'It's a Wonderful World' redubbed, slated for European release

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Dec 5th 2007 at 5:50PM }

Released on the Nintendo DS back in July, "Subarashiki Kono Sekai" saw the team behind Kingdom Hearts take a break from all that adorable fantasy nonsense to explore an entirely different... well, no. Setting the game in Shibuya, Tokyo ("the coolest district in Tokyo," it says here) pretty much guarantees a heavy presence of adorable fantasy nonsense. It's a good thing some of us are partial to that sort of thing, or Square Enix wouldn't have bothered to localize the game (otherwise known as "It's a Wondeful World") for the PAL market.

Set for release in Spring 2008, the newly redubbed "The World Ends With You" starts in a rather sinister fashion, reminiscent of other popular Japanese import, The Ring. It seems the lead chap, Neku, encounters a phone message ominously informing him that after seven days have passed, he'll cease to exist. Don't be too concerned, as he'll get out of the predicament thanks to "the coolest fashions, friends and fighting skills" Tokyo has to offer. And hey, if those friends and fighting skills don't work out, at least the guy will be fashionably late. Geddit?

We've asked Square Enix whether or not a US release is on the cards, though it's easy enough to import and play DS games from Europe should the answer be "no, and for the last time, stop sending us those chain letters."

Update: Square Enix has no announcements regarding a US release.

Tags: Its-A-Wonderful-World, Kingdom-Hearts, KingdomHearts, Square-Enix, SquareEnix, The-World-Ends-With-You

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Chris @ Dec 5th 2007 6:04PM

Hottie 2nd from the right.

A must buy for that alone.

WiNG @ Dec 5th 2007 6:17PM

Hint 1: She's a cartoon
Hint 2: In game graphics are never as hot as the cover art, so just fap to this jpeg.

BPM - The Return @ Dec 5th 2007 6:35PM

Why is it anytime someone says a fictional character is attractive, someone always has to chime in "she's a cartoon lololol"

NO, REALLY. I THOUGHT SHE WAS REAL. THANK YOU FOR INFORMING US OTHERWISE.

Even if the character is fake, the design was still meant to be attractive.

Whether you're into anime girls, 3D girls (a la DOA or whatever), or famous stars, you have the same chance of scoring with them: nil. Nada. Zilch.

Is it a crime looking at fictional characters and finding them attractive? Last I checked, no it wasn't.

Jerk Face @ Dec 5th 2007 6:39PM

BPM

Jerk Face @ Dec 5th 2007 6:40PM

Damn it, let's try that again:

BPM hearts Family Guy hentai four E.

BPM - The Return @ Dec 5th 2007 7:00PM

No, I heart delivering a FAAALCOOOON PUUUUUUUNCH to your jerk face, Jerk Face.

WiNG @ Dec 5th 2007 7:22PM

No there is nothing wrong with cartoon ladies, just wanted to use point 1 to make point 2 funnier.

rTwelve @ Dec 5th 2007 10:11PM

dude her arm is thinner than the font

and bpm, you say that again and i'm going to PK FIYAA you

BPM - The Revenge @ Dec 5th 2007 10:30PM

If you do that, then I'll FALCON KICK you.

Fernando Rocker @ Dec 5th 2007 6:09PM

Really, the DS is an amazing system. It have a lot, a lot of software, from every genre. So much diversity of games coming every week, and speacilly a lot of quality titles, quality RPG's, platformers, everything.

Hopelly the Wii follow the same steps.

milestailsprowe @ Dec 5th 2007 6:44PM

fernando you rock *cough cough*I agree with you

NaeemTHM @ Dec 5th 2007 6:13PM

So...its about a bunch of telepathic kids in a urban setting. Ya way to remake Earthbound Square.

mr nimblewick (SegaDF - Jogurt Ring) @ Dec 5th 2007 6:17PM

There are worse things they could copy.

Edward Elric @ Dec 5th 2007 7:22PM

At least someone is, I don't see Nintendo making an effort.

BPM - The Return @ Dec 5th 2007 6:36PM

I have to say, the change in title makes the game seem a whole lot darker.

