Capcom producer Hironobu Takeshita had a fine chat with Gamasutra earlier in the week about the upcoming Mega Man 9, the "new" NES game - a quirky project, to be sure.

It's really a fascinating interview that goes from the obvious question of "why?", to how they recreated the feel of the originals (bugs included), to inspiration (the originals), fan feedback, audience, and modern gaming vs. oldschool gaming.

Takeshita-san is terribly polite and passionate about his work in the talk. Again, if you're interested at all, a highly recommended read.

Koji Igarashi, who is in charge of the Castlevania series, is a very strong believer in 2D gaming. He also likes to make sure he can cultivate these design techniques in his staff so they're not lost. As we talked about, this game features design that hasn't been done for some time. Do you think it's important to keep the classic style of designing games alive? Do you feel there's something intrinsic to that that is important to preserve and continue alongside things like next-gen games?

HT: I like to think of it not as an 8-bit style, but more of an artistic choice, if you will. It's another type of creative expression, because nowadays, everyone wants surround sound and 3D graphics and things like that, and they get too caught up in that.

I don't think it should be that way, because you could do an 8-bit game. You can do a 16-bit game. You should do whatever is creatively expressive and what you want to do.

I think that will open up the whole gaming world in general, by being able to have these creative outlets.

chautemoc via gamasutra.com »