Afro Samurai: Huge Namco Bandai Interview

Everything you need to know about this promising slasher in our interview with Namco's Daryle Tumacder and Kevin Chadaine, including cartoon violence censorship, Samuel L Jackson voice acting, and games enhancing source IP.

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Kikizo: What about enemy variety? Are the enemies particular to each area you go through, or...?

Tumacder: There's always the ronin because the ronin are pretty prevalent in the series. Also in the series there are these android ninjas, and we have those. We have samurais, we have female assassins, we have the Pole Cats which were featured in Playboy. We've got the giant characters - there's a guy who's eight foot tall, huge, carries a giant club around.

Kikizo: And in terms of the difficulty, where are you pitching it?

Tumacder: There are two modes of difficulty - there's the Number Two headband and the Number One headband difficulty. Number One is a lot harder, enemies are a lot more powerful and they're a lot smarter. We wanted the average gamer to be able to beat the game, we didn't want the average gamer to be stuck on it, but we also wanted the hardcore player to be able to enjoy it as well, so we added that.

But it's a very accessible game. There isn't a point where all of a sudden the novice gamer just can't play anymore. On Number Two headband settings, there are techniques that they'll have to learn, and we want them to slowly learn them throughout the game and we do teach them that, so that hopefully by the end of Number Two headband style they'll be good enough to beat the Number One headband style. Because there's those "Achievement people" who just want those points.

Kikizo: So will you unlock the other difficulty setting on completing the game?

Tumacder: Once you finish it you can do the harder difficulty, either with the skills that you've learned, or if you want to be truly hardcore, you can wipe everything so you have to learn everything in hard mode again.

Kikizo: And there's no HUD in the entire game.

Tumacder: No, there's no HUD. I think in the training levels if anything they'll say "B is to kick" or something, there's a little bit of that stuff. When there's a puzzle every once in a while it'll show you where you have to go. But there is no map, no health bar or anything like that.

Kikizo: I think a lot of people are going to have their first experience of Afro Samurai through the game. Has that affected how you've approached the source material?

Tumacder: We're aware that it isn't only for the fans, we didn't want it to be a game that was only for the fans. Obviously we wanted to branch it out. And I think that's why Gonzo and Okazaki-san allowed us to expand on the story, and to really open it out for people who haven't read the manga, that haven't seen the series. And we try to explain it just like a normal action adventure game. And we think that the characters here and the look of the game are so compelling that someone who isn't a fan can just pick it up and enjoy their time playing it.

Chadaine: Gonzo gave us a lot of freedom story-wise, and we actually picked elements for the game from the second season, which is going to be airing in 2009.

Kikizo: Do you know of any plans to bring the TV series to a network in Europe?

Chadaine: It's been broadcast on satellite in the UK, and it's been broadcast in France, and there are going to be re-runs in France. There are talks to have it broadcast in Spain and Italy.

Kikizo: So do you think there will be more awareness of the franchise in Europe as a consequence by the time the game is released?

Chadaine: We hope so, yeah.

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