Spyborgs is an upcoming action brawler from Capcom that is being developed by Bionic Games. It's set for a September 22 release, and we got to talk to Capcom Senior Producer Daryl Allison about the game's origins, what it's about, and what comes next.

Nintendo World Report: First, tell us about Bionic Games. How did it come into being and what is its mission as a studio?

Daryl Allison (DA): A key team from Insomniac and High Impact Games developed the initial idea for Spyborgs. They established Bionic Games to develop the IP for all media – film, TV, comic books, etc. – with video games leading the way.

NWR: Why did your team choose to develop on the Wii right out of the gate?

DA – Capcom wanted to build an action game exclusive for the Wii to answer the call of the Capcom fans. We didn't know exactly what the game would be at first. We knew it needed to be a cooperative experience. We knew it needed to be exclusively for the Wii, so that the dev team would be focused on creating the best experience for that hardware and not allow the game to be a watered down port. And we knew the developer had to have certain qualities that could live in the same space as Nintendo’s products.

When Capcom crossed paths with Spyborgs we were originally checking out a different concept. As the story goes, we saw some hero concept art on a wall and we were intrigued. We wanted to know more about those characters and their world. The more Capcom learned about Spyborgs and the development team behind it, we knew we found our match.

NWR: What's the story of Spyborgs?

DA: Here’s your Hollywood style answer: Spyborgs is a classic tale of betrayal and revenge.

(laughs) My answer: The Spyborgs are an elite group of government agents, recruited into the Spyborgs Initiative due to their outstanding natural abilities, enhanced with cybernetic upgrades, and turned into an awesome superhero team. An original member of the Spyborgs, Jackal, went rogue, corrupted by his hunger for more power. He covertly made other Spyborgs "disappear" to enhance his own cybernetics by stealing theirs, and in the process lost his humanity. When it was discovered that he and a couple other Spyborgs that had also gone to the dark side were behind the disappearances, that’s where the game begins. Jackal launches an all-out war on the Spyborgs, led by his huge war machine Eighty-Six (he’s an awesomely huge mech), and the remaining Spyborgs – Stinger, Clandestine, and Bouncer – set out to hunt Jackal down.

Some of the back story and hints at some future plotlines can be found via cloaked audiotapes hidden throughout the game, found with the SpyVision ability. The comic book and Webisodes we're also creating tell more of that back story. Assuming the comic book is digitized by the time you read this, you can check it out on the game's website, www.Spyborgs.com, and the Webisodes will be released there too.

NWR: The game has an old-school brawler feel. Was that always the intention, or did Spyborgs ever start out in a different genre?

DA: Playing to the strengths of the Rachet & Clank development experience of much of the team, the original concept had more platforming to it to go with some light brawling. Spyborgs has always been a cooperative action game. The more the co-op action took shape, the more fun and promising it proved to be, and so we shifted gears to develop Spyborgs into a full-blown brawler.

NWR: What is Spy Vision and what inspired it?

DA: SpyVision is the Spyborgs' special sight allowing them to see and capture cloaked objects. SpyVision's inspiration came while solving two gameplay goals.

We knew we needed to find a unique, fun use for the IR pointer, something that complimented gameplay. We prototyped a bunch of ideas to get a feel for what we could do with it.

We also needed to provide variety to gameplay, something that felt good to break up the action. You need pacing to set up cool, cinematic moments. That all falls apart if the intensity is set to MAX the entire time. Plus, players either get bored or tired if it is more and more of the same. As our lead designer joked, "You've got to have some salad to go with the meat and potatoes." We needed to give players a reason to not want to just keep running forward hacking at things.

We didn’t intend [to] solve both gameplay goals with SpyVision, but we couldn't deny the fact that the more we played with the feature, the more it gave us what we wanted on both fronts.

NWR: Will players be able to upgrade their characters or gain new powers as the game progresses? If so, what does this add to the gameplay?

DA: (laughs) Spyborgs is a Capcom game, so of course you'll upgrade your character! Players are rewarded for destruction, collection, and for combos. An homage to Devil May Cry – the cooler and longer your combos, the more you are awarded. Between every stage, and even during gameplay via the pause menu, players have access to the upgrade screen and can purchase whatever upgrades they want to customize their heroes.

The upgrades add armor, upgraded weapons, and new moves – both expanding the core brawler and additional special attacks.

NWR: What was behind the game's revamping? It went from having a humorous tone and the feel of a Saturday morning cartoon, to having the feel of something along the lines of Gunstar Heroes.

DA: Originally, we had about 10 different gameplay types between the platforming, puzzle solving, and action variations. The game jumped between them and short cut scenes like a Saturday morning cartoon and that flow provided the opportunity to set up and payoff humor. That flow also let us insert playable commercials, and with those the team could go crazy with the humor. As the game moved to a more classic brawler at its core (rather than an interactive cartoon), we had to make some tough decisions. We loved the commercials. They were awesome, fun, and funny, but they just didn't feel right anymore. They felt tacked on and became distractions that broke the flow of the game. Removing them was mostly due to making the tough decisions that were best for the game.

NWR: Why were the characters Voxel and Kinetic dropped from the roster?

