For those of you that don't keep track of upcoming releases on other platforms, Scalebound is an Xbox One game currently in development at Platinum Games, the studio responsible for Bayonetta 2 and The Wonderful 101. The ambitious title will follow the adventures of a young boy and his dragon as they explore a massive fantasy world. While this release may be an Xbox One exclusive, it seems that it originally would've been a Nintendo game if events had transpired differently.
Hideki Kamiya – the game's director – recently spoke with Gamespot about the origins of Scalebound and said that they first pitched the concept as a Wii game. It would've starred a little girl who could control dinosaurs, but the concept ultimately didn't work out and the prototype was put on the backburner before it was revived two years ago and reworked into the game you see today. Here's the relevant quotes from the interview:
When they first started, the idea was for a Wii game and we wanted to use a Wii remote to do the orders for the dinosaurs. You were in control of the dinosaurs, you were ordering the dinosaurs around, and they'd do cool things. Then after we made Bayonetta, we started the prototype. The first thing that I made a change to was making it a dragon game.
We changed the dinosaurs to dragons, but at that point the lead character was even weaker than [current protagonist] Drew is in the context of Scalebound. She was actually a little girl who was with these dragons. As we were making this prototype, I realized that I didn't want to just be watching the fight, I wanted to be more participatory in the fight. And I started talking with the staff about how maybe we should change this to be a swordsman or someone a little bit older. This was when the prototype got put on the backburner, so to speak, and the project was halted. Then we made The Wonderful 101.
For those of you who'd like to see the game in action, here's a gameplay trailer from Gamescom 2015:
What do you think? Would you have liked to have seen this on the Wii or Wii U? What else would you like to see out of Platinum Games? Drop us a comment in the section below.
[source gamespot.com]
Comments 47
Terrible acting aside this looks fun, quite sad it's not a wii u game.
Sounds like the original concept might have controlled more like Wonderful 101. As much as I love that game, I think I prefer the direct control of Bayonetta. I love W101 because of the art style and the characters, but the gameplay could be tedious at times.
I think it's interesting that they're doing an open world game, I can't wait to see what this turns out like.
Dat voice, so bad. :<
I just want Bayonetta 3 to complete the trilogy on the Wii U.
Holy crap! It looks like Xenoblade with Pets
Would be cool to see the gamepad used as first person for your Dragon on Wii u!! I like the idea of watching this massive fight but that would add a new angle.....
@Splatburst Me too, man, me too...
Scalebound looks so unbelievably cool, it's almost making me want an XBone! Almost.
The teaser from last year's E3 was already interesting, as it hinted at various concepts at the same time (I thought it would be Platinum's take on a Monster Hunter-esque game) without revealing anything specific. But when the gameplay was revealed, I was still surprised at how awesome it looked, despite having high expectations.
That combat looks SO stale D: this game looks pretty dreadful!
"For those of you that'd like..." Oh come on, "who'd" for goodness sake.
Its about time Nintendo bought Platinum Games and just gets these for themselves.....
@RainbowGazelle Haha, good catch!
They should bring back the little girl riding dinosaurs idea and put it on Wii U/NX!¨
That new protagonist in Scalebound reminds me of Emo Dante from the DMC reboot... Yuck indeed!
I would've preferred the Wii concept. Dinosaurs > Dragons.
Q) What do you think?
A) Again with these very broad first questions. Again, I shall leave this question to last.
Q) Would you have liked to have seen this on the Wii or Wii U?
A) I certainly wouldn't have minded seeing this on Wii or Wii U, the Nintendo consoles are my primary means of gaming. I also love the unique features the Wii and Wii U can offer, such as motion control (oh gosh, this game with Skyward Sword controls would be epic), quick menu on the Gamepad such as commands for the dragon, and off-tv play alone is an awesome feature.
At the same time, Scalebound does give me something to play on the Xbox One, which is currently a rather small selection for myself. Admittedly, Scalebound is coming out in the year where there are at least three other Xbox One games I'm wanting to buy and play, but still, it gives me something to look forward to on my Xbox One for the end of 2016.
Q) What else would you like to see out of Platinum Games?
A) Well I went to my backlog and finished off Wonderful 101 this week. It's put me in the mood for a sequel, not sure if that would come under Wonderful 102 or whether they'd up the stakes higher than that and call in Wonderful 201... or just Wonderful 101: The sequel. It'd be preferable on Wii U, unless the NX turns out to also be a console with a touch screen (which given rumours, looks likely).
Also, whilst I've yet to actually play the two Bayonetta games I do have (I plan to get around to it at some point, someday), it would be pretty cool to have an entire Bayonetta trilogy of games available on Wii U.
For the most part though, my hopes for Platinum Games are that Scalebound proves to be as awesome to play as it looks so far, and that a Wonderful 101 sequel will eventually get made.
Q) What do you think?
A) I prefer the usage of dragons over dinosaurs. I also prefer the idea of fighting alongside your dragon, rather than just commanding it from a distance, so I'm pretty much okay with the changes they've made overtime.
I do feel a lot of people are judging Drew before we get a proper understanding of the character, and basing their impressions of him solely off his design. I admit, it's hardly the most original of designs, but I look forward to learning about the character, his development through the game, and his interactions with Thuban.
All this Bayonetta talk has made me realise how bad my backlog is. I still haven't finished NG3!!
Some of the voices sound bad because it sounds like an American trying to do a British accent. Very rarely do they get it right.
