Kamiya has directed Bayonetta at PlatinumGames since around January 2007, and the game was “more or less complete” by October 21, 2009. The group developed it for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 game console, while Sega — with original data and support from PlatinumGames — hired Nex Entertainment to port the game to Sony’s PlayStation 3. Mari Shimazaki, the game’s character designer, designed the characters to be “fashionable”, with “subdued” features. She designed the titular character to fulfill Kamiya’s request for a modern, feminine witch who wears glasses and wields four weapons, and the two settled on her original concept for the character despite their “over a year” work on other concepts. . Bayonetta appeared as a long-haired witch dressed in black, with a beehive hairstyle (instead of the traditional pointy hat) and glasses, which Kamiya “really insisted on to… differentiate Bayonetta from other female characters and give her a sense of of mystery and intelligence.” On the other hand, it “didn’t require a great deal of effort” to design Bayonetta’s rival, Jeanne, who wears glasses on her head above her eyes. She added feathers to Jeanne’s pistols to add movement to the design and heavy makeup to Jeanne’s face to “make her look like something from the 1960s.” Although Shimazaki preferred Bayonetta, Jeanne ended up being the more popular of the two witches among Kamiya and the development team.
However, in an April 2009 interview, Kamiya called the former “in many ways… my ideal woman.” Although the game’s director “deliberately created Bayonetta from scratch” and called its story “completely original,” he admitted to using “some names from Scandinavian mythology” and playing “about half” of Devil May Cry 4 for research. As a fan of folk music, he also named the set of four pistols Bayonetta after the old English ballad “Scarborough Fair”, and her individual pistols, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. Hiroshi Yamaguchi focused on composing music for the game that has a “good fast tempo” and expresses femininity through female choirs, pianos and other ‘pretty’ instruments — although some tracks also use only orchestra or folk instruments — while Kenichiro Yoshimura transformed the Shimazaki’s design of Bayonetta into a game model and used the ZBrush digital sculpting tool to create normal maps for its details. He worked with Shimazaki on the model’s makeup, consulted foreign models with similar bodies, and said, “I really wanted Bayonetta’s backside to be perfect. I think I’m the type who likes that…”.
Main features
Some positive points of Bayonetta Torrent
- Fluid and challenging combat with combos memorable.
- Strong and charismatic character with unique style.
- Stylized and creative visuals with Western and Eastern inspirations.
- Exciting and striking soundtrack.
- Intriguing narrative full of mysteries.
