Producer Kenichiro Takaki is known for making lighthearted games for handheld consoles, namely the Senran Kagura series, but he recently talked about how he’d be very interested in making a game for the PlayStation 4 during a recent interview with 4Gamer.
4Gamer asks if there are any game system elements in the latest Senran Kagura games that should be considered a focus to help sell the games.
“Actually, we’re not really doing anything special for them [as far as game system features go],” Takaki replies. “They’re really easy to understand, similar to how [we’ve made Senran Kagura games in the past]. We wanted to avoid putting people in a situation where you’d have to do something ridiculous, which could make things more difficult to understand.”
“Basically, it’s a game where you love the girls, so we don’t want to lose the sense of being able to enjoy it in a lighthearted way,” he continues. “It’s something simple, where you get to enjoy a simple game, then have a ‘busty reward’ waiting for you when you’re done.”
Considering how easy it is to play the Senran Kagura games, as Takaki says that they’re lighthearted games that don’t even require you to read the information booklets, 4Gamer asks if he ever thought about releasing them on smartphones.
“I personally like consoles, and I’ve always had a strong feeling of wanting to make games for PlayStation Vita and Nintendo 3DS, as we’ve done thus far,” says Takaki.
Next, 4Gamer asks about the possibility of having Takaki make games for home consoles like the PlayStation 4, as there are likely a lot of people who’d like to play some of his games in the comfort of their homes, and on a large screen.
“I’m actually very interested,” responds Takaki with a laugh. “It’s been a while [since they were on a home console] as far as my games go, but I believe that home consoles shine the best for games; so if there’s an opportunity for me, I’d definitely take it. Using recent technology with cameras and AR, there are countless fun things that can be made.”
Now that the Senran Kagura series is entering its third year anniversary, 4Gamer asks Takaki if he ever thought it’d come this far.
“As a producer, the goal of keeping the series going for a while was there from the start,” shares Takaki. “However, I also understand the harshness of reality, so it would also be true to say that I didn’t think it’d continue as smoothly.”
“I believe that we were able to come this far from the result of not thinking [that much] ahead and just putting all that effort into our work, instead. Having been able to keep this series going, and also being able to go further, is something I’m very grateful for. I’m grateful to everyone and their support.”
Finally, 4Gamer asks Takaki if he feels like things become a bit harder to control as a producer, once the scale of a project becomes bigger as the franchise it’s part of continues to grow.
“The very first title was brand new, so I was able to do things however I wanted, but now that there are more people working on it, it’s true that it has become difficult to do the same,” he replies.
“However, one fortunate thing about being at Marvelous is that they let me keep working the way I have. As long as I deliver the results, I can keep doing things the way I like, without having them say much about it.”
Photographs courtesy 4Gamer.
