When are imports preferable to domestic?

[le geek]

Most people import to play games first (i.e. not wait 6 months for Soul Calibur II) or to play games than don't get domestic release (i.e. Sin & Punishement).

Are there games that have gotten domestic releases where the import is still the prefered version?

Two possibly come to my mind:
Dracula X: Nocturn in the Moonlight - not censored and doesn't have the horrible english voice acting

Shenmue II - getting the euro DC PAL version vs the Xbox, to be able (with some trickery) to use your save game from Shenmue. Also, no need to buy another system.

What are your thoughts?

[StrychNiNE]

Dracula X: Nocturn in the Moonlight - not censored and doesn't have the horrible english voice acting


I actually think its worth owning the American version JUST for the horrible english acting...its hilarious.

Personally, I think it is worth owning the import 99% of the time, unless its an RPG - simply because 9.9999/10 times the packaging is light-years better in Japan (I would say its ALWAYS better, but you never know...). I can somewhat read/understand Japanese so its not that big of an issue for me. Then again, I was doing the same thing before I was able to read ANY Japanese.

It is worthy to note, however, that I DO mainly own American games - the only imports I really own are games which never came out of here - this is more of an issue of acquiring more games for cheaper than anything else though (although I am NOT a game collector/hoarder....I play all my games).

[GaijinPunch]

I agree w/ StrichNINE. I'm a bit of a purist... I prefer to have the game in which it was developed in. The only acception to this rule I have is Halo, and it sucks b/c it's dubbed in Japanese. :(

[ArnoldRimmer83]

Imports are often more desirable, cause in some cases a game may have been censored for a US release, or have features removed, usually for no good reason.

And what has been said countless times, the packaging in Japanese games is usally far far better than the covers in US games. Why US covers were often done half assed, I wish I knew. Too examples I can think of where the label art for a game was butchered in the US are Shadow Dancer, and Phantasy Star II for Megadrive. Both had very nice detailed covers, that got replaced with mediocre drawings in the US. PSII's cover didn't even really resemble the characters in the game much. I find it insulting that companies feel that I and others in the US won't appreciate good label art, and often feel the need to replace it with something, they had an artist come in and draw for a few minutes.

[maxlords]

Yeah, typically either the artwork is HEAVILY changed or completely replaced. As for the main reasons to own imports that have been released domestically...IMO it's for the changes made. For example, Famicom Contra has cinemas. Castlevania games are all changed, usually for the worse. All the PAL Contra games have robots instead of humans. There's lots of changes, alterations, and missing bits from US releases of games...especially in the 8-16 bit eras.

[le geek]

Any specific games where the import is preferable? :)

Along the Castlevania line, which games were heavily censored besided Super Castlevania IV?

Cheers,
Ben

[Push Upstairs]

I'm curious about the changes in the 8-16 bit games as well.

And what was changed in Castlevanian 4?

[le geek]

I'm curious about the changes in the 8-16 bit games as well.

And what was changed in Castlevanian 4?

http://www.classicgaming.com/castlevania/foreign/scv4.htm

some of the cosmetic changes...

[AB Positive]

And let us not forget the huge HUGE differences between Bare Knuckle 3 (japan) and Streets of Rage 3 (US)

Look up "Bare Knuckle 3 Ash" in google to see what I mean.

-AG

[Push Upstairs]

Wow, those a dumb changes in Castlevania 4.


I will 2nd the mention of "Bare Knuckle 3" over "Streets of Rage 3"

Loads of outfits & the story changed, also SOR3 is so damn hard that its nowhere near as fun to play as SOR2 was.

[Dire 51]

There were a few changes in the Splatterhouse games as well - for example, in Splatterhouse for the PC Engine, Rick still wears the white Mask from the arcade, plus the upside down cross, Evil Cross (level four boss) is there just like in the arcade. The Mask was changed to red plus given a new design and the cross was replaced by a evil blue face in the TG16 version.

Splatterhouse 2 had a slightly different title screen (it says "Splatterhouse Part 2) and Rick wore what looked like a white version of the TG16 Mask, rather than the skull mask he has in the U.S. game.

Splatterhouse 3 is called "Splatterhouse Part 3: Fairlight" in Japan. Everything else is the same; however, when you first start the game and the Mask gives you instructions, that's exclusive to the U.S. release. So the U.S. version of Sh3 is *slightly* superior, if you consider the addtion of a minor tutorial superior.

[evilmess]

I really want these Saturn games, first to play, second to collect, so do I choose import or domestic?

Guardian Heroes?

Burning Rangers?

The domestic are a bit more expensive than the import yet I'd say the domestics (in this case) are more desirable as a collectors piece. Either way I just want to play the games but without knowing any Japanese I don't want to miss out on the full game experience (the humor, drama, and story).

[Push Upstairs]

You'll miss the story in "Guardian Heroes" but you wont miss the action.

If you REALLY want to play GH bad then go ahead and get the import. The story isnt terribly important to the kicking of ass.

[mezrabad]

Ico for the PS2: European version seems to add things over both the J and the US version. It has a final save game after the ending which allows a New Game after completion of game that can be two player and allow the second player to play as the girl. This version also seems to have a light sabre hidden somewhere. I've never played it, unfortunately.

The cover art for the case in Japan seems to be a big windmill with two little shadowed figured fleeing across. It looks cool and does a good job of conveying the feel of the game: two small people in a huge environment running out of time. The US release's cover art is a montage of windmill and other elements including a decidedly occidental-looking Ico. I think the EU version's cover art is the same as Japan's.

I guess my main point: if you're picking games to import this seems to be an interesting one to import from Europe rather than Japan.

[KJN]

Living in europe most of my games are US-imports since I'm not a big fan of bad PAL conversions, assuming the game is released here at all. There are exceptions though such as ICO.


I think the EU version's cover art is the same as Japan's.
It is, it also comes with a coupple of art cards and the box is nicer. Check out this page (http://ico.felixmcli.org) for a comparison of the different releases.

If you like ICO this is the version to get (has 60hz mode as well).