Highlights

  • Xenoblade Chronicles almost didn't make it to North America, but it turned out to be a success.
  • Operation Rainfall played a crucial role in bringing Xenoblade Chronicles and other RPGs to Western audiences.
  • Nintendo's executive decisions led to limited releases, but Xenoblade became a popular RPG series in North America.

Former Nintendo employees have revealed that, despite its public announcement, Xenoblade Chronicles was originally planned to go without a North American release. Xenoblade Chronicles is one of Nintendo's most popular RPG series, with its pedigree allowing developer Monolith Soft to become one of Nintendo's most reliable first-party studios. However, none of Xenoblade's success would have been possible without the very first entry released on the Nintendo Wii all the way back in 2010.

Since the Nintendo Wii didn't have a lot of RPGs at the time, Monolith Soft was contracted to develop a new game for the system. The first Xenoblade game was originally conceptualized as a standalone project titled "Monado: Beginning of the World," which was announced at E3 2009 as a relatively small reveal. However, the late Satoru Iwata suggested that the "Xeno" part of the title be added in order to honor the game's director, Tetsuya Takahashi's, struggles with Xenogears and Xenosaga. Despite the game being announced at one of the biggest gaming shows of the time, there was seemingly little chance the game would arrive in North America, according to former Nintendo Minute hosts, Kit and Krysta.

Xenoblade Chronicles Shulk and Noah
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In the newest episode of the duo's podcast, Kit recalls asking his colleagues about Xenoblade Chronicles during that same E3 (around 2:10:50). Kit was told by Nintendo that it would be a Japan-only release and not to worry about it. He was then staunchly informed to not bring any people, including the press, to see the game on booth tours, since the game wouldn't be coming out in North America.

Xenoblade Chronicle's Messy Western Release

The eventual Western release of the first Xenoblade Chronicles game was a pretty messy affair. After its 2010 Japan launch, there was much vocal support for the games to be released in English. Xenoblade Chronicles would end up being released in Europe a year after its original launch, but fans kept asking for a release of the game in North America. This eventually led to Operation Rainfall - a fan-run campaign asking for Nintendo to localize three Nintendo Wii RPGs: Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story, and Pandora's Tower. Kit commented on Nintendo's rather shaky chances of releasing certain games in North America during that time. "There was a team at Nintendo that made those sorts of decisions that we were not a part of. That was a very executive heavy group, and they would analyze the market and the potential audience size – all that stuff. It was like flipping a coin – sometimes these were the right decisions, sometimes they weren't," said Kit.

There was a team at Nintendo that made those sorts of decisions that we were not a part of. That was a very executive heavy group, and they would analyze the market and the potential audience size – all that stuff. It was like flipping a coin – sometimes these were the right decisions, sometimes they weren't.

Despite how the game had an incredibly limited release through GameStop, this didn't stop Xenoblade from becoming a smash hit. Xenoblade would then get a spin-off on the Wii U, two sequels, two re-releases of the original game on New Nintendo 3DS and the Switch, and even playable Xenoblade fighters in the Super Smash Bros. series. Xenoblade is one of Nintendo's most popular RPG series, and North American fans could have missed out on it had Nintendo decided not to localize it in the end.