4Players: Why did you choose the Wii as your game's platform? It's not the world's most famous console for Beat-em-Up games.

Ryota Niitsuma: From the start the game concept was of course a fighting game, but as well as being a fighting game we wanted to pursue the line of a party game where people can gather and play together. In that sense Wii was the best platform because it is natural for this console that people get around it and play together.

4Players: Do you have any plans to release the game on other platforms as well?

Ryota Niitsuma: Currently there are no plans to port the game to other consoles. However, we are deploying Tatsunoko vs. Capcom 

Ryota Niitsum, Producer of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars (ab 49,99€ bei kaufen)

4Players: The game is graphically really impressive. How difficult was it to create a game like this on a console not being known as a powerhouse?

Ryota Niitsuma: Actually, contrary to the conceptions that Wii graphics are not so good the console is quite capable. Okay, the graphics may not be as good as on other consoles, but the Wii has a lot of power. And traditionally Capcom is being very good at using the hardware potential to the fullest. We have another Wii title in development, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles , which is looking absolutely amazing, too. So you could call it a Capcom tradition.

4Players: The japanese Version of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom is about half a year old. Are you including any enhancements or new features in the western release?

Ryota Niitsuma: Indeed we do. The biggest feature would be the new characters we'll be adding. Also we'll be redesigning some of the levels as well as some sounds, and we will re-record some of the voiceovers.

4Players: Do you have any plans for online gaming?

Ryota Niitsuma: We are currently trying to implement the system, but we haven't definitely set if we're going to do that yet.

4Players: While playing the game I couldn't help but notice that it's awfully easy to pull off special moves, to do all the cool tricks that need a lot of practice in other Beat-em-Up's like Street Fighter 4. Are you intentionally making the game easier for the novice gamer? Or do you have any hidden features for advanced players?

Ryota Niitsuma: Ideally the game would be fit for both groups. But as I mentioned earlier the game concept is based on the idea of a party game. However, the game is build on the philosophy of a hard-core fighting game and so it will please these gamers as well. Ultimately it probably will be directed towards casual players but the core of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom is a very deep hard-core fighting game that any fan of the genre should love.

4Players: Some of the characters like Gold Lightan are not only giant in size but also do a lot of damage while others like Roll seem harmless and kind of ridiculous in comparison. How do you want to keep the fighting balance in the game?

Ryota Niitsuma: All the moves and special effects for the characters have been taken directly from the Tatsunoko and Capcom franchises - and obviously Lightan has to be big and strong. But of course the fighting game has to have the balance which is why we spent a lot of the 

4Players: Tatsunoko Production as well as Capcom has a giant set of characters. How did you choose which ones of those get into your game and which don't?

Ryota Niitsuma: The character roster has been changing ever since we started the development of the game. In fact, the one you mentioned, Gold Lightan, is the only one that has been there from the start and survived until the end. But ultimately we have picked one character per franchise, with the exception of the Street Fighter series.

4Players: Are there any characters you wish you could have included but couldn't for whatever reason?

Ryota Niitsuma: (long pause of thinking, a lot of whispering with the translator) Hmm, if I mention this you know that this character will not be added to 

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom is full of bizarre characters. Sadly some of the even more strange didn't make it in the final game.

4Players: Oh that's a shame. Imagining a fighter laying waste to his enemies with a fatal »OBJECTION!« attack sounds really fun.

Ryota Niitsuma: As a matter of fact exactly this was very close to getting reality.

4Players: Really?

Ryota Niitsuma: Really. We did actually go quite far with Ace Attorney characters and one special move was in fact »Objection!«. »Objection« in Japanese is »Igi ari«, a four character sentence which would be moving towards the opponent. But localized it would  consist of nine letters, that would have been too long! So sadly we couldn't implement it.

4Players: That's a pity. How did you get to work with Tatsunoko in the first place?

Ryota Niitsuma: Tatsunoko Productions offered Capcom their licenses for a game. At the same time I had a plan for a fighting game, so these two incidents merged and became Tatsunoko vs. Capcom.

4Players: Is this just a one-time cooperation or do you have any plans for further games in the future? Maybe even in different genres, not only fighting games.

Ryota Niitsuma: That will largely depend on how well the game will do on the western market. And to answer your second question: Currently we don't have such plans but since Tatsunoko characters have such high affinity towards games it definitely is possible.

4Players: Thank you very much.