A history of Vita games: Localization studios

The very first time I ever wrote an article, it was examining the various developers who specialized in porting other studio’s games to the Vita. It was topical because at the time in 2016, Sony’s handheld was seeing a flurry of games come to it from other consoles, ranging from big AAA titles like Resident Evil to small indies like Bastion, with varying degrees of success in the porting process along the way.

The years that followed wouldn’t be as dominated with western ports, but another type of software had begun to flourish in 2014 that has continued in full force to this day – localization of Japanese games, largely owing to the Vita’s sales success in the region where it has sold around 6 million units of hardware. Japanese developers found it an attractive console to develop for, leading to software support which in turn led to plenty of options for western localization companies to pick up.

What I aim to examine in this article is the output of each of the major localization companies – in terms of what they released, what they chose not to release (including when they localized titles for other platforms but skipped the Vita version) as well as some brief commentary on the quality of their translations, before providing an overall rating on their support (from outstanding -> amazing – > good -> solid -> poor).

A large part of the reason I love Vita so much is thanks to its brilliant selection of Japanese games and that’s really what I want to celebrate here – but also lament some of the missed opportunities we had along the way.

 

Aksys Games

Highlights – Code: Realize ~ Guardians of Rebirth ~; Exist Archive: The Other side of the Sky; Muramasa Rebirth; Tokyo Xanadu; Zero Time Dilemma

As I detailed in my article about Aksys, the little California-based localization house may have started out slow, but quickly blossomed into one of the premier champions of Sony’s handheld. The variety of titles they worked on is just insane – most notably they continued their successful partnership with Arc System Works to release a tonne of fighting games including Arcana Heart 3: Love Max!, Blazblue Continuum Shift Extend, Blazblue Chronophantasma Extend, Guilty Gear Accent Core Plus R and Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st], as well as visual novels such as Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters and the Xblaze duology.

Yet it was elsewhere that they really flourished – take for example their work with the otome genre that was virtually unknown in the west prior to them picking up Code: Realize and Norn9, but expanded rapidly over the coming years not least thanks to their own efforts with 7’Scarlet, Bad Apple Wars, Code: Realize fandiscs, Collar x Malice, Period Cube and the Psychedelica games (although they all have issues with their translations which contain errors the further in you get). They also did things I truly wasn’t expecting – just as I’d given up hope on Tokyo Xanadu being localized, they stepped in and picked it up (a similar thing happened with Muramasa Rebirth), while also announcing a surprise sequel to Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward entitled Zero Time Dilemma.

Not everything they did was a rousing success – things like Drive Girls, Mind=0 and Sorcery Saga received a fairly mixed reception, but they balanced this out with plenty of games which were a lot more beloved like Aegis of Earth, Exist Archive and Shiren the Wanderer. I’m really not convinced we’d have gotten many of these if Aksys weren’t around as few other companies were taking gambles on niche Vita-only titles, but that just goes to show how fantastic their support was.

Missed opportunities – Black Wolves Saga; Ukiyo no Roushi; Yuukyuu no Tierblade

Unlike many of the other companies in this article, it’s very difficult to name missed opportunities for Aksys as they’re not tied to any specific Japanese publisher, meaning there aren’t any games they’ve actively skipped over that. Of course I’d have love to see more otome titles from them – namely Black Wolves Saga, Collar x Malice Unlimited and Yuukyuu no Tierblade, but I’m pretty happy with the selection we got. The biggest sticking point for me is Ukiyo no Roushi, an open-world samurai-action game from Spike-Chunsoft that no localization company picked up, but would’ve been an ideal opportunity for Aksys to step in on as they had done with other Spike-Chunsoft titles. Still, this is just a minor nit-pick on an otherwise stunning selection of titles.

Overall rating – Outstanding

 

Atlus USA

Highlights – The Caligula Effect; Dragon’s Crown; Lost Dimension; Persona 4 Golden; Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception/Mask of Truth

Atlus USA hold the enviable title of having published the highest-rated Vita game on Metacritic – Persona 4 Golden – an epic RPG chronicling the adventures of a group of high schoolers in the town of Inaba. It was an excellent precursor to what would be years of support for the console, including a handful of further Persona spinoffs (all of them rhythm games – Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight, Persona 4: Dancing All Night and Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight) and a Persona clone that deserved a lot more love than it got (The Caligula Effect).

