For our final "celebrity" interview, we sat down with Hideki Kamiya, most recently known for his work with the Bayonetta series and The Wonderful 101 (Wii U). We talk some Bayonetta, retro gaming preferences and more while trying not to get our Twitter handle blocked by the man! Read on (or check out the video below) to see what Mr. Kamiya had to say!
Kamiya: Thank you.
James: So, we are Nintendo fans. We’re going to talk about Nintendo games if that’s okay.
Kamiya: (points to James’s Famicast T-shirt) Nintendo. (laughs)
James: (laughs) Oh, do you like the T-shirt?
Kamiya: That’s a nice shirt. (laughs)
James: (laughs) Are you a Super Famicom or a Mega Drive man?
Kamiya: I was a Super Famicom fan. (laughs)
James: (laughs) Yes! Yes! Thank you.
Kamiya: (laughs)
James: So. You’re now working on Bayonetta 3.
Kamiya: Yes.
James: How’s the development going for that? If you were to give a percentage, what percent would you give it right now?
Kamiya: There’s really nothing I can say about it right now.
James: (laughs) Okay.
Kamiya: Hmmmm…Yeah, I can’t really say. (laughs)
James: (laughs) Total secret.
Kamiya: Yeah, that’s right. Well…I can say that it’s going to be a very interesting game.
Kamiya: (laughs) There were a lot of people like that in Japan, too. There was a bit of a misconception with all of it. What I want people to understand is that if we said Bayonetta is our IP and that it’s our decision for the series to release on the Wii U - If we did that, we know some users would be upset. That wasn’t the situation. Before that, it was originally a Sega IP. Sega paid for the development costs of Bayonetta 1. We don’t have the rights to the first title. When we started making Bayonetta 2, we shared the development plans Sega but we ended up having to stop development and shelve it. So at that point we weren’t able to release Bayonetta 2. We wanted to release the game so we shopped it around to a lot of different companies. Nintendo responded and said they’d pay for development costs so let’s go for it. Because of that, we were able to go forward with Bayonetta 2 and thankfully were able to continue development. Without the cooperation from Nintendo, Bayonetta 2 wouldn’t exist. I really want all players out there to understand that.
James: I understand that but it seems that a lot of people didn’t understand that. So, you’re quite active on Twitter in telling people this message, right? Bayonetta 2 and also The Wonderful 101- great game. Not many people bought it. You would perhaps like to make a Switch version but…
Kamiya: We want to.
James: Yeah, yeah. There is a very small amount of people that are very passionate about that game (The Wonderful 101). I hope so, too. That small group of people - what should they do if they want The Wonderful 101 on Switch?
Kamiya: They should be passionate about sharing that with Nintendo.
James: And in the meantime, play Bayonetta 1 and 2 on Switch, right?
Kamiya: Yeah, exactly.
James: Like I was talking about Twitter. I follow you on Twitter and you haven’t blocked me. So thank you so much for that.
Kamiya: (laughs) Sometimes I blocked some of the people who are interviewing me and they ask me to unblock them. So I go ahead and unblock them. I’m glad I didn’t block you.
James: (laughs) You very strongly block people, but you’re also kind enough to unblock people. That’s a good balance. So, you write some tweets in English which is quite rare for Japanese developers. Some do, but not many. Maybe Mr. Kojima…and you. I think fans would like to hear you say those tweets in English. I think that would be quite interesting. For example, a famous one is, “I’ve told you so many times! Ask another producer, not me!” Those kind of things. Could you say one tweet, your most famous, popular tweet in English? With passion!
Kamiya: (laughs) A popular tweet? “Ask your mom.”
James: (laughs) That’s one of my favorites.
All: (laughs)
James: Oh my goodness.
All: (laughs)
James: Exactly. So, thank you. (laughs) That was my favorite one, so you chose a good one.
Kamiya: (laughs)
Kamiya: Well…Naturally working with Nintendo we really are focused on games for their hardware. As a partner, they have a great level of understanding and are really easy to work with. Of course we’d love our games to be available to more users if we can. We are open to working with other publishers.
James: Are there any future projects, completely new IP, that you’re thinking about now or is it just Bayonetta at the moment?
Kamiya: W’re thinking about various new IP…but I can’t say anything about that now.
All: (laughs)
James: You said the Switch is quite easy to develop for so maybe you got some inspiration from that. Would these future games be using unique features of the Switch? Would it be available for all platforms-kind of idea? In regard to the Switch, for example, the portable nature of the system.
Kamiya: Hmmmm…I don’t really have any specific examples to share. For us, for example, when we were making The Wonderful 101, we were thinking about the two screens on the Wii U and used that as a goal to think of ways that people could play. For the development of Switch games, we would like to make something that takes advantage of the system’s unique features. Again, nothing concrete here.
James: The Okami HD remake has both touch and normal controls, right? So many people are imagining that The Wonderful 101 is maybe similar. I know it’s a secret. Sorry. You can’t talk about that. Sorry.
All: (laughs)
Kamiya: Portable.
James: Oh, you like portable? Okay. Are there any other publisher’s games that you like playing portably?
Kamiya: I’m always playing portably. Like this. (mimics hold the Switch over his head)
All: (laughs)
Kamiya: Do you know Arcade Archives?
James: Yeah. Are you a Neo Geo guy?
Kamiya: No.
James: (laughs)
Kamiya: I’m not a Neo Geo kinda guy.
James: (laughs) Okay. Got it. Nintendo?
Kamiya: Nintendo’s titles like Punch Out!! That’s great. Then there are games like Ninja Kid. Terra Cresta.
James: Did you play those games in the arcade when you were younger?
Kamiya: Yep. I played them in the arcade and…circuit board. I own circuit boards.
James: Wooooow. (laughs) You have an arcade in your house? Like a little mini arcade?
Kamiya: Yes.
James: Cool! What do you have?
Kamiya: A lot.
All: (laughs)
James: You got a bigger house than me. My house is very small.
All: (laughs)
James: Earlier, you said you were a Super Famicom guy. Could you tell me the top three games that inspired you or had a deep, lasting impression on you?
Kamiya: Let’s see here…three games?!
All: (laughs)
Kamiya: The first one has to be The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. That is just perfect. Perfect. After that…do you know Gradius?
James: Yeah.
Kamiya: The arcade version of that.
James: Right. So, there are some elements in Bayonetta, the shooting, the big bosses. That kind of thing.
Kamiya: Well, let’s see here. There’s one other game. Space Harrier.
James: Ah! Right, right. I was thinking maybe Sin and Punishment. Do you know Sin and Punishment. Aw, what’s the Japanese title? It’s a Nintendo 64 game.
Kamiya: Ah, I didn’t play much of the N64. For the N64, I did play The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. And one more…and Star Fox 64.
James: Yeah, I can see that.
Kamiya: That game was amazing!
All: (laughs)
James: Nice! So after Super Famicom, you went towards Playstation?
Kamiya: And Sega Saturn and 32X.
James: Oh wow. The tower of power.
Kamiya: Yes!
All: (laughs)
James: Awesome! Thank you so much, Mr. Kamiya. I’m really happy to have you on The Famicast. Good luck with Bayonetta 3 and (whispers) The Wonderful 101, Switch version.
Kamiya: Shhhhhhhh!
James: Thank you!
Kamiya: Thank you.
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