AR TONELICO ELEMIA, MANA KHEMIA 1 and 2
o Bad string handling leading to a complete crash against specific bosses (AT1, MK2) / major part of the extra dungeon enemies (MK1). MK2's crash is rather easy to avoid, though.
o MK1: Unnecessary and flagrant name changes to a variety of playable main characters.
o MK2: Lack of testing in the extra chapter leads to crashes when doing certain tasks if Ulrika is the main character instead of Raze: Student handbook and Job post usage crash the game.
AR TONELICO METAFALICA
o Typographical errors, missing words, shaky sentences, mistranslation of important game terms and inconsistently-adapted names
o Localization introduced or exposed game-crashing bugs in the game.
o NISA marketed the game based on Sex Appeal, when, in fact, AT2 was intended to be a more serious and thoughtful game, with less emphasis on cheap hooks and a greater focus on the plot, than Ar Tonelico Elemia
o In order to fit English voice acting onto the disc, they cut approximately half of the Japanese voice-acted scenes, leaving many important plot points lacking appropriate impact.
AR TONELICO QOGA
o Typographical errors and untranslated text in various spots on top of their "translation" not even being remotely close to the Japanese track and English voice track, what little there is, not even matching the text in some areas.
o Binary Field (DLC episodes) scam where they put out each chapter separate then a few days after a bundle pack which didn't work if you had downloaded the first episode.
HYPERDIMENSION NEPTUNIA
o Neptunia 1 would crash on the dungeon leaderboard screen if it couldn't upload your score while you were on PSN for whatever reason.
HYPERDMENSION NEPTUNIA mk2
o Very questionable localization quality. (bad translation, unfunny jokes/lines added to several dialogues which changed the characters personalities at times)
HYPERSIMENSION NEPTUNIA V
o Very questionable localization quality. (bad translation, unfunny jokes/lines added to several dialogues which changed the characters personalities at times)
o Didn't tell the gamers idol events DLC would not be included, then, when brought to attention, denied any and all knowledge of such DLC.
o Freezing issues with some DLC.
WITCH AND 100 KNIGHT
o Game-crashing bugs (rumour about a GameFAQs user fixing everything and mailed such solution/file to NISA. Still no official support a year from release, nor token mention of any such thing.)
o PS3 overheating (Confirmed to be replicable by the person who originally made the post) http://nisamerica.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=14425&start=90
ATELIER ARLAND TRILOGY
o Name changing: Esty Erhart => Esty Dee (S T D = Sexual Transmission Disease, get it? XD)
RHAPSODY DS
o http://www.siliconera.com/2008/10/13/bonus-content-cut-from-rhapsody-ds/
o http://www.siliconera.com/2008/10/14/falling-flat-encountering-rhapsodys-ds-glitches/
DISGAEA 2 PSP
o They fucked up the DLC characters so they don't have voices.
o They decided not to release all the DLC characters but released the final character, Majin Hinako.
o Majin Hinako unlocks item book collection slots because it assumes you have the other DLC characters.
o Downloading Majin Hinako means you can't complete the collection book, effectively killing anyone going for 100%
DISGAEA D2
o Game-crashing SKILLS (several Fire-based)
o OPENING stops abruptly
o Fuuka and Desco were free DLC for the first month after release in Japan and Asia. Day 1 paid DLC in USA and EU.
o CPU melting bug at release
DISGAEA 3
o DLC scam. Purchasing content one by one locks certain content needed for 100% completion. Purchasing as a bundle unlocks it all, for the low price of $50. NISA released vouchers for a limited time as an apology.
MUGEN SOULS
o Scrubbing minigame removed, over 120 CGs removed. Basically censored extremely lazily. Excuses given over the years were many and varied, but some of them were "We wanted to appeal as much as possible to a wider demographic." "The vocal minority can't put a dent in our wallet." "We find this content creepy." "Unofficial ESRB rep indicated this title has potential for AO (it didn't)" "We found this content distasteful, so you don't want it anyways."
o Created new bugs and glitches not seen in the JP release
o Massive lag during regular battles
o Can fail and area load after a battle forcing you to restart from your previous save
o Released an LE which had bath sponges and a towel even though the bath minigame was removed which was a massive slap to the face which the LE sold poorly (still have copies of the LE on their site).
o EastAsiaSoft was able to secure the rights to release a Switch version, and released it uncensored.
