7. Nazo no Murasame Jō
Also known as The Mysterious Murasame Castle, this was the Famicom game from 1986 starring Takamaru, the same that inspired the shuriken game in Wii U’s Nintendo Land. The game takes place in feudal Japan, and Takamaru must travel through various castles to defeat evil ninjas summoned by aliens who have taken over the daimyo lords. Sweet. Nazo no Murasame is similar to The Legend of Zelda in its presentation, but not its gameplay. Takamaru takes linear paths through the castles, focusing more on action than exploration. He only has a katana and shuriken at his disposal, and the game is known for being fiendishly difficult.
Sadly, Nazo no Murasame Jō wasn’t quite as successful as Metroid and The Legend of Zelda, two other Famicom games released the same year. As such, Takamaru became a rather obscure character, never getting another game apart from a few references and cameo appearances in other titles and a short-lived anime.
Japan has seen Nazo no Murasame Jō re-released a couple times as a Game Boy Advance Classic, and on the Virtual Console, but Takamaru has never left Japan in his game proper. It could easily be an imported Virtual Console title, so what’s the hold-up?
While the Satellaview would have been cool, I think placing it above Mother 3 might be giving it more praise than it perhaps deserves.
GiFTPIA and Homeland have both intrigued me for years. There are fan translations available for at least GiFTPIA but they’re online only and you have to keep scrolling as you play. They’re perhaps overdue for an attempt at localisation.
Mother 3 is my second favourite game ever. So that’s that.
I just checked and it seems a translation for Captain Rainbow is available by rather grey-area means.
A VC release of Fire Emblem: Geneology of the Holy War would be most epic and appreciated. If they were to bring over the FE games, I’d rather they have fans translate the names. I was playing Awakening’s first Outrealm map and I still refer to “Deirdre” as “Diadora”. And it’s Celice, not Seliph.
But I’m splitting hairs. The FE and Mother series need international release.
I’m not surprised about the lack of translation in regards to the earlier entries in the Wars and Fire Emblem series’. The amount of localization probably means that the older titles just aren’t worth the effort. The lack of a port for the 2010 Fire Emblem game is confounding, though. Wonder what happened there?
As a teen, I was so mad at Nintendo for not bringing over the Game Boy sequel to Pokémon TCG. That’s another one I never understood. Seemed like printing money, to me.
Couldn’t find a place for Tingle’s Freshly Cut Rupee Land? Poor guy never gets any love.
That game was one my original choices. However, it actually released in Europe, so it did leave Japan!
that stellaview thing sounds pretty amazing, also captain rainbow
I like the honorable mention to the Legend of Starfy series! Some years ago I imported Starfy 2 and 3 (the original wasn’t available on Play-Asia) and have since completed them. I also have Starfy 4, but I haven’t even turned it on…
The only complaint I have about importing Starfy games is the massive amount of text. Every level is overflowing with lengthy discussions; and even though it’s entirely possible to find your way through the games without knowing Japanese (even I did it :P), the sense of loss is still there.