7 Japanese Games We’d Like To See On Xbox One

A week ago, someone asked Phil Spencer if we’d see some Japanese games at E3 being announced for Xbox One, to which Phil gave a positive reply:

As of now, yes. Things can change but like last year I wanted to make sure we supported our Japanese publishers on our stage and this year we are working to do the same. It's important to us.

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) April 29, 2018

We can speculate all we want about new games, but I’d like to see some games come over from the other platforms that were previously exclusive to them. With Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice coming over just recently, we are bound to see a few more. Here are 7 games that I’m sure many would live to see on the Microsoft console. It also goes without saying that ideally we’d love to see these with 4K enhancements for the Xbox One X.

NieR Automata

Why we want it: It’s an amazing Action RPG from Platinum games that was well received by critics and players alike. Yoko Taro knows how to spin an interesting narrative and the music is top notch as well. This would be a day one purchase for me.

Why it’s possible: This one seems very likely as there were some rumours a few days ago originating from the French site JeuxVideos. It always struck me as an odd thing that we didn’t see this release on Xbox One as the original game was quite popular on the Xbox 360. I expect Microsoft to announce this on stage at E3.

Persona 5

Why we want it: Persona 5 is one of the highest rated JRPG’s of recent memory (It currently holds a 93% average on Metacritic). Since the series doesn’t have true sequels, you can just jump into this one without having played the previous entries. It’s a massive game with well over 100 hours of gameplay.

Why it’s possible: While we haven’t seen a mainline Persona game on an Xbox platform before, we have gotten Persona 4 Arena on the Xbox 360 so it’s not as if the series is a total stranger on Microsoft’s console and on the Original Xbox we also had Shin Megami Tensei: Nine.

Yakuza 6

Why we want it: First of all, I wouldn’t limit this to only Yakuza 6: I’d actually hope to see a definitive collection of at least the PS4 games:

• Yakuza 6

• Yakuza 0

• Yakuza Kiwami (remake of the ps2 original)

While I personally haven’t played a single game in the franchise yet, I’ve heard high praise about these games from friends and fellow journalists. Bundling them together would make for an easier point of entry and would surely convince a lot of Xbox players to give it a go.

Why it’s possible: There is no indication whatsoever that this series will make it over. It’s always been a PlayStation exclusive but it does seem like Phil is eyeing Sega games in particular:

Yep, Sega has a lot of good franchises that would be cool to see come over.

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) April 29, 2018

Kingdom Hearts 1.5 + 2.5 Remix & Kingdom Hearts 2.8

Why we want it: Xbox gamers that never owned another platform would be clueless when jumping in to Kingdom Hearts 3 if they’ve never played any of the previous games. The KH story isn’t exactly the easiest to wrap your head around so a bundled release of ALL the games on one single disc would be a dream come true. It’s one of the best action RPG series ever made mixing great combat with an interesting story including guest appearances of Disney & Square Enix franchises throughout.

Why it’s possible: Kingdom Hearts 3 is already 100% confirmed to come to the Xbox One and it would be a wise decision to let people catch up before it releases. With the release date ever drawing closer however, this seems to be more unlikely to happen with each passing day. Hopefully we see an E3 announcement that will rejoice us all.

Final Fantasy (all of them!)

Why we want it: I realise this is cheating a bit (again) because it includes so many possible titles, but truth be told I don’t really know which one would be more likely. There are many Final Fantasy games that have been released on PlayStation 4 in particular that we’d love to be able to play (and unlock achievements for!) such as:

• World of Final Fantasy

• Final Fantasy XIV (the online MMORPG)

• Final Fantasy HD remasters

Why it’s possible: It’s not as if the series has never graced the console before. All three games in the XIII series released on Xbox 360 at the same time, we got Final Fantasy XV on Xbox One and before that we’ve seen the Type-0 HD remaster make it over from the PSP. The most likely reason we’ve not seen the other games are either deals/contracts with Sony or because they fear it wouldn’t sell enough copies. But in the latter case, I’d be more than happy to buy the digital versions if they don’t want to bother with physical ones.

Ni No Kuni I & II

Why we want it: These RPGs by Level-5 with Studio Ghibli inspired characters and world look amazing. I’ve always regretted not being able to play the original because I didn’t own a PS3 and it was almost single handedly responsible for me getting one. The second game in the series seems to be getting equally high praise so these are some experiences we just shouldn’t be missing out on.

Why it’s possible: None of the developers or publishers involved seem to have any kind of contract with Sony (or Nintendo) that would ensure it never migrates onto another platform. You can already play Ni No Kuni 2 on Windows so I don’t see why it couldn’t make it to Microsoft’s Console. I somewhat expect this to be one of the Japanese games announced on the E3 stage to show that Xbox is indeed interested in bringing over great single player experiences.

Xenoblade Chronicles 1, 2 & X

Why we want it: At this point you’re probably wondering why the heck I labelled this “7 games” as I can’t keep myself from listing multiple games each time, but the truth is that this would each time provide a great opportunity to bundle a few games together at a premium price. The Xenoblade Chronicles games are massively popular in both Japan and the West and they’ve all sold well on the Nintendo. The one thing that has always held them back in my opinion, is that they released on hardware that couldn’t quite handle its full potential. These games have creatures of MASSIVE scale in them and a more powerful console could perhaps really push the visuals.

Why it’s possible: To be honest, the chances are REALLY slim; Monolith Soft was originally owned by Bandai Namco, but it’s currently under Nintendo. For this to release on PlayStation or Xbox, Nintendo would have to be willing to release their games on the competitor’s platforms and they’ve been trying to avoid just that. If there’s any glimmer of hope, it’s that the mobile games have been doing rather well but I wouldn’t put my money on it. Just wishful thinking…

And you?

Which Japanese games would you like to see cross over to Xbox One? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter.