@Gioku Maybe not, but Hollywood makes TONS of movies about Japan, or Japanese people, or Japanese culture, Japanese cars, Japanese anime remakes, Japanese swords, Japanese monsters...just basically anything Japanese-y, waaay more than Japan could ever do for America.

I think that's more odd than a Japanese company making 1 one game with a wild west theme, that doesn't even feature human characters in it.

@Jon, you forgot to mention the really bad music...

@Stuffgamer Star Stacker? Is that what it's called in in NA? I just took a guess on the title, sorry! haha

wow...I feel bad now. I know that NA especially wants a lot of VC games. I live in Japan and the only 3DS VC games I have are Zelda: Links Awakening DX and Legend of Zelda 1 for the NES. I did also buy that so-so Sudoku game as well, in addition to one DSiWare game that didn't come out for the non-Japanese VCs. I haven't really gotten anything, but I'm mostly waiting for Game Boy Wars 1-3 and the Pokemon Games, as well as the Oracle Zeldas.

Any recommendations? I never owned a portable system, not until the GBA anyay. Thinking about a Warioland game...which one is best?

BTW, I mostly just play Monster Hunter 3G, so thats what my 3DS time goes to for the most part. Getting Fire Emblem this weekend too. I would love to try a new Game Boy era game.

Its good that for the 3DS VC that EU and Australia are getting the same releases and release dates this time around. The Wii VC always looked so confusing.

@Luigifan141 Crap, I thought I changed it back to Japan. I was in the States and Canada for a bit. Sorry.

Kirby super Stacker, Kirby Pinball Land, and Block Ball. I didn't know there were so many Kirby puzzle games.

@Luigifan141 Huh? I know you are, I'm talking about my region. I live in Japan...EU got the color version as well.

@Luigifan141 I kinda wish we got the GBColor version of G&W Gallery 2, but we never had that version from the start, just the regular GB version.

And Japan is getting Kirby Super Stacker next week, so you guys have that to look forward to as well.

I'd rather just buy them used online. Just like other people have been saying, lets wait for GBA games before anything else. There's so many that I want...

@MofieWilson Actually we have Nintendo Video too. This service is different from Nintendo video, because its Television related videos, whereas Nintendo Video is more video clips from games (trailers), interviews with game creators, music videos and the like. We had two video services. I sometimes use Nintendo Video, but I never used this Itsu no Ma ni Terebi.

Wait, I don't get it. Nicalis Doesn't release this game for the west, but keeps Cave Story mostly outside of Japan. Who exactly are they marketing to?

@Sakura I know, I feel bad about that. I've been wanting to get that one ever since it came out. My 3DS is in the shop. Hopefully I'll give it to myself as a birthday present in a few weeks along with the 3DS Layton. I know the PS3 one is leaving Japan, but from friends I know that have played that one, they all say the 3DS one is better...

One of my biggest things has been the fact that Cave Story seems to now be a Western thing, with most recent versions not making it to Japan. Oh well, I guess that's how it goes.

@Dark-insanity Umm, did you read my post? I was talking about good American/European games that are EXCLUSIVE to the western market, meaning ones that don't come out in Japan. Please don't be rude when all I'm doing is trying to have a conversation.

@Mickeymac 'tis true. And thank you for being someone on this site that actually seems to either do research, or just think about region situations for more than 5 seconds before posting a comment. For example; that game Shantae that so many people on here are in love with? Western exclusive. I can name many more games that never come to Japan, but yeah, just saying, sometimes NA or EU games don't come here. I still think the Japanese exclusive games are better, but every once in a while, a Western game comes out that I think should come out here and doesn't.

Bit Trip Saga, Cave Story 3D (I know, weird eh?), the Rayman games, and quite a few others. It works both ways guys.

@Grubdog I'm sorry, but Zelda is dead in Japan? What are you basing that statement on? I know you're sore about not getting this DW game in the west, but I'm sorry, that's just not true. Have you seen Ocarina 3D sales here? And there are so many Zelda fans in Japan, me being one of them.

And yes, the Samus and Link additions were just costumes, not characters. From what I've seen, you're not missing out on anything.

Japanese resident here. I have a TV, so I never used the 3DS for videos. I think that is the same with many people here.

