Operation Rainfall
Current logo for Operation Rainfall
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| Formation | June 2011 |
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| Type | Fan campaign (2011–2015) News blog (2015–) |
| Purpose | To publicize niche Japanese video games |
| Website | operationrainfall |
Operation Rainfall, currently known as oprainfall, was a video game-oriented fan campaign founded to promote the release of Japan-exclusive titles. Initially aimed at promoting the North American localization of three Japan-exclusive titles on the aging Wii home video game console, it later transitioned into a community blog dedicated to niche Japanese titles and further fan campaigns aimed at the localization of other Japan-exclusive titles. From inception, its stated intention was to show publisher Nintendo the demand for the three chosen titles.
Beginning in 2011, it was designed as a push for the release of Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story and Pandora's Tower, three titles released late in the lifespan of the Wii. The campaign was acknowledged by Nintendo, and though announcing that they initially had no plans, all three titles were eventually released overseas. Reception of the campaign has been favorable overall, and its perceived success when compared to similar earlier campaigns was also noted.
The campaign focused on three role-playing games created for Nintendo's Wii home video game console during the last years of its life: Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story and Pandora's Tower.Xenoblade Chronicles, developed by Monolith Soft, was an entry in the Xeno series, initially announced as an original project dubbed Monado: Beginning of the World. It was announced under this title at the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), but its title was changed to honor earlier Xeno titles created by the game's writer Tetsuya Takahashi.The Last Story was developed by Mistwalker, a company created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and intended to be a game that ran contrary to typical elements of the genre based on feedback from the company's previous titles Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey.Pandora's Tower was developed by Ganbarion, who had previously worked primarily on licensed titles and pitched the concept to Nintendo after favorably impressing them with their work on Jump Ultimate Stars. Despite hopes from fans and journalists that the titles would be released overseas, Nintendo gave no comment on the matter. The only explanation for the lack of localization was related to The Last Story: Nintendo stated that due to their work on Kirby's Epic Yarn and titles for the new Nintendo 3DS, The Last Story was too much effort. Nintendo of Europe did want to feature Xenoblade Chronicles at E3 2011, but Nintendo's American branch prevented it without explanation. In response to this and continued silence on both The Last Story and Pandora's Tower, Operation Rainfall was born.
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