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A Wonderful PAX Interview with Hideki Kamiya

by Curtis Bonds - September 10, 2013, 7:56 am EDT
Total comments: 3

We sat down with Hideki Kamiya at PAX 2013, and talk Wonderful 101.

At PAX 2013, we had the chance to chat with Hideki Kamiya, one of the co-founders of Platinum Games, and director of The Wonderful 101. While the interview is mostly focused on his Wonderful Wii U debut, we also go into his activity on Twitter and his love for retro games.


Nintendo World Report (NWR): How did Nintendo approach you guys for [The Wonderful 101]?

Hideki Kamiya (HK): It wasn't technically me that was involved, but some people above me in Platinum, Mr. Minami and Mr. Inaba, that there was an initial game idea that we, from Platinum Games, then went and proposed to Nintendo and carried out from there.

NWR: Has Nintendo had any input on development of the game or were they kind of hands-off with the development of it?

HK: Basically, game development was something that Platinum Games took the lead on and, you know, it's not to say that Nintendo gave us free reign to make it on our own without any supervision. In fact, there was a lot of input and feedback from them saying "Oh, maybe this could be done a little bit different way," or "If we did it this way it would be slightly more interesting." But they never came out directly and said "fix this," or "do it this way," so it ended up being the same kind of feedback that occurs naturally within Platinum Games itself; the type of feedback for making adjustments or tuning on the game. So, that sort of feedback from Nintendo was incorporated within the team on the Platinum Games side and adjustments were made to the game for the overall benefit of the game. So the relationship with Nintendo was a very beneficial one.

NWR: Are there any nods to any of Platinum or Clover's past games that you feel like fans should look out for, or is that more of a surprise?

HK: With regard to games from Clover, you know, of course that's a company from the past and would be a little bit difficult to resource. But of course games from Platinum up until now, and also, by having this relationship with Nintendo, there's a wealth of ideas to pull from to sort of sprinkle out and put in here and there throughout the game, and of course the type of thing that would be best, sort of discovered as you play through on your own. So it's something you could look forward to.

NWR: So the Wonderful 101, this is going to be the first time you guys have implemented a multiplayer mode. How was that experience?

HK: Just FYI, there was multiplayer in Max Anarchy [Anarchy Reigns in North America] as well. It was a rare case, but just background on the multiplayer.

So, you know while this is a play experience that is very enjoyable as a single player game, that's, you know, focused on this sort of very fundamental simple type of action, it's also the type of gameplay that could be amplified by being able to play it with a lot of friends. So, while in my games up until now I haven't had a mode like this, I think it's well suited to it and we are able to implement it in what I think is a very natural way in the game.

NWR: While your previous works have had large casts of characters, the narrative tends to focus on one single protagonist. The Wonderful 101 has a lot of heroes and villains, so was it difficult to write a story that manages to flesh them out all equally?

HK: That's an interesting point. I think with Bayonetta the story is different from in this case where in Bayonetta you've got individual characters that are talking for a long time to lay out the circumstances and the scenario that's going on, which is different than in 101 where you've got all these different characters who are allowed to sort of focus on the interaction between those characters. I think that creates a sort of fun interplay with conversation between the characters.

As I just explained, in Bayonetta there was this dramatic element where you had focus on individual characters and talking between them to create the drama and the scene. But this time, you're not just dealing with, for example, allies and enemies and that interaction. You've also got a lot of interplay going on between the individual hero characters. So, for me personally, that was very fun to create during development. 

NWR: When the game was still know as Project P100 artwork showed some of the characters, like Wonder Red, with an "M" shaped symbol on their chest. Did you have any other names that you considered before you renamed it Wonderful 101?

HK: Before Wonderful 101, and actually before Wonderful 100 was an idea, there were a lot of ideas. One of those ideas was "Centi Men". So, on one hand, based on the characters in the game there's wordplay with sentinels, and also because of the visual design that aesthetic lends to the idea of these little figures, which was suitable for that name, Centi Men. So at that point we had even made designs with the chest pattern, but that was sort of one stop on a road that went through a lot of different ideas, which is pretty typical.

NWR: Have the low sales [in Japan] of Wonderful 101 worried you in any way? Do you feel like that could possibly impact future development, either in general or for Nintendo platforms?

HK: A really important philosophy at Platinum Games is that we absolutely do not want to compromise on quality, and if the quality is there then we gain a trust from fans and if we get trust from fans then that will ultimately result in a satisfying response from users. So, that's a number one priority and as long as we maintain that high standard for quality and respect and garnered trust from users, then, from Platinum Games' perspective, that's something that will allow us to continue forward uninhibited.

NWR: Speaking of gaining trust with your fans, I know that you're very active on social media sites like Twitter. How does direct communication with the fans affect development of a game compared to other factors?

HK: Quite frankly, I would say that the communication on Twitter doesn't necessarily have an impact on the production or development of games. Possibly you could say that because I'm always using Twitter that might have an effect on the amount of workload that I'm able to do.

NWR: As a fan of retro gaming, what do you think needs to be done to better preserve its history. With companies losing the source code for various games and genres like MMOs becoming unplayable when the servers are gone, it seems to be something that the industry doesn't really take into account. What do you think needs to be done in that regard to, hopefully, make the world a better place for video games.

HK: Of course you have things like Virtual Console or other systems that have the game archives, but I really think that it's important to continue and really push efforts in these areas. I think that it's really necessary, going forward, to develop and preserve this game culture, and, currently, there might not be enough effort being put into the preservation of [it]. Being able to have a considerable representation of the past without always saying "What's new, what's new, what's next?" I would really like to encourage Nintendo to make some of their old arcade titles playable in some way. Bringing back Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., Popeye, or Mario Bros. so that it's not just a situation of saying "Well, here's this new title Super Donkey Kong," but having the basis for an education and saying "This is based on Donkey Kong." We really need to preserve and take efforts to respect and maintain that game culture.

NWR: Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to talk to us here at Nintendo World Report. I'm definitely looking forward to Wonderful 101, Bayonetta, and every game Platinum will be putting out in the future.

HK: Thank you.

Talkback

JasonMaiviaSeptember 10, 2013

Nice Q&A session.
Thank you for taking the time to do it, good sir.

SixthAngelSeptember 10, 2013

Great interview.


You brought up some things I hadn't heard before despite following the game heavily and asked some good questions.

AdrockSeptember 11, 2013

There was an interview a few weeks ago where Kamiya said he would love to join Nintendo as a second party. I wish that would happen.

I also wish Super Donkey Kong was an unlockable extra in a Mario game. In it, Donkey Kong could use all of Mario's power-ups from the game, but since he's already much stronger than Mario, it just becomes a speed run where you're just in beast mode all the time mauling through Mario's weak-ass enemies.

In any case, I'm really looking forward to The Wonderful 101. Hopefully, there will be a sale next month. It's going to be an expensive rest of September as it is (iPhone 5S, case, and AppleCare).

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