The announcement during the recent Nintendo Direct that N64 games are coming to Nintendo Switch Online's new 'Expansion Pack' tier — with games like Banjo-Kazooie and F-Zero X soon to be playable on Switch — got 64-bit retro gamers excited. Japanese gamers have a couple of extra reasons to look forward to this new library landing from October, though.
Regional exclusive games are nothing new on the Nintendo Switch Online service, of course, and Japanese subscribers will be getting Custom Robo and Custom Robo V2 in addition to the announced lineup in the West.
The Custom Robo series first game westward with the GameCube entry in the Noise-developed action-RPG series, and later on the DS, but the previous two N64 games never released outside Japan — hence their exclusivity. Japanese gamers will be sacrificing Dr. Mario 64 in order to gain a couple of Custom Robos.
We featured the first game in our 10 Nintendo Games We'd Love To See Finally Come To The West feature, and while the pair remain exclusive to Japanese Nintendo Switch Online subscribers, anyone with a Japanese Nintendo Account and an NSO subscription in another region is able to access and download the app, meaning that these games will be accessible worldwide.
They'll be unlocalised, of course, and they won't be coming in the first batch of launch titles, but we can't wait to customise our little robos for Holosseum battle when the games launch at an unspecified future date.
Let us know below if you're eager to revisit Japanese gems, or perhaps play them for the first time.
Further reading:
[source youtube.com]
Comments 53
Oh right, I also forgot, on top of us having to pay more JP is going to get all the good stuff, Remember what they did to us last time?
hm, if only there was a way to play translated versions of Japanese games digitally.
maybe like - and hear me out - some enterprising fans translated these games and made them available for fans to play?
I wonder if anything like that exists.
They can’t even be bothered to translate these for the extra cash and give the west something to get excited about.
Nintendo HQ the home of the lazy greedy and xenophobic
I don't usually jump on the hater bandwagon, but I really fail to understand how Nintendo doesn't see that this is kind of a slap in the face. They can't NOT know that there are TONS of people who would love to play these games finally, and it would incentivize so many more people to buy this "upgraded tier" subscription.
Gems huh? I have only played the DS entry in this series and I recall it being one of the mediocre things ever even back then and I certainly have not grown more lenient since then either...
Though it has been forever since I played it so IDK really.
You don't need to make a new account, simply go to the website, change the region to Japan, donwload the JP app and revert it back to your current region. It's simple.
I remember when Nintendo was trying to make us like this franchise, I don't know if it's good, but it died as fast as it came.
Also, Nintendo's released a bunch of Super Famicom games "as is" on the North American NSO SNES app. It's very likely that the "future games" list is not the be-all and end all, but rather just the tip of the iceberg. Custom Robo could come to western regions' NSO N64 as-is in the future.
I'm pumped about these games. I loved the GameCube one and always wanted to play the original two.
@marandahir given the slowly dried up drip feed of the NES and SNES NSO libraries, and the total number of N64 games they bothered to release on Wii and Wii U, I wouldn’t be surprised if these are the be-all-and-end-all…
You can play these by creating a Japanese NNID and assigning it to one of your user profiles. Then, you can access the Japanese eShop and download their versions of the classic console apps (and use your usual profile to play them).
It’s that easy.
It’s still baffling though that they don’t just bring the Japanese exclusives (as is) over to the international apps by default.
@gaga64 agreed. I think people think there will be over time 30+ n64 games are living in a dream world. We will get the what 15 announced and probably a SP version of them all. That’s it.
No wave race, No donkey Kong 64, no diddy king racing…. Bare bones doesn’t cover it at this point
@Silly_G it is baffling and the fact Japan doesn’t get Dr Mario. Who is making this boneheaded decision. It’s creating bad will for something that takes zero effort.
Whatever the case, I just hope the app download isn't linked to the expanded subscription, that way I can still download the Japanese versions and use them on my American account.
That and that they decide to include the unreleased Panel de Pon 64, which was later finished up as a Gamecube game in Nintendo Puzzle Collection.
