Konami: The Rumble Roses Interview

Don't miss this! We sit down with KCET's Akari Uchida to talk about pretty girls, mature content, nude wrestling, and excuses to use with parents and girlfriends. New videos and artwork included.

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Kikizo: SmackDown! and Rumble Roses both use a similar engine from Yukes though, right?

Uchida: The game engine itself is different to what they have used in SmackDown, but of course the developer, Yukes, has a lot of know-how with wrestling games, because they worked on creating SmackDown. So therefore the bottom base has some similarities but this is actually a very different version of it. From the beginning we wanted to create a new game engine, because the motion in many wrestling games out there is quite slow, whereas we wanted to have a faster tempo in our game, more like a regular combat game, which is why the engine is practically brand new.

"We assume that almost all users will buy the game
because they view it as an erotic title"

Kikizo: Celebrity cameos are increasingly popular in games, which two famous characters would you most like to see in a game like this?

Uchida: Pamela Anderson and Angelina Jolie.

Kikizo: A strong line-up. What is your opinion on this increasingly apparent 'adult genre' - with games like Leisure Suit Larry returning, Playboy, and Dead or Alive stuff - and where do you see the 'genre' going?

Uchida: Since we are just human, it is kind inevitable that we prefer to watch a human being on screen doing fighting or whatever - so if a woman character is doing the fighting, that is naturally quite interesting to us I think. So I think it's something that will continue, of course in a good way, because there are a lot of these titles, and so it will go to the next level with more high quality character figures, and better gameplay as well. We would want to make it more exciting, and more 'obvious' - until Sony says, "no, you can't do this!" or something!

Stuff like this can be really hard to caption

Kikizo: But you know, adult games have always been more popular in Japan, and this is clearly a way of attempting to get this sort of thing more acceptable on a mass-market level - so could that be Konami's strategy over the next few years?

Uchida: Well I can answer only as a producer, and not as management, but strategy-wise, this kind of game was quite niche and small before. But as the audience gets more mature, they may prefer to have a more mature content as well, so strategy-wise, yes, I think we can make this category much bigger, in a way that lots of people can appreciate.

Kikizo: You mentioned Sony's attitude about where their "cut-off point" would be - did you have any guidelines from Sony about what you could and couldn't do before they would agree to master the game?

Uchida: Well there was no definitive guideline set up by Sony, or Konami. But Konami-wise, we can set the guideline, and if it becomes too violent or too erotic, that's prohibited I guess, Konami-wise. Sony-wise, SCEJ asked us to put like a 'line' on the character costume - so they said, if you are looking at the character from the bottom angle, she needs to appear that she is wearing 'something'.

"Mud mode looks almost like full nudity"

Kikizo: Rumours sometimes still persist that there is an unlockable topless mode, do you want to say once and for all that it's not in there, to stop the kids looking for it?

Uchida: We couldn't implement obvious nudity. However, we kind of twisted that, by incorporating mud mode - which looks almost like full nudity!

Some Roses chicks from the launch party? Hey, why not...

Kikizo: If somebody wants to buy the game but is scared in case their mum or girlfriend sees them playing, how would you reassure them that this is good, honest entertainment?

Uchida: Supposing you're a 15 year-old high school kid or something, just tell your mother that, you know, you want to be a graphic designer or something. You know, that you're taking the serious approach - this CG approach is authentic! I want to be a doctor!

Kikizo: While Rumble Roses has scored well so far, it has not been quite as acclaimed as some of the better WWE titles, so what would you like to improve in a potential sequel.

Uchida: We are kind of gathering what's good and what's bad from the reviews to date, and we understand there are some parts that need to be improved, certain specific details, that can be improved, but we're just starting to think about that at the moment.

"Just tell your mother you want to be a graphic designer"

Kikizo: Uchida-san, thanks again and good luck with your next projects.

Rumble Roses is available now in the US and kicks its way onto UK shelves on Friday, 18th February. Our full verdict will be posted shortly.

Adam Doree
Director, Kikizo.com

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