'Bayonetta 2' would not exist without Nintendo, says Platinum Games

Platinum Games explains the decision to bring Bayonetta 2 exclusively to Wii U.

"Would Bayonetta 2 not exist without Nintendo? The answer is yes," says Atsushi Inaba, executive director at Platinum Games. He tells Polygon that Nintendo, the sequel's publisher, was a key partner in getting the game made.

"We are not viewing this as a change of platform," Inaba told Polygon in an interview at Tokyo Game Show. "We were looking for a partner to create Bayonetta 2 and Nintendo was a strong, cooperative partner that was willing to create and grow Bayonetta 2 together [with us]. As a result the platform became the Wii U."

In the wake of Bayonetta 2's announcement as an exclusive for the Wii U, some fans vocalized their displeasure, hoping that the sequel would be released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 like the original Bayonetta. Developers at Platinum Games said in a series of statements this week that it does not want to alienate its fans.

Sega was responsible for publishing the original Bayonetta, but the company has since scaled back on the number of titles it publishes. Platinum Games and Sega's most recent collaboration, Anarchy Reigns, has not been published outside of Japan, a source of frustration for Inaba. He says he still doesn't know when Anarchy Reigns will be released overseas, as Sega has not offered him an update.

Regardless of the change of platform from PS3 and Xbox 360 to Wii U, Inaba says it won't impact Bayonetta 2's core gameplay.

"We create the basic framework of our games on the PC, so even though the hardware changes it doesn't influence the creation of our games. We've already developed our own engine to work with multiple platforms.

"Because of the Wii U GamePad, we are putting extra thought into how to use these differentiating features," Inaba said. "There's a difference in the game design side, but we are enjoying the challenges of creating games for new hardware."

Nintendo and Platinum Games haven't revealed much about Bayonetta 2, releasing only a short teaser trailer. The trailer echoes the teaser of the original Bayonetta with a few key differences: a crescent moon replaces the full moon, red tones are replaced by blues, and Bayonetta's enemy now rebuffs her attacks, implying a more formidable foe. Inaba explains why the developer chose to release a nearly identical trailer for the sequel.

"Toward the end of development of Bayonetta, I was talking with Kamiya-san and Hashimoto-san, and they said 'If Bayonetta 2 ever happens, we want the teaser trailer to be the same as [the first] Bayonetta,'" he said. "We wanted to make it the same because Bayonetta is a title that has been loved by many people and we wanted fans to say 'Oh! Bayonetta's back again!'"

Inaba wouldn't offer details on what's coming in the sequel, instead asking fans to speculate about what they've shown so far.

"All of the new things you see in the trailer, we can't talk about at all at this point. We're leaving it up to your imagination."