I had the ds version and loved it. Wish I still had it.
Damn, Japan, share some of those gems with the rest of us! We like Custom Robo, too!
Of course they would say it, just to get us mad. But I don't care, I've never played both Custom Robos.
@Stocksy yep. We got just 21 N64 games on the Wii, and 21 (slightly different ones) on Wii U. A quarter of what they released for the SNES or NES. And we can all easily list a number of AAA games for those that came to Wii/U but not NSO…
@gaga64
They probably only got Genesis so they can pad out the N64 library so they can only add 2-3 a year, Sega’s own collection of Genesis games is massive at least over 50 first party games so they milk that to pad out this “premium” tier.
@CharlieGirl there is a fan translation for the n64 custom robo out there I've seen it and it's 100% translated. It looks really good if you want to play it.
I just want a new Custom Robo game! I LOVED the DS entry, and played it like a Pokemon game (a lot). Never played the others, but I loved how the DS game felt like Gundam X Angelic Layer!
"Playable" is a dubious term for the Custom Robo games unless you know Japanese.
Dr. Mario 64 was never released in Japan (or outside the US region?), though if I remember reading correctly, some or all of the Japanese text was still present in the ROM.
Or maybe some people ripped the game from the GameCube.
That and Panel de Pon 64 being ports would explain the slowdown on the GameCube (4-player PdP is just too much excitement for the GC to handle! )
Funny to think that, aside from maybe re-skinning PdP, another likely reason for Nintendo to not ship Nintendo Puzzle Collection internationally is licensing issues for Yoshi's Cookie. Apparently, some other company owns the copyright to Yoshi's Cookie. Presumably that company owns the Home Data catalog (a developer credited for creating the original pre-Yoshi version of the game, credited only on the SNES version).
@Expa0 To each their own. I played CR on the DS and found the camping pretty solid, and its online multiplayer was my favorite on the entire platform (and I put hundreds of hours into the Zeldas, Metroid Prime Hunters , and Mario Kart DS).
For people who enjoy building things like legos, strategy/team-building, and 3rd person action games, Custom Robo is flipping amazing because it scratches all of those itches.The game had a small but really dedicated following online- the Nintendo Forums & Gamefaqs, back when those were big things, had a couple dozen users who were chatting builds & strategy pretty much every day on that game, and when you’d jump online for a match, you’d find the same 50 or so people pretty regularly haha.
I definitely wish we would have to opportunity to play these N65 games in English.
@tonyp1987 I already knew about it, but I appreciate you sharing the knowledge with people!
Never played these so the sub already pays for itself.
@Meteoroid Oh wow! You must be right That's pretty cool to know about!
@Danondorf Yes!! That was me to a T! I was a huge Metroid Prime Hunters / Custom Robo / FFCrystal Chronicles online player back on the DS. It was so fun being involved with those forums. That and Capcom Unity forums for MHTri was the golden age of intense forum debates and posting. So much fun. Discord does not scratch that itch whatsoever.
I’m just happy we’re finally getting Dr. Mario 64.
@Stocksy What extra cash? It's a subscription system. I seriously doubt they'd make the time and money back they'd use on translating lesser known titles like Custom Robo. It's not going to sell more subscriptions.
I always looked at these Japanese exclusives as a nice extra, added value. I've been playing bunch of Japanese only NES & SNES Online games since you can just go and download the apps from Japanese eShop. They don't all require you to be an expert of the language and some games have regional differences like better soundtrack.
@Stocksy They never came out here. It won't sell more subs. No one knows it.
Only Nintendo has the gall to suggest 25 year old games are a "premium" service.
Such arrogance.
I made a discussion on Custom Robo Arena a while ago. What a coincidence:0! I would love to try the N64 version as I loved CRA.
@Stocksy nintendo must keep a sense of sovereignty in the realm of money. how this is done can carry with it questionable ethics, but maintaining respect for consent is a ruthless business undertaking and an observably imperfect endeavor.
