Our Guide to Japanese Games 2017 Heading West

With the big rush of Fall in the rear view mirror, it’s time for those in love with Japanese developed games to start saving their money for what looks to be a very fruitful and expensive 2017. There are a lot of titles set to release and some real gems among the group. If you’re a fan of the Vita and/or visual novels, you’re in for a real treat next year. So many of both in the mix, and it’s always lovely when the Vita gets some love.

Here is our guide to those games you need to start a collection jar for in 2017. Start saving those pennies!

Which are you looking forward to the most?

Essential Reading:

Japanese Games 2017

Akiba's Beat (PS4/Vita)

Release Date - Q1 2017

Akiba's Beat is an upcoming sequel to the two prior Akiba's Trip games, only one of which ever crossed the Pacific. AB will be more of a JRPG than its predecessors with action-based combat. The story will take place in Japan's famous Akihabara district, starring NEET Asahi Tachibana, who has to decided to "live a regular life" after dropping out of college. Asahi and friends he meets in Akhibara become trapped in a world of delusions, and it should be as trippy as the previous titles. The game released in Japan on December 15, 2016 and will head west for PS4 and Vita some time in the first quarter of 2017.
Atelier Firis: The Alchemist and the Mysterious Journey (PS4/Vita)

Release Date: Spring 2017

This installment of the Atelier franchise is part of the Mysterious series of the main games. Both the PS4 and Vita will receive this title, but the Vita will only have a digital version. The following is the info Koei Tecmo has released on the title:

The second entry in the ‘Mysterious’ saga follows the adventures of the enthusiastic Firis Mistlud and her loving older sister Liane Mistlud. The Mistlud sisters have lived their entire lives in the isolated town of Ertona, where Firis uses her unique ability to see where crystals of materials are buried. By way of a fateful encounter, Firis learns of the Alchemy Exam and decides to take her first step into the outside world, setting off on a grand journey to become a certified alchemist and discover the mysteries that life has to offer! Players will experience a vast world with towns, environments and other locations reaching up to ten times the size of those featured in Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book.

Atelier Firis: The Alchemist and the Mysterious Journey takes the long-running franchise to greater heights with a brand-new option to choose which narrative path to follow. After passing the exam, players are able to follow three different paths that focus on the three key aspects of the Atelier series – Alchemy, Combat and Character relationships. Choice plays a major role in the events that can be experienced throughout the game, with the ability to switch between the three paths at any point during this grand adventure.
Atelier Shallie Plus: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea (Vita)

Release Date: January 17, 2017

Oh hai! Another Atelier entry! Atelier Shallie Plus: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea will be Vita only, and it's the third and final entry of the Dusk series from the Atelier main games. It will be the 16th entry with the main games overall.

But wait, didn't this game already release on the PS3? IT SURE DID! The game was ported to the Vita in Japan on March 3, 2016 and soon, we in the West will also be able to play it on the go.
Caligula (Vita)

Release Date: Q1/Q2 2017

Caligula released in Japan over the summer, and we're going to have to wait until the first half of 2017 to grace our Vitas with its presence. The game is set in a virtual reality program called "Mobius," which allows people to escape their boring lives as high school students. Problem is, these people forget that they are in a virtual world and never leave. The protagonist realizes that they are indeed living in a fantasy and tries to organize a group to leave. Naturally, they meet significant opposition.
Danganronpa 1.2 Reload (PS4)

Release Date: March 14, 2017

Danganronpa 1.2 Reload includes the first two Danganronpa titles—Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc and Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair—as a remastered bundle for the PS4. If you've never played these games before, this may be the best time to dive on in. These visual novels are world-renown for the genre, and they're a must have for mystery fans.
Digimon World: Next Order (PS4)

Release Date: January 31, 2017

Digimon World: Next Order is an open-world RPG where players, for the first time, can raise two Digimon simultaneously. Gameplay is similar to Pokemon titles, where the Digimon creatures battle automatically and the player issues commands to them.
Dragon Quest Heroes 2 (PS4/Vita/PS3)

Release Date: April 25, 2017

The Dragon Quest/Dynasty Warriors mashup was a huge success with Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below. Once a sequel was announced, Western fans prayed that this would also travel across the ocean. Our hopes have been answered, and we only have a few more months to wait. The question is, which platform will you purchase?
Final Fantasy XII Zodiac Age (PS4)

