'Batman V Superman' - it doesn't get much more obvious than that. One brooding dude versus an all-powerful alien…in tights! What's not to love? Truly, this is a golden age for humanity, one in which even the grittiest of actioners bears a name as blatant, as unabashedly comic book-esque as Batman V Superman and yet barely raises a titter. It's a title that tells you everything you need to know, right there on the tin. One man with a thing for bats going up against another with severe ego issues, apparently. Game on.

There's something almost tangibly visceral about a good Vs. title. It's the ultimate, fan-baiting elevator pitch. Video games, for their part, are chock full of such epic confrontations, battles so potentially seismic in scope they practically demand to be made the part of the title, even if not all of them turn fulfill their promise. So, in recognition of the new , here are some of the very best and worst of gaming's 'Vs' collection. Whoever wins, we lose. Sometimes. Depending on quality.

Why fight? Capcom must've made some serious drunken indiscretions over the years to procure this many enemies. There's X-Men, then Marvel, then Tatsunoko and SNK. Hell they've even snuck Tekken in there under the new fangled 'X' moniker. At this point Cappy could well be fighting it out with the principality of Monaco and no one would bat an eyelid. Maybe they talk trash them all behind their backs, like a gormless gossip of the gaming world?

Any good? Indubitably. Capcom's fighting family all share a single common ancestry - the ever-reliable Street Fighter franchise. You really couldn't go wrong with a lineage like that. Right?

Why fight? Perhaps Mr. Phoenix is a nasty minded xenophobe, and can't quite stand to look at a man with soulless black circles where his eyes ought to be. Perhaps Prof Layton was given bad legal advice and spent 6 whole weeks in the slammer. Who knows? The simple fact remains that, on the surface of it, these two heroes aren't even close to being enemies. If anything they're allies, forced together by fate and generally collaborative from the off. I guess 'Professor Layton and Phoenix Wright have a bloody amicable chit-chat' didn't have quite the same ring to it.

Any good? Yes, actually. Layton Vs. Wright meshes the best bits of both franchises - along with some of the more minor niggles - to create an effective entree for both series.

Why fight? For all of its tactical nous I'm afraid that the basic concept of 'chess' doesn't really stand much of a chance up against that of 'battle'. King to Knight Four may be all well and good in isolation, but it isn't going to stop a bunch of incensed soldiers from brutally bludgeoning the bishop. And no, that's not an innuendo. To be blunt: my money's on battle. But - intentional misreadings aside, what exactly does Battle Vs. Chess mean? Is this the 'Battle Vs.' franchise taking a brief detour into chess? Will the next game be named Battle Vs. Checkers, or Battle Vs. Hungry Hungry Hippo's? It's a mystery. Still, at least they didn’t stick with the original title - 'Check Vs. Mate'. One man's painful decision between spotting his best bud the next month's rent or booting him right out the door. Probably…

Any good? Battle Vs. Chess earned a mixed reception from critics, with some praising its on-point A.I., while others poured scorn on the game's badly implemented trimmings, namely its lacklustre story mode and poorly executed animations.

Why fight? One wants to fight us, the other wants to f*** us. It's the alien equivalent of a jailbreak on the psychotic nymphomaniac's ward. Sadly for them, there are only so many of us fleshy repositories to go around, and so both sides must quickly take care of the other in order to establish dibs. It's galactic mandibles at dawn, triangular laser thingies versus a good old fashioned jaw-goring.

Any good? Initially yes, though the franchise has faltered in recent years. The first AvPs, and the arcade game remain worthwhile adventures. As for Extinction and 2010's reboot: not so much.

Why fight? You don't get a name like 'Bad Dudes' without cracking your fair share of skulls first. Either that, or by being part of a late '80s boyband. In this instance, I'm not entirely sure which description fits best. In any case, Bad Dudes tells the tale of two 'roided up street toughs named Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Shannon. No wait, scratch that. Despite visual similarities to those Hollywood greats, they're apparently called Blade and Striker. Because the '80s. With America overrun by ne'er do well Ninjas, and even the secret service unable to protect their chief, B and S are called in to retrieve said Pres from the clutches of the titular Dragon clan. What follows is several levels of largely unremarkable kicky, punchy conflict.

