6 Japanese PSone Imports Coming West

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6 Japanese PSone Imports Coming West

GungHo Online Entertainment America is releasing six more Japanese PSone Classics! These games have never been seen on American shores, but thanks to the magic of the PSN, a whole new audience may now enjoy them.

The games are in Japanese, and depending on their genre, some are definitely more “import-friendly” than others. This post will give you a breakdown of what to expect from each one so we can help you find the import classic that’s right for you!

Sarara’s Little Shop (Danjyon Shoutengai: Densetsu no Ken Hajimemashita)

Sarara’s Little Shop

Take control of a stereotypical RPG item shop and help outfit adventurers to safely traverse treacherous dungeons and snag some fantastic loot.

The experience branches out based on your decisions and there are plenty of big spenders for you to interact with.

As with any RPG/simulation game, it’s pretty text-heavy. Are you prepared for this immersive shop-running classic?

Dragon Beat Legend of Pinball

Dragon Beat Legend of Pinball

The ultimate classic pinball experience has arrived! This classic is easily the most import-friendly game on today’s list. Nearly all of the important text is in English, and old-school pinball fun needs no translation.

The game features two unique game modes. One is the “simple” mode that replicates the standard pinball experience, while the other takes players on a steel ball’s epic journey to defeat a dragon and save the lovely princess.

NEO PLANET

NEO PLANET

If you’ve ever dreamed of flying through space and terraforming a whole new planet to become the second Earth, NEO PLANET is the game for you.

The goal of this intricately detailed simulation game is to carefully balance each planet’s ecosystem while developing it for potential colonization.

It’s incredibly text-heavy, and provides the kind of core challenge that simulation enthusiasts crave. A fair amount of Japanese fluency will be required to enjoy this title.

Heroine Dream 1-2

Heroine Dream 2

One of the earliest idol-simulation games, the Heroine Dream series oozes with nineties style and charm. Players are tasked with carefully managing the latest up and coming “heroine” to help her burst onto the scene with style!

Players can enjoy different paths, and based on the decisions they make along the way they can enjoy completely different endings. Can you balance your heroine’s confidence, athleticism, and stress to make sure they’ve got what it takes to rise to the top? This simulation game features a lot of detailed menus and cutscenes, so a fair amount of Japanese knowledge will be required to enjoy these games.

Tokyo 23-Ku Seifuku Wars

Tokyo 23-Ku Seifuku Wars

In a post-apocalyptic vision of Tokyo, a ban on uniforms has been implemented. With school uniforms banned, naturally a large-scale civil war ensues. Our hero’s goal is to find her friend’s older brother who went missing during the war. Along the way, she is sucked into the conflict and forced to fight to uncover the truth!

This title has players preparing the ultimate squad of student soldiers to send into large scale combat against their rivals. The battles play out like a crazy game of Rock-paper-scissors based on the elemental attributes of their school uniforms. With heavy emphasis on event scenes and simulation elements, players will need to be able to read Japanese well to fully enjoy this game.


We hope you enjoy this eclectic gathering of old-school Japanese fun. Like all our classics, these are priced at $5.99 each.

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69 Comments

63 Author Replies

  • Hi there!
    What about Geppy-X? Is there any chance of getting this?

    • I’m always looking into suggestions and reporting them to HQ, but we can’t make any guarantees!

      Thanks for your input :)

  • Probably not an import, but I would literally kill to see Megaman Legends 1, 2 and The Misadventures of Tronn Bonne hit the marketplace.

    Ive been dieing to play them, but the originals just more and more expensive…

    • I would love that too, but please don’t kill to ensure more classics — that sounds… dangerous!

  • I hope crisis core, conception 1, brave fencer 11musashi, suikoden 1&2, ff type-0 will be next soon. I also hope that onimusha trilogy would be able to make it also on the list.