The service is supposed to be good for watching videos while on commutes to work, school, and the like, but since most people in Japan use their phones for such purposes, and did way before the Itsu no ma ni ka service, this service is not really useful and must be a waste of money for Nintendo.

I don't even have a smartphone and I can watch videos on my small little cell phone just fine. The mobiles here are quite powerful.

I feel bad now. I've had the demo in my 3DS for weeks and have never played it. Its marketed somewhat decently here, I see commercials sometimes, not nearly as much as Kid Icarus though.

@StuffGamer I wasn't aware that I was complaining. Anyway I have a NA Wii, not a Japanese one...My 3DS is Japanese though.

@SquareExnix-Fan NEVER going to sell it? That's a bit dramatic.

@LztheBlehBird I'm with you on that. I love games and all, but they're supposed to be for downtime, not the centerpiece of my day. Its a big world out there! Go traveling, read a good book, make new friends, learn a new language.

The more you obsess over what games are coming, or when, the longer it seems to take for them to arrive. You know that saying, "a watched pot never boils"...

I find it funny when people complain about no new VC games. On the NA VC there's nearly 400. I always want to ask if they've played them all and that's why they're bored.

Speaking of, its late in Japan. Sleepytime.

Seriously don't know what to think about the Kirby Pinball game. I didn't know people liked it that much. Is it fun? It looked generic to me, but maybe I should give it a second glance on youtube or something.

@Geminisaint Actually, I would expect all of the games you mentioned to come out on the VC, since they almost all are parts of franchises that are in near completion on the Wii VC. I never heard of Mole Mania though, and Shantae and the other game you mentioned are some of those rare successful Western produced games that were never released in Japan, so I doubt I'll ever get to play that. Super Mario Deluxe is always a bit of an oddity though. Some people really want it, but since the Famicom Super Mario is already out on the 3DS, I doubt that will be.

@Stuffgamer Dragon Warrior...I see. I had no idea what you were talking about until I looked it up. You're talking about Dragon Quest. As sad as it makes me to say, but in Japan the Dragon Quest series was never released for the Wii VC either, and is up there with the Mother series as some of the most requested. I doubt those would be released on the 3DS either.

Well okay, you guys are right about the Kirby and Megaman games. I guess there is some stuff still to come out, but still, apart from a few franchises and the stray game here and there, I still think the GB had a very poor library of games. Nothing compared to the SNES or NES systems.

Lot of complaining on this page...

@Donjwolf I think everyone is looking at the GB and GBC through those "rose-tinted glasses". The thing that the Japanese GB library has over other regions is that it had a lot of Japanese specific games, and that's why we get games quite often. But even still, unlike when the Wii VC came out, its almost always one game a week. The GB and GBC just didn't have a very good library of games, and even if there were a lot of games released back then, such a huge portion of them were licensed games, almost all of which will never hit the VC. Of the dozen or so I named before, I'm sure all of them will reach the VC in all regions. I think Nintendo has to space some of these out, in addition to adding occasional Game Gear games and Famicom games.

I feel sad that I'm not an ambassador, since I want nearly all of those GBA games that were released. I'm hoping that they get a public release eventually though. I'm not in a huge hurry though, unlike most people on here. I DO have other hobbies, a job, significant other, blah blah blah...and yeah, retail games as well. Love my Zelda, Layton and Monster Hunter.

@DarkEdi You do know at one point there wasn't a Genesis game put on the NA VC for 2 straight years right? Like, almost 2 years to the day. Look it up.

Actually, this is a question I have been wanting to ask for a while now, and I should probably make a thread on this, but...what good Gameboy games were there that aren't already released in at least one region? The only ones that come to mind, if I include Gameboy Color games, are the Pokemon games, and the Zelda Oracle games. I know people are asking for Kid Icarus and Warioland, but those are out at least in Japan, so you know they're coming eventually.

