The former Capcom director relishes the opportunity to continue the celebrated series himself.
Game Informer recently caught up with Platinum Games' Hideki Kamiya, former development director of Capcom classics Viewtiful Joe and Okami. While he is currently working on Bayonetta for PS3/Xbox 360, he was asked about which of his former franchises he'd like to revisit if he could. While stressing that his previous creations are properties of their publisher, he did express an interest to return to the Viewtiful Joe franchise.
As to why he would choose Viewtiful Joe over Okami, Kamiya explained that, "Up until very recently I really felt someday I wanted to make a sequel to Okami, and there were others who wanted me to as well. But then the other day I heard the announcement that someone else would be making a sequel and now I'm just not interested in it anymore. Once someone else touches a world that you yourself created it stops being yours. There is no point in making a sequel when the world doesn't belong to you. Viewtiful Joe is probably all I've got left. That story is incomplete so I'd like to finish it someday. But that would probably be the most difficult one to do [laughs]."
Kamiya is referring to Okamiden, a Nintendo DS sequel to Okami that picks up a few months after the original left off. Its protagonist will be Chibiterasu, a younger version of the first game's Amaterasu.