They also localized a number of games I’d consider hidden gems of Vita’s library, such as the well-received lewd gridder Dungeon Travelers 2, one of my own personal favourite strategy-RPG’s (Lost Dimension) and a pair of beloved visual novel/RPG hybrids in Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception and Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth. They also took a gamble on the children-raising JRPG Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars, which offered a unique if not particularly polished experience, while their work with Vanillaware yielded Dragon’s Crown and Odin Sphere, both of which received substantial critical acclaim.

Missed opportunities – Catherine: Full Body; Dungeon Travelers 2-2; Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen

Despite supporting the PSP well beyond its final years (they released both Growlanser and Ragnarok Tactics in 2012), Atlus USA haven’t really extended the same mindset to that console’s successor – their final releases appear to be the Persona Dancing duology. Notably, they’re skipping the highly anticipated PS3 remake Catherine: Full Body which is coming across on PS4 but not Vita, a hugely disappointing missed opportunity to send the console out with a bang.

They’re also choosing not to localize the Aquaplus dungeon-crawler sequel Dungeon Travelers 2-2 which is a shame, although a Vita exclusive in 2019 would have always been a difficult ask (it appears they lost out on the Utawarerumono prequel to NISA as well, although at least that on is still coming west on the handheld). Still, it’s difficult to be too disappointed with Atlus USA – they’ve blessed Vita with a tonne of brilliant titles and have only fallen at the final hurdle, which still puts them ahead of most of the pack.

Overall rating – Amazing

 

Bandai-Namco

Highlights – Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth/Hacker’s Memory; God Eater: Resurrection/Rage Burst; Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme Vs Force; Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment/Lost Song/Hollow Realization; Tales of Hearts R

Bandai-Namco are one of Japan’s biggest publishers, releasing dozens of games each year ranging from big sellers like Dragon Ball to more niche titles like World Trigger. Thanks to Vita’s relative success in the region, this has led to tonnes of support – a lot of which was brought to western shores by their overseas publishing arm. They championed a lot of anime releases – things like A.W. Phoenix Festa, Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z, Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme Vs Force and One Piece Unlimited World Red/Pirate Warriors 3/Burning Blood, which gave Vita a lot of variety in its library.

They also gambled on things that weren’t a surefire bet for the western market – for example they localized Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment in 2014, which went on to spawn a successful franchise that would see three more entries land over the coming years (Lost Song, Hollow Realization and Accel World vs Sword Art Online), although many fans were critical of its Google-translated text which included a number of hilarious phrases. They also revived the Digimon franchise after years of overseas absence with Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth (and its sequel Hacker’s Memory) and took a long shot by translating Tales of Hearts R, a remake of a previously Japan-only DS entry (which suffered from inconsistencies between its text and Japanese voice acting).

It’s also worth mentioning that their branch in South-East Asia provided physical copies of games like Digimon and Sword Art Online (that were otherwise digital-only in the west), but also translated a few titles of their own which didn’t make it overseas – namely two Gundam games (Gundam Breaker 3 and SD Gundam G Generation Genesis) and two Super Robot Wars games (V & X), which was really appreciated.

Missed opportunities – Digimon World: Next Order; Dynasty Warriors Gundam Reborn; Gintama Rumble; One Piece Pirate Warriors 2; Tales of Innocence R

Sadly, despite the fact that they did seem to fully embrace Vita between 2013 and 2017, Bandai-Namco made some baffling decisions regarding localizing some Vita games. The best example of this Digimon World: Next Order, a Vita-exclusive when it originally released, that came to the west as a PS4-exclusive despite some confusing PR indicating that we’d be getting the Vita port. Despite translating and releasing Dynasty Warriors Gundam Reborn and One Piece Pirate Warriors 2 on PS3, we didn’t get the handheld versions of those either.

In South-East Asia, an English version of Gintama Rumble exists on PS4, but for whatever reason this wasn’t extended to the Vita port which was released in Japan. I’d also love to have seen Tales of Innocence R, the other remake of a previously Japan-only entry in the popular JRPG franchise get an English version for us to play – but I’m guessing the sales of Tales of Hearts R weren’t strong enough to consider this. Bandai-Namco’s support of Vita has certainly been better than most, but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t have done more to bring across things they’d already translated.

