmt2 #4 8 months ago

    Nintendo treated the European market like shit when they released the N64.

  • Rufus #5 8 months ago

    @Malek86

    I think it's simply a case of being passionate for the genre. Fans get passionate for all sorts of things but JRPGS have such a rich fanbase and history, its a genre that has been going for generations. It's no surprise that such a campaign has arisen and its wonderful to see as well :)

  • Geowolf #6 8 months ago

    Dammit, I want those games too. They never listen though. Nintendo never admits to mistakes.

    Also, while they're on the spamming offensive can they put in for a new Grandia in the fashion of 1 or 2 and a new Skies of Arcadia would go down as well.

  • Geowolf #7 8 months ago

    Maybe we should try the same thing here. Right, who do we send it to in Nintendo of Europe... oh yeah, never mind.

  • HiddenAway #8 8 months ago

    IMO, it's also a case of the genre not really sparking like it did on the PS2. The JRPG output on the main home consoles has been relatively poor and most of the Japanese output has been on handhelds (and not many enjoy games on handhelds, though they do suit them thanks to the ability to stop anywhere and continue where you left off).

    So, when some decent ones come along (and Last Story is said to be very good) and Nintendo refuse to localise the games, I think that was the proverbial straw breaking the camel's back :p

  • SpaceMonkey77 #9 8 months ago

    You see, its stuff like this that show why Nintendo suck. They know that Wii's releases are few, but yet still deny you games that would suit your needs well. Why any sane gamer would wave their flag is beyond silly.

    I'm done chasing them for scraps at their table, good luck to those who have to resort to these methods, to get their jrpg fix. Very rarely do Nintendo ever listen to us anymore, and you need only look at WiiU and 3DS to see that.

  • Jamiesan #10 8 months ago

    That NeoGAF thread incorrectly states that Last Story is being released in Europe. About a month ago there was a rumour that a Nintendo employee hinted it might come to Europe, but that's all I can find on the topic. It goes to show Nintendo are still living in the 90s when it comes to global distribution, one of many reasons I will not be buying their hardware for the forseeable future

  • Shakey_Jake33 #11 8 months ago

    In fairness, I've got nothing but respect for people who make their feelings known about issues like this. Don't do anything, and nothing will happen. As someone who is still upset over the lack of Project Zero 4 in the west, I can understand their pain.

  • 5lectro #12 8 months ago

    How could Nintendo ever keep releasing Wii titles when WEEOO is just 1.5 years away?

  • Kami #13 8 months ago

    "Grandia in the fashion of 1 or 2..."

    I think you'll find those rights are in the hands of Square-Enix (I believe it was Enix who had the rights beforehand, and of course when merged it went with them).

    Mind you, after SE's recent output, I'd be terrified to hear of another Grandia...

  • Nevflinn #14 8 months ago

    Holy moley. Those threads actually work?? :o

  • inutaihanyou #15 8 months ago

    Now if only we could do this with namco and tales of Xilla :(

  • metamorphic #16 8 months ago

    @beemoh: Oh, I don't know, how about adventure games (the true point-and-click kind)? Ever seen even a review or a feature on places like Eurogamer, Joystiq, et all lately?

  • Alestes #17 8 months ago

    I'm very pleased that Xenoblade Chronicles is released here in Europe. If not in Sweden, I can at least import it from UK like I did with A Shadow's Tale.

    Now I just hope The Last Story gets here too, really want to play that game!

    Nintendo seem to be stuck at the 80s and early 90s, back then JRPGs weren't really released outside Japan either (well, there were a few exceptions). But that fortunately changed in the late 90s with plenty of PS1 JRPGs being released outside of Japan (even if we still had to import some of them from the US like Chrono Cross). Now Nintendo seem to be the platform of choice for JRPGs once again, and we gets screwed once again.

    Nintendo just don't seem to bother to bring a game over unless it sell the same quantities as a Mario or Zelda game, and to be honest, which games do? A game doesn't really need to sell 2 million to be a success. Plus these kind of games will give Nintendo a lot of core gamer goodwill, and that has to count for something.
    Edited by 2 at 25/06/11 @ 07:43

  • MojoDex #18 8 months ago

    quite right aswell, how exactly do nintendo hope to take back the core if they don't give them the games they want?

