A NEW DREAM MATCH! INTERVIEW WITH SETH KILLIAN
Seth Killian (aka S-Kill), Community Manager over at Capcom, spent some time with us after the E3 rush to bring you even more info on Tatsunoko vs Capcom, including fighting mechanics, possible US-exclusive additions and more.
SFD: Hi Seth, thanks for taking your time to speak with us about Tatsunoko vs Capcom for the US market. How are things with you?
SETH: I’m good. Really busy, but happy to see that fans are excited about TvC so far. It had big lines at E3, and won a truckload of awards for “Best Fighting Game” from G4, 1UP, GameSpy, IGN, and more.
SFD: I bet bringing the game over to the US market was an extensive, tedious process, with all the licensing and such. How long has this been going on for, and can you tell us a bit about the process?
SETH: From the very first time I saw the game in early development, I couldn’t believe this game was going to be a “Japan only” release. That was maybe 18 months ago? More? Hard to keep track of when exactly it started, but ever since it’s been a snowball effect internally, with more and more people falling in love and getting onboard until it became a reality. The constant fan requests for the game also really helped swing the needle from “we can’t do it” to “let’s give it a shot.” The details of the process probably aren’t very interesting. It was more a matter of trying to get people internally excited about the project, and willing to do the legal legwork required to make it happen. Tatsunoko was very helpful in getting the right meetings, and some licenses weren’t as much trouble as we thought they could be.
SFD: For those who haven’t played Tatsunoko vs Capcom before, can you tell us a bit about the fighting mechanics?
SETH: The fighting mechanics are by far most similar to the Marvel Vs Capcom 2 style. There are 3 attack buttons instead of 4, but you’ll be surprised to find how flexible they turn out to be in practice. The individual buttons don’t correspond to punches and kicks, but instead to light/medium/hard attacks. So for instance, with Ryu, when you do a standing light, you get his traditional jab punch. If you do the same attack while crouching, you get a traditional Ryu crouching short kick. You can further modify the effect of each attack in some cases by holding towards, back, or down-towards to get a new attack (most launchers are down-towards heavy). This sounds strange when you hear it, but after you’re playing for a few minutes, everything feels very natural. All I can say is “try it for yourself” and you’ll see, or just ask the people that have tried it. Nobody even thinks about it once they’ve played for a few minutes. Combos are familiar “chain combo” style, and flow easily from light to heavy attacks. Of course there are a million variations, and lots of creative combo freedom.
SFD: How does this game set itself apart from the other Capcom VS games?
SETH: Of course there are a bunch of game-changing new techniques, including mega Crash, air-tags, baroque mode, and more. Those will be interesting to hardcore players, but for everyone else, it is primarily the cast that distinguishes it. It’s very much in the “Versus” tradition, with an equal mix of serious, cute, and zany fighters, all with ridiculous supers. Of course there are also the “Giants” (Gold Lightan and the Hardballer)—we’ve never seen anything playable on that scale before.
SFD: What controls will be available for the Wii, and how will they function?
SETH: WiiMote and nunchuck are smooth—there are no motion controls required. Other than that, Gamecube, Classic controller, and arcade sticks work pretty much exactly as you’d imagine. With only 3 attack buttons and your partner button, it works easily on whatever controller you prefer.
SFD: What are some of the differences between the Japanese and US versions?
SETH: Differences between the US and Japanese versions are still in development, but the topline features that the team is considering would be:
1) More characters for Western TvC.
2) Add online.
They’ll also be implementing some balance adjustments learned from watching the top Japanese TvC players in action.
SFD: Hazzah! So new characters are being considered for the US version?
SETH: Yes! *smiles*
SFD: Sweet. Are there any plans for a multi-console release? We heard that the game was made using a Nintendo arcade-board, and therefore Wii exclusive. Can you clarify this?
SETH: No plans for a multiplatform release. As you mentioned, it was designed from the ground up as a Wii title. Of course I love to see a good game get to as many consoles as possible, and it sucks for anyone that happens not to have a Wii, but for the moment this game is still very much an “underdog” that wasn’t even planned for a worldwide release, so we need to see that it can succeed in the West before we consider porting. In the meantime, buy a Wii—I forgot how much fun they are while I’ve been busy playing SFIV.
SFD: Could you give us details on some of the cool extras being considered?
SETH: In-game extras are also still in process, both in terms of what will fit, what can be finished in terms of polishing to make our release window, etc. Rest assured there are some talented people putting in some serious effort on this front.
SFD: What is the estimated release date?
SETH: We’re only able to say “Winter” at this point, unfortunately. We don’t want to be pinned down to an exact date, because our priority is getting all the features in top shape. We don’t want to announce a date and then have everyone upset if we decide to wait a week or two to get it right. “Winter” sets expectations for the right range. No one was even expecting this game to come here, so we really want to give it a proper welcome and make the definitive version of the game, not just send out a straight port.
SFD: Thank you very much Seth!
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