Overall rating – Good

 

Idea Factory International

Highlights – Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds/Edo Blossoms; Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;birth 1/2/3; Mary Skelter: Nightmares; Monster Monpiece; Trillion: God of Destruction

One of the newcomer companies to be established during Vita’s life, Compile Heart & Idea Factory set up an overseas subsidiary to handle bringing western localizations. Their first release was controversial – Monster Monpiece was digital-only and censored because of its questionable content, but luckily the backlash they received wasn’t enough to put them off working on the console and they followed it up with a full physical release of Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;birth 1 that same year.

Over the coming years they localized pretty much every Neptunia title possible (Hyperdevotion Noire, Megatagmension, Re;birth 2 & 3, Superdimension) but they also experimented with plenty of Compile Heart’s other output, including some real hidden gems like Mary Skelter and Trillion: God of Destruction (they also tried their hand at some otome with two Hakuoki games as well as Amnesia: Memories). Of course, not everything was a hit – the dungeon crawler MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death was seen as a fairly bland entry in the genre, but in general their support was appreciated.

Missed opportunities – Date-A-Live: Rio Reincarnation; Gun Gun Pixies; Hakuoki: Sweet School Life; Moero Chronicle/Crystal/Pirates; Tokyo Clanpool

Likely due to their experience with having to censor Monster Monpiece in localization, Idea Factory International chose to skip future games in the Genkai Tokki series – namely Moero Chronicle, Moero Crystal and Moero Pirates. While Chronicle managed to get an Asian-English release (along with a Switch port which is coming west this year), Crystal and Pirates did not and it was a shame not to see them available in English. It’s also disappointing that they skipped the surprisingly enjoyable third-person shooter Gun Gun Pixies, which is being localized in 2019 by PQube… but not for Vita.

Elsewhere, they chose not to bring across a dungeon crawler (made by the same dev team as Mary Skelter) named Tokyo Clanpool and skipped the anime tie-in game Date-A-Live: Rio Reincarnation, despite both having potential sales potential in the west (the latter is finally getting an English release this year, but only on PS4 & PC). I could also go on about how they didn’t bring across more otome titles like Hakuoki: Sweet School Life, although I count it fairly lucky that we got the three we did – still, there was definitely scope here for IFI to have done more.

Overall rating – Good

 

Koei-Tecmo

Highlights – Attack on Titan: Wings of Freedom; Atelier Rorona/Totori/Meruru Plus; Deception IV: Blood Ties/Nightmare Princess; Dynasty Warriors Next; Toukiden Kiwami

A publisher known for their for their long-running Warriors series, Koei-Tecmo certainly blessed Vita with plenty of these and their western publishing arm brought the majority to western audiences. Between their core Dynasty Warriors games (of which we saw a brand new custom-built entry in Next, along with the expanded versions Xtreme Legends and Empires, plus an SRPG spin-off named Godseekers) and other offshoots such as Samurai Warriors 4 and Warriors Orochi 3, there is plenty of choice available (plus some anime tie-ins such as Attack on Titan: Wings of Freedom and Berserk and the Band of the Hawk, both of which offer new spins on the formula).

It was in their other releases that the company really began to make a name for themselves with though – whether it be the sea of Atelier titles from subsidiary Gust (including the full Arland and Dusk trilogies, as well as two entries in the Mysterious trilogy) or their own spin on the Monster Hunter formula in Toukiden (plus its expanded re-release Kiwami and sequel Toukiden 2). They also worked on some neat one-offs – such as the unique JRPG Ar no Surge Plus or the trap ’em up game Deception IV, it shows that they certainly weren’t afraid to take the odd gamble at times.