DA: While no longer a playable character, Voxel still plays a role as the brains behind the outfit. He functions as mission control for the team and is seen and heard throughout the story. As for Kinetic, you'll have to watch the Webisodes and collect the hidden audio tapes to learn more of his fate. (He’s still a Spyborgs, just not the way he was originally…)

As part of the decisions to make Spyborgs an awesome brawler, we needed to ensure our three playable heroes had appreciably different brawling styles. While it goes deeper than this, put simply: Stinger – medium power, medium speed, ranged attack; Clandestine – light power, super fast, precision combat; Bouncer – heavy power, a bit slower, area effect and knockback attacks.

In addition to the variety in gameplay styles, we also wanted to go deep with the upgrades and the variety of combos. We have unique special moves for each combo of heroes against each enemy and against each of the bosses. You start expanding that out to four or five characters and all the different combinations and it becomes either impossible to achieve some of those goals or the variety gets watered down. We knew we could maximize the depth and variety with those three and that meant Voxel and Kinetic had to find new homes.

NWR: Who's your favorite character?

DA: That's like asking a parent to name a favorite child. As much as I love Bouncer and Clandestine, I have to go with Stinger. When his ranged combat got in there and we started tuning his heavy and light attack combos, he really brings something new to this style of brawler. Slamming enemies around with his tractor beam weapon doesn't hurt either. Using it to grab onto Eighty-Six's arm and getting that big robot to punch itself in the face never gets old.

NWR: Were the co-op finisher moves planned from the beginning?

DA: We had the concept of a team attack in there from the beginning. The original was more of a single move each hero would do when fully powered to trigger a screen-clearing bomb. The original game had a lot more breadth and found its variety richness in other things. With brawling as the focus, we went deep with the team attacks and now have over 50 of these unique, cinematic, special attack combos.

NWR: Did the team ever consider online co-op multiplayer?

DA: It was often up for discussion, but we had to weigh the cost of implementing it against the benefit of all the other cool stuff we could do with that same amount of time. Doing online and making sure it doesn't feel tacked on is not cheap. We wanted to make sure we nailed gamers' first experience with Spyborgs and so we dedicated all our effort more into polishing and expanding upon complimentary gameplay features. Should a Spyborgs sequel roll around, there's a good chance you can count on an equally robust online component.

NWR: How are boss fights integrated into the game, and what makes them unique?

DA: Like your classic brawler, there's a boss commanding each section of the game world. Battle your way through all the stages and that chapter climaxes at its boss battle. The bosses really gave the game a chance to show off what the engine can do. I have no doubt Wii gamers will sit back in awe having not seen bosses this big or battles as intense as some in Spyborgs. A lot of games also disable special attacks in their boss battles. Spyborgs not only lets you keep all your upgrades and use all your special moves, but we also give you unique ways to use them against the bosses and customize the special co-op attacks to each boss. You don't just swing your sword at Eighty-Six, you climb up him, drive your sword into his mechanic eye, and back flip off of him back into battle.

NWR: Your staff includes former Insomniac, High Impact, and Blizzard employees. Is there anything that your staff learned from their experiences at those other developers that directly influenced the design or development of Spyborgs?

DA: Can I say everything? I was constantly surprised at all the tricks they'd pull out with how they built the environments, how they pushed the hardware with the lighting and particle effects. Fans of Rachet and Clank games will definitely feel a signature style in the way the characters move and just how much fun it is to run around breaking everything. The collectible system, the unlockables, and all the extras added to enhance replay definitely came from their experience working at those top development studios. It was a great experience working with those guys.

NWR: What games inspired you guys during the making of Spyborgs?

DA: There must have been two or three different games in the game room every week. I saw everything from Zelda and Mario to see how Nintendo did certain graphics effects or how they implemented motion; games like Devil May Cry and other Capcom classics to ensure elements that made Spyborgs feel true to a Capcom game; well-known games like God of War and Ninja Gaiden for the strengths and weakness of their combat systems and cinematic boss battles; all the way to some of the most obscure games that I would have never heard of if not for all the research these guys did. If I could only remember who that dual-sword wielding bikini cowgirl was… What was her name?

NWR: What’s next for Bionic Games?

DA: You already know the pedigree of that team and you can see the quality of their work in Spyborgs. No doubt there is promising stuff in their future. If I revealed their secrets now I'd probably wake up tonight with Bouncer staring down at me, only to be found later somehow stuffed inside of a can of dog food. I still have a few more games in me. I'd rather not suffer such a fate any sooner than I need to.

NWR: Any final thoughts you want to offer our readers?

DA: Third party developers are at last figuring out the Wii. We're seeing some pretty good games for the system as teams focus on the hardware and stop shoveling **** at it. Action gamers have been waiting for a brawler that uses the motion controls right and shows what the Wii hardware is really capable of. Don't believe me? Then look at all the games that this team has worked on in the past (Insomniac, Blizzard, etc.) and who's publishing this game (Capcom). And if that doesn't excite you, then sell all your games and systems now. You'll need the money to pay for your therapy sessions! Trust me, you’ll be happy to add Spyborgs not just to your library of Wii games, but to the collection of all your favorites.

Thanks to Daryl Allison and Capcom for the interview!