  • i give them a try when i get a new memery card. a good game to inport would be growlancer ONE for ps1 it never made it to the us so it would make a good Japanese PSone Import

    • With the PS3, you can create new virtual memory cards at any time! Unless you are referring to your Vita memory card… If that’s the case, I can tell you that these games are quite small compared to full-fledged RPGs and current gen titles. Happy gaming!

  • Awww man. I was hoping for Space Battleship Yamato. :(

  • Since you guys brought over Sentimental Graffiti, could you get the Yarudora visual novels? If not, that’s fine. ^^’

  • I hope you’re still reading. I know you don’t have the rights to these games but maybe you can convince CAPCOM or work with them somehow to get the MEGAMAN X games on PSN

    • Well, I could talk to them, but I’m not sure they’d have any reason to listen to little ol’ me ;)

      You may want to let the publishers of your favorite games know there is interest in playing their back-catalog on current gen systems.

  • I would also love to see intelligent qube brought over!

  • Will be cool to see FINAL FANTASY VII INTERNATIONAL, yes that japanese version with the 4 disc full of stuff about the game :D

    • Always good to hear what fans are interested in. We don’t have the rights to this one, but it is a gem in my personal collection.

  • … and still no Ape Escape? Its a first party title, sold amazingly, and many keep requesting it. Whats the deal?

    • I can’t speak for them, but that’s definitely a popular request. I’m always looking forward to seeing more classics hit the PSN.

  • BTW, it would be nice to see PS2 Classics from Japan and Europe too. I never got to play Siren 2 because you guys never released it in the USA, but it was released in Europe. ALSO, since the servers are now back up due to some special means, Resident Evil Outbreak should be added too.

    • I think import classics are the best way to bring over games that never saw western shores, and it will be great to see the PS2 library grow as well. I’d never heard of the game you mentioned until now, but it certainly looks interesting (and creepy fun^_^).

  • Seeing PS1 games referred to as “retro gaming” almost makes me think I’m getting to old for this stuff :p

    Can we get some PSP Imports going on here? I bought and enjoyed the PS1 Import of LUP★SALAD and I’ve read the PSP one is even better!

    • Yeah… I felt pretty weird myself calling PS1 games “retro,” but then it occurred to me the PS1 launched almost 20 years ago.

      That said, I think I’m OK until the PS2 is considered “old school.”

      As for Lup’s portable adventure, I’ll make sure to forward that feedback along! We’ve never done PSP classics, but it’s something we can look into.

  • Sarara’s Little Shop? Sold! (ha, pun?) I actually love games of this type, the foremost being Racettear. I’m super interested in seeing how this one is. Hopefully there will be an English translation guide some day from an intrepid Gamefaqs fan.

    Since everyone and their mother seems to be suggesting games for you to publish… how about “Dragon Seeds”? Yeah, it’s not necessarily a Japanese import (being published in English in the PS1 era), but… I really just want it portable on my Vita.

    Keep up the good work!

    • We hope you enjoy that classic, and we wish you much luck in your shop-running experience!

      And thanks for the suggestion!

  • Dragon Beat is it for me probably with this batch. Nice to see the imports still coming.

  • Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could get Final Fantasy & Dragon quest : Itadaki Street Special ported as a PS2 Classic? You don’t really need to now Japanese for the most past, just do a bt of research on what does what and your good. I’ve never raged on the cpu like I did against Rinoa.

  • Now I know that Unreal Tournament 3 allowed the use of mods and such that were created on the PC, so could we see a feature to use fan translations for the Japanese classics? Just set up a way for people to be able to load them through a USB stick. Some of these I really want to play, but that language barrier keeps me away.

  • Hi, these games really need a sentence saying that they are in Japanese. I had never heard of any of these games and so I was completely unaware that I was buying a game in Japanese. My father almost did the same thing.

  • They should bring some home version’s of some Japenese arcade games.

  • Heroine Drop and Tokyo 23-Ku Seifuku Wars!

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