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Hideki Kamiya, the director of The Wonderful 101, has been in Cologne, Germany to meet fans and the press ahead of the game's release in the region. Naturally, he's also taken the opportunity to talk about PlatinumGames' other Wii U exclusive, Bayonetta 2, which is due to arrive in 2014.

Speaking to Videogamer.com, Kamiya-san explained that The Wonderful 101's features, which make use of the GamePad in various ways, was put together with the Wii U hardware in mind once its exclusivity was confirmed, and admitted that sales are a concern for the new IP — "there's always that worry in the back of your mind whether users will be a bit too cautious and might not have the courage to play the game and pick up the game". The most fascinating comments about the title, however, related to its original concept when assigned to the team.

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Originally I got an order from the president of Platinum games asking me to create a game idea that had an all-star cast of Nintendo characters plus characters from other games and that's how the project started. When you try and incorporate many characters with high popularity, there are fans who like certain characters more than others. I thought how I could satisfy everyone and make everyone happy and I came up with the idea of why not having everyone displayed in the game at the same time. That's where the idea was born.

When I submitted this idea, it was put on hold for a while and when we revisited it, we decided to change the idea to an all hero game and that's what you see with the final product.

On the subject of Bayonetta 2, Kamiya-san reflected on the danger, before Nintendo stepped in, that the franchise would have died away; he also admits that the reactions of fans upset at its Wii U exclusivity were an unfortunate clash with his own excitement.

Honestly, the consoles that users can own is limited. They can only have so many. Not everyone can own everything, so it's fair to say that users would be upset that they wouldn't be able to play [Bayonetta 2] on a console they already own. That I very much understand. But at the time our team and our wish was to revive and create Bayonetta 2 and when Nintendo offered to support this project, and leading up to the announcement of the game, and when it was made, we were all extremely glad. Because of this, the happiness, I was slightly disappointed at the gap between my feelings and the fans' feelings.

We suspect that the revelation of The Wonderful 101 being originally pitched as a game featuring various Nintendo mascots may excite some, but perhaps it's a game that's best served by its own cast, especially as a new IP. A lot of the wackiness on display in the title may have been dialed back with Nintendo characters, and the storyline and scenario suits the superhero setup that Kamiya-san clearly enjoys.

Let us know your thoughts on these comments, for both The Wonderful 101 and Bayonetta 2, below.

[source videogamer.com]