Support NeoGAF

[KàIRóS]

I recently started playing Fire Emblem Engage and the cringe AF english intro gave me the idea for this thread, this isn't the first time a japanese song has been removed, it's a very annoying trend IMO that has happend for a very long time and to be fair FE:E at least went for a dub, even though the result sounds worse than a 90s english anime OP.




But FE:E is far from being the worst offender here, take the Megaman 8 OP for example listen to the japanese OP and then the english one, bro wtf? the japanese song sounds amazing and it even flows rhytmically with the animation, it's like night and day! what was capcom thinking on this one?




However even worse than changing the music altogether is not changing it but esentially giving us a shittier instrumental version like for example in Tales of Zestiria, it's almost like the devs are laughing at us with this one "you almost got the song this time lol"




Like I don't get it, isn't it cheaper and a better alternative to just slap subtitles to the japanese songs?

 

[Mibu no ookami]

I recently started playing Fire Emblem Engage and the cringe AF english intro gave me the idea for this thread, this isn't the first time a japanese song has been removed, it's a very annoying trend IMO that has happend for a very long time and to be fair FE:E at least went for a dub, even though the result sounds worse than a 90s english anime OP.




But FE:E is far from being the worst offender here, take the Megaman 8 OP for example listen to the japanese OP and then the english one, bro wtf? the japanese song sounds amazing and it even flows rhytmically with the animation, it's like night and day! what was capcom thinking on this one?




However even worse than changing the music altogether is not changing it but esentially giving us a shittier instrumental version like for example in Tales of Zestiria, uninspired AF.



Like I don't get it, isn't it cheaper and a better alternative to just slap subtitles to the japanese songs?

Probably comes down to licensing costs and whether marketing feels like an english intro is better value dollar for dollar. Having to agree to international rights probably can get pretty expensive.

 

[killatopak]

I remember Anime openings dubbed in my language.

 

[hyperbertha]

It's the same logic with westernising jp games like ff16, re and forespoken. They think removing jp elements will make more westerners will buy it.

 

[Mr Reasonable]

Like I don't get it, isn't it cheaper and a better alternative to just slap subtitles to the japanese songs?

Depends on who owns the publishing. The music may be published by different companies in different regions, and one may or may not be willing to give permission.

It's possible that the deal offered in Japan isn't very good for the publisher on the basis that featuring the track results in increased sales, or a raised profile for the writers or performers.

In the west, you're looking at a niche of people who listen to and buy foreign language music and the company who owns the rights may either not feel that there's a benefit in having the song on the game (unlikely tbh) or they feel that the fee offered is too low (more likely in this scenario).

There's also the obvious, that non English language music doesn't normally do very well in the USA (I assume the biggest market outside of Japan for these games) and the publisher of the game feels that making the small adjustment to the game, by replacing the music with music that is (to my ear, based on OP's links) basically near identical to the original selections minus the foreign language will lead to more people feeling that the game is more likely to be for them.

 

[DGrayson]

Is this really a new trend?

 

[SeraphJan]

The worst offender for me was Valkyria Chronicles

They removed such wonderful song

This was the version I played on original PS3, missed it

 

[YukiOnna]

It's been here for a while; I remember how FF games would put out some new english song instead. Very frustrating since I'm someone that would like the import process to be with as little change as possible. I know it's either licensing issues, or the other being a shoddy attempt to try to localize and appeal to as many as possible, but the ones who are interested from the get-go usually won't differ too much from your domestic userbase...

 

[ReBurn]

That trend is called localization. It's been around for a while.

 

[YeulEmeralda]

I remember when games didn't even come with the Japanese audio. At least that dark age is behind us.

 

[Doom85]

Tales of Vesperia be all like, “let’s have an English song intro, and when the whiners instantly complain purely because it’s English and they think we didn’t use the original singer, we‘ll proceed to blow their minds!”

Ring a Bell - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[mhirano]

The worst offender of all was Dragons Dogma.
They removed the GOAT jrock theme for that crappy generic hans zimmer sh*t:


Westernized song:

 

[Magic Carpet]

Got both the US and Japanese version of Sonic CD music. I like em both.

 

[Gonzito]

I hate it. They ruined yakuza 6 because of it

 

[Champomade]

This trend can be summed up in two words: baka gaijin.

 

[-Zelda-]

I fully support the removal of Japanese songs. Every time I hear Suteki da ne in final fantasy X, I want to stab myself in the neck with a spork.

 

[Danjin44]

I want to stab myself in the neck with a spork.

 

[cireza]

I think the issue here is more the fact that the song shit than the fact that it is in English.

Second issue is companies not even trying, of course.

You can have some pretty great English songs no problem.





If SEGA nailed this 30 years ago, hopefully some company can achieve similar results today ?

 

[DemonGamerTTT]

Japan+ copyright = shit's about to happen...

I'm sad about some creators losing space but thank Hades AI will son put a end on this nonsense.

Whether it's dub or game music everything will be possible with AI bringing costs down and stopping this shit trend of removing shit after some time(or in re releases).