Maybe my memory is just really bad, but for a while now I've been having trouble remembering what good Gameboy games there were. The ones that come to mind are:
-the Mario Land series
-Wario Land
-Pokemon
-Metroid II
-the 3 Zelda games
-Kid Icarus
-Tetris

These games are already out. The only ones I can think of that I would really want that haven't been put out are Metal Gear:Ghost Babel, the Pokemon Games, the rest of the Zelda Gameboy Color games, the Castlevania GB games, possibly Shantae since I know there are a lot of fans on here...I mean, I just took a quick look at the Wikipedia page for GB and GBC games...a lot of movie tie-ins, Disney and WB stuff, games from other licenses. I'm not finding that many "classic" games that are must haves.

I feel like the whole handheld gaming thing got much better with the GBA. I can already think of tons of games that I would want from that era.

BTW I'm not trying to troll, I'm being totally sincere. Please, if you can think of games that I'm just not recalling, please remind me. It just seems to me that the whole GB thing is so limited.

@knuckles Wow, that isn't out in NA yet? I just checked and yeah, the order of the release is totally different. We got Zelda 1 first, and then Super Mario after, whereas you guys started with Super Mario and then got Metroid.

Oh, and sorry to double post, but guys, I know you are always moaning about the VC, and Nintendo and all that, but really, it isn't Nintendo as a whole, or other companies, you really should be getting at NoA for this problem. Japan is still getting VC games all the time, and the PAL region has been getting quite a few recently too. Even on the 3DS VC EU/AU is ahead of NA. I don't know if has to do with sales or not, but its a regional problem.

@James I have that HAMSTER Sudoku game. Got it for a while since it was released here in Japan. Just a note, and this is totally my opinion, but the music is horrible. I turned it off and just stuck with the sound effects, and those aren't really very good. The magnifying class effect on the 3D screen is kinda cool though.

Honestly, it was kinda expensive here too. Its a mini-version of the HAMSTER Sudoku retail title which had a lot more puzzles.

My guess is that if this game sells well enough, there WILL be a sequel, just not one with Sakurai.

Still waiting...

Update time! We (Japan) are getting this game next week, so not that far off from EU. I was kinda hoping for Legend of Zelda 2, but maybe next time.

@James No, I haven't paid for any of the Game Gear games. They just don't look very good, even though they are all offered at a really low price here, 300yen, the cheapest price available for the VC. I'm not sure why they are more expensive in other territories.

Odd, in Japan we have a different Sonic Game Gear out that other territories don't have yet. But Labyrinth DID come out in EU first.

This looks fun, and it doesn't hurt that the director is attractive either. haha

Just remember guys, no update coming up because its a holiday week here in Japan.　Well, no 3DS update anyway.

Honestly guys, I have the demo on my 3DS, and its quite fun. The music, the play modes, the insane difficulty on hard mode, it really adds a of replay value. I like it a lot more than I thought I would.

BTW I live in Japan. I hope you guys get the demo as well if you don`t have it already.

I missed out. I just got my 3DS, not knowing that this game was already taken off. This was the one Zelda game I never got to play. I had no idea that it would only be up for a little while. Oh well...

Monster Hunter 3G. That's my list.

Paku Paku means to munch on something. Kinda looks like what the lizard is doing to that apple. Lesson time over!

Yeah, I mean for that kind of game, the Wars series really does a good job for that. Playing Days of Ruin a lot these days. I think it really fills that niche really well.

So the question is then; why were they removed in Japan only? There must be a good reason behind it, especially since a Sonic Game Gear game just came out on the 3DS.

There have been quite a few of these kinda of photos running around. There's one for Monster Hunter 3G as well, which says that it's coming out in Spain and shows a pre-order display box, but the box art is actually the Japanese artwork, with CERO rating and everything.

@Madgear Thanks to Nintendolife, you still have about 3 weeks to decide.

@SKTTR That must've been a special case. Do you have any idea why it was taken off? Since there's no licensing issue at hand, there must've been a specific reason with the game. As far as Hudson, I thought they were being dissolved slowly, so I guess it'll just happen eventually.

Also, what's this company G-Mode? A game or two of theirs was taken off. They don't have too many games on the VC outside of Japan, but in Japan they have a lot. They also have some on the 3DS VC too, which means if any are to be taken off eventually, it would seem those would go I guess. All I know is when I get my 3DS next month, I'm getting Link's Awakening right away. There's only a few games that I want on there so far.

