The sequel, "Xenosaga Episode II", was developed by a new team with Takahashi overseeing the project so the series could be taken in a new direction by younger staff members within Monolith Soft. The scenario, written by Norihiko Yonesaka based on the initial draft by Takahashi and Saga, ended up leaving out a lot of the originally planned content. "Episode II" was released in Japan in June 2004, while it was released in North America in February 2005. The sequel was also published in Europe by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe in October of that year. Both "Episode I" and "Episode II" were re-imagined for the Nintendo DS as "Xenosaga I & II", released in March 2006. Co-developed by Monolith Soft and Tom Create, the scenario was supervised by Takahashi and included material which needed to be cut from the original releases of the first two "Xenosaga" games. "Xenosaga I & II" remains exclusive to Japan.