Fans Localize Fatal Frame 4
 

Why does Nintendo hate money? That's the only reason I can think of to not release highly-desired games abroad.

Because Nintendo hates any idea of originality or risk these days.

It's not like they can't spare it, though. Aside from that, that logic doesn't really hold up to things like Mother 3, which are sequels to beloved series, i.e. a sure win, especially considering the quality of the game.

Finally a reason to buy and way to play Fatal Frame 4. Then I'll just need to find a copy of 2 and I'll be all set. Thanks for the information NonCon. Not sure how I missed that when I was looking at Kotaku though.

About Nintendo hating money... Has any of the prior three Fatal Frames sold particularly well in the US, or is it a very niche title?

Really, you gotta crunch the numbers before you go about declaring a company to be so evil and stupid because they won't publish your very niche title. Earthbound tanked, though. It was a flop. Only later did it develop a cult following. However, there's no proof that this cult following was enough to make localizing Mother 3 profitable.

No less worthwhile than a lot of other localizations.
 

Best-selling of the series in Japan. Keep in mind, success in Japan does not necessarily translate to success in America.

There are a lot of factors in play when localizing a game. In order to localize this, it would either have to take resources from other projects, or hire a new team. They could have crunched the numbers and noticed that no, it really isn't that worthwhile to pursue.

Being one that has enough contact with the subject, i would be quite surprised if there wasn't a way to play this on pirated copies next week floating around freely on the web. Actually, i would bet 1 week untill "Patch Already included" versions start to float around...

Although, to any of you who plan on picking this up... the game is good. A Little short and sometimes slugish. But an overall decent story and decent scares. It's certainly in the level of the earlier Fatal Frame game, it just doesn't surpass the previous one.

But if you don't mind the trouble of applying the patch and paying a little extra for the import, it's actually a worthy game. It's better than Ju On and there is "Calling" come out soon that should be around the same level.

NoA bugs me a bunch sometimes.
 

Point, but is there any particular reason to think that the best selling of the franchise in Japan wouldn't be in America?

Obviously, the first did well enough in the US to justify the second being localized, and the second did well in the US enough to justify the third being localized.

Assuming it does better than its predecessors in America, which I see no reason to think it wouldn't, than I think it's safe to say localizing it was worth it. Probably more worth it than localizing Sin and Punishment 2, even though I'm certain the latter is a better game.

IIRC, the problem with Mother 3 (and the reason Earthbound won't be released on the Virtual Console in the states anytime soon) is music. Apparently, the two sampled a lot of other songs, which makes licensing a bitch.

FYI: Patched version of the game is already on the web. So fast actually i'm not even sure if i won or lost my own bet.

Either way, i hope this moves some originals not just to enhace chances of localization, but to enhance a chance of future titles

That is possible contributing factor. The Runaway Five, for example, are an obvious nod/parody of The Blues Brothers, and Itoi uses The Beatles as a major source of inspiration.

I thought this game sucked?

I thought that was the entire contributing factor.

Like, I know Earthbound didn't sell that great but it was also a bajillion years ago, and they're still not putting it on Virtual Console despite the fact that it'd be practically free money (seriously it's already on VC in Japan) and show them a good market test if Mother 3 is worth it. I was under the impression it was 100% Beatles references and the copyrights therein.


Anyway, more on topic - this seems pretty awesome of the fans to do, though I do have to say this
is a pretty awesome way to support the developers.

Not really... it's just doesn't surpass the previous entries in the series. It belongs, it just doesn't shine on top of the others

Still liking it though.