Any good? No, though that wasn't enough to stop the game from selling strongly on the ZX Spectrum. Plans for a crowdfunded sequel were ultimately squashed due to lack of support. I guess they really were "bad enough dudes" after all.

Why fight? An unfortunate mix up at the post office results in Raiden and Superman sending one another their dirty laundry. Said error somehow results in the merger of their respective realms, with the monstrous amalgam Dark Kahn playing both sides off against the other. Cue much pummelling. It doesn't get much more 'Vs.' than seeing two teams of muscle bound brawlers punching each other into oblivion.

Any good? Though not quite as polished as its latter-era standalone kin, i.e. MK 2011 MKX, NetherRealm's first foray into the DC mythology still manages to produce plenty of fluid action and fun fan service.

Why fight? Zoids is a popular toy line originating in Japan, based on a concept that might best be described as Beast Wars meets the Power Rangers. People - typically wide -eyed and ultra emotive teenagers - are tasked with flying these titular mechs on behalf of their nation states, two of whom are currently embroiled in an ongoing conflict. The Zoids themselves are modelled after an array of insects and animals, and are just as alive as their allotted pilots.

That's the backstory covered, but why exactly are they fighting the number three? Is it really the magic number? Have the numerical cast of Sesame Street finally had enough? Nope, as it turns out this is just the third entry in the 'Zoids Vs.' series. How very disappointing.

Any good? That all depends on who you ask. Many fans consider the game to be an enjoyable, if somewhat flawed experience, while critics proved to be far less liberal with their praise.

Why fight? When your sole business model revolves around pulling in the violence-loving punters, going to war against an entire world's worth of people just seems counterproductive. Still, I suspect the name WCW Vs. The World isn't meant to be taken literally. It's more of an 'us against them' type of thing, a glorious affirmation of sweaty machismo in the face of then wrestling rivals, the WWF. As for its sequel, WCW Vs. nWo: World Tour, that name does at least manage to make a lick more sense. After all, the company's biggest hit, the villainous nWo faction, set themselves up in direct opposition to the WCW brand, leading the two groups into a lengthy confrontation.

Any good? Both of the 'WCW Vs.' games were flawed, if enjoyable brawlers that essentially acted as dry runs for the series' best-loved outing, WCW/nWo Revenge.

Why fight? These two titans can trace their enmity back to the very earliest days of motor racing, when the Ford Model T battled it out against the Chevy 490. In the 1980s, both sides fought for domination of the pickup truck market, largely by dragging each other's vehicles around in big, cheesy commercials. Then, in 2005 both, belligerents agreed to appear in a mutually endorsed driving game. Sadly, the game sucked, though at least fans were finally able to settle their decades-long debate. Well, sort of. The whole project was essentially moot by 2005, with both sides already having appeared together in multiple superior driving games.

Any good? Not particularly. It may have included a slightly deeper roster of both Ford and Chevy vehicles, but at the cost of your actual enjoyment.

Why fight? Judge Dredd doesn't like crime. Judge Death considers all life to be a crime. With Dredd alive, and Death a criminal, both men become natural adversaries. Cue several thousand angry gurns. Interestingly, for a title that implies ol' granite chin is in the hunt for some sort of immortality potion - he is going up against 'death', after all - the game's plot does actually involve one such elixir. Unfortunately for the hapless denizens of Mega City One, this particular tonic doesn't work as specified, causing a good chunk of the population to transform into grotesque, vampire-like creatures. Death's behind the botch and Dredd's having none of it. They fight. Is that versus enough for you?

Any good? Dredd Vs. Death failed to win over many critics, who cited poor A.I., simplistic gameplay and bad graphics as responsible for its wealth of poor scores.