Release Date: TBD 2017

Final Fantasy XII received a mixed reception when it released in 2006 for the PlayStation 2. Fans either loved or hated it, whether it was because of the new spin on the Job system or the Active Dimension Battle combat system. If you missed it ten years ago, you'll get a chance to experience it in a remastered format for the PS4. More specifically, the Zodiac Age is a remastered version of the Japanese-only International Zodiac Job System, which was a new version of the original game. It includes 12 License Boards that correspond to a different Zodiac sign and a job. Those who played the sequel on 3DS, which did release in the West, have already experienced the International Zodiac Job System.
God Wars: Future Past (PS4/Vita)

Release Date: Early 2017

God Wars: Future Past is an isometric tactical turn-based JRPG. Players will strategically move their partymembers on a grid and issue commands. NIS America has described the story as the following:

A long time ago, there was a beautiful land made up of three nations: Fuji, Izumo, and Hyuga. This land was called Mizuho. The people of Mizuho disliked conflict, honored their ancestral spirits, and lived in harmony with nature. However, over time, they began cultivating crops, forging and using metal, fighting wars, destroying nature, and neglecting to honor their ancestral spirits.

In the meantime, various locations in Mizuho suffered from natural disasters like flooding, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. In order to stop a destructive eruption, the Queen of Mizuho, Tsukuyomi, sacrificed her beloved daughter Sakuya to the mountain, confined her other daughter Kaguya within a bamboo seal in case of future disasters, and then disappeared. 13 years later, Princess Kaguya has grown into a beautiful woman and her childhood friend, Kintaro, saves her during a riot. She rises against her "fate to be a sacrifice," and in order to follow her own path, they both escape from Fuji and journey across Mizuho to discover the truth behind Tsukuyomi's decision.
Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue (PS4)

Release Date: January 12, 2017

It's hard to not have a love/hate relationship with Kingdom Hearts. The first game was lovely, but since then, fans have had to endure multiple side games releasing on multiple platforms that all tie into the main story. Fortunately, Square Enix did release remastered versions of all of these installments to stop some of the suffering, but they seem to really enjoy delaying Kingdom Hearts 3. 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue will tie all of the prior games into KH3 (in theory), as well as prove once again that they really like confusing titles.
Narcissu 10th Anniversary Anthology (PS4/Vita)

Release Date: TBD 2017

Get excited, visual novel fans! We have another visual novel collection coming to both the PS4 and Vita some time in 2017. Narcissu 10th Anniversary Anthology consists of three previously released Narcissu visual novels as well as a new chapter: Zero, A Little Iris, Himeko's Epilogue, and Sumire. If you've never experienced Narcissu before, these stories explore the relationships those with terminal illness develop. What, you didn't expect this to be uplifting, did you?
NieR: Automata (PS4)

Release Date: March 7, 2017

NieR: Automata is a sequel to Square Enix's NIER, which told a unique story of how far a father is willing to go to save his daughter from a disease. Its action combat and parody elements with incredibly dark twists gave the game its own unique charm. Suffice to say, fans of the original are counting on Automata to provide that similar experience. This time, however, action-combat gurus Platinum Games are at the helm. It will take place several years after the original game's fourth ending (which wiped your entire game save, those of us who completed all four endings), where the post-apocalyptic world is now overrun by machine invaders. For humanity's last hope, they send down combat androids to wipe out the machine army and restore the planet to safety for humans.
Nights of Azure 2 (TBA)

Release Date: TBD 2017

Another sequel to yet another successful JRPG! Nights of Azure 2 is already out in Japan, and we'll have to wait sometime next year for it. They haven't even confirmed which platforms it will release for in the West. Japan has both PS4 and Vita, which we hope will happen here as well. The PS4 release is most likely a given.

The sequel follows up on its previously established themes from the first game. The action-RPG explores the connecting emotions between three girls who have been friends since childhood. One of the girls is guardian knight for her childhood friend. The guardian dies in battle and is resurrected as a half demon. This is who the player controls, and the player will have to choose between two childhood friends to accompany them on this journey.
Persona 5 (PS4)

Release Date: April 4, 2017

I'm really not sure what else I can say about Persona 5. If you follow Japanese games at all, you have heard of this extremely popular JRPG series. You're either all in or don't care at all. A small selection of you may only be intrigued. If you've never heard of Persona before, don't tell anyone.
Shenmue 3 (PS4)

Release Date: December 2017

Shenmue 3 was a Kickstarted project that Sony fully supported and still supports. They announced the Kickstarter at E3 2015, and within hours, it was funded. It's an open-world action-adventure game that will take place shortly after the events of Shenmue II. This is the first time that a Shenmue title will appear on the PlayStation platform. The previous titles were on Dreamcast and Xbox.
Tales of Berseria (PS4)

Release Date: January 24, 2017

The Tales series is quite the long-going one. It shares the same world with Tales of Zestiria, and it utilizes its own variation of the series' Linear Motion Battle System. In Berseria, players can run around freely during battle and rotate the camera as well. Berseria will be the 16th entry in the Tales series overall.

