Dear Nintendo,
Well, you’ve done it. This time you’ve really done it. I can understand your failure to bring over games like Soma Bringer, Mother 3, A.S.H. and Captain Rainbow. (Actually, no, I can’t understand it, but I can pretend to.)
But sticking it to the fans by denying them Fatal Frame IV: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse? That’s cold, even for you.
We can get fabulous titles including Link’s Crossbow Training, Mario Party 37, New Play Control! Every Hit GameCube Game and Master of Illusion but not the latest Fatal Frame!? Nice.
Are you afraid of backlash from community groups?
The Fatal Frame series is known for being one of the scariest and I recall you received quite a few complaints from the National Institute on Media and Family and other groups after Madworld was released.
And, based on the story, Fatal Frame IV seems like just the title to get parents groups up in arms. Five girls were kidnapped and taken to Rougetsu Island when they were seven years old but then rescued by a detective. When they all turn 17, two of the girls die and the other three return to Rougetsu, tailed by the detective who saved them years before, to find out what happened there. Creepy.
Seems like it’s a little late to decide to go purely family-friendly now.
Resident Evil 4 and Madworld are out, and both Dead Space Extraction and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories are on their way.
Besides, Fatal Frame isn’t really all that violent. It’s more about shock value and spooky atmosphere. There’s no fighting – the main characters banish ghosts by taking their pictures with a special camera. Yes, there may be some disturbing imagery, but it’s on par with what we’ve seen in games like Silent Hill or Resident Evil.
Fatal Frame IV only received a Cero C rating, which means a game is recommended for players ages 15 and older. You know what Cero rating Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop received? Cero D for ages 17 and up. Resident Evil 4 received a Cero D rating too. So you can’t play “too violent and controversial” card.
This means that fans are left to assume that you only care about making money. There’s no guarantee that Fatal Frame IV: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse would sell an outrageous amount of copies, so it is better to just forget about the game and pretend it never existed. Fatal Frame IV may not have been super successful when it was released in Japan, but it did sell over 63,000 copies. It’s a respectable amount. There aren’t many adult Wii games, and that a game like Fatal Frame IV could do very well in North America and Europe because gamers there want something more mature.
You may not have realized it but Fatal Frame IV could be a way of bringing even more women gamers to your Wii. Traditionally, the protagonists of Fatal Frame games have been women. While the heroines often are young, they’re still portrayed as being strong, with admirable qualities.
It really is a shame. I’m sure the possible North American release of Fatal Frame IV probably helped a lot of people decide to purchase a Wii. If you are too afraid to take a chance on Fatal Frame IV: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, then give Tecmo permission to publish it in North America.
Don’t make fans wait and pray that Fatal Frame IV will be ported to the Xbox 360, like Fatal Frame and Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly.
Until then, I guess I’ll have to just sign ProjectZERO.fr’s petition to try and get you to change your mind.
Sincerely,
Jenni Lada
Read [IGN] Also Read [Chicago Sun-Times] Also Read [Japan-GameCharts] Site [Fatal Frame IV (Japanese)] Site [ProjectZERO.fr]
Yeah, I hope Nintendo will release this title along Disaster the next year, becose there's a huge base of Nintendo fans claiming for this. If Nintendo doesn't follow what we want, they're in dagerous to lose their massive fan base.
"This means that fans are left to assume that you only care about making money. "
They're a business, of course that's all they care about. I mean, yeah, I've loved Nintendo all my life, and decisions like these do disappoint me, but the fact is, money really is the only reason they're in this. If it wasn't, we'd have Earthbound on the Virtual Console and Mother 3 would have been released years ago.
When it comes to Disaster, I seem to recall Reggie almost flat out stating that its lack of quality (thus less sales) was the reason it wasn't released stateside. Similarly, I believe it was IGN that said Fatal Frame had some pretty big control issues, which I think is really the major determining factor in NoA not deciding to publish it here. And yes, the Japanese sales (while not horrible were definitely not great) probably have something to do with it as well.
As for why Nintendo won't let Tecmo publish it themselves? Well, the obvious answer is all the Nintendo stuff inside the game, like the Zero Suit Samus and Luigi costumes, but those could be taken out for a US release, so I really don't have any answer for that.
Regardless of all that, nice open letter, especially the point about bringing more females in with the main characters. I hope your Fatal Frame issues with Nintendo are resolved quicker than my Earthbound and Mother 3 ones, haha.
@ Stickmode: Very true. At least Disaster did receive a European release, if I remember right. It's a shame when companies don't listen to consumers.
@ Dopple Bobbler: Yup, I heard it was both quality/controls for Disaster. I hadn't heard that about the Fatal Frame IV controls, but I'm sure fans would adjust to it. Or, a little extra work could be put in to refine the US/EU release. With all the shovelware that gets put out on the DS and Wii, I always roll my eyes when Nintendo sites "quality" issues when it comes to not releasing games.
Exactly true about the extra costumes – those could be removed, and maybe even replaced, prior to US or EU release.
Isn't it horrible about Earthbound and Mother 3? I adored Earthbound and always wished I could have played Mother or Mother 3.
Actually, no, I can’t understand it, but I can pretend to
Ha ha ha. *cries*
I do actually think that "Nintendo" is in it for more than the money, but I guess that depends on how you define Nintendo. When you hear some of the people behind Nintendo like Miyamoto talking about their games or the direction that they want to take Nintendo in, their passion and excitement about gaming shines through. Of course money is their primary motivator, but I don't think it's their *only* one.
@ Oliemoon: I think the designers and developers may be in it for the right reasons (especially in Japan where they get so, so, so many good games), but the other forces that be within Nintendo are too concerned with how many copies of the game will move.
I really, really want Soma Bringer, Mother 3 and A.S.H….
Agreed. I wonder how much of it is head Nintendo in Japan controlling their products (like with how Earthbound won't be released on the VC in the USA) and how much of it is Nintendo of America being super strict about the games that are associated with their name in the States.
I guess Captain Rainbow and ASH it sort of makes sense because they sold really poorly in Japan…but then, so did Disaster: Day of Crisis and that got a PAL release (what were the lack of quality issues with that one though? A friend of mine recently played the Japanese version and raved about the game. He didn't have anything bad to say about the controls or anything else). It's difficult to understand why they are holding Fatal Frame IV back though–true it had poor sales and supposedly the controls were not great, but it is an established franchise (unlike the other three) that has proved itself in the past.
I think Mother 3 just got screwed the same way Mother did back on the NES: came out too late in the system's life cycle for NoA to want to push it in their territory when they were focusing on the NDS. Oh, my broken heart…
With Soma Bringer, Mother 3 and ASH I mostly just feel disappointed about the missed opportunities now, but since they are basically playable in English I am somewhat content. Soma Bringer and Mother 3 both have their complete fan translations and ASH's is on the way.
You tell em Jenni! *Sways head and snaps fingers*