Awesome games but you won't get far in the second one for the language barrier
They should add the N64 versions of Animal Forest and Doshin!
@Snatcher @Daniel36 I mean.. you can play them. Just as easily as the Japanese gamers can. What's the issue? I never understand these complaints. No one is getting less.
@Lyricana I guess we all just speak Japanese then, oh and we all want to make an alt account just to play these games, its not like I don't want to mindlessly run through, [enter game here] without knowing the controls, oh and wile were at it I should ask an only Japanese speaking gamer to play [enter game here] with no translation to speak of, You know, story driven games, just like the one JP got last time, need a translation.
Thats why.
Praying hard that 1) the expansion price for my NSO family account will be reasonable, and 2) multi-region access will still work with the N64 and Genesis games. I’ll be crushed if it doesn’t. I’ve never tried a Custom Robo game but certainly would like to!
@Lyricana
I for one am extremely grateful that Nintendo dropped region-locking for the Switch, and even allowed us to access foreign NSO service and eShops.
The lack of localization must frustrate some people, but still, we have access! And it’s a godsend for those of us who do speak Japanese.
BTW, is your avatar an old mecha anime character? She’s really cute ☺️
@Teksetter I agree with that at least, People who do should be allowed to play those games.
@Snatcher I guess we all just speak Japanese then, oh and we all want to make an alt account just to play these games, its not like I don't want to mindlessly run through, [enter game here] without knowing the controls, oh and wile were at it I should ask an only Japanese speaking gamer to play [enter game here] with no translation to speak of, You know, story driven games, just like the one JP got last time, need a translation.
Obviously not everyone speaks Japanese. That's not the point. People are getting angry that a classic games services has more games to play. What exactly would they prefer? Nintendo not to let Japanese players ever enjoy games that never got released internationally because UK and American gamers might feel jealous? Or do you legitimately think Nintendo should be required to translate every classic game they drop on the service into every language or not release them at all? Because both are preposterous. They're not going to make any money translating decades old, ultra niche N64 games to release as a tiny aside alongside a service that a huge portion of their customer base is already paying for. It makes no business sense and it makes no practical sense.
The fact that they let the NSO be region free and make it easy to access by either making an alternate account or just simply toggling your region on their site (both take about 20 seconds to do) is already more than I'd expect. Seriously, it's like people are just trying to find things to be mad about. Like they'd legitimately be happier if Nintendo simply didn't put those games on the service at all, because having them in Japanese is apparently worse than not having them at all.
I don't read Japanese fluently and would mostly stumble my way through, but I'd still rather be able to play those games and I'm glad the option is there. Whether or not they translate them and sell them to us later (like the original Fire Emblem) seems like a completely unrelated issue.
@Teksetter From my perspective, the idea of them localizing games for their NSO catalogue was never even a consideration. It just wouldn't make sense for them to do it. As you say, I'm just super happy that it's easy to access and play them and I've had a reasonable amount of fun playing some of those Japanese exclusives! And I'm pumped to get time with these when they come out.
Oh, and as for my avatar, thanks for the compliment! It's actually Nadia Van Dyne, the Unstoppable Wasp! It's a 2017 American comic series but the art for the sequel series is done by a team of Japanese manga artists which gives it that kind of older mecha style.
@Lyricana Thats not my point, I have no issue with JP getting stuff, Not at all, my issue is that they get all the good stuff, and we will get these games that no one knows about, Say if JP gets a cool snes game, wouldn't it be cool if we got earth bound or somthin? I'm just saying JP always get the better stuff, and I wish they would think about the west, not saying JP shouldn't bc it would be unfair.
@Snatcher I guess I'm just saying that we get Dr. Mario and we can play Custom Robo if we want to still. Other than that, the titles are all the same, anyway, right?
@Lyricana True.
Edit: sorry if I came off as rude, It wasn't my intent, I have a bad habit of not making my sarcasm easy to, um read, so it might come off as rude, and for that I'm sorry.
