Inti-Creates on Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 dev, amiibo desire, scrapped ideas, third entry, Mighty Gunvolt 2 possible

A portion of a NintendoEverything interview with Mr. Tsuda and Mr. Aizu of Inti-Creates...

NE: At what point did development begin on Azure Striker Gunvolt 2? Were you waiting to see what the reception would be like for the first game, or did you know right away that a sequel would be happening?

Tsuda: I’m happy to say that because of the positive results we achieved with Gunvolt 1 we decided to make Gunvolt 2. There’s nothing that spreads good will and powers up the development team quite like getting positive messages on our Twitter, blog, etc. Seeing messages like “Gunvolt is so much fun!” or “Gunvolt is so awesome!” truly makes our day, and we want to sincerely thank our fans for that.

However, while the the book is still not quite closed on Gunvolt 2, we really gave it our all when we developed Gunvolt 1 and used up all the ideas we had for the game at the time, so at the time when we finished the development for Gunvolt 1 we had no idea what we would do next.

If by chance Gunvolt 1 was a failure, at the very least I would have retired from game development. So with that being said, there is always a possibility that Gunvolt 2 could be the last one.

NE: Were there any ideas scrapped from Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 that you can share with us?

Tsuda: In the earlier days of Gunvolt 2’s development, we originally going to make Copen the only playable character, with a mask-wearing Gunvolt appearing as the new top dog of the Sumeragi Group (the evil organization from Gunvolt 1). He would be in the game as a boss character, appearing before Copen in mid-air surrounded by 1000 Glaives that he would use to transform. If you beat Gunvolt, he would be unlocked as a playable character, but due to varying circumstances we changed things to what you see in the game now.

There was another big idea that we had that we unfortunately had to scrap. For Copen’s robot companion Lola, we were going to have her completely change her design in her humanoid form (instead of her robo-ball form) whenever she changes the EX Weapon she is using. She could get a ponytail, long hair, completely different outfits, and more; even changes to her voice. Unfortunately, the workload for that was just too much, so we scrapped that idea.

NE: When Azure Striker Gunvolt launched, Mighty Gunvolt was also created as a promotion of sorts. Have you given any consideration to creating a follow-up, or was that just a one-time thing?

Aizu: We thought about making a sequel to Mighty Gunvolt, but this time around, we decided to go with a physical package instead. Our team is pretty small, so it was a bit unrealistic for us to pull off Mighty Gunvolt 2 and do everything we need to do to make a physical version happen. However, there are a lot of people here at Inti Creates who want to make Mighty Gunvolt 2, so I think that you will be able to play this game someday. We hope you are looking forward to such a day.

Tsuda: This has nothing to really do with the question, but in the new Kamen Rider series there was a game called “Mighty Action X”. That would be really cool if we could do a collab with them sometime.

NE: Have you ever considered producing a Gunvolt amiibo?

Tsuda: Even though we begged on our hands and knees (ok, maybe not that much) to make the possibility of being able to include a Gunvolt amiibo with a special edition release of the Guvolt Striker Pack happen, our wishes smacked headfirst into the wall of reality and didn’t end up coming true. I will keep the dream alive of one day being able to put a Gunvolt amiibo inside one of those plasma globes, though.

NE: Where do you see the Azure Striker Gunvolt series going from here? Could Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 be in the cards at some point in the future?

Tsuda: I’m really happy that people want the series to continue, and if possible, I definitely want to make a game that continues the series with Gunvolt at the helm as the main protagonist. If a lot of players like the game, put love into the series, and express their desire for a sequel, the conditions it will take to meet those demands is something we are very much thinking about.

Personally, I have kind of a rough idea for what I would want the potential sequel to be, but at the same time, I would love to hear from those who played Gunvolt 2 to its conclusion and see what they would love to see in a sequel.

Aizu: The Azure Striker Gunvolt series is incredibly near and dear to us. It takes a lot of time to make a game that is both polished and a lot of fun, so any discussions about when the next game will be coming out are probably a pretty long way away.

Support from everyone is what gives us strength to keep making games, so we hope that you guys will continue to support us.