Polygon has compiled a list of five acclaimed video games that have never received an official English-language release in the US, despite modern platforms like Steam and Nintendo Switch Online offering unprecedented access to classic and current titles. The article highlights how factors such as censorship policies, scrapped localisation plans, and the games' status as niche or licensed tie-ins have kept these titles out of Western markets, though dedicated fan translators have often stepped in to fill the gap.

The list includes Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei, the 1987 Famicom game that launched Atlus's influential Megami Tensei franchise, which was blocked partly by Nintendo of America's historic policy against religious imagery. Also featured is Hideo Kojima's Policenauts, a sci-fi detective game whose planned localisation was cancelled, prompting a seven-year fan translation effort; Fire Emblem: Thracia 776, one of four entries in the series never released in the West; and Capcom's Sweet Home, a 1989 horror title tied to a Japanese film that laid much of the groundwork for the survival horror genre later popularised by Resident Evil.