This video is brought to by Playasia.com - the number 1 destination for video game imports
and they also have just open pre-orders for the Japanese PlayStation Classic, with the
US and European versions on the way soon.
Check out the link below and save $3 on every purchase by using the discount code "CENSORED".
Announced during this year's Tokyo Game Show, Sony's PlayStation Classic will soon be released
worldwide on December 3rd - marking the PlayStation's 24th anniversary.
However, not all regions will be receiving the same version of the console.
There are actually some interesting differences between the Japanese and English game lists.
Both Europe and the US will be receiving the same games, whilst the Japanese region has
some pretty big differences.
Some games will be available worldwide, with some big names including Final Fantasy VII
and Metal Gear Solid.
Others, however, will differ depending on the console's region.
The Japanese console has a much bigger emphasis on RPGs.
Both Arc The Lad 1 and 2 will be available in Japan and not the West.
The Arc The Lad games being a classic Japanese role-playing franchise that was really popular
in Japan during the 90s and early 2000s.
The first game was actually the best-selling Japanese PlayStation game of 1995 with over
a million copies sold.
The series' Western success though, would pale in comparison - with none of the games
even being released until Arc the Lad Collection, a bundle of the first 3 games, in 2002.
Another Japan-exclusive RPG on the PlayStation Classic is SaGa Frontier.
SaGa Frontier was created by Square, creators of the hit Final Fantasy series, and is just
one game in a huge franchise.
Like Arc The Lad, SaGa Frontier didn't receive much commercial success in the West and was
also met with mixed reviews.
Its Japanese release however was a huge hit both sales and review-wise - going on to become
the 15th best selling game of all time in the region and being voted by the publication
Famitsu, in the year 2000, as the 18th best PlayStation game.
The next exclusive game is Parasite Eve, an action RPG and another game developed by Square.
Unlike the previous games, Parasite Eve was very popular in the US as well, selling nearly
a million copies and receiving positive reviews.
However, the game actually wouldn't be released in Europe at all and this is a possible reason
why it isn't included on the Western PlayStation Classic.
It's not just RPGs though, that are included in the Japanese version and not the West.
Japan will also be getting Armored Core, a mech-based third person shooter from From
Software, developers of the Dark Souls games.
Another Japan-exclusive title is Devil Dice, a puzzle game that would sell over a million
copies in Japan, whilst its Western sales didn't even reach 100k with both the US and
Europe combined.
And then lastly Japan's console has 2 exclusive side scrolling shooters.
The first of these being G-Darius, released by Taito in 1997, which, whilst being a cult
classic in the West didn't receive very high sales outside Japan.
The other is Konami's Gradius Gaiden, which was also released in 1997, but unlike G-Darius,
wouldn't even be released in the West at all until the much later release of Gradius Collection
on the PSP.
That's all though for the Japan exclusive games, with 12 of the 20 games being the same
in all regions and the US and Europe having 8 Western exclusive games themselves.
The game list comparison appears to give an interesting perspective on what games are
generally much successful in each market, with Japan having a much bigger emphasis on
JRPGs and other Japanese developed games, whilst the West has more shooting games, like
Rainbow Six, Syphon Filter and Grand Theft Auto, as well as a number of other Western-developed
titles.
It is likely that that won't be it for the changes seen between regions however, with
most games on the list having a number of regional differences depending on what country
you are located in.
Some examples including Tekken 3, which had the ending for Anna Williams changed outside
of Japan to remove a scene where her sister, Nina, walks up to her and unhooks her bra.
This alteration resulting in 2 very different endings, depending on the game's region.
Ridge Racer Type 4 also has some interesting differences between regions.
For example, one of the cars originally had "Death" and "Sacrifice" written on its spoiler
over in Japan.
In the West though, this was changed to "Nightmare" and "Lizard".
Both Japan and the West are also receiving the "Director's Cut" version of Resident Evil
and, despite this version of the game originally being marketed as being 100% uncut outside
of Japan - the English versions would actually still censor various cutscenes, with Capcom
stating that this was the result of a production error.
One of the most extreme examples of changes in this collection though can be found in
Revelations: Persona, which had characters' hairstyles and other traits redesigned outside
of Japan to try and better appeal with English gamers.
This also included changing the ethnicity of multiple characters.
Alongside numerous other script changes, character names and the names of other things within
the world were also altered.
The entire Snow Queen route was also cut from the game, meaning Western players missed out
on a lot of content.
What do you think about the differences between the Western and Japanese PlayStation Classic?
Are you interested in picking up any of the consoles?
Please let us know your thoughts in the comments below and consider subscribing to see more
videos on how video games and other media are changed around the world.
Until next time, thank you for watching!