The thought of buying a X1 sends shivers down mine spine, but with Scalebound and a few other exclusives it's becoming more compelling than the PS4.
This so reminded me of Xenoblade right out the gate ! Why cant wii have it too..?
Dat pun.
Would have liked this on wii u or ps4 so i wouldnt have to buy an xbox one for it but oh well. Really looking forward to this, should be good. Kinda glad it didnt make it on th wii, waggle nonsense doesnt sit well with action titles imho.
I am definitely eager to get my hands on ScaleBound, but the only open world I'm looking forward to playing Xenoblade Chronicles X since I already have the collector's edition pre-ordered. Besides, I don't even have an Xbox One yet. No reason to get excited over something I can't play, besides Kingdom Hearts 3 that is. Perhaps Fallout 4 as well. It would have been interesting to see how this game turned out on the Wii/Wii U since Platinum is normally very good at making quality titles for Nintendo systems. At least this article gives us some food for thought!
@whodatninja Little girl with dinosaurs would definitely have been a much more unique game, I totally agree. Though I do LOVE Drew as a character, a little girl commanding dinosaurs would have been something of a USP for a lot of people. Much more epic in that regard, I think.
@Splatburst Yes. Just so much yes to this.
@JnFnRu I'd love it if they did.
Got my XB1 about a month ago, and I think this, Arslan, and Mirror's Edge Catalyst are the 3 games I'm looking forward to the most. It's probably best for Platinum if they spread the devlopment love around multiple consoles.
I think they made all the right decisions. Well except for the X1 part.
I hate that obnoxious walking cliche of a character so much. After creating cool Bayonetta, of all things!
Might be a silly reason to dismiss an entire game, but that main character is giving me serious douche chills, wow.
I'm just glad we got W101. I'll get scalebound eventually but W101 is one of the best games this gen.
@shredmeister
ikr? i do find it strange they didn't do a WiiU version
@Souldin you must be a hoot at parties...
This would have been awesome on Wii U. It looks like a Xenoblade/Monster hunter crossover to me.
wel,, it sounds like a totally diffeent game; I would love to have Scalebound as it is today on Wii-U tough.
I think Scalebound looks like a great game. It's the only game that I'm totally jealous of the Xbox One getting. Interesting origins too, I think the Wii concept sounds fun too.
@Kaze_Memaryu Agreed. I don't have an XB1, and I've honestly tended to avoid the XB consoles (only picked up a 360 because it was the R2-D2 edition, played one or two games on it, wife played a couple more). I figure between my Nintendo, Sony, and PC systems I have everything covered I care for. However there have been a few exceptions, namely involving dragons (Blue Dragon is why I played the 360, wife it was Fable). I'll wait to see if the ever cross-platform this later (such as to PS4 or PC) and if not it may be a reason I eventually get an XB1.
I definitely like the idea of the original concept with the little girl and the dinosaurs. I think it could have gone in an interesting direction. Too bad we'll never see it!
@Vineleaf You're looking forward to both Scalebound and Arslan: The Warriors of Legend as well? Neat, both of those are among the four Xbox One retail games that I'm looking forward to next year. I'd go so far as to say that Scalebound is currently my 2nd most anticipated game of 2016 so far (Genei Ibunroku #FE holds onto the spot of my most wanted 2016 game).
Also, if this year's E3 was any indication, Platinum Games seem to be doing just that. I believe they got a mention in a good four of the conferences and are working on a game for each of the current gen consoles right now.
@juliobrand Well I wasn't too social in the past, but I've improved in that aspect in recent years, and I've always possessed a fairly decent ability to talk for long periods. As to whether I'm a 'hoot' at these parties, I'm not too sure, I don't think it'd be correct to judge that quality myself.
@shredmeister TG Devastation is my most anticipated game this month. Can't wait for it.
Glad they moved it to XBone (though I would like a PC port). The game the way it is now would never run on the Wii U.
Still, would be nice to have a return to that little girl on dinosaurs concept for a future game on WiiU or NX.
Not understanding any of these Xenoblade comparisons; the gameplay between these games are EXTREMELY different. It's as if no ones ever played Xenoblade before...
I'm looking forward to Scalebound on Xbox One. Hope it turns out well.
@Souldin I do apologize, mate. I was just messing around. You're always so thorough and grammatically acurate in your answers/comments that I find it really amusing to read them. (Also I don't mean to offend or belittle you by calling your comments 'amusing', all right?) Cheers!
It being a xbox one exclusive will be it's biggest mistake. I would have bought this on the Wii.
That looks nice! I'd love to play it with a Wiimote+ and Nunchuk, Wii U Gamepad or Mouse and Keyboard.
Although the original idea with the girl commanding a dragon also sounds very interesting.
But why do the graphics look to bad? Kinda like last-gen... (or is it just awful video compression?)
@AVahne: What do you mean by that? It can't be the graphics, they look more like something between Wii and Xbox 360...
I would have loved to see this on Wii U! It's such an underrated console and it deserves more third party exclusives like this!
@juliobrand Oh, no, don't worry about that, I wasn't offended by that at all. I appreciate knowing that someone noticed my comment alone, and I actually found your reply to my comment quite amusing. My response to you was an attempt to play along with your comment. There is no need to apologise; you gave me a good laugh.
@Souldin Nice! I'm glad then. Have a great weekend!
So people got stinky when Bayonetta 2 was announced as WiiU exclusive, & Scalebound started out for nintendo, yet is now an Xbone exclusive.
gg?
scalebound is the lost sequel to earthbound im callin it now
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