  • Cid #19 8 months ago

    @Jamiesan

    The Last Story recently appeared on a tentative European release schedule under "2012".

  • redcrayon #20 8 months ago

    @Malek86
    Serious question: why are JRPG fans always so much more vocal than other minorities? There are many games Nintendo hasn't localized, but most of the complaining seems directed at Xenoblade and Last Story. And this happens for other companies too.

    Where the Wii is concerned, those few titles have received a fair bit of coverage in the Western games press as being of potential interest to us, as well as good reviews in Japan. I'm not surprised that people are asking when the US release is a few months later.

    As for JRPG fans in general being vocal, it's sort of a self-answering question. It's because their favourite genre is made almost exclusively in Japan, and they see only a tiny minority of the actual output. If the only US-made FPS that was released in the EU was CoD, despite the EU games press covering the entire genre with regular previews of other shooters, EU FPS fans would be just as vocal at the sloppy approach to globalisation when there is clearly an interest in the product (well, the good ones) overseas, and has been for a couple of decades now.

    Like any niche within a niche, Western JRPG fans tend to gather in a few specific places, fan forums etc, where word goes around quickly about surveys like that, some fans having a wishlist of the stuff they'd like to see translated. Games of Western origin don't generate that kind of obsessive fandom because they don't need to, their Western release is rarely in doubt.
    Edited by 2 at 25/06/11 @ 09:35

  • superbeast2010 #21 8 months ago

    Post deleted at 10:57:39 01-02-2012

  • koopa #22 8 months ago

    Famitsu:
    Last Story - 9/9/10/10
    Xenoblade Chronicles - 9/9/9/9
    Pandora's Tower - 7/7/8/9

    Looks like they're really worth localizing, they could skip the voice acting and just give us subtitles, I think many would actually prefer it that way. I'm glad that Xenoblade is confirmed here since it looks the most interesting to me. It's ironic that Nintendo would've killed to have games like these in the N64/Gamecube era, goes to show how JRPGs lost their status...
    Edited by 1 at 25/06/11 @ 10:46

  • Cryotek #23 8 months ago

    If only we could get one going for Project Zero/Fatal Frame on the Wii to get a Euro release as well... *sigh* So much want...

  • Nazo #24 8 months ago

    This is one of the reasons why I probably won't be getting a Wii U when it comes out. Nintendo have always treated the European market with disdain and compounded with region locking it's probably going to be a no from me. Going region free was one of Sony's smartest moves this gen for me.

  • Ikaros_O #25 8 months ago

    Apart from Zelda what games are out for the Wii this year? Nothing seems to spring to mind and when the console has such a huge install base it seems like Nintendo are taking the piss.

  • erp #26 8 months ago

    Hey EG! Is there any chance you could talk to someone at Nintendo Europe about this crazy situation? And it'd be great if you could ask the difficult questions that us fans want the answers to, and not just settle for some pre-prepared PR spiel.

    I mean, just what the hell are they playing at? If we were drowning under new releases then I could understand the odd Japanese curio not making its way across, but in the current climate where there's barely a single game being released per year that their "core" audience care about - the same "core" audience they claim they want to win back - it really just makes no sense at all.

    I'm chuffed to bits that Xenoblade is coming to these shores as that's the game I've been hankering after the most, but really there's no excuse for any of these games not getting a release over here.

    I agree with one of the earlier posts above, I too am getting tired of "begging for scraps" (very nicely put, by the way). As a proud owner of every Nintendo console and handheld since the SNES, I am becoming increasingly disillusioned by the company. The 3DS is the first of their systems I have not bought, and unless they buck their ideas up ten-fold I really don't think I'll buy a WiiU either at this rate.

    Such a sorry state of affairs.
    Edited by 2 at 25/06/11 @ 11:28

  • Vortextk #27 8 months ago

    Those three specifically I really want...

