"Each stage is designed to be speedrun," Ganryu 2's developers talk about the challenges and future of the series
Ganryu 2: Hakuma Kojiro is an exceptional side-scrolling hack-and-slash sequel to the 1999 NeoGeo MVS arcade game. It brings a wide variety of stages, challenging bosses, and secrets to unlock. Sportskeeda's Jason Parker recently sat down with one of the developers of the recent release.
The two talked about the challenges of working on the sequel, inspiration when designing the game, and if a third Ganryu game could be on the books someday.
When PixelHeart took over the VISCO studio, Sami (CEO of PixelHeart) offered us to choose between the licenses to make a new game, sequel or reboot. As a big fan/player of retro-gaming, Julien and I were like a child in front of a candy store. We decided to go with Ganryu, which was probably the closest to what we played when we were young.
The people. Ganryu is a great game but nowadays, players want nervous gameplay. We also wanted to have more modern gameplay, without losing the original touch. We couldn't go as far as making a Dead Cells, for example, but making the game faster and more nervous was mandatory. We also want to allow players to move through levels very quickly if they had enough skill for it.
When we make a game, we can't start from scratch, erase all video game history, and reinvent the wheel. This is even more true when creating a retro game, and even more when working on the continuation of an existing license.
People aren't just looking for a new game to play. They have to see all the references to their good old games before. And, as retro gamers and fans, we can't ignore our own experience and culture. If we liked something in a game, we would try to add it in one of ours, in our own way.
So yeah, Ninja Gaiden, Strider and Shinobi were an influence for both of us
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