Are there any developers as quirky and talented as Platinum Games?

Games like Viewtiful Joe, Mad World, Bayonetta, Wonderful 101, Scalebound, Vanquish, and more. All with interesting characters and premises, with that one gameplay mechanic that separates itself from other games. Are there any developers that compare on that level? I ask you, SW, since I've been asking you for so long, doesn't make sense to stop now.

I commend them for making good IPs over the years.

No, they are goats.

I dont think ive ever seen a company make as many non-appealing games as Platinum. They are a class of their own. Im not even sure how theyre still in business.

I can't think of any. Maybe Amusement Vision, but they've been gone for years :(

Nintendo.

but wii u exclusive and xbone/windows10 exclusive I guess

Aside from Bayonetta, most their games recently have had issues, even though Wonderful 101 had its strengths it still has some of the weaknesses of forcing dual-screen mandated controls onto players, thankfully Bayonetta 2 avoided this, but Platinum also made some junky Activision games like Korra and Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and they dropped the ball with Star Fox, I'm a bit worried lately in their performance. I mean making shitty Activision games is one thing but I thought they'd of brought their A-game to Star Fox. Guess nothing is sacred. Anyhow, gonna have my eye on them for Nier 2 and Scalebound, they need some redeeming to do.

Anyhow you, TC, you mention Viewtiful Joe, that stuff is all pre-Platinum back when they all worked at Capcom and under Clover Studios I believe. They all made many other classics back then, Okami, Onimusha, Resident Evil, Devil May Cry. It's no secret that when they all left that Capcom has been struggling to make do without them.

Not really appealing.

Suda 51

difficulty through controls?

@aigis: No, im talking the looks. They dont make very appealing games.

Insomniac games is way more.

Spyro the dragon, ratchet and clank, sunset overdive and the new spiderman are arguably better than anything platinum has made too.

With that being said, W101 is an excellent game and Scalebound looks decent so far

Totally forgot they made Bayonetta 2. For some reason I was thinking sega made it

When Hideki Kamiya is directing and they are in their A game, very few devs are as good as they are. They have been divisive lately though as none of the 4 games after Bayonetta 2 have been good video games. And in the case of star fox and ninja turtles they were out right bad games. Albeit star fox is more a Nintendo thing.

Luckily Nier 2 looks legit.

There are a lot of developers more talented than Platinum.

They got their shit together. Reminds me of Treasure from back in the day.

I don't consider their "quirky" aspects to be a positive. That stuff is so inconsistent from game to game. MGS: Revengeance and Wonderful 101 are awesome in that regard, but Bayonetta and Vanquish are complete shit.

Although, I guess they're pretty inconsistent when it comes to gameplay if you look at some of their recent entries.

You don't like Transformers?

They're a 7/10 in my book, on par with NMS.

Eh I'd argue Bayonetta's quirks are fantastic, it's more so they actually take time to give that series exposition, and it's like fucking why? Just let her be female dante, let her talk shit with enemies and do her thing. Plus the ending of that game is hype as ****. The WOnderful 101 I would actually is actually pretty clever, for the type of story it is telling, it's actually sharply written and does a good job with its characters. Vanquish is a total misfire, don't know what the **** happened there. They had president hilary Clinton and fucking putin in a mech suit in 2010, and they came up with that plot? Hte main guys name is Sam Gideon, who smokes a cig in combat, it should have been all kinds of capcom camp. It's like I want them to give me Dead Rising 1, and they keep trying to give me Dead Rising 2.

And I do like Transformers, I'd say it's closer to okay, than good though. The thing it benefits from is that Platinum's side stuff isn't in the way, and it's more pure combat right. I think both of us would agree Bayonetta could drop the motorcycle and missle segment and it would be a better game for it. But it still is very much budget platinum, with budget, less interesting versions of the parry system and witch time. The environmental variety isn't there the way it is in Bayonetta 2, the enemy roster isn't nearly as fleshed out, and the loot system inherently takes away from some of the teeth of thta game. I whipped Megatron's ass with my fire hammer shit, which isn't something I could say for when I fought Jeanne or Jubieleus or Senator Armstrong or what have you.

