"Grasshopper is making all these great games, with really a nice visual style," Mikami told us at an EA event during last week's GDC. "I'm there to make sure the gameplay is right -- make sure it's tight, make sure it's fun. That's why I'm there." He denied the assertion that Shadows of the Damned would feel strongly Mikami-like." "When you look at it, you're going to say this is a Grasshopper game," he said. "When you play it, especially if you've played a Resident Evil, you can kind of sense 'ah, there's a little bit of Resident Evil here.' But I don't think it's from the start it's a Mikami game. It's definitely a Grasshopper game."
We asked Mikami about the heart-shaped buttons EA was handing out at the event, which seemed hilariously out of step with the outrageous violence and manliness of Damned. Is Shadows of the Damned a love story? "There's two sides to it: there's that aspect of a love story, but it's not the romantic type of love," Mikami explained, cryptically. "It's a very adult type of love. And you'll see that when you play through the game -- it's definitely conveyed in certain aspects." Apparently, the "adult" type of love is so strong that a man can be fooled by a giant, grotesque demon wearing the shape of his girlfriend like a costume.
As the interview concluded, the subject turned to another violent, quirky action game from Mikami: 2006's God Hand -- a title that Mikami burst into laughter upon hearing. Mikami firmly denied even a superficial relationship between his own PS2 action game and Shadows of the Damned, but he did tell us that "I'd like to make a sequel to God Hand sometime." When we suggested he could make a spiritual "sequel" to get around the Capcom-owned IP, Mikami laughed again and said "Someday, I'll do it."
Shinji Mikami on his Shadows of the Damned role and 'adult love' originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 08 Mar 2011 20:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
