Ono: "Time is right" for Onimusha return
But new Darkstalkers sounds unlikely.
Street Fighter producer Yoshinori Ono reckons the "time is right" for samurai action series Onimusha to return.
Ono has pledged to pitch the series' resurrection to the higher ups within Japanese company Capcom once he's sorted out his vision for the hack and slash.
"The time feels right to me," Ono told IGN. "It feels like it's the time to resurrect that series."
The last Onimusha game was Dawn of Dreams, released on PlayStation 2 in March 2006. Eurogamer's Kristan Reed awarded it 6/10, saying, "Rather in the same way that Capcom milked the Resident Evil series to death before it reinvented itself, Onimusha is one of those really enjoyable games that's now been left behind and seems content to be stuck in a rut."
If Ono is successful in his case for the return of Onimusha, any new game would provide a modern experience, he said.
"I wouldn't want to do the things we've done before. I think it might be time to progress beyond the standard single-player adventure. There should be ways to expand upon what we've done while involving the community more. Perhaps implement some sort of multiplayer into a game like that.
"I don't have those ideas solidified yet, but when these ideas come to fruition, when I feel good about them and I feel we can do something, I will most certainly take them in for approval with the higher-ups. It's something I'm very interested in doing."
Meanwhile, it sounds like the launch of a new entry in the vampire fighting game series Darkstalkers is unlikely.
"A new Darkstalkers... I know people want it," Ono said.
"At Comic-Con last year I brought it up at the panel discussion and virtually [everyone in the] entire auditorium raised their hands when asked if they were interested. I took that information back to the company. I've been lobbying for it ever since. They haven't warmed to the idea just yet, but I haven't given up. I'll continue to push for it. People still do ask for it.
"I'm basically running into the same sort of hurdles I ran into with Street Fighter IV, so if I can show there's enough interest, maybe something will happen."
