10 Things You Didn’t Know about The World Ends with You

The World Ends with You was an action RPG that was released for the Nintendo DS in 2007. Genre-wise, it can be considered urban fantasy, seeing as how it was set in a famous shopping district of Tokyo. Recently, The World Ends with You has received a port for the Nintendo Switch called The World Ends with You: Final Remix. Here are 10 things that you may or may not have known about The World Ends with You:

1. Collaboration Between Square Enix and Jupiter

The World Ends with You was a collaboration between Square Enix and Jupiter. It wasn’t the first such team-up between the two companies, seeing as how they were responsible for making Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories for the Game Boy Advance as well.

2. Distinctive Art Style

One of the more memorable aspects of The World Ends with You is its art style. It is interesting to note that said art style was inspired by the youth culture that could be found in the shopping district called Shibuya in those times.

3. Based in Shibuya

Of course, it should come as no surprise to learn that The World Ends with You is set in Shibuya. For those who are curious, the district is a huge commercial center, which makes it a very busy place indeed. However, it tends to be even better-known for its nightlife as well as its cultural status as a fashion center for young people as well as for others.

4. Good Sales

On the whole, The World Ends with You met with a very good though not wholly positive response from the critics. This was backed by excellent sales, so much so that the game placed second for Nintendo DS games in the Japanese market and first for Nintendo DS games in the North American market for the first week of its release.

5. Setting Separated into the Realground and the Underground

The setting of the game is separated into the Realground and the Underground. The Realground would be a Shibuya district that is very similar to what exists in the real world. In contrast, the Underground is a separate plane of existence that admits no more than a very select number of chosen dead.

6. The Underground Hosts the Reapers’ Game

The Underground is the venue that hosts the Reapers’ Game. In short, the dead can offer up their most prized possessions in exchange for the right to compete in the Game for a valuable prize, which is either being returned to life or becoming a higher form of existence.

7. Reapers Run the Game

Naturally, Reapers are the ones who run the Reapers’ Game. A lot of the people who choose to become a higher form of existence become Reapers, who become opponents for the players in future Reapers’ Games. Moreover, it is the Reapers who set the rules for the competitions.

8. There Are Higher Forms of Existence than Reapers

It should be mentioned that there are even higher forms of existence than the Reapers in the form of the Angels. They are the ones who supervise the Reapers’ Games, though their intervention is rare. Reapers can become Angels by rising up through the ranks through their participation in the Games.

9. There Are Monsters Called Noise

There are monsters called Noise that are drawn to the negative thoughts of the living. Often, Reapers’ Games involve fighting Noise, but since Noise exist in two parallel universes at the same time, they can’t be defeated by anyone on their own because they must be vanquished in both parallel universes.

10. There Are Two Ports

Since The World Ends with You proved to be so successful, it should come as no surprise to learn that it has received ports. First, there was a port for mobile platforms in 2012. Now, there is a second port for the Nintendo Switch. In both cases, the ports were made by h.a.n.d., which is based in the city of Sapporo. This shouldn’t be a surprise because h.a.n.d. stands for Hokkaido Artists’ Network and Development, seeing as how Sapporo is the capital of Hokkaido, which is the northernmost of the main Japanese islands.

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