Issues of Import – An Introduction

It’s human nature to want what we can’t have, and in the gaming world one of these things is imports. Personally, I’ve always imported and been fascinated by games that never made it to Europe. So much so that I’ve ended up living in Japan, collecting more Japanese games and memorabilia than I could list in one mere blog post. From here on out I’ll be focusing on imports and the issues surrounding them. As such, I’m going to touch on my own experience with imports as well as give my perspective on why imports have been and continue to be important to British gamers.

For me, growing up in Gibraltar had its advantages. Predominantly it was that electronics shops weren’t afraid to sell imported games and systems without a second thought. While I was still in middle school, there were shops that would sell Chinese pirate multicarts alongside imported Japanese Game Boy games. Some of my fondest childhood memories involved playing games I couldn’t even read the title screens of,  muddling through the Japanese menus and overwriting all of my Pikachu’s offensive moves by accident in Pocket Monsters Yellow.

In the UK we have been exposed to imports and importing for a lot longer than the US and Japan out of necessity. European software libraries have been missing out on RPGs in particular for decades – Chrono Trigger, EarthBound and Super Mario RPG on the Super Nintendo; Chrono Cross, Xenogears and Final Fantasy Tactics on the PlayStation; even Grandia III, Suikoden III and Tales of the Abyss on the PlayStation 2. Unless you had a console modified for American games and an inclination to import, you were sorely out of luck. But why didn’t these RPG heavyweights come over to our side of the pond? Undoubtedly the amount of time and money it would have taken to translate these text-heavy games to half a dozen European languages. Fortunately, to date many of these games have now been released in Europe as upgraded handheld ports or as downloadable games.

Back in the ’90s magazines like Super Play not only endorsed importing but actively encouraged it. The official SEGA Saturn Magazine focused almost entirely on imports towards the end of its run, including complete guides for imported games like Grandia. Even more remarkably, the long-forgotten PC Engine managed to get quite a lot of attention from British magazines during the 16-bit era, despite never having been released in any official capacity in the UK.

In the past, release date differences between regions could often take years. Animal Crossing, for example, took two years to make it to Europe, fuelling British gamers’ desires to import it from the US. These days worldwide release dates are more common, so the main reason to import has become an issue of region exclusivity. Thankfully, importing has never been easier. No need to trawl the back pages of magazines or pay extortionate prices when you can just add the game you’re after to your virtual cart, pay and wait for it to show up at your door.

Currently, all PS3 games are region-free, as well as a number of 360 Games. Imported Wii games need a bit of tinkering to get working, but nothing too complex. However, it’s worrying to think that the next generation of game systems might not be so import-friendly considering all signs are pointing to more DRM and a crackdown on the second-hand market. You have no idea how much region-locking on the 3DS drives me up the wall after every other handheld I’ve ever owned has been region-free.

Despite having received some region-exclusive gems of our own over the past few years, Europe as a whole does miss out on a large number of solid games every year. At the same time though, we are more open to the idea of importing, and brazen enough to stand up to “the man” deciding we aren’t worthy of certain titles.

Keep on importing!