Japan Only Games

Yesterday I discovered that Theatrhythm is currently only slated for release in Japan. I want to include it in my marathon but it isn't available in my language or continent. It got me thinking... Are there other games on my list which were only ever released in Japan? It turns out the answer is yes. A surprising number of games (mostly from the Chocobo series) were only sold in Japan. Many of those were put out for mobile phones and weren't even on any console at all. While I can hold out hope that Theatrhythm will still get ported to the NA region there's no chance that any of those older games are going to make it.

The first time I did a Final Fantasy marathon I played just the core games in the series, but at that time FFIII had only ever been released in Japan. I played it by finding a fan translated rom for the game and playing it in an emulator. Not exactly on the up and up, I know, but I didn't really see a viable other choice. If they'd released the game over here I would have bought it for sure. (And once they did release it on the DS I did just that!)

I'm still several games away from needing to make a decision but I'm wondering if I can do the same thing with some of these more obscure games. Are there emulators for Japanese mobile phones? Did someone bother to translate Choco-Mate? How about "Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Special" which is apparently a Monopoly spin-off! What about the 3DS? Do emulators for it exist? Can my computer run them if they do? All things to look into as I move forward!

If it turns out they aren't available I won't be too disappointed. I'm unlikely to 'finish' Final Fantasy XI, for example. I probably won't even play FFXIV at all. The Chocobo game on Facebook is not great (though I may try it again in a few months to see if they've made any improvements) so I'll probably skip it. If I end up not playing the Chocobo Dice game it really won't be the end of the world.