Grabbing the God Hand
We speak to the creator of the most unusual games in Capcom's stable about his current opus... and the future
Also, some of the gameplay systems are unusual - like the roulette for special moves. Was that a decision to make the game easy to play? It kind of plays into the humor too, because you can get the wrong item - like you can get the frying pan on the head. So how would that work out in terms of balance? Is it more for humor, or for gameplay?
Inaba: I don't think it was either one or the other. I think it was actually for both. So with the first pass of the roulette system, the moves and their order was always mixed up. So every time you pressed the button it was mixed up. And the reason for that was - and obviously now, you can actually set the order - but the reason for that was when you start paging through those, looking for the move that you want, it gives you a little bit more anxiety about whether you can find the move that you want. And I also think it's kind of fun and funny to have mistakes get in there. And it's not always about "Oh I can just do exactly what I want and this is going to happen." You know, you might get a frying pan dropped on your head.
Obviously, while God Hand is a very well made title, you can point to it being sort of being a lower key title than say Okami or Resident Evil 4. If you look at film there's big budget film and independent film. Is that how games are shaping up?
Inaba: I agree with you and I think that games are going to go that way because with the example of God Hand - graphics are the most expensive thing for a game. So we made a decision not to focus on graphics and to try to make an interesting game without trying to spend tons of money on that. Because you have a set budget and you have to operate within that budget and what you can make. So, I think there's a place for both. I think there's a place for expensive games that cost a lot of money to make and I also think that there's a place for smaller games. Because just as a human being, one night you might want to eat steak and one night you might want to go have some fast food. As creators, one day we might want to make something really huge and expensive and the next day we might want to make something small and experimental.
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