The fate of the Lost Planet spin-off game, E.X. Troopers, arriving in the West has been a tricky scenario for fans when Capcom had no plans to release the game overseas. From what had previously been said, the in-game texts were designed as part of the game’s artwork, making it impossible to swap the texts and translate them unless the art had been redone. The fact that the game also underperformed at its initial launch doesn’t help any either.
But despite these circumstances, this does not mean E.X. Troopers can’t be released in the West — at least according to Capcom’s Andrew Szymanski, who is currently supervising the new Strider game and producing Lost Planet 3. According to Szymanski, input by fans is the best thing to see, whether it’s about localizations or developing new games. Here is what he said in an interview about the matter:
“Whether it’s E.X. Troopers or any other Japan-only games we do or even games we are considering doing, the best thing we can get is input,” Szymanski replied. “I don’t need an online petition. I just need people to go on the community sites, e-mail some of our community guys, and say these are the kinds of games we want to see.”
“Whether they are games released overseas that they want in other territories—again what made Strider possible was having that backup. James [Vance] and I can walk into a boardroom and say we want to make Strider, but they’re going to say, ‘Who cares about Strider anymore?’ These people care. You have got to be able to drop that big printout on that table.”
So essentially, people’s voices, demands, and opinions are effective in a way that Capcom can see what players want to play. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Mega Man fans, who have been clamoring for a few years, with Szymanski saying that things need to be taken “one at a time”. He adds that Strider has priority for starting at “the right opportunity at the right time with the right partner”. Nevertheless, the fact that people can collectively demand to Capcom to release games like E.X. Troopers without having to make petitions, or worry that hard-coded texts will deny localization sounds reassuring.
So will you be letting Capcom know you want E.X. Troopers for Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation 3? Make sure to leave a comment.