    Stop telling us all your third party deals for the wii-u nintendo. Ports will be failures as soon as they hit considering how long we've had our other consoles and however long it will be till the next wave hits decimating wii-u in terms of graphical power. Give me the damn unique games I can't get from anywhere else and we'll talk!

  • Machetazo #28 8 months ago

    @ Cryotek: That would make an incredible tech demo, but I think the novelty of using the controller like the camera obscura might wear off, before the spectres stopped haunting. If they built a full fledged game around the concept, perhaps integrated the usage of both screens (display/controller) they could be on to something special. I just hope Fatal Frame hasn't been mothballed for the foreseeable, already - but, there's definitely potential for great integration with WiiU.
    Edited by 1 at 25/06/11 @ 11:20

  • koopa #29 8 months ago

    @Nazo
    Actually, Europe has fared better than America during the DS/Wii generation in terms of released games, and this is one of the examples...
    Edited by 1 at 25/06/11 @ 11:34

  • Mr.Spo #30 8 months ago

    Or, perhaps Nintendo are getting the easy to localise games out of the way first? You know, Kirby, Mario Party, Wii Play 2, Rhythm Heaven, and of course Zelda as their big title. In a line up like that (sequels and popular franchises), how well would lesser known, new IPs like Xenoblade and Last Story actually fare?? Not very well at all. Especially when you consider that they have to compete against not only Wii titles for attention, but the big hitting 3DS games that will be out before the end of the year, and all the other blockbusters coming out on other formats.

    Xenoblade is out in September in Europe, and Last Story was confirmed for a European release by its director. Europe's actually done better than America here, for those of you ranting about Nintendo treating Europe like it's the Dark Ages. And also, Iwata has said that Japan only Wii and DS games WILL be localised in the coming months--but that's only going to happen once the established franchises and characters have come and gone. Last Story and Pandora's Tower have a better chance of succeeding on Wii if they don't have to compete against Zelda, Kirby or Mario Party.

    Don't get me wrong, I'm not happy these titles have taken so long to get here. I love the look of Xenoblade and Last Story, and in an ideal world they'd be released or near release. However, the constant "Gaaah, this is why Nintendo suck" vitriol that gets spewed whenever Nintendo make a dodgy decision does annoy me. They're a business reliant entirely on videogames for their income. If they dump new franchises like Xenoblade and Last Story onto the Western market without careful thought, we won't see titles like that ever again. These aren't the GC or N64 days, and the Wii's primary market won't lap these titles up and be grateful for them--Nintendo have to be very careful with when they bring these games out, or they'll flop completely.
    Edited by 1 at 25/06/11 @ 11:52

  • Daeltaja #31 8 months ago

    Would pick up The Last Story, no questions, but I won't be holding my breath. Stranger things have happened though..

    You'd think that they'd be only too happy to get software released in US/EU, considering the sheer lack of it. Will they ever learn?

  • Burkey123 #32 8 months ago

    Theres got to be SOME reason behind them not localising these games, surely.. Income more than likely...
    I shall be picking up Xenoblade though, looks good..

  • captain_saturn #33 8 months ago

    Hey I have a solution. DON'T REGION-LOCK YOUR CONSOLES NINTENDO!!

    I honestly don't see any reason for it, except to force die-hard fans to buy the same console several times. And it can even pay off sometimes when people import, i.e Demon's Souls, which would never have been a hit of any sort if the ps3 was region locked.

    Honestly Nintendo, we just want to buy your games. Please let us.

  • redcrayon #34 8 months ago

    @Mr.Spo

    I wouldn't have thought that the market for Last Story crosses over with Mario Party that much. It's also not really competing if there's only those 3 games coming out this year.

    I suspect Nintendo is happy to drag out the remaining releases to span the gap to the WiiU, now that most of their efforts are concentrating on that.
    Edited by 1 at 25/06/11 @ 15:18

  • el_pollo_diablo #35 8 months ago

    The entire world has turned into one big baby.

  • Mr_Brown #36 8 months ago

    I've seen game play of The Last Story on Giant Bomb and it looks fantastic. I was extremely disappointed that this was not being brought over here. Especially being a massive fan of Lost Odessey which I would say was the best RPG of this generation. Release it already!!!