Missed opportunities – Angelique Retour; Blue Reflection; Nights of Azure 1/2; Nobunaga’s Ambition: Sphere of Influence; Warriors All-Stars

For whatever reason, Koei-Tecmo were one of the first localizers to give up on Vita, deciding in early 2017 that the handheld wasn’t worth investing in anymore. This means that games like Blue Reflection and Nights of Azure from Gust – that were released in English on PS4 – didn’t come across, despite the translation already existing (the worst offender being that the final Atelier game in the Mysterious sub-series didn’t release on Vita overseas, despite the console receiving the previous two entries in the trilogy). Similar things happened to their collaborating musou game Warriors All-Stars, plus their grand strategy titles Nobunaga’s Ambition and Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

While it would have been a big ask, it would also have been nice to see the company gamble on trying to get in on the otome market that, as detailed above with Aksys and Idea Factory International, was going from strength to strength in the west. They have access to a veritable sea of titles – the easiest of which to pick would’ve been Angelique Retour, a full remake of what is seen as one of the earliest entries in the genre – but any of them from Harukana Toki de Naka to La Corda d’Oro would’ve done just fine. I appreciate what Koei-Tecmo did for Vita while they were around, but they certainly had ample opportunity to release a lot more than they actually did.

Overall rating – Solid

 

Nippon Ichi Software America

Highlights – DanganRonpa 1/2/V3; Demon Gaze 1 & 2; Disgaea 3 & 4; Yomawari: Night Alone/Midnight Shadows; Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana

In terms of pure volume, you’re going to be hard pressed to find a company with as many localized Vita releases as NIS America. Even just counting the games from their parent company – things like A Rose in the Twilight, Cladun Returns, the first two Criminal Girls, Disgaea 3 & 4, HTOL#NIQ: Firefly Diary, Penny Punching Princess, The Longest Five Minutes and Yomawari: Night Alone/Midnight Shadows, there’s a veritable sea of quality and variety.

Yet the company also has several partnerships with other developers and publishers – for example through Kadokawa Games we received Demon Gaze 1 & 2, God Wars, Natural Doctrine and The Lost Child, through 5pb we got Operation Abyss & Operation Babel as well as Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness and some one-offs with companies like Compile Heart, Experience Inc and Falcom brought us games like Hyperdimension Neptunia PP, Stranger of Sword City and Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana (the latter of which they poached from long-time Ys series localizers XSEED although they managed to make an absolute mess of their first pass at the translation).

Probably their most important partnership was with Spike-Chunsoft on the DanganRonpa series, which brought us four titles (Trigger Happy Havoc, Goodbye Despair, Ultra Despair Girls and V3) that rank among the best in Vita’s library (Grand Kingdom wasn’t too bad either). Others were less successful – most of the Touhou titles were fairly bland in terms of their gameplay and Tokyo Tattoo Girls from Sushi Typhoon Games is among the platform’s lowest rated titles on Metacritic, although landing an agreement with Aquaplus to bring Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen in 2020 was a surprise I don’t think any Vita fan was expecting.

Missed opportunities – Exile Election; Hero Must Die; Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk; Metal Max Xeno; The Princess Guide

NISA’s Vita support has been somewhat spotty, initially appearing to end in 2017 with Tokyo Tattoo Girls. We’ve seen brief flashes of love for the handheld since then – a trio of physical releases coming this year was a nice touch and the fantastic news that we’re getting Utawarumono in 2020 still feels great, but in the interim things like Labyrinth of Refrain, Metal Max Xeno and The Princess Guide came to a number of other platforms in the west except Vita (despite landing on the console in Japan) which is just a real bummer without any real rhyme or reason to it.

There’s also a handful of NIS-developed games which are available in Japan that I’d have loved to have seen overseas – for example Hero Must Die is a gorgeous-looking RPG while Fuuraiki 3, Great Edo Blacksmith and Special Reporting Division are three more that seemed really unique and interesting too. Overall I’m very happy with what NIS America have done on Vita, but it’s difficult not to lament what more they could have done too (Metal Max will always sting for me!).

Overall rating – Amazing

 

PQube

Highlights – Gal Gun: Double Peace; Muv Luv/Muv Luv Alternative; Root Letter; Steins;Gate; Valkyrie Drive

Arriving somewhat late to the localization game, PQube nevertheless did it in style – landing what I’d argue is one of the Vita’s finest titles in the sweeping visual novel Steins;Gate. They followed it up with a tonne more visual novel goodness – whether it be a Steins;Gate sequel/prequel (0), another Science Adventure title with a different twist (Chaos;Child), a surprisingly under-rated mystery adventure set in the gorgeous Japanese countryside (Root Letter) or two games which are regarded as among the best in the genre (Muv Luv and Muv Luv Alternative).

