Japanese game developer Yuke’s announced last August that it would acquire visual novel publisher Aquaplus as its fully owned subsidiary. To dig deeper into the rather unusual partnership between a developer known for 3D action and pro-wrestling titles and a company specializing in story-driven bishojo games, Denfaminicogamer recently interviewed Yuke’s president Yukinori Taniguchi and Aquaplus president Naoya Shimokawa. Discussing the recently released remake of the studio’s classic adult romance visual novel ToHeart, the two presidents talked about the franchise’s future and “what could’ve been.”
When asked about a widely requested next mainline entry in the ToHeart series, Shimokawa revealed that Aquaplus had been listening to its fans, and even started working on a new project at one point. However, the idea for a “To Heart 3” ended up getting scrapped due to the developers concluding that, even if they did finish it, it wouldn’t be able to surpass the two previous games in quality.
“We actually made progress with the project. But midway through, we started doubting whether it would turn out interesting, so we decided to step away from the project for the time being,” he explained.
When it comes to the first and second installments of To Heart, Shimokawa believes that they were able to create an interesting story “without compromising,” thanks to its wide cast of characters and fresh story material. “However, if we were to develop a sequel or a new installment from there, we’d need to prepare enough characters and ideas that could surpass the previous titles in quality.” Since ToHeart has a signature “spring-like,” youthful feel to its design, including the pink uniforms, it would be difficult to stray from that kind of visual presentation and offer something different, Shimokawa suggests.
On the other hand, if they simply titled a new game “To Heart” and made a completely different kind of school-themed story, that wouldn’t be what fans want either. Therefore, he argues that simply moving forward with a new sequel wouldn’t be such an easy thing to do.
“I do want to make it, and I’m grateful for the encouragement. If we were to make a school-themed game which takes place in a world different to To Heart, then we’d have slightly better chances… Though I understand that everyone wants to see a To Heart 3 come to life.”
ToHeart is available for the PC (Steam) and the Nintendo Switch (Japan only).
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