Kamiya on Wonderful 101 control criticisms, working with Nintendo, still wants to make a Star Fox game, more

Eurogamer has gone live with a new interview featuring Hideki Kamiya, the director behind The Wonderful 101 and supervisor of Bayonetta 2. Topics include some of the control criticisms people have had with The Wonderful 101, working with Nintendo, and his continued interest is working on Star Fox.

You can find some excerpts below. You can find even more over at Eurogamer.

On how The Wonderful 101 wasn’t originally planned for a specific platform…

“I started thinking of ideas before thinking it was necessarily for any particular hardware. Once we showed it to Nintendo again and we reached an agreement – but we were never really thinking about a particular console at all.”

“Before it was decided that it was going to be for Wii U, the core of the game had already been developed. Only after that was it decided that we’d have this partnership with Nintendo. Once we had the opportunity to do something with the GamePad it provided us with some interesting opportunities – as developers it’s something that really piques our curiosity.”

On those who have had trouble with/criticized the game’s use of the touchscreen/right stick…

“I can only really speculate about the problems that people are having, or why they’re having them. But if I do speculate, I’ll start by recognising that the game’s really for core gamers – though there are elements that make it accessible. Personally, I find that using the stick is something more suited to the hardcore gamers, because if you take time to look down at the screen you lose time. If you’re hardcore, use the stick and it’ll be better – the screen’s for people who aren’t quite as hardcore.”

On working with Nintendo…

“Before working with Nintendo I thought they were a big company and they’ll have some big marketing guy telling them what to make, but once I started working with them I found the human side was deeper than I thought. You could have real conversations about how to make the game, and how to make it better.”

“We were never really forced to do anything, but there was a dialogue and we got some pointers from Nintendo. The biggest thing was probably the graphical style – originally it was a bit darker. I wasn’t really satisfied with it, and Nintendo said why don’t you change it? Why don’t you find something with a broader appeal, and the result’s what you see now – it’s a bit brighter, and it feels like action figures moving about in the game. I like the fact that Nintendo didn’t ask to change too much – the creativity of Platinum was totally respected by Nintendo throughout the process.”

On what defines a Kamiya game…

“It’s difficult to say – if I was going to put something together, what’s really important is I’m providing some direction to the team, and I’m in an environment where I can say what I want and do what I want. I’m not under the influence of marketing – which I don’t have a particular affinity for – and a Kamiya game’s what comes from being away from that kind of interference.”

Kamiya happy that Bayonetta 2 is taking the right direction…

“I was working on 101 when discussion for a Bayonetta sequel started, so I’m not the director. At first I didn’t know how to feel about that, but I’m in the same department and am in a supervisory role, so I’m sure the quality will meet my expectations.”

Kamiya still keen on creating a Star Fox game in the future…

“I can’t really commit to anything – if I was going to work on anything like that it’d come with huge responsibility, so I can’t say this lightly – but it’s something that I really love, and I’m personally speaking a huge fan of the franchise.”