Before party games flooded bargain bins at Target, Hudson was on the scene with Mario Party. While Nintendo hasn’t been producing more Mario Party games, Hudson continues to make party games with titles like Oops! Prank Party which comes out in North America tomorrow. This mini-game collection has 100 mini-games and winners get to prank the loser’s avatar.
In this interview, we spoke with Yukihiro Kobayashi, Producer, about developing Oops! Prank Party, a lost Xbox 360 party game, and if Hudson will ever get to work on Mario Party.
Hudson has been making party games for a long time. How has game design evolved from say Mario Party to Oops! Prank Party?
Yukihiro Kobayashi, Producer: I believe the Wii created a major revolution to the gaming industry. It is a given that a party game should be able to be enjoyed by everyone, but the Wii gave us the ability to provide a variety of ways in which to play those games.
Were there things you couldn’t do with Mario Party that you can do on your own?
That would definitely have to be the Prank element.
Which part of Oops! Prank Party was… the most creative?
In Oops! Prank Party, players can create their own avatars using different types of facial features, but we have also provided many outfits for avatars to wear. Players can also acquire many others by playing the game – we encourage everyone to have fun mixing and matching outfits, and ultimately creating the avatar that truly expresses each player. The most unique part of Oops! Prank Party is that these avatars are the ones that get pranked when a player loses. Going through all the trouble of choosing the best facial expression and the perfect outfit, only to be spoiled by a single mistake will make gamers come back for revenge.
Toughest part to develop?
The hardest was to get all of the skits that the avatars perform in the Master Mode right. There were some that we thought were hilarious, but didn’t make the cut at all with our focus group. It really put our senses of humor to the test!
Are there any mini-games that didn’t make the cut in Oops Prank party?
There were many mini games that didn’t make the cut. I’m talking about several hundreds!
A few years ago I remember Hudson USA showed a party game for Xbox 360 aimed at an older crowd with criminals. One of the games had people pushing each other off a bus and things like that. How did that idea start and whatever happened to it?
That game ended up not being made, but it has given us a know-how of the system. When creating a mini game compilation, one needs to create it so that players’ emotions are heightened in a matter of seconds; there’s no build-up. One of the situations that were used to that effect was to have the players in a thrilling situation. We started from there.
Do you think we’ll ever see a Hudson developed party game with Hudson’s characters?
We would very much like to develop something like that that will satisfy the fans.
I know my readers want to know about this… Will there ever be another Mario Party?
We’ll start creating it when we have become certain that we can blow everyone’s minds with a new “surprise”!
