To learn more about what inspired the game and how it was developed, as well as the overall role and influence of retro games in modern culture, we caught up with lead developer Danilo Diaz and producer Tais Weiler from Joymasher for a quick chat about the latest news from the studio. effort
Nintendo Life. What are your influences on Vengeful Guardian? On the Moonrider.
Danilo Diaz. Direct influences from this game are titles like Mega Man Zero, Strider, and Shinobi. It’s definitely a ninja-centric game, so there’s a lot of Hagane from the Super Nintendo as well. In terms of style, there is a lot of influence from Japanese Tokusatsu, for example Kamen Rider and: Kamen Rider Black:. They were a big deal in Brazil when I was a kid, so Moonrider has a lot of that too.
What challenges did you face while developing the game?
Danilo: We changed the game quite a bit during development, it was originally supposed to be more linear like Dracula X. We wanted to change the game so that the game has a more open style like Mega Man Zero so you can choose the sequence of stages. do you want to play? It was a challenge because so many aspects of the game had to be revised.
Originally it wasn’t supposed to include that many weapons, so during development we had to change everything and put the new abilities and weapons in place. It caused quite a bit of stress for us.
Tice Weiler. Yes, the game worked in the first prototype and we thought “Hey, this could be good with more rounds”and then you actually put more stages and think “Hmm, maybe not that cool!” When you already have stages, it’s incredibly stressful to change the core game again. I forgot about that, thanks for reminding me of that nightmare.
Danilo: Yes, we had to change the level layout a lot along with the mechanics, but we thought the original idea was too simple, so we changed it to make it more open.
How did you approach the design of the boss characters?
Danilo: Well, the idea behind the bosses was to try and create Moonrider-like characters who are essentially guardians themselves. The idea was that each boss would have different abilities, just like in Mega Man, and then you would gain those abilities when you beat them.
You’ve focused a lot on fighting games so far. Would you be open to branching out into other genres in the future, such as RPGs?
Thais: I don’t know about RPG, but we are definitely thinking about what we can work on next. We’re always trying to experiment, and right now Danilo is experimenting with 3D visuals, both from PlayStation and N64. We’re not just pixel artists, we’re just 20 years behind everything.
What role do you think retro gaming will play in 2023? Why do you think they remain so popular?
Danilo: Well, I think it became more of an art style than anything else.
Thais: Yes, it became an art style and genre in itself. Retro games had a lot of limitations, so they had to be more precise and direct, and that makes for a more direct and immediate experience.
We prefer to make short games that can be replayed over and over rather than longer experiences. There isn’t much in our games that disrupts gameplay, such as crafting systems or open worlds; Nothing wrong with that, but we wanted to try something different.
Danilo: The idea is to try to emulate the arcade experience that old games used to represent.
Are there any retro games you play now?
Danilo: I’m on repeat right now Armored Core: series due to the recent announcement of Armored Core VI. I think Armored Core was probably the first game I ever played on the PlayStation, so I replay everything. I can also draw inspiration from it for some future projects, maybe.
Vengeful Guardian. Moonrider is now available on the Switch eShop. Arcade Crew has confirmed that a physical release is also in the works, but further details are unavailable at this time.
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