MUGEN SOULS Z
o Scrubbing minigame removed, over 120 CGs removed. See entry for Mugen Souls
o Elka introduced as the Hero of Water World when she's the hero of the Fire World
o Slumbering Boss battles cause freezes in Mugen Field (Note: this has been patched as of July 2014)
o EastAsiaSoft was able to secure the rights to release a Switch version, and released it uncensored.
NATURAL DOCTRINE
o The ending is not subbed when using Japanese. When someone asked about this, they were told to use the English dub instead
PSTV
o Won't patch their Vita games for PSTV support, usually defers to Sony despite it being on them (and all NIS games being patched to be PSTV compatible) http://nisamerica.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=15423#p836008
CRIMINAL GIRLS INVITATION
o Censored the Punishment Time minigame which has pink fog for every level of each minigame (Never goes away). JP version the pink fog goes away on later levels.
o Removed the voices for the punishment minigames.
o Shoddy translation. Changed "Punishment Time" to "Motivation Time" for the punishment minigame and made the dialogue-less lewd.
CRIMINAL GIRLS 2: PARTY FAVORS
o Censored the Punishment Time minigame as "Motivation Time". All artwork altered completely as well.
o Minigame dialogue completely removed.
o Censorship and other changes made before the game was even submitted to the rating boards to see if original content would pass.
o Any dissent in NISA's forums about changes made to the game mercilessly struck down and branded as "trolling". https://imgur.com/a/rpSf5 http://forum.nichegamer.com/threads/the-fuck-nis-america-thread.584/
DANGANRONPA: TRIGGER HAPPY HAVOC
o Lousy translation, the prologue alone contains numerous mistranslations or made-up terms
o Various text wrapping, spelling and grammatical issues
o A bug that crashes the game when loading a School Mode save
o Made a scene where a character reveals his true gender to the protag less ambiguous and essentially censored it by changing a line stating that the character put the protag's hand on "her body" to "her chest"
DANGANRONPA 2: GOODBYE DESPAIR
o Lousy translation, see the entry for Danganronpa
o Text wrapping issues
o "jump hitboxes not working (I'll land on top of somebody directly, but I'll just go through them and sometimes take damage)"
o Various images appear in Japanese when the voices are set to Japanese
o Serious lag issues in Jabberwock Park in the overworld, not existent in the PSP version
OPERATION ABYSS: NEW TOKYO LEGACY
o English dub only, no Japanese audio track. When asked why NISA said it was because there wasn't enough space on the vita cartridge for it despite the entire game being less than 1.5 GB (Vita cartridges can hold up to 4 GB)
o Steam release is dual audio, but as of writing NISA never released this for the Vita version
FAIRY FENCER F
o Changed character names in the English localization (ex. Alyn to Eryn) due to the translator not liking the way they sounded.
DISGAEA 4 (VITA)
o Bacial with the youngster's voice has an English line that will crash the game. friend or foe can crash your game. This can be avoided by playing with Japanese voices.
DISGAEA (PC)
o Multiple performance issues at launch, such as audio skipping and laggy cutscenes if you don't have a controller plugged in.
o Graphical options such as SSAO cause graphical glitches.
o After looping Etna's story back into Laharl's, Flonne's weapon and first equip slot are overwritten by Pleinair's starting equips.
YS VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana
o Nearly every line of translation is filled with grammatical errors and poor sentence structuring, as if machine-translated.
o Names of locations and enemies that already had English versions in the Japanese version of the game received similar low-quality translation (ie "Mephorashm" became "Mephorashmoo" in NISA's translation)
o In one case, two stat boost items had their descriptions swapped making their practical use nulled without guessing or the use of Cheat Engine.
o NISA has since apologized for poor quality and promises a retranslation. By 2018.
o Retranslation still features several grammatical errors and poor sentence structuring.
