Bayonetta: Developer Interview (Xbox 360)

If you thought MadWorld on the Nintendo Wii was crazy, you don't know Platinum Games.

Fresh off the Wii gore-fest, the company's next title is Bayonetta, which centers around a weapon-wielding witch who uses unorthodox moves to dispatch her demonic foes. We spoke with director Hideki Kamiya and producer Yusuke Hashimoto about how Platinum Games came up with the many combat and design innovations present in Bayonetta.

Bayonetta: Developer Interview (PS3)

GamePro: What does Bayonetta bring to the action genre that other games don't really offer?

Platinum Games: One of our main design philosophies is to avoid making more of the same, to avoid making a follow-up to Devil May Cry (as good as that game may have been.) So while we have experience with some of these other games and we've seen what they've done with the genre, we don't want to make anything similar; we want to make something completely fresh.

GP: What influenced the design of Bayonetta, and particularly the ideas to weaponize her legs with the guns and using her hair as a weapon?

So when [Hashimoto-san] was working on the game Viewtiful Joe, there's an extra character named Dante, and one of the things about the way the character moved was that while Viewtiful Joe as a melee character only punches and kicks, Dante is supposed to use guns. So when he punches, he also shoots. Fast-forward to Bayonetta, when [Hashimoto-san] was discussing character design with the character animator he said "Look, I want to have a character who shoots bullets when she punches." After some discussion they figured "Look, she's firing while she's punching, why not have her shoot while she's kicking as well?" The idea just blossomed from there.

GP: We noticed in the demo that characters would drop rings when they died, is that tied to Sonic the Hedgehog in any way? If so, will any other Sega properties be represented somehow in this game?

Platinum Games: The rings themselves don't represent any such intent, it's just a coincidence really. When you defeat an angel, something that resembles a golden halo is going to come off that you can collect. However [Kamiya-san] grew up playing Sega games (he can beat Space Harrier without getting hit,) so he's very happy to have the opportunity to put in little nods to Sega properties in a more official capacity instead of hiding them in there and hoping he doesn't get in trouble for it.

Bayonetta: Developer Interview (PS3)

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