EDIT: SKTTR I just looked up that Lonpos game. Its not exactly a Nintendo published title. It is owned by something called the LONPOS company, which owns the product it is based on.

@Martyn He's talking about the fact that as per user agreements, you don't own the game after your purchase, just access to using it, just like a rental. Also the fact that the game is not transferable, intangible, and can be taken away at the discretion of the company that is licensing the game to you. As I said before the VC allows you to re-download, which is an advantage over something like Netflix where access is gone forever once they take it away, or something like EA Origin, Apple App Store, or a lot of the e-Book companies, where your entire library of titles can be taken away at anytime of their choosing.

＠Gamesake Not that they're the best source of information, but Cracked.com did an entire article on digital information in the current age, and one of the main points is, even though we spend our money on the download, we do not OWN the game like we do with a retail copy. We only buy the right to access the data. Nothing is ours. Actually, I do think one of the advantages that the VC allows us is to access the game even after it is taken of the service. So people, if you think you will want the game, then pay for it, don't wait years since anything that comes up with licensing with the third-party company will take it off the service, and then you come to us complaining later.

Honestly, I have maybe less than 20 games on my Wii from the VC/Wiiware combined. There are games that I HAD to have, and I almost always got them first week they came out. I don't just superfluously buy random games though, I really have to already love it, or have wanted to play it for years but never got the chance when I was younger. I have almost never bought a Wiiware game.

I don't think its pissing money away for me personally. I just bought Chrono Trigger, and that's been my first VC game in almost 2 years. Of course, Squaresoft isn't likely to go bankrupt anytime soon, so I think that download is safe. I can see a lot of people just in the comments section alone in these VC update threads throwing their money away, or lamenting the disappearances of games they never would have played anyway.

And anyway, just to drive the point further, all of the Irem games have been on the service since 2006-2007, if you don't have them by now, there's no point in feeling bad over them. Also, Japan has a lot more Irem-produced games than other regions, which means if they are to lose them too, they lose a lot more, so don't feel bad.

As a side note, comparing the 3DS, it does seem that most of the titles that I've personally wanted to buy from the e-shop service have solely been first-party games. I really do think the generations of consoles that are part of the Wii VC were in a time were third-party releases were more abundant and successful for Nintendo. A lot of these companies are gone now.

@Vincent umm...these games are getting taken off in all regions...

@dark_insanity Are you serious? Of course this will happen on the 3DS. Company politics, bankruptcy, the dissolving of contracts, all these things that sometimes happen with the release of third-party software, none of them are exclusive to the Wii. Though the number of third-party titles on the 3DS so far is really small compared to what is on the Wii, if there is a similar issue with those companies, this WILL happen. Its just business. Its not like Nintendo is some villain trying to torture you, for the most part they really have no control over a lot of the titles that get taken off.

So far though, just looking at the list of games on the 3DS list, most of them are Nintendo published, though there are some third-party titles, most of them are from companies that are Nintendo constants. Some are from companies that I've never heard from though.

Oh, and seriously, cheers to NintendoLife for posting news about the VC games when they leave. A lot of gaming sites don't post this news as much as they do, so BE GRATEFUL!

These do seem like licensing issues though, not only since these games are almost all by the same company, but just like in past situations they happen at the end of the month. For users of the service Netflix, we just got like 800 movies takes off at the end of last month, licensing issues there as well.

@Rensch This isn't really "All of a sudden", Irem's situation was known by quite a few people, and the R-Type games have gone out before.

As for the comment from That_Guy_from_Faxana, or anyone else worried about digital downloads, the thing to note here is that if you are worried about a game staying on the service, or future games from that same company staying on the download services for the foreseeable future, keep in mind the status of that company, and their relationship to Nintendo. Only third-party games have been taken off the service. So if you are worried about any games, just know your first-party Nintendo games will always be there. Any company that is thriving and has a good relationship with Nintendo will be nothing to worry about either.

Irem has been having financial troubles, and Hudson is pretty much a ghost, so yeah...these are the kinds of things to look out for sadly.

@BonHomme Do you think its gonna happen? I would love '98 to come on the VC. Though I don't know if it will. KoF '97 was the last one that came out for the Sega Saturn, and after that they were put on the Dreamcast. Would '98 be too big for the VC?