The Tales Games That Never Left Japan
For most of its life, the West saw only part of Tales: a true sequel, a fan-beloved remake, and two handheld originals stayed home.
Localization was never a promise in this series. Of the seventeen mothership titles, four never received any Western release in their original form, and several more arrived years late or in altered editions. These are the absences that shaped Western collecting, the Japanese boxes on the shelf that have no English counterpart.
THE MOTHERSHIP ABSENCES
No Western releaseTales of Destiny 2 (2002)
The real sequel to Destiny, Kyle, son of Stahn and Rutee, eighteen years on. Released for PS2 and later PSP in Japan only. Western fans met the name first, attached to a different game (Eternia), which made the absence doubly confusing.
Tales of Rebirth (2004)
A PS2 story of two peoples, Huma and Gajema, and the Force powers that divide them, carried by Veigue’s attempt to free his childhood friend Claire. Ported to PSP in 2008; localized never. Frequently named by importers as the great lost Tales.
Tales of Innocence (2007)
Alfa System’s DS original, about reincarnated gods walking a world at war. Its Vita remake, Innocence R (2012), expanded the story, and also stayed in Japan. The West has never officially had this title in any form.
Tales of Hearts, the DS original (2008)
The DS game shipped in two editions, Anime Movie and CG Movie, with different cutscene styles. The West eventually received the story through the Vita remake Hearts R in 2014, six years later and substantially rebuilt.
THE REMAKE THAT STAYED HOME
Destiny, twice overTales of Destiny Remake (2006)
A ground-up PS2 remake of the 1997 game: redrawn, re-voiced, with an aerial evolution of the battle system and an expanded role for Leon. Japanese players received it in 2006; it is still routinely cited among the finest remakes never localized.
The Director’s Cut (2008)
The remake’s second pressing added a full Leon-side retelling of the story. Two full versions of Destiny’s remake exist, and neither has an official English word in it.
Tales of the Tempest (2006)
Dimps’ DS entry, the first Tales built for a handheld, launched with mothership ambitions and a mixed reception, and settled into the escort column of the modern count. Japan only, in every column.
HOW THE GAPS CLOSED
Slowly, and not all of themThe long way round
Some absences ended by edition rather than by port: Vesperia’s PS3 content reached the West inside the 2019 Definitive Edition, and Graces arrived as Graces f rather than as the Wii original. The Remastered Project has continued the pattern since 2025.
The fans’ shift
For the titles that never crossed, fan translation projects spent years doing the work officially left undone, the reason a generation of Western players knows Rebirth’s story and Destiny 2’s Barbatos at all.
Still missing
As of the 30th anniversary, the unlocalized mothership core stands at Destiny 2, Rebirth, Innocence, and the Destiny remake pair, the four (or five) boxes at the center of every importer’s shelf.