Why fight? Holmes is the quintessential gentleman detective. Jack, by contrast follows the rather ungentlemanly pursuit of murdering prostitutes. You might see where this is going…. Unfortunately for the real life victims of the Ripper, Sherlock never actually existed. Had he done, you can bet he'd have taken one big sniff of a cobbled Whitechapel side street before nabbing the killer in time for tea. Of course, this being a story in need of an ending, in this version of history Holmes does indeed catch his man. Though, rather like in L.A. Noire's depiction of the 'Black Dahlia' murderer, the detective is unable to publicise his discovery.

Any good? Solid, if unspectacular, though still strangely alluring given the ongoing dearth of quality detective games.

Why fight? Maximo - owner of the shoddiest set of armour ever assembled - is out to reclaim his lost love. Unfortunately for him, the evil Baron Bane - seriously devs, at this rate 'Bane' is going to make it onto the top 10 baby names - has decided to unleash the titular Army of Zin. These mechanical monstrosities just so happen to feast upon the same 'soul power' as our man Max, forcing both sides into an epic, headlong confrontation. .

Any good? Absolutely. Maximo's second outing improves on the original game in almost every respect, and remains one of the PS2's premier action titles.

Why fight? As anyone who's ever paid attention to the Peanuts comic strip can attest, Snoopy the dog fancies himself as quite the pilot. So, who better to test those skills than the greatest flying ace of WW1: Manfred von Richthofen, aka 'the Red Baron'. Of course, this being a fully priced video game, Snoopy can't just tangle with the man immediately. Instead, Richthofen only appears in 'killable' form during the game's final mission, meaning a more accurate title might've read 'Snoopy Vs. The entirety of the German air force, plus that one bloke who knew how to use cheat codes in real life'.

Any good? Unbelievably, yes. Despite being a licensed tie-in (for a an increasingly antiquated brand, no less), Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron actually manages to offer a fun flying experience. Things got even better in the game's 2010 sequel, Snoopy Flying Ace, which holds a highly respectable 82% on review accumulator GameRankings.com.

Why fight? After buying up the aforementioned WCW, WWE mogul Vince McMahon decided to create his own competition. The Raw and Smackdown! shows, being the company's two biggest draws, were subsequently divvied up and set against one another, with everyone from commentators, to wrestlers, and even technical crew belonging to one side or the other. The newly christened Smackdown! Vs. Raw video game series reflected the change, though players were still able to create 'dream match ups' between otherwise unaffiliated competitors.

Any good? Yes, though not quite as good as it should've been. Smackdown! Vs. Raw was the first title to be released after the series' high water mark - 2003's Here Comes the Pain - and represented the beginning of a slow but steady decline for the franchise.

Why fight? Hmm, tough one this. If the natural world teaches us anything, plants and zombies ought to be the best of buds. Just look at The Last of Us, for example. And even if not enjoying a happy, world-devouring symbiosis, at worst they'd be utterly indifferent towards each other. After all, zombies certainly aren't herbivores. It's fair to say that the average daffodil has more to fear from a committed vegetarian than from a shambling zed-head. Then again, I suppose Mother Nature might be a little bit pissed that all of that corpsey goodness is suddenly bursting out of the earth instead of fertilising it. Wars have been started for less.

Any good? Millions of users can't be wrong. Unless of course they're drug users, in which case it's probably best you don't take any advice from a slum-dwelling crack addict. Wait, what was I talking about?

Why fight? When Bart Simpson discovers a monstrous plot to body snatch the people of Springfield, he sets out to deprive these tentacled terrors responsible of their much-needed resources. Said resources include such vital equipment as hats, balloons and assorted purple goods. Y'know, the usual conqueror's checklist. To tell you the truth, I'm not so sure that he didn’t just drink another one of those tainted Squishies, before indulging in a surreal town-wide crime spree. Aside from completing the strangest shopping list this side of Homer's whiskey, porno and fireworks haul back in season seven, Bart must also do battle with several of the aliens themselves. One late-stage jaundice sufferer up against an entire extraterrestrial invasion. Why not?

