How Okami got to the Wii

by JC Fletcher { Nov 16th 2007 at 6:00PM }

Christian Svensson, Capcom's VP of Strategic Planning and Business Development, posted on the Capcom blog about the process by which a PS2 non-starter ended up being earmarked for a high-profile Wii port. Really, it makes total sense to people like us, but on the face of it, porting a poor-selling game like Okami is kind of strange business.

But as Svensson tells it, the Okami Wii port is born almost entirely out of fan demand. After seeing the outcry for a Wii version (before, during, and after the original game's release), Svensson started discussing the idea with Capcom in Japan. They realized that a release of the game on a system that was not at the end of its lifecycle may do better, and decided it may be a good move to give Clover's adventure another shot.

We love getting to look behind the curtain a bit at the inner workings of game companies. The post actually goes into a bit of detail about dealing with Ready at Dawn and the state of Okami's code.

Tags: adventure, capcom, okami, ports, ps2

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Marrvia @ Nov 16th 2007 6:56PM

Okami is great. I can't wait to play the wii version. I think the game would work better on Wii anyway. I just hope it's in 16:9.

abetterwordfordead @ Nov 21st 2007 3:53AM

Okami was, by far, the best game to hit the PS2 last year. I'd probably say it was the last great PS2 game. Hours of gameplay, EXTREMELY innovative, FUN, amazing storytelling, plenty of optional content, beautiful art... oh yeah, and you play as God.

Ren @ Nov 17th 2007 2:08AM

Hey there, Gene. Keep your pimp hand strong.

samfish @ Nov 17th 2007 3:26AM

Haha- I get it. God Power keeps his pimp hand strong.

Man, what I wouldn't do for God Hand to be on the Wii...

Ihar `Philips` Filipau @ Nov 17th 2007 6:51AM

> [...] almost entirely out of fan demand.

Well, that also explains endless march of "popular" clones "Something Something Mario Something in Somewhere"...

Comstock @ Nov 17th 2007 9:01AM

There was outcry "during" the original game's release???

shaunc4 @ Nov 17th 2007 12:07PM

This game was meant for the Wii:

1. Stylized graphics
2. The main game mechanic is painting on screen, this would be 100% with the Wiimote

I will bet this game will twice as well on the Wii compared to the PS2.

Mr Khan @ Nov 17th 2007 3:42PM

@ shaunc4

I bet that even if it was on another console, a second release of this game will do better, much like how the new NiGHTS is guaranteed to sell better then the old one, just because its had the time for word-of-mouth, straight-from-the-players hype to build up (granted, NiGHTS has had 11 years to build massive hype, while Okami's just had 1)

Jay @ Nov 18th 2007 6:18PM

I never played the original. so I'm definately going to pick this up. it looks and sounds really cool

How Okami got to the Wii