The World Ends with You came out in 2007 on the Nintendo DS and very quickly became a “Cult Classic” kind of title. It had a hyper-original story, a unique way of playing the game (via the dual screens of the DS) and it got rave reviews. So much so that fans REALLY wanted a sequel. But they didn’t get it for well over a decade until NEO The World Ends with You was announced back in 2020. This was frustrating because fans REALLY wanted a sequel sooner than that, but at least it’s better late than never, right?
But why was the delay so long? According to Producer Tomohiko Hirano, the question wasn’t about sales, or even desire from fans or Square Enix. Rather, it was about the very content of the game and the team that made it:
“With the original version of the game, from the very beginning we’ve had a lot of fans that have been asking for a sequel to come along. But with the content of the game, it’s a little out there. It’s a little different from your usual game and with that, we needed to secure an environment where we could really focus on the development of this team. Up until now we really weren’t able to secure that kind of environment, but now that we have been able to do so we’ve been able to proceed.”
He also mentioned that they were busy with Kingdom Hearts, “so we didn’t really have time to allocate to this series previously.”
Hirano noted that he wanted to make this game really fresh and that’s why there’s new players, an updated battle system, and more. It’ll be very curious to see how players enjoy the experience when NEO The World Ends with You arrives on Nintendo Switch and PS4 on July 27th.