I'd say it's enjoyable, but "good", I mean that genre's had stuff I like a lot more, generally more creative stuff, and that studio has done better than that game. It's much fucking better than Korra, I'll give it that, and I think Saito is in serious need of an actual shot with one of Platinum's bigger budget projects. Because so far he had to fix Metal Gear Rising inside of a year, and we got Revengeance out of it (which I like, a lot, albeit it be 4th on my Platinum Rankings) and he's the only one that's made good on the Activision projects. I want to know what he would do with proper time and a budget, and I don't think he's working on Nier either.

Bayonetta, Rodin, and the music are fucking bad ass. Everyone and everything else is so lame in comparison. Who fucking gives a shit about Luka or this stupid angel and demon shit? I don't care at all for any of the enemy designs or the actual levels themselves. They have their heart in the right place like 20% of the time in Bayonetta. Most of the time, it is literal anime boring bullshit.

Yeah, if you compare Transformers to some of other great stuff they've made, then it definitely doesn't hold up. I just wouldn't wrap in with the bad stuff they've recently made. It's still an awesome game that is worth experiencing. In that sense, I consider it a good game. I can't say the same for crap like Korra and TMNT.

I honestly can't believe I'm hearing negative anything about Bayonetta?!? I even played the horrible ps3 version and still thought it was brilliant from start to finish. The story, characters, combat, design, music, nods to sega games, art, etc etc where all amazing.

Yeah, to be fair Transformers is what I wish was Platinum on their bad day. Because that honestly should be what they think is acceptable of them on a budget. But no, they've been way the **** worse. Turtles should have been an attempt at a 2d beat -em up, in fact ditto Korra. It would allow them to try out some different stuff with the systems, and it would make sense given the dev time and budgets they have. But I don't know if that is a Platinum being pig headed decision or Activision demanding 3d brawlers out of those respective ips.

Blizzard.

@lamprey263: a lot like other M and team ninja, i wouldnt blame platinum for star fox. they did what nintendo told them to do.

any finger pointing for the failure of starfox should be squarely in nintendos direction. they wanted to make a type of game that has no place in the current AAA market and charge full whack for it. that IP needs a complete and total overhaul. i hope its something that will happen (great potential there) but i suspect nintendo are going to shelve it instead. they don't know what to do with it.

in terms of talent there are plenty. nintendo of course. blizzard. valve (when they want to make a game). the team working under michael ancel.

the quirkiness though...thats more unique allright. sometimes it can be a bit too odd (i played through bayonetta and i have absolutely no idea what happened in it. still awesome though). but long may it remain.

Off the top of my head Atlus and Nintendo have more talent imo. That's pretty high praise though if I can only think of practically the best developers on the planet.

Definitely looking forward to Nier 2. Game looks boss. Hoping they get out a remaster for the first one though since I haven't played it.

i haven't played so many of their games as they haven't been on PC, hope they get to be more PC-friendly hence i can experience their titles....which, can be way better with 60fps.

These are guys behind Transformers and Ninja Turtles right??

Transformers isn't that bad. It's a cheap thrill hack n slash which from what I can tell its worth a play through. It's not PG top tier game but good (same level as mad world).

Madworld definitely sucks outside of its soundtrack.

@jg4xchamp: the commentary? Jeez... You forgot that.

Sure, it's mildly funny. But that doesn't excuse how fucking beneath Platinum that gameplay is. If you didn't tell me otherwise, I would have thought it was a Suda game with its style over any mechanical substance game design. That game bored me to no end, I was honestly thinking Bayonetta was going to suck up until the demo came out because of how boring I felt madworld was. Rest is history though on that front.