10 Japanese Video Games That Will Never Be Released In The West

Released in 2008, Captain Rainbow was planned to have a worldwide release, but disappointed commercially. As a result, the game was never localised for English speaking audiences, despite being praised by critics for its story and gameplay. In Japan, Captain Rainbow sold only six thousand copies in the week of its release, and went on to sell a mere 25,000 copies overall.

In the game, players take control of Captain Rainbow, a failed superhero who travels to a mysterious island in order to regain his popularity. Throughout the course of the game, players will interact with numerous Nintendo characters, collect crystals in order to make wishes, solve puzzles and discover secrets. Gameplay is divided between exploration and a multitude of minigames, including golf, fishing and bug catching.

Captain Rainbow was a critical success, but a commercial failure. At one point, the game was planned to receive a worldwide release, but those plans were quickly cancelled. In Japan, the game was also criticised for its unnecessarily vulgar humour, which probably wouldn’t have translated well, and may have even caused a fair amount of controversy. In one particular sequence for example, the game makes fun of Birdo’s ambigious gender, which probably would have been deemed unacceptable over here in the West.