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Ricardo221 on 03 December 2007
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I think Sega has done dumber stuff than not release a game in the US. I personally agree that Phantasy Star Remake not being released in the states was the biggest mistake ever... but honestly I don't know if many people besides Saturn fans would pick up a PS2 NiGHTS.

The original was known for being VERY short, and unless there were a lot of bonus features added (it doesn't sound like there are), most folks who still have their Saturns (like me) would just connect it up and play a round (like I did 10 days ago) -- especially when the reviews come out and they see there's nothing all too special about it.

So with Saturn NiGHTS selling around 275,000 back in '96 - I'd say the current PS2 market would probably grab about half that number unless it was heavily marketed. The rest would skip it and just give it a rental instead.

Then again, it would be cheap to port to US format since there's no Japanese dialogue to translate. And the game is already made, why not just release it as a budget $20 title?

Speaking of dumb mistakes that Sega has made, here are a few that are bigger than not releasing some games in America:

- Letting Sonic X360 sit for MONTHS after garnering shameful reviews and low scores and then just have the same garbage controls, camera, glitches and gameplay problems ported right over to PS3 with absolutely no touch up whatsoever. No online bug fixes in a year as well. Shame.

- Failing to revive bankable franchises in years, letting them collect dust like Alex Kidd and Wonder Boy. The DS alone would eat these games alive with their user base and level of simplicity needed to make a hit. It's nice to see old franchises like After Burner and Out Run make comebacks, and soon Golden Axe will join the revival list. But then Sega releases current games with characters like Ulala, yet we haven't seen a new Space Channel 5 in five years.

I'm a bit of a Sega fanboy, so I try hard to look at the positive side of the company - but I will admit that a NiGHTS demand in Japan probably doesn't equal a similar demand in America. But we'll see on December 26th when the sales data for Wii NiGHTS JoD is released. I'm hoping Sega gets at least 50,000 units sold in its debut week. Plus it's Xmas and it might be good timing to released it RIGHT before the last minute shopping weekend.