What are some great Japanese-only games?

[k8track]

I have a friend who is returning home to Japan for Christmas break. Last night I made an offhand remark, "oh, you could get me some video games!" to which she replied, "of course!"

So I'm definitely going to have her try to find Vib Ribbon, Namco Museum Encore (I've got a Korean bootleg already but it'd be nice to have the real thing), and the Cutie Q controller for the Japanese version of Namco Museum Vol. 2 (I've already got the CD, I just need the paddle), all for PS1.

It seems to me like I've read rave reviews of some other Japanese-only PS1 games here (it seems to me like there were some Japanese Konami greatest hits?). Can anyone suggest to me some other absolutely indispensible Japanese-only titles? As far as systems that would be compatible with Japanese games, I've got a Famicom, Super Famicom (well, an SNES w/adapter), a PS1 (modchipped and loaded for bear), and a Dreamcast (not modified in any way, what do you have to do--if anything--to make it compatible with Japanese games?). I also have an SMS but I'm not sure of the compatibility. Oh, and a Game Boy and Game Gear as well.

I don't want to overburden her so I'd probably only ask her to get one more title in addition to those listed above. Any good suggestions? Hey, if you want to provide links, that'd be awesome too (and would be beneficial for everyone).

[digitalpress]

One of my favorite PS1 games of all time: Tobal 2. It's a fighting game with RPG elements. And a zillion characters you can unlock!

Here are some more favorites:

Aconcagua
Baby Universe
Beatmania
Cosmo Warrior Zero
Cotton Original
Cyberbots: Fullmetal Madness
DamDam Stompland
Dragon Quest IV
Fire Pro Wrestling G
Fist of the North Star
Front Mission 2
Front Mission Alternative
Gamera 2000
Geppy-X
Gradius Gaiden
Guitar Freaks
Gunbird
Gunnm Martian Memory
Hyper Crazy Climber
Internal Section
IQ Final
Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius: Forever with Me
Kamen Rider
Kowloon's Gate
Love and Destroy
Macross Plus
Moon
Ninja Hayate
Paro Wars
Pepsiman
Pet in TV
Policenauts
Punch the Monkey! Game Edition
Rakugaki Showtime
Remote Control Dandy
Robbit mon Dieu! (Jumping Flash 3)
Sexy Parodius
Snatcher
Suzu-Monogatari
Tatsunoko Fight
Toukon Retsuden 2
Velldeselba
Vib Ribbon
Zanac X Zanac

[k8track]

DP,

What a quick response! Thanks! I'll check 'em out. I remember your mentioning Guitar Freaks, it always intrigued me. Thanks again!

[NvrMore]

Sorry I'm not much use import-wise on other systems, but for the SNES..

Macross: Scramble Valkyrie (Best shmup on the SNES imo)
Gurume Sentai Barayarou (Hard to get, but a great quirky scrolling beat em up)
Final Fight Tough (expensive, scarce, but very good)
Rendering Ranger R2 (great shooter)

[digitalpress]

Final Fight Tough (expensive, scarce, but very good)

You can just get Final Fight 3 on SNES if the import is tough to track down these days. They're the same game.

[stonecutter]

Seiken Denetsu 3 ... spelling ? for Super Famicom. It is known here as The Secret of Mana 2

[le geek]

For the megadrive

Panorama Cotton
Alien Solider
Yu Yu Hakusho

I vouch for Tobal no 2 as well! Wish I still had mine! heh.

Cheers,
le geek

[Kid Fenris]

Front Mission is a good choice for the Super Fami, provided that you're into strategy/RPGs. Most of the menus are in English, so there's little in the way of a language barrier.

If you're only getting one more game, though, I'd probably suggest Tobal No. 2. It's great stuff.

[NvrMore]

You can just get Final Fight 3 on SNES if the import is tough to track down these days. They're the same game.

Ah, I didn't know that (being that I've only had a chance to play Tough because the Pal version of Final Fight 3 isn't very easy to get a hold of). Thanks for the correction.