Any good? Nope. Thankfully there's the much more enjoyable Simpsons arcade game, from the same era, to scratch your 2D brawling itch.

Why fight? One of the most successful basketball stars of the 1980s takes on the undisputed king of the 90s, as Larry Bird goes toe to toe with the one and only Michael Jordan. There isn’t much else to talk about, other than the fact that the game was widely considered to favour Bird's avatar over MJ's. Though to be fair, the game was released prior to any of Jordan's six championship wins, so err… realism?

Any good? Nope. Despite being the sequel to the highly rated One on One: Dr. J Vs. Larry Bird, Jordan's first virtual outing was widely panned.

Why fight? Ecks and Sever are two highly trained field operatives, hunting one another before eventually joining forces. The game's name is technically correct, in that they do spend a good deal of the game playing enemies, though largely under false pretenses. Ecks' employers are big dirty fibbers, you see.

Any good? Despite being a tie-in for one of the worst movies ever made, Ecks Vs. Sever still manages to be of the best action games in the entire GBA library. In hindsight, they'd have been better off broadcasting an extended Let's Play than releasing that cinematic monstrosity.

Why fight? One of the oldest rivalries in gaming reignites in this 2004 puzzler, as DK undoes years of prison rehab to return to a life of crime. In one of the stranger additions to the Mushroom Kingdom lore, it appears that Mario himself is running a toy factory, one solely dedicated to reproducing his own moustachioed likeness. Weird, but somewhat understandable, given how well the clockwork figurines are selling. He was years ahead of the amiibo curve.

They're selling too well, in fact, as Donkey Kong arrives just in time to see the final unit sold, an occurrence that gives him to pause to reflect upon his own materialistic fixation. No, not really, he just swipes a few units instead, causing Mario - the enraged owner - to hunt down his missing property. So, either DK's a giant ape with poor impulse control, or Mario's intentionally manipulating the market via the old 'out-of-stock' tactic, thereby causing the populace to rise up in violent, popular revolt. Karl Marx would have a field day with this. Also, we seem to be back to amiibo.

Any good? Harsh truths aside, Mario Vs. Donkey Kong represents yet another quality addition to the Mario franchise, blending platforming with puzzley strategy to create an absolute winner.

Why fight? Two wheels or four is a fairly common argument amongst motor fans. MX Vs. ATV simply takes the debate into muddier territory. While it's true that motocross vehicles - i.e. dirtbikes - ought to hold the edge over Tevor Phillips' favoured means of traversal, the average ATV is no slouch either. Supercross lets both off-roaders take to the track together, allowing users to decide just who deserves to win this damn dirty duel.

Any good? Much like a real life motocross track, the MX vs. ATV franchise has hit plenty of peaks and troughs. The series' latest outing - Supercross - is rather more of the latter, scoring a slew of poor reviews upon its release in October of 2014.

When you live in a country that seems to get every game by default, it's easy to take things for granted. Sure, we've had a history of congresspeople attempting to demonize video games, but our self-regulating ratings board is surprisingly lenient compared to countries like Australia or Germany, who decide what games consumers can and can't purchase. Plus, if a game ever leaves Japan, there's a damn good chance it's going to come stateside before other territories.

Except for when it doesn't. There are quite a few games that got fully translated into English, though for whatever reason, didn't make it outside of Europe - or hell, even Japan. North America is massive in comparison to other English-speaking territories, and maybe trucking games cross-country just to sit on store shelves doesn't make a lot of sense. Whatever the reason, make sure you brace yourself for disappointment (or prepare to shell out the cash for region-specific hardware), because these are some of the teresting games we North Americans are missing out on.

Here it is, folks: one of the few Zelda games that will never make it to North America. OK, well, technically it's starring everyone's "favorite" 40-year-old human fairy, Tingle. Even though you're not playing as Link, it still feels like a Legend of Zelda game in many ways. There's an overworld to explore, dungeons full of puzzles to solve, and tons of rupees to snag.

