Hisaharu Tago: When the audience chooses SoulCalibur, the main reason is because it’s a weapon-based fighting game, and that’s unique. We always really get into what kinds of weapons would be fun to play around with. Sometimes we get characters like Zwei though, who has a different kind of weapon definition - but in general we always try to think of interesting weapons.
SPOnG: Zwei and Viola are actually bordering on the fantasy realm though, in terms of weapons. Is that something you feel is comfortable to have in a series that began with real-world weapons?
Hisaharu Tago: Of course, we felt that it would fit into the world of SoulCalibur because although the series has a historical kind of scenario, it’s also very much set in fantasy. These kinds of characters wouldn’t actually look out of place. Since we usually put in regular swords and spears, this time around we wanted to think about a weapon that would be more interesting and fun to play with. In that sense, we wanted to stretch that definition of weapons.
Hisaharu Tago: It’s not something I can personally decide, because it’s a different business, but I actually come from the arcade field myself. So if I was called upon by the company to make an arcade version, I’d be very happy to.
SPOnG: The first three SoulCalibur games have seen arcade releases though right?
Hisaharu Tago: Yes, and after SoulCalibur III probably, the arcade development stopped.
SPOnG: Do you know if there was a specific reason for that?
Hisaharu Tago: I don’t know if there was any particular reason in stopping the arcade releases. Speaking personally, I think that when an arcade audience is choosing what game to play, they view SoulCalibur as a normal fighting game and not as a weapons-based fighting game, which is the unique thing about it. So if you take that apart and just see it as a fighting game, we have a lot of rivals in that space. So it’s likely we stopped because of that.
Hisaharu Tago: I personally think that it’s not been evolving too much, because the core concept of fighting games has always been about beating the other guy up [laughs]! So in that sense, nothing has changed. But as the years go by, the punches and action has sped up, and it’s allowed for combination moves and other spectacular events to happen. But the core concept never changes.
SPOnG: Does that make it harder to innovate in the genre because of that?
Hisaharu Tago: If you say the word ‘evolution’ in the sense of keeping that core aspect of fighting games and changing the characteristics and details of it, then it’s very possible. We can always make up new aspects in that sense. But if we try to change that core element even a little bit for games like SoulCalibur, I think it would be very difficult.
Hisaharu Tago: In the interview you’re referring to, I probably meant that I wanted to change from SoulCalibur IV’s online mode, not fighting games in general. What I want to do in SoulCalibur V is offer gameplay choices. Of course SoulCalibur is a fighting game at its heart, but not all players come to fight and beat the other person up. For instance, SoulCalibur has a major customisation aspect to it. So some people might want to just boast about their custom characters. Of course, there are a lot of people that want to fight each other and prove that they’re the best, but I want to be able to give players choices as to how they want to play online.
SPOnG: Is there anything throughout the development of SoulCalibur V - or the series in general - that you’re particularly proud of?
Hisaharu Tago: I was only really involved in the series from SoulCalibur V, but the moments that the dev team was called upon to reunite and create SoulCalibur V and I was asked to become producer... that was a very memorable time for me. During the whole development process and all the hard work we put into the game... all of it has been really memorable.
SPOnG: Thank you very much for your time.
Hisaharu Tago: Thank you.