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Wii U and Nintendo 3DS owners have a fairly good heap of games to be excited about at the end of 2013; the Wii U should be hitting its stride in the next few months, bringing plenty of great experiences to the console's adopters, while Nintendo 3DS fans will be hoping it has another standout end-of-year season. One of the games launching for both platforms, as part of an exclusive deal with Nintendo, is SEGA's latest creation Sonic Lost World; we were fortunate enough to be able to talk to the game's Executive Producer, Takashi Iizuka, about the game.
Jack Taylor: SEGA and Nintendo have recently announced a special partnership to bring three Sonic games exclusively to Nintendo platforms. What made the team want to develop Sonic Lost World on Nintendo platforms?
Takashi Iizuka: The reason we wanted to develop Sonic Lost World as an exclusive title for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS was that, because we didn't have to find workarounds for other platforms, and we were able to bring out 100% of the console when making the game. On Wii U, it meant we were able to make the best use of the Wii U GamePad and of Miiverse. It also meant that we were able to find ways for players to share data between the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS versions of the game.
Sonic Colours and Sonic Generations are recent examples of incredibly popular Sonic the Hedgehog titles; Sonic Colours was another Nintendo exclusive. Did these games influence Sonic Lost World at all?
Yes, especially Sonic Colours. In Sonic Colours, players were able to use different Colour Powers; these were very popular and we wanted to use them again and introduce new Colour Powers in a new game. As well as that, both Sonic Colours and Sonic Generations used different aspects in gameplay; both games used a 2D side view and a 3D "all-action" view, which Sonic Lost World also has. When it came to level design, we wanted to introduce a new aspect which would allow players to see and feel everything regardless of which view the level was played in.
You've worked on a lot of games in the past; is there anything from these games you like to bring back into modern games?
Sonic has been going for 22 years, and the games are different now from when Sonic used only the classic 2D side view. Sonic Lost World still has that classic feel to it; in that sort of way, we've tried to bring back some of the older enemies into the current games. At the same time, we had to take into consideration newer Sonic fans who have been playing his 3D action games, who will still be able to feel the speedy side to the game. We've tried to merge the two - getting a new feel from the game as well as that classic feel - regardless of whether you're a new Sonic fan or a veteran, humble Sonic fan.
Sonic Lost World introduces us to six new enemies called the Deadly Six. What was the reason behind bringing in these enemies?
The level design in Sonic Lost World is quite new. The levels are based on a cylindrical tube concept, because the game is based in a new "continent" or a new world called Lost X. We believed that a new world would feature new species, and wouldn't exclusively feature robots or animals as previous games have. This is where the concept for new enemies came from; these enemies are deadly, hence the name Deadly Six.
Also, because of a new enemy, there is no matchup with Eggman as there has been in previous games, so there is no Sonic vs. Eggman; however, because of the Deadly Six, there is a whole new aspect of Sonic Lost World where both Sonic and Eggman are now working together to combat the Deadly Six.
The partnership between SEGA and Nintendo is very exciting for fans of both companies. What do you hope for Nintendo fans from this?
One thing we have tried to do is make Sonic Lost World much more playable for brand new players; even if you're more of a Nintendo fan than a Sonic fan, the game is accessible and there is much for new fans to do. It's exciting for us that there can be a new side for a Nintendo fan, who could become a fan of Sonic as well. In terms of our future support, we would like Sonic to become a big part of something where Nintendo fans will be able to enjoy Sonic games and platformers as well.
What is your favourite game of the games you've worked on?
That question is asked quite a lot, and it's very difficult to answer! The most popular games won't always be somebody's favourite game. All these games have been a labour of love, and each one provides different challenges and different problems. Though I don't have one favourite game of these, Sonic Lost World has to be high on the list of games that I'm happy to have worked on.
We would like to extend gratitude to Nintendo for the opportunity to talk with Mr. Iizuka, and would like to thank Mr. Iizuka for his time.
