#But yeah xiyouji is super popular but Wu Cheng'en didn't do it first

[the-monkey-ruler]

Didn’t jttw’s publisher see the book’s success and wanted to replicate it with north, east, and south? I thought I read that somewhere but it’s been a while.

I can't say I know anything about that, or at least I haven't heard about it. If you find the link to where you read that I would love to see it! The story of Xiyouji was popular before Wu Cheng'en's version, hence why there were so many different versions around it, just that it was theorized that Wu Cheng'en was able to connect multiple of the one-off tales of them fighting demons and finally put it together in a coherent narrative. Wu Cheng'en's version started to become the 'canon' because of its popularity but that doesn't discredit the popularity or notoriety of previous Xiyouji media.

Xiyouji was based on The Story of How Tripitaka of the Great Tang Procures the Scriptures 大唐三藏取經詩話 which was released around the late-13th-century, giving a good few centuries for the story to rise in popularity before the Wu Chengen's 1592 cut. From there we do see other versions of the story, such as the early-Ming Journey to the West zaju play 西遊記雜劇 which was created between these productions.

If we want to see when the other novels were created it's just a matter of trying to put them in order.

Late-13th-century ~ The Story of How Tripitaka of the Great Tang Procures the Scriptures 大唐三藏取經詩話

Early-Ming ~ Journey to the West zaju play 西遊記雜劇

1522-1526 - Journey to the East 東遊記 by Wu Yuantai

1566 ~ Journey to the West: The Biography of Tang Sanzang 西游唐三藏出身传 by Yang Zhihe

1570s-1580s - Journey to the South 南遊記 by Yu Xiangdou

1592 - Journey to the West 西遊記 by Wu Cheng'en

1602 - Journey to the North 北遊記 by Yu Xiangdou

I think that considering how close the publication dates (even the estimates) that it would be fair that most of these pieces of media were either inspired by previous interpretations of Xiyouji and it took some time before Wu Cheng'en's version finally became popular enough to be considered the 'canon' as it is referred to as today. I can't say how fast the spread of literature was back in the 16th century but I assume it would be much slower by today's standards at least.