#speed devils

A selection of Western-made games released in Japan - some random picks

Destroy All Humans! (PlayStation 2, 2007) ORIGINAL PUBLISHER(S): THQ / JAPANESE PUBLISHER(S): Sega, THQ Japan (re-release) / DEVELOPER(S): Pandemic Studios

FlatOut [Racing Game: Chuui!!!] (PlayStation 2, 2005) ORIGINAL PUBLISHER(S): Empire Interactive (EU), Vivendi Universal (US) / JAPANESE PUBLISHER(S): Konami / DEVELOPER(S): Bugbear Entertainment

Agent Armstrong [Agent Armstrong: Himitsu Shirei Daisakusen] (PlayStation, 1997) ORIGINAL PUBLISHER(S): Virgin Interactive / JAPANESE PUBLISHER(S): WENet / DEVELOPER(S): King of the Jungle

Beast Wars: Transformers [Transformers: Beast Wars] (PlayStation, 1998) ORIGINAL PUBLISHER(S): Hasbro Interactive / JAPANESE PUBLISHER(S): Takara / DEVELOPER(S): SCE Studio Cambridge

RoboCop versus The Terminator (Genesis, 1994) ORIGINAL PUBLISHER(S): Virgin Interactive / JAPANESE PUBLISHER(S): Virgin Interactive / DEVELOPER(S): Virgin Interactive

Blockout (Genesis, 1991) ORIGINAL PUBLISHER(S): Electronic Arts / JAPANESE PUBLISHER(S): Sega / DEVELOPER(S): Electronic Arts

Paperboy (NES, 1990) ORIGINAL PUBLISHER(S): Mindscape / JAPANESE PUBLISHER(S): Altron / DEVELOPER(S): Eastridge Technology

Super Sprint (NES, 1991) ORIGINAL PUBLISHER(S): Tengen / JAPANESE PUBLISHER(S): Altron / DEVELOPER(S): Tengen

Expendable / Millennium Soldier: Expendable [Seitai Heiki Expendable] (Dreamcast, 1999) ORIGINAL PUBLISHER(S): Infogrames / JAPANESE PUBLISHER(S): Imagineer / DEVELOPER(S): Rage Software

Speed Devils (Dreamcast, 1999) ORIGINAL PUBLISHER(S): Ubisoft / JAPANESE PUBLISHER(S): Ubisoft / DEVELOPER(S): Ubisoft Divertissements

A fun fact about Super Sprint is that publisher Altron would later recycle that artwork for the European release of SNES racing game Aguri Suzuki F-1 Super Driving (known in the US as Redline F1 Racer).

Another fun fact, which I've mentioned in the past, is that Beast Wars was the first game that had the involvement of a certain Tameem Antoniades, aka one of the minds behind titles like Heavenly Sword, Enslaved: Journey to the West, and of course, the infamous DmC: Devil May Cry. As polarizing as the last one is, it's definitely a lot better than Beast Wars, I can tell ya.

One last fun fact is regarding FlatOut. As you all might know one of the biggest claims to fame of that game was its crashes and use of ragdoll physics for when drivers fly out of the vehicles, which in the German release was replaced with ragdolling crash test dummies instead. The Japanese version interestingly features a mixture of both things: regular race events and demolition derbies feature the normal human drivers, whereas the stunt events use the crash test dummies instead. Presumably the Japanese releases of 2 and Ultimate Carnage (both of which retained the FlatOut name, with 2 adding a "GTR" as its subtitle) do the same.

Magazine advertisement for @Ubisoft’s Speed Devils on the Sega Dreamcast.