In the years since, The World Ends With You has been ported to mobile devices, systems without the signature dual screens. It was a system that made full, bold use of the DS’ two screens. It was tough, but it grew on you, and even by the end of the first arc of the game, I felt I had reached some state of nirvana. A bout with a bat in a darkened concert arena forces you to clear away the Noise around the stage lights with your upper-screen partner, then attack the illuminated bat with Neku on the bottom screen. Several of the early boss fights push you to master coordination between your two fighters. Having both partners in play meant I was accountable for each two potential sources of damage output, but two sources of input for enemies to slash away at your single shared health bar.

When I first played The World Ends With You in ‘07, that system was a huge stumbling block. Add in an extra layer of memorizing certain card combinations to store up fusion stars for ultimate attacks, and you had a battle system that basically split your brain in two. The more you passed the puck and the faster it went, the stronger you would get during battle. An orb of energy called the puck would pass back and forth throughout combat, and whoever had the puck would have their abilities amplified. On the top screen, you would input commands using the directional pad to execute your partner’s combo strings. Others were simpler, like tapping to fire energy bullets or slashing to make Neku swing his arm like a sword. Neku was operated by the bottom touch screen, where you would load him out with pins that activated different “psychs.” Some manipulate the battlefield, creating earthquakes or sending nearby cars and signs flying at the angry Noise. The original game had you manage both partners, one on each screen of the Nintendo DS. The battle system was a big part of what made The World Ends With You stand out in 2007, and 11 years later, it can still seem complex at first blush. Clearing these can require answering trivia questions or holding a certain kind of pin, but it always circles back to clearing away the Noise in battle. While the main quest can often be solved with dialogue and navigation (and later on the imprinting of memes into people’s hearts), the hosts and actors within the “Reaper’s Game” will establish walls. Seeing as Neku is a bit of a headphones-clad, drown-out-the-noise introvert with a strong distaste for any level of intimacy or dependence, it takes a while to form that bond.Įach in-game day brings a new mission, and along with it, a host of new Noise and challenges. The only way for him to complete missions, fight the Noise, and survive to discover what sort of game he’s been dropped into is to bond with his spur-of-the-moment partner, Shiki.

After an ominous message on his cell phone appears, alongside a tattoo-like timer on his hand, Neku is beset by violent creatures called Noise. The World Ends With You starts with an amnesiac teenager named Neku waking up in the middle of a fictional Scramble Crossing in Shibuya.

In some ways, Final Remix is an even smoother entry point for newcomers, so if you don’t have a DS lying around or just want something new on your Switch, Final Remix is a solid replication of the original on a device with only half the screens. If you’re looking for a way to experience it for the first or thirtieth time, you could do worse. While the final remix might not be the most ideal version of The World Ends With You, it’s still that same odd journey at its core. The World Ends With You, this version dubbed the “final remix,” is stylish, eccentric, and weird, but packed a lot of heart beneath its odd battle system and death-game atmosphere. A cult classic from the DS is coming to Nintendo’s modern handheld this week.

The world ends with you final remix