Hideki Kamiya’s recent focus has been on Bayonetta, but he’s still got the “viewtiful” one on his mind.
Hideki Kamiya has worked on some bangin’ games over the years, many reaching deserved popularity such as Resident Evil and Devil May Cry, others remaining unappreciated gems like Okami and Viewtiful Joe. In an interview with Game Informer, Kamiya reveals that if he would ever revisit one of his previous creations, it’d be Viewtiful Joe.
Viewtiful Joe was originally released on the Gamecube in 2003, with a re-release on the PlayStation 2 a year later. The game is a side-scrolling beat-em-up, with the player taking on the role of Joe as he attempts to rescue his girlfriend. What makes Viewtiful Joe special is its combat, requiring players to dodge attacks while using VFX powers to slow down time, to speed up Joe’s attacks, or to zoom the camera in to make Joe more powerful. In Devil May Cry fashion, players are also judged on the quality of their combos. Viewtiful Joe spawned one true sequel in 2004, and a couple of spin-offs on the DS and PSP.
Kamiya would like to finish the story of Viewtiful Joe someday, but it wasn’t his first choice. He originally thought of doing a sequel to Okami, but due to someone else already taking on that project in the upcoming Okamiden, he’s changed his mind. “Once someone else touches a world that you yourself created it stops being yours. There is no point in making a sequel when the world doesn’t belong to you,” Kamiya believes.
In light of Okamiden, Kamiya says “Viewtiful Joe is probably all I’ve got left.” The other IPs he has created are not owned by him and have already been explored by other development teams. Kamiya’s newest original project is Bayonetta, which stars a witch that fights with her hair. Bayonetta‘s demo is now available on XBLA and PSN, with the game set to release on January 5, 2010 in the US and on January 8, 2010 in Europe. If you like it, don’t forget to support it; Kamiya might get sick of his awesome games not selling enough someday.
Source: Game Informer
