It’s easy to identify a popular game. We make shorthand names, acronyms and so on. When someone says a Souls game, it’s obvious that refers to not just Dark Souls, but any FromSoftware Soulslike game. AC is the typical shortening for Assassin’s Creed. These are well-known examples, though not every game is known the same way.
In fact, quite a few games, both old and new, have entirely different names in different regions. You might be talking with someone about a game and they’ll have no idea what you mean because the game has an entirely different name in their region. So let’s check out just a few of those games, and why exactly they have different names in the first place.
Jet Set Radio is one of the prime examples from the early 2000s of counter-culture media. With its poppy, vibrant colours and graffiti-laden art style, Jet Set Radio is inseparable from the period in which it was made. What has stayed permanent, though, is its name. Jet Set Radio. Or is it?
In its original international release, the game was in known as Jet Set Radio. Except in the US, wher eit was instead titled as Jet Grind Radio. A small difference, likely chosen to emphasis the skating and grinding emphasis of the gameplay. This was changed in later releases to match the international standards, however.
Bully is such a fascinating little game. It stands as proof that Rockstar knew exactly how to transform its typical Grand Theft Auto formula into a more teen-friendly school setting without sacrificing any of the intent behind that game design philosophy. It was also called Bully, keeping a degree of that crime titling in it, but in a way children will more appropriately understand.
Many European nations, however, were not very happy with that. There were many calls for the game to be banned and, a few months before release, Rockstar changed the title to Canis Canem Edit to soften the impact of the provocative title. Ironic, given Rockstar’s main development studio is situated in Scotland. Later re-releases do name the game as Bully in the PAL region, however.
Canis Canem Edit means Dog Eat Dog in Latin, by the way.
Where Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy both serve as Square Enix’s primary RPG series, the former is more popular in Japan, and the later in the western world. Dragon Quest also tens to stay closer to its RPG roots, with FF changing it up with less consistency much more often. That also probably explains why it took so much longer for Dragon Quest to release internationally.
There were a few other issues, too. There was a board game released in the US known as DragonQuest and, not wanting to run into any legal issues, Square renamed the games as Dragon Warrior. This remained the case all the way up until 2005 when they finally donned their original Japanese titles.
That said, many of the Japanese games also have additional subtitles that are not addeinternationally, such as DQ3 being known as the Seeds of Salvation.
There are oh so many Castlevania games, and they are split across so many different styles and consoles. The vast majority are what would now beknown as Metroidvanias, though they are the games and helped birth the genre. Some are more combat-heavy games, some as fully 3D, others are pixel art. But all of them as Castlevania.
Internationally, at least. In Japan, all of the games are known as Dracula’s Castle instead. On top of that, the series is known for having rather dramatic subtitles, though these also varied in the Japanese releases. For example, Symphony of the Night was known as Nocturne in the Moonlight in Japan.
In the West, game director Yoko Taro came to critical acclaim with the Nier series, and Nier Automata in particular. He had been directing games long before that however, with the most prominent examples being the Drakengard games. There are three entries in the series in total, with Nier being a spin-off of an ending from the original game.
However, unlike Nier, Drakengard does have a different title in Japan. It is known as Drag-on Dragoon. It’s a fascinating change because for the most part, it sounds similar and evokes a similar, fantastical vibe. Drakengard does, somehow, sounds more ‘mature’ in the English language, so that is likely part of the reason for the name change.
Final Fantasy is an interesting entry here because, for the most part, it’s actually been named fairly consistently around the world. It has always been Final Fantasy, and the vast majority of games have released in most regions. So where is the oddity here? Well, there are two major examples, which are more to do withwhen it released, rather than where.
In the US, Final Fantasy launched at the third entry. Final Fantasy 3. Except in the US, where it was just Final Fantasy. And then FF4 was FF2. FF6 was FF3. And then Final Fantasy 7 was Final Fantasy 7. A bizarre release schedule. The other major example was Mystic Quest, which in the US was Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, Mystic Quest Legend in Europe (and also the first FF game in the region) and, funniest of all, Final Fantasy USA: Mystic Quest in Japan.
For some reason, Final Fantasy 5 skipped the US until its PS1 remake.
The Shin Megami Tensei series is the original of Atlus' major series, leading to the Persona spin-off series that now has plenty of spin-offs of its own. Shin Megami Tensei 3 was the game that really helped solidify Atlus internationally. Though with a plethora of games already, many of which did not release in the West, how do you title such a game?
Well for the US, you simply drop the number, where it was simply known as Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne. The ‘3’ was only added in later releases. In PAL regions though, it had an entirely different name. Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer’s Call. A great name, but very different. This was the case with many of SMT games though, with the titles being ever so slightly changed across regions, only being standardised more recently.
The Evil Within is such a unique horror game. While it isn’t scared to go heavy on the action, it shifts to horror away from the typical zombies and ghosts an relies on more psychological horror, the kind that can’t always be killed with a gun. The name Evil Within harkens back to many older horror films too, making it an attention-grabbing title.
In Japan though, the title was more literal, playing more heavily on the psychological themes. Incredibly more literal. The game was very directly called Psycho Break, which is how you’ll feel yourself after having completed the original game.
One of the more major examples you might be aware of, Resident Evil has always been a popular series around the world from the very first entry. With the very first game being set in a spooky, zombie-infested mansion, the title Resident Evil made perfect sense. In later entries though, the evil is not quite as resident.
The Japanese title instead focused more on the story of the games, being called Biohazard. All the zombies are technically biohazard products from Umbrella though it’snot quite as evocative of its horror rootsfrom first glance. In more recent years though, the titles have been standardised, with both Resident Evil and Biohazard appearing in the titles.
Ratchet and Clank, whether you were aware of it or not, is one of the most infamous examples of game with different names in different regions. And the reason for that is, excluding the very first game and Rift Apart, just about every single other entry has a different name, and sometimes even box art, in other countries. Which makes it very hard to actually search.
For example, Ratchet and Clank did not use numbers in the US, instead having subtitles. Not the case in Europe, where numbers were used instead. Australia used numbers and subtitles though. Meanwhile, The PAL Ratchet Gladiator was known as Ratchet Deadlocked in the US. Except in Japan, where it was known as Ratchet and Clank 4.
