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Japan is home to several classic SNES games, many of which are heralded as the best video games of all time. This included many games based on a variety of anime franchises, from Macross to Dragon Ball Z. However, many of these games never came to the West.
While these games receive fan translations on the internet, giving new life to these titles, official releases in the West could bring some light to several anime franchises.
Whether in a remaster, or simply as a translation project and port by the rights holders, these SNES games deserve to be played again and given an official release in the West.
5 anime SNES games that only appeared in Japan that deserve a re-release
5) Slayers (1994)
The Slayers is a classic anime series starring sorceress Lina Inverse and swordsman Gourry Gabriev. Alongside their allies, they do battle with a number of demonic forces. It is a combination of comedy and serious fantasy anime and had a lengthy manga run as well as four seasons of anime.
Like many of these SNES games, it does follow the canon in some fashion. It is based on the light novels, following its continuity.
In 1994, this turn-based RPG, simply titled Slayers arrived on Super Famicom and felt very much like a Dragon Quest clone. Lina Inverse is an amnesiac in this game, which does explain her inability to nuke entire towns with her powerful Dragon Slave spell. It is a spell she activated on the first episode of the anime, annihilating a town, while also defeating the dragon plaguing it.
While this game did receive an English fan translation, it is a classic series and it definitely deserved more love in the West than it did. This game included most of the characters from the manga as well as some of the characters from the Slayers Special series.
After beating the game, players could even take part in a bonus scenario, where they picked three out of the four party members and took on a new challenge. Among SNES games, it did not break the mold, but it was fun to play regardless.
4) Dragon Ball Z: Super Gokuden: Totsugeki-Hen (1995)
Though titled “Dragon Ball Z”, this game chronicles the timeline of Dragon Ball, from the meeting with Bulma to the defeat of King Piccolo. It is a cute RPG that covers a large amount of ground from the popular anime and manga series.
Dragon Ball is a well-known series by Akira Toriyama, starring the monkey-tailed Son Goku as he travels the world and ultimately seeks out Dragon Balls alongside Bulma. The original story was a terrific martial arts fantasy, where Goku defeated and befriended a number of characters that continued to be a part of the franchise to this day.
In Super Gokuden: Totsugeki-Hen, players saw a new take on the RPG genre by having the various actions mapped to specific buttons on the controller. This sped up combat, making it feel a little more like a Dragon Ball game. While it is one of the many Dragon Ball SNES games, it’s a terrific, unique entry into the franchise.
3) Ranma ½: Chougi Rambu Hen (1994)
Unfortunately, this is one of the few SNES games on this list that had plans to come to the West officially. The company that was working on it went out of business, so it was shelved. Planned to be a sequel to Ranma ½ Hard Battle, it is a Ranma ½ fighting game, and much better than its predecessor.
This was the third in a series of Ranma ½ fighting games, and it stood out as the best. Beautiful sprites, solid combat for an SNES game, and it had 13 characters. Many fan favorites were where, using their original voice actors, including Ranma (Male and Female), Genma, Akane, Kuno, Shampoo, and Kuno’s sister, Kodachi Kuno.
The characters declaring their attacks sounded crisp on the SNES, and while it does not need a fan translation, it has one. A Ranma ½ collection of SNES games may never be in the works, but it deserves one.
2) Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Endless Duel (1996)
The first game, based on Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, did everything right. It accurately represented the mobile suits and pilots, and it had gorgeous visuals - one of the best fighting game designs out of all SNES games.
The mobile suits were large, and the gameplay was smooth and fast-paced. It is not a complicated fighting game, but, like many of the era, it was easy-to-play and hard to master. The Story Mode is also brutal, up there with many of the hardest SNES games as well.
It is another game that, while it does not require a fan translation or patch, it does have one available on the internet. While it is not the most popular fighting game of all time, it has received two follow-ups, and is often a side tournament game in many of the larger fighting game tournaments.
Visually stunning for its time, and featuring excellent gameplay, if there is ever a retro Gundam game collection released, it would be a crime not to feature this one.
1) Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon: Another Story
Like Dragon Ball, Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon has received a number of SNES games, as well as on other platforms. However, this one offered a new, never-before-seen story.
One of the best-known Magical Girl anime and manga to ever exist, it follows Tsukino Usagi and her friends as they fight the forces of evil and try to find love.
Another Story takes place between the third and fourth seasons of the anime, with an original story by Takashi Ikegaya and Yoshijiro Muramatsu. Players can control either the Inner Senshi or Outer Senshi as they protect Crystal Tokyo from the sorcress Apsu.
With a fantastic soundtrack and amazing visuals, the heroines and villains are all lovingly recreated in this excellent turn-based RPG. The enemies had plenty of variety, and the attacks were satisfying to use. It has a solid script, and unlike some of the other SNES games on this list, it definitely needs fan translation. That is, unless you have excellent comprehension of reading Japanese.
All of these games belong in the West, and while they all have a fan translation somewhere on the internet, there is hope for some that official re-releases or ports will come to light sometime in the future.
