World to the West - A bit more on gameplay and characters

A portion of a Nintendon interview with dev Peter W. Meldahl...

N: What about the gameplay and the characters? How will we be able to use them?

PM: Every character has different abilities, and dedicated levels. At a certain point they will all meet, and from that point on it will be possible to choose which character to use, and it will be possible for the player to clear every level with every character, using their different abilities. Playing as a character you will meet the others as NPCs, and their plot will continue.