The Origin of Brawlers – God Hand (2006)

God Hand was the final creation to come out of Kamiya and Inaba’s Clover Studio coalition. Produced under Atsushi Inaba but veering away from the platform and highly graphical style of Viewtiful Joe, the game is dictated by 3D play and a demanding reliance on combos and style. God Hand is geared toward highly skilled gamers and attempts to render more realistic gameplay. The only break in the game’s serious tone is an influx of comic relief, added after early viewer reactions made it clear that the game needed some humor to be effective.

Although reviewers appreciated God Hand‘s combat system and adherence to an “old-school brawler” formula, the game received little commercial success. There were many areas of contention, including the play control being dominated by a single-button rotation, a cumbersome adjuster for level difficulty, and weakly designed graphics. The game’s flaws overburdened its virtues, and a lack of sales caused Capcom to close Clover Studios. Kamiya and Inaba both left Capcom, unwilling to work within the company’s sequel-centric guidelines. Their departures opened the way for them to pursue new creations, and they started Seed, now Platinum Games, which developed Bayonetta.

Back to Viewtiful Joe – Forward to Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game

Gift of Ben Rog-Wilhelm, 2013.021.008