I've always wanted to join in a Tales game since Vesperia. Maybe in 2017, I finally will.
The Longest 5 Minutes (Vita)

Release Date: TBD 2017

NIS America explains this game so much better than I could, and it sounds absolutely endearing.

Originally developed by Nippon Ichi Software and Syupro-DX and releasing today for the PS Vita in Japan, The Longest Five Minutes will take you inside the mind of a hero during his final encounter with an epic and evil Overlord. As the story unfolds, the conversations you have with your party and the Overlord will unlock memories of the hero’s journey. Each memory plays out in classic 8-bit RPG style, and the outcome of those memories affect your party in their final battle.

It turns out, when the hero meets the Overlord, he forgets everything about himself: his finishing moves, where he's from, and why he's even there in the first place. This may be one of the most unique ways to get to a final boss fight in video gaming.
Tokyo Xanadu (Vita)

Release Date: Q1/Q2 2017

Tokyo Xanadu comes from the same developer as the Ys series, but it's nothing like the Ys series. It's an action-RPG with more of a modern setting, similar to the Persona series. While part of the Xanadu series, it's going to be rather different from the first two games.
Touhou Genso Wanderer (PS4/Vita)

Release Date: February 7, 2017

Touhou Genso Wanderer is unlike anything else on this list, as it is a procedurally generated rogue-like dungeon crawler. From the PlayStation Blog, the NIS Product Manager wrote the following eloquent description:

While setting out into randomly generated dungeons on your quest to resolve the latest incident in Gensokyo, you’ll need to take care — dying in the dungeon will result in not only the shame of death, but also the loss of all the items you’re carrying. Of course, that’s not always a bad thing, as losing your favorite weapon could just make you experiment with one of the hundreds of other unique items in Gensokyo, or force you to spend a little time crafting a new favorite in the item fusion system.
Toukiden 2 (PS4)

Release Date: TBD 2017

Toukiden 2 is the third entry of the Toukiden series (don't let that 2 bother you), and this time, it's shifted to an open world approach. Demons have engulfed all of Nakatsu Kuni with a miasma, and Slayers have been called from all over to deal with the threat. Slayers can raise multiple Tenko this time, and if they're care for well, they will find items for the Slayer.
World End Economica (PS4/Vita)

Release Date: TBD 2017

And here we have yet another visual novel bundle. All three chapters of World End Economica will be available together for the first time on PS4 and Vita.

Set in the far future on the moon, a mere 16 years after humans have begun to colonize it, a young boy named Haru has been chasing his wildest dream – a dream to stand where no man has stood before. But in order to do so he needs capital, a ludicrous amount of capital! What better place to seek out and raise that capital than the stock market? However, there are two key rules that govern the stock market:

The first rule: Never take a loss.

The second rule: Never forget the first.

Only those who follow these rules are able to obtain enormous wealth….
Yakuza 0 (PS4)

Release Date: January 24, 2017

Yakuza 0 is a prequel to the open-world adventure Yakuza series, and appears to be a must-own for any fan of the series. The major feature addition for this one is the style changes for protagonists Kiryu and Majima. Each character can switch styles in the middle of battle. They each have a balanced style and two character-specific styles. They also run side businesses that the player has to manage to unlock other styles and earn rewards.
Ys Origin (PS4/Vita)

Release Date: February 21, 2017

Ys Origin initially released only in Japan on PC, but thanks to the folks at DotEmu, the game is crossing over the West on PS4 and Vita. In a strange twist for an Ys game, players will not play as Adol, but will choose between two different characters: Yunica or Hugo. No matter who you choose, the goal is the same—save the world of Ys 700 years before the first game's setting.
Zero Escape: The Nonary Games (PS4/Vita)

Release Date: Q1 2017

Last but not least, we have another visual novel bundle: Zero Escape: The Nonary Games. This is a remake of the original games with HD graphics, both Zero Escape: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors and Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward. For those who have never played, players control one character out of 9 others to survive a competition they never voluntarily entered. Your mental mettle will surely be tested, and you'll probably love every second of it.