"It may sound surprising to some people that PlatinumGames is working on [a classic shoot 'em up]," says Hideki Kamiya in an interview with Cutscenes, a YouTube channel that creates documentaries about Japanese creatives. "[But] we haven't built the studio with the sole purpose of making action games."
Kamiya's studio, PlatinumGames, is best known for their work on Bayonetta — a chaotic, inspired-by-the-Old-Testament hack-and-slash game about a witch in a tight-fitting jumpsuit made out of her own hair. It's unusual to see them working on a game like Sol Cresta, a retro-style vertical shooter that "bears the soul" of '80s arcade games, Moon Cresta and Terra Cresta.
But, as Kamiya is quick to point out, Platinum makes games like Sol Cresta because they want to. "Simply put," he says, "we're a company that wants to make fun things." After all, he first got into gaming by playing '80s arcade games. Why wouldn't he want to make them himself?
His love for retro arcade games comes through in his work, albeit in less obvious ways than Sol Cresta. "There's a 3D shooting phase in Devil May Cry's last boss fight against Mundus," he points out, going on to note similar things in Viewtiful Joe, Bayonetta, and even Okami. "My aspirations have leaked into some of my works," he admits.
So, if anything, Sol Cresta is an inevitability, not a weird detour. But what does this mean for Bayonetta 3, which fans have been waiting patiently for since its 2017 debut at The Game Awards?
It's getting more difficult to experience that feeling of completion, of having finished a game
"These days, projects tend to become bigger and bigger," Kamiya says of game development. "These games end up taking three to four years, five years if you count pre-production. It's getting more difficult to experience that feeling of completion, of having finished a game. This is where I think projects like Sol Cresta can be beneficial." He hopes that by working on tighter, simpler projects, his development team can "experience game design cycles and gain experience in game creation." After all, anyone can make something — it's finishing it that's a big deal.
"As I started to take a step back and look at a bigger picture than just my own games," says Kamiya, "it felt like a breather." As part of the Neo Classic series, Sol Cresta is just the first step. Kamiya has already started planning the next few games — and although they won't all be shooters, they'll all be inspired by classic game design.
In short: Bayo 3 is coming, but the team needs a break, too.
Towards the end of the interview, Kamiya mentions being a director on "Project G.G.", which is an all-new, all-original project that Platinum is working on, as their first non-contractual creative work. Here's how Kamiya describes the feeling of only having worked on other companies' intellectual property:
"As a creator, it’s hard not to think of my games as my children. After all, it takes a lot of hard work to raise them up, and a lot of love, too. However, once they’re done, any choices about them are entirely out of my hands. So, for example, no matter how many times people tell me, “You should make a sequel to this game,” or, “I’d love to see it on that console,” there’s nothing I can do about it."
Also on the Project G.G. website, Kamiya says that the game is "different": "Unlike any of the games we’ve made so far, it’s going to be a 100% PlatinumGames title. For everything from its setting and characters, to its game design and story, to how it’s promoted – PlatinumGames is in full control."
It sounds like PlatinumGames has a lot in the works, but with Bayonetta 3 coming next year, Sol Cresta coming... soon (after a delay from its original release date of December 9th), and Project G.G. "a long way away", it sounds like Platinum's got an impressive and packed lineup for some time.
Comments 15
Cool interview but when is Bayonetta 2 coming to 3DS?
Obviously this guy loves retro arcade shooters, I'm right there with him. Please make more:)
I look forward to playing Sol Cresta. Chuffed the Cresta series lives on
At this point I blindly trust Platinum quality (as long as its not an Activision game) .... so I'll buy Sol Cresta.
However......... where is The W101 DLC?? I double dipped to the Switch version to have more content for that amazing game.... and well... there's been no news at all for the people who funded the Kickstarter.
I’d like to see PG grow but idk…I’m worried. Ever since the announced their Chinese investment partnership…totally botching Tw101’s stretch goals and Bayonetta 3’d lengthy dev time…
All I’m saying is I hope they do go under
"No matter how many times people tell me... 'I’d love to see it on that console,' there’s nothing I can do about it."
Okay, so who do I need to [have a romantic evening with] to get Viewtiful Joe on modern hardware?
@KayFiOS Kenzo Tsujimoto (辻本憲三, Tsujimoto Kenzō). Enjoy your evening!
@Royalblues From the footage of Bayo 3 we have, looks like they salvaged some core mechanics from Scalebound and poured them into that instead.
Sad in a way since I agree it looked pretty sweet, but at least the ideas behind it seem to be breaking into the light
@LUIGITORNADO Not sure if that's a typo (and I hope it is), cause those seem like rather petty things to hope for the studio to shut down for... and I say that as a W101 double-dipper/backer too. Sure, it hasn't been handled quickly, and yes, communication has been poor, but the reality is that they are a small studio that seems to bite off more than they can chew... but once it's all digested, I still think their output is pretty solid
@HotGoomba Still waiting for the PS4 port which is delayed for 6 years now.
After all, Sony fanboys claimed it were a 1 year limited Wii U exclusive.
That he does what he wants to do, a developer must have the freedom to create what he wants (of course there are points, but I do not touch them here for now), without pressure from the company or from desperate fans ...
I'm there for it.
Huh, when I asked him on twitter he had no idea what his plans are for neo classic. Good to know he had some time to mull it over
Interesting. I keep up with homebrew scene for the Atari 7800 (their late 80's machine) and about ten years ago, somebody made a port of Moon Cresta for that console. This Nintendo Switch game looks, well... Considerably better. But you can definitely tell they're based on the same source.
Finally, a truly fine reason! applause
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