Atelier Ryza producer on the challenges of working with Switch, pleased with sales on the platform

The Atelier series wasn’t really prominent on Nintendo platforms for a very long time. With Switch, this is finally starting to change. Koei Tecmo and Gust started out with Atelier Lydie on Switch, and have since brought over all future titles as well as some ones from the past.

Recently, Nintendo Everything spoke with Atelier Ryza producer Junzo Hosoi and one of the topics we discussed was what it’s been like working with Switch. Hosoi commented on the challenges involved, stating:

“We definitely want to bring out the same product as for the PS4. Looking from the graphics aspect, being able to come up with the visual representation and especially the frame rate, we’ve found that to be challenging.

With the PS4’s buttons on the controller – circle, square, cross and triangle – they have colors associated with them. We usually use those colors also within the game to associate certain buttons, but with the Switch’s A, B, X, Y – there aren’t any colors associated. They’re all a single color. So we’ve had some challenges in terms of representing that.”

Despite the challenges involved, Gust feels that it’s been worth supporting Switch with the Atelier series. Hosoi told us that sales have been increasing with each successive entry in the franchise on Nintendo’s console, so they “find that this is a good platform for us to have expanded onto.”