They didn’t just work on visual novels though, choosing to also focus on lewd titles that in some cases would cause them difficulties with western corporations (their attempt to bring Omega Labyrinth Z overseas led to a rather high-profile cancellation). Still, they didn’t have problems with everything – the erotic rail shooter Gal Gun: Double Peace made it through, as well as the anime adventure game Punchline and Senran Kagura-style brawler Valkyrie Drive, all of which contained impressive translations.

Missed opportunities – Gun Gun Pixies; Our World is Ended

I’ve no idea why, but a lot of publishers who stop working on Vita seem to deem it necessary to insult the console before bowing out – PQube did this in late 2018, announcing they were stopping support alongside the end of production of physical cartridges. This meant that things like Gun Gun Pixies, a Vita-exclusive third-person shooter in Japan from Compile Heart that is coming west via PQube, is skipping the handheld altogether and instead targeting a Switch release.

A similar thing happened to Our World is Ended, a Steins;Gate-esque visual novel from Red Entertainment that was released as a Vita-only game in Japan, before ditching the platform for its overseas release. Given how well the game that inspired it did on the console, it’s a shame to see this happen – although I can’t say I blame PQube too much, as they stuck it out longer than most and just fell at the final hurdle like Atlus.

Overall rating – Amazing

 

SEGA

Hightlights – Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax; Hatsune Miku: Project Diva f/2nd/X; Valkyria Revolution

Once Sony’s bitter rival in the console space, SEGA switched to being a third-party publisher and in doing so brought a number of memorable titles to the Vita which their overseas publishing arm localized for the west. Most notably, they released three Hatsune Miku games (after initially appearing to swerve Vita, offering only the PS3 port of Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F) that provided some of the best rhythm gameplay on the market that was great for playing on the go.

They also took a big gamble on bringing across the crossover fighting game Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax (although sadly not its expanded version Ignition) as well as the Vita port of the poorly-received Valkyria Chronicles spin-off Valkyria Revolution, that may not have been what fans wanted but was still nice to see on a handheld.

Missed opportunities – A Certain Magical Virtual-On; Miracle Girls Festival; Phantasy Star Nova; Puyo Puyo Tetris

Sadly, SEGA skipped a lot more than they brought across – the most notable being their action-RPG Phantasy Star Nova. Developed by Tri-Ace (of Star Ocean fame), it was a big-budget release that sold relatively well in Japan but for some reason SEGA’s western branch decided it just wasn’t worth localizing – likely a result of its status as a Vita-exclusive, which is a real shame as it had plenty of sales potential next to other titles like Freedom Wars and Toukiden.

They also failed to cash in on things like Miracle Girls Festival, a Hatsune Miku re-skin that surely would have appealed to some fans in the western market, plus the interesting rhythm game Uta Kumi 575 too. My biggest disappointment is that they didn’t localize the surprisingly enjoyable A Certain Magical Virtual-On that is still easy to import, but would’ve been a lot more fun with English subs (interestingly the puzzle game Puyo Puyo Tetris is being released in English, but as with so many games in this article, won’t be coming across on Vita, meaning their support went out with a whimper rather than a bang).

Overall rating – Poor

 

Square-Enix

Highlights – Adventures of Mana; Dragon Quest Builders; Final Fantasy X/X2 HD Remaster; Romancing Saga 2; World of Final Fantasy

Despite being a relative behemoth in the world of videogames, Square-Enix’s Vita support was fairly muted – although their western branch did bring across a number of titles. Leading the charge is Final Fantasy X/X2 HD, a compilation of two of the most critically beloved entries in the franchise – although there was no re-translation needed for them, they did receive a physical release in the west (the spin-off title World of Final Fantasy also came across).

While Dragon Quest has never been huge in the west like in Japan, the company did bring their Minecraft-inspired building game Dragon Quest Builders overseas, with a surprisingly solid translation job that really captured the spirit of the world. After a fan campaign, they also decided to release Adventures of Mana in the west (initially only planning the mobile version), which led to further support in terms of that game’s sequel Secret of Mana as well as other small, digital-only remakes like Romancing Saga 2 (hopefully, we might still see Romancing Saga 3 on Vita).

