In a rather surprising move given the console’s growing reputation as ‘the last bastion of non-censorship for Japanese developers’, the Nintendo Switch releases of all three entries in the Hyperdimension Neptunia remake trilogy, as well as the latest Death End Re;Quest title, have all been scrapped due to their contents being incompatible “with Nintendo Guidelines.”
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Developed in partnership between Japanese developer Compile Heart and its parent company Idea Factory, the Hyperdimension Neptunia series invites players to engage in RPG-style gameplay across the four nations of Gamindustri, a fictional world whose inhabitants are all moe gijinka (a personified version of an inanimate object) parodies of various real-world video game consoles and related entities.
For example, the series’ lead, Neptune, is herself based off the Sega Neptune, a cancelled console which would have offered players both the Genesis and 32X consoles in one convenient housing unit, while her main allies Noire, Blanc, and Vert represent the Nintendo Wii, the PlayStation 3, and original Xbox.
Further, the series has also introduced personified versions of actual game developers, such as Gust (named after Atelier franchise home Gust Corporation), Nisa (Disagea developer Nippon Ichi Software), and Falcom (Ys studio Falcom).
There’s even one specific character, aptly named Tekken, who is meant to personify Bandai Namco’s eponymous fighting series.
Another collaboration between Compile Heart and Idea Factory, the Death end re;Quest series invites players to experience a gruesome tale of mystery and intrigue centered around the fictional MMO World’s Odyssey and the trapping of its lead developer, Shina Ninomiya, within its programming (think dot Hack, but much, much darker).
To do so, players must engage in both a traditional RPG system and a visual novel presentation, the two mechanics of which are dependent on the chosen player character or time of day, as seen in the first and second games respectively, but have a significant effect on the other’s progression.
It’s next entry, Death end re;Quest Code:Z, is set to put players in the shoes of Sayaka Hiwatari, a new playable character who works on World’s Odyssey as a debugger and and ends up crossing paths with the aforementioned Shina (to disastrous results).
Notably, in the nearly 15 years since the debut of its first entry, not one of the Hyperdimension Neptunia series’ four mainline entries, four remakes, or fourteen spin-offs have ever been denied release in the West – not even its one and only ‘M’ rated entry, Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2.
Likewise, none of the titles made during the Switch’s lifespan – Super Neptunia RPG, Megadimension Neptunia VII, Neptunia X SENRAN KAGURA: Ninja Wars, Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters, and Neptunia Game Make R:Evolution – have ever had any complications releasing for the console.
And though it received a higher ‘M’ rating due to its admittedly dark and brutal content, neither of the thus far two Death end re;Quest games have ever run afoul of Nintendo, with the original versions of both having been added to the eShop in 2021.
Sadly, it seems Nintendo’s cavalier attitude towards approving the two series has finally come to an end, as the company has barred both the Hyperdimension Neptunia remake series – which thus far includes Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1, Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth2: Sisters Generation, Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth3: V Generation – and the new Death end re;Quest: Code Z from releasing on their signature handheld.
(Because the franchise’s naming schemes can be more than a bit confusing, it should be noted that Re;Birth1 is a remake of Hyperdimension Neptunia, Re;Birth2 is a remake of Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2, and Re;Birth3 is a remake of Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory.)
In a statement provided to video game news outlet Gematsu, a representative for Idea Factory International explained, “Although the Neptunia series and the Death End re;Quest series have prior entries on western Switch eShops, we were informed that the contents of the Re;Birth trilogy and Death end re;Quest: Code Z did not comply with Nintendo Guidelines. As a result, we are unable to release these titles physically or digitally for Nintendo Switch.”
As of writing, neither Nintendo nor Idea Factory have publicly provided any details as to what specific content warranted the four games’ denial.
However, given the current discourses raging across the industry and social media, speculation suggests that their depiction of female characters – for example, the ESRB rating for the PS Vita and PC releases of Re;Birth1 note that “some female characters are dressed in low-cut outfits that expose large amounts of cleavage or buttocks”, while the ratings for Re;Birth 2 on the same platforms clarify that “the game includes suggestive material in still-image sequences and dialogue” – was the likely reason they drew Nintendo’s ire.
Though their lack of a Switch release is unfortunate, luckily, all three games in the Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth trilogy are currently available to English-language players via Steam.
Meanwhile, players interested in checking out Death end re;Quest Code:Z can still do so on June 30th, 2025 by way of a PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 5 console.