ALH @ Dec 5th 2007 6:52PM

i agree, its peaqued my interest a little.

colin @ Dec 5th 2007 7:46PM

*piqued

KHCloud @ Dec 5th 2007 6:52PM

Is it sad that I actually thought this was Kingdom Hearts before I saw the title of the article? The similarities are just so incredibly similar.

KHCloud @ Dec 5th 2007 6:52PM

Sorry I meant obvious not similar.

dark_inchworm @ Dec 6th 2007 10:15AM

The snozzberries taste like snozzberries!

Velops @ Dec 5th 2007 8:37PM

Does anyone actually care about the main hook for this game? You control two action-oriented battles (one on each screen) at the same time. One is controlled with the stylus while the other is controlled with the d-pad.

Geist @ Dec 5th 2007 9:20PM

Obviously the main hook is that you get to be fashionable while fighting evil.

ssuk @ Dec 6th 2007 6:19AM

Plus, you can just let the CPU handle the top screen battles while you focus on the bottom screen. Which I always do because it can get a bit confusing with lots of enemies around...

Geist @ Dec 5th 2007 9:22PM

I love that title, though. It's so....ominous. I might check it out for that alone.

B1gC72 @ Dec 5th 2007 10:03PM

not really too sure about this but if it turns out to be anything like Kingdom Hearts (i see the art is similar) then i might just have to import it to hold me over until we get the actual Kingdom Hearts games (that cant come fast enough). i think ill buy all of the new Kingdom Hearts games except the mobile one and maybe this too depending on reviews and prices.

CubeGuy @ Dec 5th 2007 11:57PM

I really want to import the Japanese version, but I also really want to... y'know... understand it.

ssuk @ Dec 6th 2007 6:17AM

Hm... Learn Japanese?

Dio @ Dec 6th 2007 12:30AM

Squeenix is unfashionably late.

Kenofthedead @ Dec 6th 2007 2:36AM

I'm quite glad to see this game finally be set for English. It's a great game in Japanese and the world should be able to play it.

Yes it has similarities to Mother 2/Earthbound, but it is far different from it in actual story, characters, and world.
Not to mention it's rather fun and interesting gameplay as opposed to standard RPG battles.

Hopefully it does well, as SquareEnix needs to make more great RPGs like this, as opposed to just more and more Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy.

ssuk @ Dec 6th 2007 6:16AM

This game is pretty cool. Majorly depressing at points, however the gameplay is solid, the story is somewhat questionable, but you really appreciate it once you've finished the game.
The name change wasn't a surprise to me, there are apparently copyright issues with "It's A Wonderful World" in the states, and "The World Ends With You" wasn't likely a EU name choice... Meaning Square's probably pretty busy localising the game for NA release around the same time, before or... Dare I say it AFTER EU release.
The dubbing... I'm not too worried about, there's very little voice acting in the game, some grunts, some occasional cutscenes and the end of battle lines... With any luck they'll get some decent VAs in, although after recent Square Enix productions, I'm not holding my breath. I just hope that amazing Japanese soundtrack has been left unscaved.

Exo @ Dec 6th 2007 8:02AM

"Even if the character is fake, the design was still meant to be attractive."

Its also supposed to be like, a 14 year old you fucking pedo

dark_inchworm @ Dec 6th 2007 10:17AM

Hey now, pedophilia is when you're attracted to pre-pubescent girls.

Trust me, I would know.

Exo @ Dec 6th 2007 8:05AM

"Even if the character is fake, the design was still meant to be attractive."

Its also supposed to be like, a 14 year old you fucking pedo

capt_carl @ Dec 6th 2007 8:48AM

Is it just me, or does the guy all the way in the back somewhat jumping over the crowd resemble Seifer from KH2?

hvnlysoldr @ Dec 6th 2007 10:18AM

What part of same creators as FFVIII and KHII do you not understand?

capt_carl @ Dec 6th 2007 11:29AM

@hvnlysoldr:

Why the snide remark?If instead of being a troll and coming up with an attempt at a witty retort, why not scroll up and look at the artwork. I know it's Nomura's character designs, that's a given if you're familiar with his art style. That specific character is wearing an identical outfit to the one Seifer wore in Kingdom Hearts 2. Wouldn't you not agree?

Next time think a little bit before you attack someone over a harmless observation, kthx.