The success of NieR: Automata and the NieR franchise makes it almost impossible to imagine a world without Yoko Taro’s Drakengard spin-off series, but before the ideas of the first NieR were even conceived, producer Yosuke Saito was asked to choose between creating a title for an already-established, famous franchise and working with Yoko Taro. The talent Yoko demonstrated in Drakengard eventually won Saito over, leading to the creation of the NieR franchise.
In an interview with Famitsu, Saito jokes that the other game he was given a chance to produce could have ended up becoming more successful than both versions of NieR (NieR Replicant was originally released in Japan for the PlayStation, 3 while NieR Gestalt was an alternative Xbox 360 version featuring an older protagonist). Yoko Taro comments that the development team treated the first NieR games as experimental projects and never expected them to become hits. Considering both games received middling reviews from critics and sold just enough copies to break even upon release, it seems they were right. However, Saito emphasizes that he made the choice to bet on Yoko due to his talent as a creator.
NieR wasn’t even the first project that Yoko Taro proposed to Yosuke Saito after he decided to work with him. That honor goes to a side-scrolling action puzzle game similar to Solomon’s Key (developed by Tecmo in 1986). When asked about the game, Yoko Taro remembers that it had a working title of “Echo” and nothing more. Saito wasn’t thrilled with the initial proposal, as he recalls asking Yoko to reconsider his game idea.
Saito never reveals the game he could have worked on in place of NieR, presumably for confidentiality reasons and that it may someday be turned into a future title. The world may never know what that uncreated game may be, but there will always be those who are grateful that Saito took a chance on Yoko Taro’s strange ideas.
NieR Replicant ver 1.22474487139…, a remaster of NieR Replicant, is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows (Steam).