  • Feanor #37 8 months ago

    The news article leaves out an important part of the story - Xenoblade/Monado is currently the #3 spot in the Videogames Bestsellers category on Amazon thanks to this campaign.

    http://ww w.amazon.com/computer-video-gam...
    Edited by 1 at 25/06/11 @ 20:30

  • erp #38 8 months ago

    @Feanor, that's fantastic! :)

  • SpaceMonkey77 #39 8 months ago

    @Mr Spo
    Bollocks, sir. You are making apologies for something that Nintendo have done for the last three generations. Localising games is nowhere near as hard as creating them yourself from scratch. Try not to deny that Nintendo spooge dribbling down your lips. If something like this is so hard to do, WiiU is going to fail, especially if region locked.

    If they are wrong, they are wrong and no amount of pussyfooting around will change that. Breaking that region lock, could have solved this problem (one that Nintendo saw no problem exploiting when GC allowed gamers to import games via Freeloader discs etc, and games being released were also at a similar lacklustre low), but they want to be anal about it this time. Pathetic, coming from a company that claims it wants to attract hardcore gamers back, they clearly haven't done their market research.

    If you don't want to meet customers half way, or to be in this industry anymore, just leave, Nintendo.

  • Geowolf #40 8 months ago

    Part of me thinks that Nintendo doesn't like to release anything in the West that might prove itself better than their own offerings. It'll annoy people but I still think NoE particularly is guilty of trying to dampen and block third party offerings.

    As for the Last Story offerings, considering that it's coming from the same man that once developed Final Fantasy 7, famously pulled from Nintendo. Could a deliberate act of spite be responsible in limiting the audience of this game?
    Edited by 1 at 26/06/11 @ 02:11

  • SimonM7 #41 8 months ago

    I am utterly convinced that Nintendo don't think people know about games that have come out or are coming out in other regions. I feel that they're still operating on the assumption that the average consumer merely knows about the games that sit on store shelves and never read a thing on the internet, ever.

    That way they can seriously argue that holding games and putting them out once every half year or something "pads" and "enriches" and "adds value" to their output and catalogue. In short, I think Nintendo think people are stupid. I think they go "well you have a game, we totally released a game, what are you complaining about?", oblivious to the fact that on the net, buzz gets around for titles when they come out ANYWHERE, and if you release something a year, year and a half too late, you're not giving that game a better chance at selling, you're making sure it's so utterly far outside its own buzz that people barely give a fuck anymore.

    Of course, it's oodles more offensive when they grab the publishing rights to something AND DON'T EVEN RELEASE IT. It's awful enough that they systematically held Trauma Center, some of the finest games on their flipping system, a FULL YEAR after their stateside - and thus localised for at least part of europe - release, now it's anyone's guess if they're even gonna bother releasing Trauma Team at all.

    And we're at the mercy of those bastards. God I'm getting riled up thinking about this stuff. :D But yeah, we're at the mercy of those bastards. They get the rights to Fatal Frame 4, all shit eating smile like because they had something revered and "mature" on their console, and then they don't even attempt to localise it, placing the game in horrible "nobody else can touch it" limbo.

    Yeah. I know it's harsh but I really do feel like they're operating on the assumption that we're stupid, children, or have no idea what's happening outside our local games store.
    Edited by 1 at 26/06/11 @ 05:16

  • redcrayon #42 8 months ago

    @Geowolf

    That's a couple of fairly bonkers conspiracy theories.

    I agree that their attitude to releasing stuff is mystifying at best, but thinking that individual games don't make it out of spite doesn't make any sense when it's always been like that. As for NoE not wanting to release anything popular that isn't first party, that's just crazy. If Monster Hunter Tri had taken off over here, selling loads more Wiis on the back of it, I hardly think Ninty would be sitting around grumbling about it. Odds of a niche JRPG becoming more popular than Mario? faairly slim.
    Edited by 1 at 26/06/11 @ 10:15

  • alimokrane #43 8 months ago

    Nintendo always treats Europe and US like s*** and this is why they never deserve to succeed here yet they do...

