Ben-DutkaIt's always interesting to look back on a development process, and see just how different a game could've been…
Oh yes, there's a whole lot of brainstorming going on behind the scenes; much of it goes unknown. That is, of course, unless the developer decides to tell us all about it : in Shinji Mikami's last "blog" entry at the Platinum Games site, he gives us a look into the design process behind Vanquish . Astonishingly enough, Sam Gideon didn't exist at one time; in fact, the main character would've been remote controlled by three different pilots who would take turns controlling it from a distance. It's actually quite an intriguing idea:
"The robot would change forms according to the pilot in charge, as each pilot had been specially trained in areas such as shooting, melee, or hover and snipe. This single robot was capable of being battle effective in a variety of situations. I thought we could make something interesting out of how these three different pilots interacted with each other, much like Kamen Rider Den-O. This idea died a quick death early in the project, but personally, I still think the idea has its merits."
In truth, this feels more Japanese in its approach, but it seems Platinum wanted to appeal to a wider audience and hence, the cocky, gruff, wisecracking Sam Gideon. As for Mikami's next project, he isn't sure what he wants to do (although he is collaborating with developer Suda51 on Shadows of the Damned ), but he thinks it'll be "completely different from Vanquish ." Remember, these guys aren't really into sequels; they want to produce new IPs, so perhaps a Vanquish sequel is out of the question.
But as much as we love fantastic new IPs, we're still hoping for a follow-up. Vanquish was awesome.
Related Game(s): Vanquish