Missed opportunities – Dragon Quest Heroes II; I am Setsuna; Itadaki Street 30th Anniversary; Lord of Apocalypse; SaGa: Scarlet Grace

Square-Enix missed an absolute trick early in Vita’s life when they released the hunting-action game Lord of Apocalypse in Japan but didn’t bring it to the west – they could’ve pre-empted the sea of hunting titles that arrived on the handheld in the coming years. This was a common theme throughout Vita’s life – titles like Itadaki Street and SaGa: Scarlet Grace would stay only in the east (although the latter is coming west, just unsurprisingly – not on Vita, the platform it was originally exclusive to).

They also had a bizarre strategy of skipping Vita for some of their localizations and not others – for example, the musou-action game Dragon Quest Heroes II arrived west on PS4, but the Vita version was conspicuously absent, something which was repeated for the retro-throwback JRPG I am Setsuna. Square-Enix had a real opportunity to make a difference on Vita, but their often questionable decisions meant that western gamers were left without a lot of content that would have really enhanced their experience with the console.

Overall rating – Solid

 

XSEED Games

Highlights – Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star/Link; The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel I/II; Ragnarok Odyssey/Ace; Senran Kagura: Shinovi/Estival Versus; Ys: Memories of Celceta

The western publisher of parent company Marvelous, XSEED began as an independent entity and have kept their identity of bringing other publisher’s games to the west. This is no more evident than their partnership with Falcom, which led to a number of brilliant titles in the west including both Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel duology as well as Ys: Memories of Celceta, one of my favourite action-RPG’s on the platform. They’ve also worked with Acquire (Akiba’s Trip/Beat, Orgarhythm, Sumioni), 5pb (Corpse Party: Blood Drive) and D3 Publisher (Earth Defence Force 2: Invaders from Planet Space) to bring a variety of titles which are nearly always praised for their fantastic translations that really bring the scripts to life.

Of course, they’ve worked extensively with their parent Marvelous too, bringing us games such as Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus (as well as Bon Appetit! and Esival Versus) plus the charming otome London Detective Mysteria and the musou crossover Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star. In fact, Fate/Extella Link will be their final release on the handheld in 2019, showing they’ve lasted longer than most and are helping it go out in style.

Missed opportunities – IA/VT Colorful; Luminous Arc Infinity; Net High; Uppers; Valkyrie Drive

Despite basically having first refusal on any of Marvelous’ games, that hasn’t meant XSEED have been bringing them across – most notably, titles like Valkyrie Drive went to other publishers (PQube) while Uppers, the enjoyable delinquent brawler faced a three year (and counting) delay before coming to the west as a PS4 exclusive. Other games just got ignored altogether – Luminous Arc Infinity is an enjoyable-looking strategy RPG that isn’t seeing light of day over here, whereas Net High is a well-received visual novel that could certainly have cashed in on the growing market over here.

It’s also worth noting that XSEED have had a long-running partnership with Falcom (as previously mentioned), but lost out on Tokyo Xanadu to Aksys and Ys VIII to NISA. Why this is I have no idea, but I have to wonder whether it was to do with their status as Vita games first and foremost – I’d love to have seen them both with quality XSEED translations, so it’s a real shame we didn’t get them. Otherwise though, I can’t fault XSEED for bringing across what they have and staying with Vita right until the end.

Overall rating – Amazing

 

Conclusion

Probably the longest article I have and probably ever will write, it’s fascinating to examine the past seven years of localizations on Vita to see just how much amazing content these companies have given us. Make no mistake – I’m grateful to each and every one of them for allowing me to play a slew of great titles on my favourite handheld in English and without them ,Vita wouldn’t have been anything like the amazing console many such as myself have found it to be.

Yet it’s also been easy to see that every company has made questionable decisions along the way, skipping titles that were either already translated and just needed the Vita versions bringing across, or were easy access and had solid sales potential in the overseas market but were ignored for whatever reason. The best-performing company in my opinion is undoubtedly Aksys, who have been with Vita from beginning to end and skipped very little, while the worst has been SEGA, who put little effort into satisfying their overseas fans.

Either way, I hope this opens some debate on the matter and if you have any thoughts, let me know in the comments – good or bad, the localization houses kept Vita alive long after Sony gave up on it and hopefully there’s something in there from each of them that you can find to enjoy!