  • mr2ange #44 8 months ago

    Its not only nintendo that seems to do this,

    When demon's souls was first released - nobody would take it, it was well over a year before it saw the light of day in europe.
    Finally Namco saw what other publishers didn't and I praise them highly for that.

    The really dumb thing, is that even the original chinese/korean version had FULL english text and speech... Why not just release it in the uk earlier?

    Anyway, I imported it, played it, loved it, then bought the EU version, played it loved it again.

    This time round they learnt the lesson, its coming out everywhere for sure. Pre-order was instant.

  • TonyHarrison #45 8 months ago

    With regards to Fatal Frame 4, Nintendo wanted to release that in the West, however they demanded that Tecmo should fix the game so it wasn't a bug filled mess.

    Tecmo basically told them to shove it.

  • Mr.Spo #46 8 months ago

    @SpaceMonkey 77,

    You're furious at Nintendo on Eurogamer, when Nintendo of Europe have already decided to localise two of the high profile games from Japan, and they've given one a release date (Xenoblade, September). This story is about an American fan campaign. This isn't Nintendo Japan's decision or some Kyoto based consipiracy to anger Western fans--this isn't Iwata or Miyamoto thinking "Oh, look at the silly Westerners, they won't want these games", this is Nintendo of America deciding these games won't sell in the American market. If you take a look at that list on NeoGAF, Nintendo of Europe have localised more Japan only games than Nintendo of America have. If NoE think Xenoblade is worth bringing to Europe, then Last Story won't be far behind--Sakaguchi has already said it will come to Europe.

    My point is NoE are doing a decent job here, Reggie and NoA on the other hand, aren't. It's America that isn't getting these games, and while yes, that's a shame and these titles should see a global release, I'm not going to foam about the mouth at it or accuse others of having Nintendo's spooge around their lips. Europe will at least get Xenoblade and Last Story, just like we got Pikmin 2 NPC, Disaster and Another Code. If NeoGAF's information is correct, Europe gets Pandora's Tower, too. Nintendo of Europe are slowly improving, and while they're far from perfect, I don't see why we should lump them in with Nintendo of America's failings. Credit were credit is due--we're getting Xenoblade Chronicles even though the vast majority of gamers here will ignore it.

  • Geowolf #47 8 months ago

    @ red crayon

    I think that a good JRPG could be a strong contender against Zelda for people who like stories. Comparing JRPGs against Platformers is fairly bonkers.

    Also, the traditional Nintendo in the 80s had a history of making bonkers decisions based on the emotional whims of its then President. Famously, the breaking of the contract with Sony at the last minute having commissioned it to provide their new console CD-rom components. Also, leading to Squaresoft abandoning Nintendo having developed FFVII for a CD-Rom based storage limit.
    Edited by 2 at 26/06/11 @ 14:40

  • koopa #48 8 months ago

    From GAF: apparently Nintendo of France confirmed that Last Story is coming to Europe in 2012:

    http://ww w.nintendo-master.com/xtnews/ne...

  • TheTingler #49 8 months ago

    Yeah, I'd prefer Project Zero 4 thanks.

  • Sevens #50 8 months ago

    Not releasing The Last Story in western territories would be a pretty bad idea. Of course that aspect didn't stop Nintendo from locking in Project Zero IV in Japan.

  • eldani1977 #51 8 months ago

    I´m actually quite pissed we didn´t get Trauma Team here in Europe, but I´m afraid I´m quite alone with this opinion...

  • Spong #52 8 months ago

    Who cares? It's a Wii game.

  • PaletteSwap #53 8 months ago

    Even though these titles don't seem to offer a huge commercial potential, Nintendo's faced with a growing opportunity cost to not releasing them (at least from a PR standpoint).

    That a euphemism for "being strong-armed into releasing the games" but given Xeno and probably TLR will see an English language release, I can understand the frustration of the guys on the other side of the pond.

    TLR has been more or less confirmed, with Sakaguchi and a french marketing director confirming them in interviews with french websites.