 

[demigod]

Indestructible

 

[nial]

it's japanese pop rock tho

 

[kunonabi]

Sometimes it's an actual upgrade, I still think the US GT Final Bout music track fits the intro better, but yeah it can be a train wreck. I would have moved heaven and earth to keep the Eretzvaju but sometimes it really just isn't reasonable to keep the original.

The less said about bust-a-groove the better though.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

Americans will think the game is broken if they hear a Japanese song play first thing after booting up the game.

it's japanese pop rock tho

Usually better stuff than the abused “epic” music people like to pretend is good in the west.

 

[nial]

Usually better stuff than the abused “epic” music people like to pretend is good in the west.

 

[Gameplay Gods Bless]

The worst offender of all was Dragons Dogma.
They removed the GOAT jrock theme for that crappy generic hans zimmer sh*t:


Westernized song:

I listen to into free all the time. Goat taste.

 

[Platinumstorm]

The only Japanese vocal songs that have ever mattered in games. Both of them have corny lyrics.

 

[Fbh]

Most of those aren't removing the song but rather dubbing it. Which has been something done with anime for ages (and incidentally most of your examples are anime style games).
I don't really see it as an issue, and it's nice that these days most games actually still have the original version if you change the voice option to Japanese.

As others have mentioned it might be a licensing thing too. Japan can be weird with their licensing stuff.

The worst offender of all was Dragons Dogma.
They removed the GOAT jrock theme for that crappy generic hans zimmer sh*t:


Westernized song:

The PC version of the game is the ultimate version not because of the better performance but because you can mod in the OG intro song lol. First thing I do every time I reinstall the game

 

[Tams]

日本語を勉強するべき。

This trend can be summed up in two words: baka gaijin.

Baka Gaijin indeed.

 

[Holammer]

First time I saw the practice was with Tail Concerto on PS1 where they removed the Japanese song and replaced it with an instrumental song that sounds like AAASSSSSSS. Very uninspired.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

I prefer the Japanese versión of Megaman x4



I still waiting the new versión of Tatsunoko vs Capcom

 

[Drizzlehell]

I didn't even know that this was a thing that happens. It sounds really stupid, though. Japanese make really cool music, there are many songs from various anime openings or video games that I have on my playlists.

 

[Impotaku]

I refuse to buy any game that has been yankified & dumbed down for westerners with poor localization shit. This used to happen all the time during the 8 & 16 bit era in case little timmys mind implodes when he finds out onigiri exist. It's one of the reasons i ended up been pushed into importing games as domestic ones were butchered. Thankfully it's a lot less of a problem, do your homework & buy from the region of your choice especially when consoles are region free there's no excuse to put up with shit versions.

 

[radewagon]

Localization is fine.... But, y'know, just give us a toggle so everyone will be happy.

 

[squarealex]

First time I saw the practice was with Tail Concerto on PS1 where they removed the Japanese song and replaced it with an instrumental song that sounds like AAASSSSSSS. Very uninspired.

French Version have the Japanese song with Lyrcis.

 

[Shifty1897]

It only sucks when the replacement song is bad. Nobody complained about Fire Emblem 3 Houses' English intro.

 

[SeraphJan]

I fully support the removal of Japanese songs. Every time I hear Suteki da ne in final fantasy X, I want to stab myself in the neck with a spork.

No taste

 

[Mr Reasonable]

Japan+ copyright = shit's about to happen...

I'm sad about some creators losing space but thank Hades AI will son put a end on this nonsense.

Whether it's dub or game music everything will be possible with AI bringing costs down and stopping this shit trend of removing shit after some time(or in re releases).

What do you mean?

 

[DemonGamerTTT]

What do you mean?

Japanese developers are too protective of their IPs, this makes everything more complicated.


I really believe that their license fees must be really high and that's the reason so many games remove the original music after when they re-release.

 

[Barakov]

I recently started playing Fire Emblem Engage and the cringe AF english intro gave me the idea for this thread, this isn't the first time a japanese song has been removed, it's a very annoying trend IMO that has happend for a very long time and to be fair FE:E at least went for a dub, even though the result sounds worse than a 90s english anime OP.




But FE:E is far from being the worst offender here, take the Megaman 8 OP for example listen to the japanese OP and then the english one, bro wtf? the japanese song sounds amazing and it even flows rhytmically with the animation, it's like night and day! what was capcom thinking on this one?




However even worse than changing the music altogether is not changing it but esentially giving us a shittier instrumental version like for example in Tales of Zestiria, it's almost like the devs are laughing at us with this one "you almost got the song this time lol"




Like I don't get it, isn't it cheaper and a better alternative to just slap subtitles to the japanese songs?

It sucks. People play these games because they're Japanese. Appealing to the "Western Audience" is the biggest problem with these "localisers". As you pointed out with the MM8 trailer this isn't a new thing. I understand that copyright is a thing and interferes with the original Opening being a released is definitely a thing but a company like Nintendo? Just pure laziness on their part.

 

[Shake Your Rump]

Didn’t Gran Turismo do this with every game until GT7? Every region had different audio with the intro movie. Only Japan had the actual music. The other regions just got whatever pop/rock music slapped over the video.

 

[FullMetalx117]

I honestly think they’re doing a disservice. If you watch anime’s, some of those opening songs and endings are fire.