In fact, rupees are an important part, because they're not just a currency you can use to purchase items and haggle with Hyrule's inhabitants - they're Tingle’s health bar too. Run out of cash and it's lights out for our green-tighted hero. This game probably could have had an honest shot here, if not for the fact that pretty much everyone thinks that Tingle is one of the creepiest characters Nintendo's ever made.

Remember Hotel Dusk: Room 215? That Nintendo DS game that looked like it came right out of an ? Well, its now-defunct developer Cing actually made a sequel a few years later that was fully translated and released in Europe.

Last Window: The Secret of Cape West continues the story of Kyle Hyde, the police officer-turned-delivery man as he unravels yet another mystery. According to reviews, Last Window is supposed to be just as good as its predecessor, filled with memorable characters and a unique graphical style, but the text-heavy adventure is perhaps a bit too niche for North American audiences. Much like...

Oh look, another Cing joint! This time, it's a sequel to the the DS adventure game Trace Memory (or, as it's known in Europe, Another Code: Two Memories). Trace Memory plays out like an interactive storybook, with some brisk puzzle-solving to keep things interesting. You play as a young Ashley Mizuki Robbins, as she explores the mysterious Blood Edward Island, looking for clues as to the whereabouts of her missing parents.

Unfortunately, some pacing issues and a lack of replayability led to middling reviews, which ultimately doomed its sequel, Another Code R, from ever seeing the light of day in North America - which is a shame, because it's largely an improvement over the original in many ways. It didn't help that the sequel was a Wii game, and by the time it finally launched, the Wii's software sales all but dried up for anything that wasn't a Mario game.

Here's another Nintendo-published Wii game that would have likely tanked in North America. If you're wondering why this game sounds familiar, you probably recognize it from Nintendo's E3 2006 presentation. Nintendo revealed the trailer for Monolith Soft's bonkers action title, then never spoke a single word about it. That's right: the same studio responsible for sprawling JRPGs about robots and swords and robot swords also worked on a QTE-laden survival game in which massive earthquakes and tsunamis wreck a coastal city in North America.

Nintendo quietly released Disaster: Day of Crisis abroad in October, 2008, but poor sales and middling review scores ensured that we'd never see the once-promised game grace our shores. It's weird that a game as gung-ho-America as Disaster: Day of Crisis would never get released here, but it's nothing compared to...

. Before crushing our souls with games like Bloodborne, From Software loved making mech games, like Chromehounds and Armored Core. But none of them compare to the sheer jingoistic audacity of Metal Wolf Chaos. Vice President Richard Hawk usurps the Oval Office from current president Michael Wilson (relative of Woodrow Wilson, naturally). How does he attempt to regain control of the White House? By piloting a giant mech, that's how. Eventually the two battle in space - because of course they do.

While its menus are in Japanese, the entire game is dubbed with gloriously terrible English voice acting, and it's pretty easy to figure out how to press A to America without having to study a second language. It is a crime we never got a localized version - it could have been video gaming's Team America: World Police, and there's no way translating everything would have taken longer than a Coca-Cola and apple pie-fueled fortnight.

Oh dear, this one is going to break more than a few hearts. Phantasy Star Online was an action-packed MMORPG for the Dreamcast released in 2000, a time when hooking your console up to the internet was a strange concept. Despite a relatively complicated set-up process compared to most modern-day online console titles, it garnered a decent cult following over its lifespan.

So of course fans were excited to hear that a full sequel would make its way to PC and Vita… and have continued to wait patiently for the game to ever make it to the West. Currently, Phantasy Star Online 2 is only out in Japan and the Pacific Southwest, but if you're willing to jump through some hoops, you can actually that will translate nearly everything for you. The fact that Sega hasn't done anything to block its use might as well be confirmation that we'll never get it.

The SNES is arguably one of the best JRPG machines on the planet, and North America actually got a fairly surprising amount of them, all things considered. But there's one in particular that stands out as one of the finest we'll probably never get to play: Terranigma.

