Devolver Digital dropped a bomb that may as well have had my actual name scrawled on the side at E3 2018 when it announced Metal Wolf Chaos XD. A company finally decided to bring the game about yelling mecha pilot presidents to North America. That’s great and all, but in a recent interview with Famitsu, FromSoftware revealed we almost had the game way back when it was just a weird Xbox exclusive.

The interview, which was translated by bilingual gaming outlet Frontline Gaming Japan, was with FromSoftware‘s Takeuchi Masanori and Ogura Yasunori. They spoke about things like the choice to use “XD” instead of “HD,” (it sounds cooler) and the game’s infamous voice acting performances. Of particular interest is the reveal was that there was a plan to bring Metal Wolf Chaos to North America the first time around.

While Metal Wolf Chaos was released in Japan in 2004, plans to localize and release the game in North America were curbed due to the ongoing post-9/11 atmosphere, even a few years after the fact. No details were provided beyond noting 9/11 as the reason, but as the game features a lot of violence and explosions in Washington D.C., it makes sense that the game may have been seen as inappropriate at the time.

After Devolver Digital’s huge response during E3 2018 and the company showing FromSoftware the longtime cult status of the game in spaces like YouTube, we’ll finally be able to experience Metal Wolf Chaos for ourselves when the XD version arrives in 2019.

[Source: Frontline Gaming Japan]