YS VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana (PC Port)
o PC version originally promised to be released on the same day as PS4 version is now delayed to January 30, 2018
o PC version which was delayed to January 2018 now delayed to an unknown date, shortly after announcing a Nintendo Switch port of the game.
o PC version released April 16, 2018, nearly 8 months after initially promised.
o The launch was broken to the point that merely having no controller plugged in is enough to cause glitches and bugs. Other issues include 1080Ti cards being pushed to 99% load, Vsync not working or even causing a crash to desktop if enabled, and screeching music that skips around.
o NISA are scrambling bug fixes and patches around the clock, but progress is slow and the majority of issues remain at large.
DISGAEA 5: COMPLETE (PC Port)
o PC version originally promised to be released on May 7, then delayed to "Summer 2018", delayed again to "Fall 2018".
o PC version released October 22, 2018, nearly 6 months after initially promised.
o Being promised a "Complete" version of the game, PC players were not amused by a fair amount of missing features compared to the Console versions of the game, those differences mainly being network features shadowy removed from the game with no prior knowledge whatsoever, only after enough complaints, NISA released a patch-note on what they removed.
o Removed Data Shop
o Removed Netherworld Edit Shop
o Removed Map Edit Shop
o Removed Network settings options (User Netherworld, User News)
o Removed Strategy Assembly (Spread News to Everyone!, Give Item to a Friend!)
o Removed Netherworld Hub
o "Due to irreconcilable platform differences, it was decided in the beginning of development for Disgaea 5 Complete that the Network functions from the original game could not be implemented into the Steam version". Says NISA
o The question remains If they decided early on to remove these features, why they only revealed that fact after players complaints?
CALIGULA: EFFECT OVERDOSE (Switch/PSV)
o Frame rate is worst on Vita unless you use CFW.
o Resolution is worst on Switch no matter what you do.
o Switch docked runs at a lower resolution than Vita in handheld.
o Switch runs in 240p handheld / 540p docked both with a lot of temporal AA to cover the low res jaggies.
o Vita for comparison is 544p so slightly above Switch docked.
TRAILS OF COLD STEEL 3
o NISA openly admitted on a Livestream that they willingly altered dialogue they deemed as “sexist” or “culturally inappropriate” When later asked how often the localizers keep in contact with Falcom about these types of heavy-handed alterations over the original script, they responded that they had barely any communications with them about it.
o “We have to make sure that it makes… like all the texts make sense not just in the language, but in the culture that we’re translating into. To fix it."
o “Sometimes it’ll be jokes, Japanese jokes, that have different values than we do. We try to work around some things that might be a little sexist in Japanese humour. And with those things, we like to try to make it more culturally appropriate for our players.” Claims NISA.
THE ALLIANCE ALIVE HD (PC)
o "The Alliance Alive HD Remastered requires a controller in order to play. Playing with a keyboard and mouse isn't supported."
DISASTER REPORT 4: SUMMER MEMORIES (PS4)
o The Ending is Locked behind a 10$ Paywall, while included with the game itself on the Switch and PC.
DISGAEA 6: DEFIANCE OF DESTINY (PS4/Switch)
o PS4 version is Japan-exclusive, reasons given are currently unknown.
o Censored Artwork and CGs
o NISA offered for a limited time the original uncensored cover to be included as a reverse cover via an online contest (http://disgaea.us/d6/reverse-cover-contest/), but it lost in popular vote against the other 2 alternatives.
MAD RAT DEAD (PS4/Switch)
o Mad Rat Dead got a DLC with 6 new songs, when asked NISA claims "there are currently no plans to release it outside of Japan".
o At least you could import the CD with those 6 songs online some time ago, it's sold out now though.
MISC
o Localizers have admitted that they do in fact add things to the script just for the sake of "flavour" http://www.siliconera.com/2010/04/29/nis-america-answer-your-trinity-universe-questions-part-2/#DvhRIbzo9JP9x19t.99
If you have something you want to add to the list, let me know. Nothing is too minor.