Terranigma is the third entry of a loosely connected trilogy, developed by Quintet, the studio who brought us classics like ActRaiser, Soul Blazer, and Illusion of Gaia. In many ways, Terranigma is Quintet's magnum opus, a combination of complex religious themes and action-RPG concepts introduced in prior titles. So why didn't we get it? Turns out Enix wasn't doing so hot in the US, and had closed its North American subsidiary shortly before its localization was completed. That didn't stop Nintendo from taking it and publishing it on its own - but only in Europe and Australia.

If this article seems particularly Nintendo heavy, it's not because I'm bashing them. They just happen to make a habit of putting in a ton of work to make games readable by a Western audience then not releasing them in their largest English-speaking territory - or simply not releasing them at all. Case in point: Mother for the NES.

In Japan, what we refer to as EarthBound is known as Mother 2, the sequel to the original Mother game released in 1989 on the NES. Plans were set in motion to make Mother available to a Western audience, and the game was fully translated into English, until Nintendo of America decided (for whatever reason) that releasing it would be commercially unviable. Lucky for us, someone found a prototype and dumped the ROM files online, where it has since been dubbed EarthBound Zero by those who have come across it by less scrupulous means.

Mother 3, a game which many believe to be the finest (and most heart-wrenching) in the series, has been . Of course, Nintendo still has no plans to officially bring this title to the West, despite constantly taunting us with the inclusion of Mother 3 hero Lucas in Super Smash Bros. Sigh.

When you live in a country that seems to get every game by default, it's easy to take things for granted. Sure, we've had a history of congresspeople attempting to demonize video games, but our self-regulating ratings board is surprisingly lenient compared to countries like Australia or Germany, who decide what games consumers can and can't purchase. Plus, if a game ever leaves Japan, there's a damn good chance it's going to come stateside before other territories.

Except for when it doesn't. There are quite a few games that got fully translated into English, though for whatever reason, didn't make it outside of Europe - or hell, even Japan. North America is massive in comparison to other English-speaking territories, and maybe trucking games cross-country just to sit on store shelves doesn't make a lot of sense. Whatever the reason, make sure you brace yourself for disappointment (or prepare to shell out the cash for region-specific hardware), because these are some of the teresting games we North Americans are missing out on.

Here it is, folks: one of the few Zelda games that will never make it to North America. OK, well, technically it's starring everyone's "favorite" 40-year-old human fairy, Tingle. Even though you're not playing as Link, it still feels like a Legend of Zelda game in many ways. There's an overworld to explore, dungeons full of puzzles to solve, and tons of rupees to snag.

In fact, rupees are an important part, because they're not just a currency you can use to purchase items and haggle with Hyrule's inhabitants - they're Tingle’s health bar too. Run out of cash and it's lights out for our green-tighted hero. This game probably could have had an honest shot here, if not for the fact that pretty much everyone thinks that Tingle is one of the creepiest characters Nintendo's ever made.

Remember Hotel Dusk: Room 215? That Nintendo DS game that looked like it came right out of an ? Well, its now-defunct developer Cing actually made a sequel a few years later that was fully translated and released in Europe.

Last Window: The Secret of Cape West continues the story of Kyle Hyde, the police officer-turned-delivery man as he unravels yet another mystery. According to reviews, Last Window is supposed to be just as good as its predecessor, filled with memorable characters and a unique graphical style, but the text-heavy adventure is perhaps a bit too niche for North American audiences. Much like...

Oh look, another Cing joint! This time, it's a sequel to the the DS adventure game Trace Memory (or, as it's known in Europe, Another Code: Two Memories). Trace Memory plays out like an interactive storybook, with some brisk puzzle-solving to keep things interesting. You play as a young Ashley Mizuki Robbins, as she explores the mysterious Blood Edward Island, looking for clues as to the whereabouts of her missing parents.

Unfortunately, some pacing issues and a lack of replayability led to middling reviews, which ultimately doomed its sequel, Another Code R, from ever seeing the light of day in North America - which is a shame, because it's largely an improvement over the original in many ways. It didn't help that the sequel was a Wii game, and by the time it finally launched, the Wii's software sales all but dried up for anything that wasn't a Mario game.

