PlatinumGames has released the first of a four-part documentary examining the development of Bayonetta 3. It’s jam-packed with fascinating anecdotes from the team, including a rather surprising revelation from the game’s director, Yusuke Miyata.
Miyata confirmed that Hideki Kamiya, creator of the Bayonetta franchise, approached him directly to offer up the role of the sequel’s director. However, instead of jumping at the opportunity, Miyata was initially hesitant and was worried that Kamiya himself would interfere in the project too much.
Here’s what he had to say:
“‘Yeah, sure!’ was definitely not the reply I gave to Kamiya-san. I remember crossing my arms and going into a long ‘Hmmm’ type of groan. I blatantly told Kamiya that ‘I am really worried that you’ll end up interfering with the project and the team. This will get confusing, as I would be the director in charge of the project’.”
Kamiya then corroborated Miyata’s statement, explaining that he can be “fairly fussy” when it comes to game development. He said that he at least wanted to provide advice to the team from a user-focused perspective, but it seems that even this might have been a bit much for Miyata:
“Honestly, I believe that half of what Kamiya-san said about not intervening in the project at the time was probably a lie. He would come to the team and interject about various things regarding the project, and each time Kamiya-san and myself would engage in heated discussions. Looking back on this, I actually enjoyed these exchanges, and I think they were good for the game as well.”
Clearly, this minor friction during development must have done wonders for the final product, as Bayonetta 3 launched with a remarkable score of 10/10 in our own review. We stated that it “cranks up the chaos, improves the combat, polishes the level design, and adds a ton of new mechanics to the mix, making for the very best entry in this storied series to date”.