In an interview with Gamasutra, PlatinumGames’ Yusuke Hashimoto and Atsushi Inaba comment on the developer’s relationship with Nintendo, who are publishing their next two games—The Wonderful 101 and Bayonetta 2.
Hashimoto, who is directing Bayonetta 2, says that rather than interfering with development, Nintendo have been more of an observer that provides critical advice when necessary, rather than interfering with development.
“And all of the things we want to do in the game, they’re not standing in our way, in that sense,” Hashimoto says. “But it’s almost as if they are a very critical player that can sit back and give us great advice on how we’re creating the game.”
Inaba adds that working with Nintendo in particular is making PlatinumGames all the more aware of the need to design strong gameplay, rather than cover up design weaknesses with better graphics.
“Working with Nintendo, one thing that comes out of that is that we’re not able to cover up weaknesses in the core gameplay by making the graphics prettier or adding cutscenes, or whatever,” says Inaba. “The concern, first and foremost, is the core of the game and the quality of the gameplay. They really have our back in that sense. And that’s actually a little bit unnerving, working with people who are such perfectionists in that sense.”
Bayonetta 2 is scheduled for release in 2014 on the Wii U.