@Snatcher
Thanks for being understanding - very mature and non-internet of you! 😄
I feel your pain, too…. Japan NSO does get some good games that we don’t in NA & Europe.
I’ll just add that Japanese isn’t unlearnable, either. I know you love games, so that interest could incentivize learning the language for you. My love of manga and anime motivated me and made learning Japanese more fun!
@Teksetter I've been thinking about learning, might make the jump next year.
Thanks, I Think its good to validate others feelings, just as you just did.
@Lyricana
Thank you for the reply and I agree 100% with your feelings on this. Translation can be painstaking work, so even if the English-speaking countries are Nintendo’s biggest or 2nd biggest market, we can’t expect them to pull Treehouse people off of BOTW2 or Kirby Forgotten Land just to translate Custom Robo on NSO, right? 🤓
How interesting about your Avatar! I think Marvel Comics’ original Wasp was Janet Van Dyne? So is Nadia her daughter? I can see the resemblance.
@Snatcher
I’ve read many of your interactions here with peeps and you always surprise me with how polite and open-minded you can be.
Good luck with your studies! I hope you find yourself in a Japanese class with a good sensei! I was very lucky in that respect.
I tell everyone that you have to make language learning fun somehow - like for me it was fun to pick up on the common phrases I heard often in the anime and Japanese songs I listened to back then. Wanting to understand those things better kept me invested in the class.
So as you learn, picture yourself playing Custom Robo untranslated no problem someday! 👍🏼
@Teksetter Thanks man, I will try.
@Teksetter Haha, right! I saw you mentioning learning Japanese to enjoy things like games and anime. I've taken a few classes myself, but I'm still a novice. Maybe one of these days. Definitely a big time commitment, though I suppose like anything.. it won't get anywhere unless you take the plunge. Any suggestions on the best tools to use to get there?
And Nadia is Hank Pym's daughter from his first marriage but he didn't know his wife was pregnant. Nadia grew up in Russia as a prisoner, and only came to finally meet Hank after he'd passed, so Janet took her in and adopted her.
I must confess I started my Nihongo learning as a college elective in the mid-90’s, so we used textbooks, filled notebooks writing kana and kanji over & over, and practiced speaking/listening in class.
I’m the type that unless I write it down, I’ll never learn it, so I would write down new vocabulary and phrases in Japanese with yomigana (reading written in kana) and English meaning.
I’m also way distractable and lazy, so having a structured class to follow was crucial early on.
Once you get a good grip on basic Japanese, after that I think immersion is important- try to expose yourself to as much straight Japanese as possible while continuing to study. I was super fortunate that I was hired by the JET programme to go teach English in Japan right after college, so I was able to dive right in. Eight years there with Japanese friends, employers, and lovers was where I did the majority of my language learning. ☺️
But I don’t think you HAVE TO live in Japan to learn their language - nowadays with internet I think you can find friends, tutors, shows, music, and endless stuff to read.
Add Jpn as a second keyboard language on your phone or PC is probably easier than adding a Jpn player account for NSO! Then you can search away. I absorbed lots of nihongo from watching anime and tokusatsu (try to ignore the subs except when needed!) and playing Jpn story-driven games.
Just always try to keep it fun and relevant to your interests to help yourself stick with it!
Going back to rewatch Iwata-san, Koizumi-san, and Miyamoto-san without the English dub in the Jpn Directs is fun for me, among other things.
My advice is inevitably dated - I don’t even use social media - and not all that useful I fear, so please take it or leave it!
@Lyricana
Ooo I forgot - thank you for that juicy backstory on Nadia! Truly over-the-top in mighty Marvel fashion! I wondered about her Russian first name. And Hank Pym DIED!?!? Oh but wait, usually that’s just temporary in comics 😂
I gave comics up when I became a parent around 10 years ago, but I do miss them dearly - the emotion and personal bonds sprinkled with fantastic action kept me reading for so many years!
Either way, that manga take on Nadia Van Dyne is adorable! ^_^ <3
Thanks again for informing me.
Bring it to the states!! And some more new games too!! I loved this series!!!
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