Midriff or no, Gunvolt is coming

Action platformer fans might already know that Mega Man designer Keiji Inafune and Inti Creates are in cahoots. The development company is lending its considerable talent toward the production of Inafune's Mighty No. 9 while Inafune was announced as "action director" of Inti Creates's Azure Striker Gunvolt.

Inafune's involvement with Azure Striker Gunvolt is not just a case of name-dropping, though, as he reveals in an interview on Inti Creates's own Internet radio program. According to Inafune, Inti Creates CEO Takuya Aizu brought the game to him asking for marketing advice, but ended up receiving much more feedback than that:

So, I told him to let me play through the game. I didn't think much of it. It was just really dull and not worth releasing as a product. The potential was there. Mr. Aizu really just wanted to know how to market the game, and all I did was criticize the action.

It's probably not the best feeling in the world to have your product blasted by Mega Man's dad, but Inafune said Aizu was receptive to the criticism and brought him on to revise the game:

But then he said, "OK, we'll change it." Couldn't believe it! I told him my ideas and he agreed to them. So, I thought, might as well get involved. There was room for change, since it wasn't done yet. That's why I ended up being so frank about the action.

Inafune describes Gunvolt as a blend of old-school blasting and a more contemporary strategic rhythm. He sounds quite confident that a successful balance has been struck:

Gunvolt is very much a throwback game, but it's been nicely fused with a more modern action style. I've got no doubt that it'll be a hit with action game fans, especially the many 8-bit and 16-bit fans out there. The throwback style is the game's biggest asset.

You can listen to Inafune's full interview in the video below, starting at 2:50, although the video's intro music is rather nice, too.

Has Inafune's touch had any effect on your interest in Gunvolt?

[source youtu.be, via siliconera.com]