Here's another Nintendo-published Wii game that would have likely tanked in North America. If you're wondering why this game sounds familiar, you probably recognize it from Nintendo's E3 2006 presentation. Nintendo revealed the trailer for Monolith Soft's bonkers action title, then never spoke a single word about it. That's right: the same studio responsible for sprawling JRPGs about robots and swords and robot swords also worked on a QTE-laden survival game in which massive earthquakes and tsunamis wreck a coastal city in North America.

Nintendo quietly released Disaster: Day of Crisis abroad in October, 2008, but poor sales and middling review scores ensured that we'd never see the once-promised game grace our shores. It's weird that a game as gung-ho-America as Disaster: Day of Crisis would never get released here, but it's nothing compared to...

. Before crushing our souls with games like Bloodborne, From Software loved making mech games, like Chromehounds and Armored Core. But none of them compare to the sheer jingoistic audacity of Metal Wolf Chaos. Vice President Richard Hawk usurps the Oval Office from current president Michael Wilson (relative of Woodrow Wilson, naturally). How does he attempt to regain control of the White House? By piloting a giant mech, that's how. Eventually the two battle in space - because of course they do.

While its menus are in Japanese, the entire game is dubbed with gloriously terrible English voice acting, and it's pretty easy to figure out how to press A to America without having to study a second language. It is a crime we never got a localized version - it could have been video gaming's Team America: World Police, and there's no way translating everything would have taken longer than a Coca-Cola and apple pie-fueled fortnight.

Oh dear, this one is going to break more than a few hearts. Phantasy Star Online was an action-packed MMORPG for the Dreamcast released in 2000, a time when hooking your console up to the internet was a strange concept. Despite a relatively complicated set-up process compared to most modern-day online console titles, it garnered a decent cult following over its lifespan.

So of course fans were excited to hear that a full sequel would make its way to PC and Vita… and have continued to wait patiently for the game to ever make it to the West. Currently, Phantasy Star Online 2 is only out in Japan and the Pacific Southwest, but if you're willing to jump through some hoops, you can actually that will translate nearly everything for you. The fact that Sega hasn't done anything to block its use might as well be confirmation that we'll never get it.

The SNES is arguably one of the best JRPG machines on the planet, and North America actually got a fairly surprising amount of them, all things considered. But there's one in particular that stands out as one of the finest we'll probably never get to play: Terranigma.

Terranigma is the third entry of a loosely connected trilogy, developed by Quintet, the studio who brought us classics like ActRaiser, Soul Blazer, and Illusion of Gaia. In many ways, Terranigma is Quintet's magnum opus, a combination of complex religious themes and action-RPG concepts introduced in prior titles. So why didn't we get it? Turns out Enix wasn't doing so hot in the US, and had closed its North American subsidiary shortly before its localization was completed. That didn't stop Nintendo from taking it and publishing it on its own - but only in Europe and Australia.

If this article seems particularly Nintendo heavy, it's not because I'm bashing them. They just happen to make a habit of putting in a ton of work to make games readable by a Western audience then not releasing them in their largest English-speaking territory - or simply not releasing them at all. Case in point: Mother for the NES.

In Japan, what we refer to as EarthBound is known as Mother 2, the sequel to the original Mother game released in 1989 on the NES. Plans were set in motion to make Mother available to a Western audience, and the game was fully translated into English, until Nintendo of America decided (for whatever reason) that releasing it would be commercially unviable. Lucky for us, someone found a prototype and dumped the ROM files online, where it has since been dubbed EarthBound Zero by those who have come across it by less scrupulous means.

Mother 3, a game which many believe to be the finest (and most heart-wrenching) in the series, has been . Of course, Nintendo still has no plans to officially bring this title to the West, despite constantly taunting us with the inclusion of Mother 3 hero Lucas in Super Smash Bros. Sigh.