Ufouria for NES-Sunsoft, why? Why was there no US release?

[rbudrick]

So who else loves this game? I heard it was great, but WOW! I spent the entire day yesterday playing it for the first time and I played it for 8-11 hours or something until I beat it. This is definitley one of the top 10 NES games EVER!

For those who don't know, Ufouria only came out in Europe and Australia (Oh, and Japan, but it was called Hebereke). It is an awesome cross between Blaster Master, Metroid, Mega Man, and Super Mario Brothers (and maybe a little Symphony of the Night....but a little too cutesy :-).. Killer soundtrack too! Some of Sunsoft's finest.

I really wish I played this years ago! Hey, what ever happenned to Sunsoft? I actually found one of their old newsletters recently! Jeez...wish I hadn't lost all those...

-Rob

[Ruudos]

So we Europeans had at least something to brag about, you guys got a lot of more games there. Now I thnik about Sunsoft must be my favorite NES company. If I'm correct they released every game that was released in the US, also in Europe except their crappiest game: Xenophobe. Plus they released Ufouria and Mr. Gimmick here too.

[sniperCCJVQ]

But in Europe, you got some exclusive games that never came out here and some are hard to find and doesnt pop on ebay often. When i saw them, they are in Germany most of the time.

[ManekiNeko]

I coulda sworn there were at least advertisements for that game in the United States. What gives?

JR

[rbudrick]

I'm pretty sure they did advertise it...then they pulled it last second. I wish I knew why...

-Rob

[nildem]

I'm pretty sure they did advertise it...then they pulled it last second. I wish I knew why...

-Rob


I'd assume that timing had alot to do with the decision to pull it. It wasn't released in Japan until late October of 1991. Taking translation/localization and Nintendo approval periods into consideration, it probably wasn't released in Europe until mid-1992 at the EARLIEST. Add a few more months to bring it to the states, and you're talking late 1992/early 1993. By that time the Super NES and Genesis were probably alot higher on Sunsofts priority list than a namebrandless NES game.

Unfortunately it was probably canned as a financial decision more than anything else. :(

Same with Mr. Gimmick...

[rbudrick]

Hmmm, good point....Usually the US release came before the European one though, as far I as I remember.

Also, there's really not a whole lot of translation issues...it's only maybe 30 sentences in the whole game. And besides, it was already done. It's not like the European/Aussie one was in Japanese. :-) The only issue would be to make it NTSC (Japanese version already was NTSC). What's that, like half a day's work for one programmer, if that? It's just so strange...SNES or not, it would have a been a very profitable game if it were indeed advertised AND released...

So is Mr Gimmick any good? Oh, and what happenned to Sunsoft?

Yours,
Rob

[Ruudos]

There around 30 games that were released in Europ, but not released in the US. There are more than 100 games that were released in the US, but not in Europe (examples: Final Fantasy, Crystalis, all DW games, Mega Man 6, Destiny of an Emperor, Little Mermaid, Power Blade 2, Adventure Island 3).

BTW, in Ufouria 2 of the character sprites were changed from the Japanese version, Hebereke.