Bayonetta

Bayonetta
Studio	Platinum Games Nex Entertainment (PS3)
Publisher	Sega (Xbox 360, PS3, PC) Nintendo (Wii U, Nintendo Switch)
Senior Developer	Hideki Kamiya
Erstveröffent- lichung	Xbox 360, PlayStation 3: October 29, 2009 January 5, 2010 January 7, 2010 January 8, 2010 Wii U: September 20, 2014 October 24, 2014 October 24, 2014 Microsoft Windows: April 11, 2017 Nintendo Switch: February 16 2018 PlayStation 4: February 18, 2018
platform	Xbox 360 , PlayStation 3 , Wii U , Microsoft Windows , Nintendo Switch , PlayStation 4
Game engine	CRI Middleware Co., Ltd
genre	Hack and Slay
Game mode	Single player
control	Gamepad , mouse and keyboard (Microsoft Windows), Joy-Con (Nintendo Switch)
system advantages preconditions	Windows 7 or newer, Core i3 3220, 4 GB RAM, 768 MB graphics card (Radeon HD6950 or GeForce GTX 570), DirectX 9.0c, 20 GB storage space
medium	DVD-ROM , Blu-Ray , download
language	Voice output: English, Japanese Text language: German, English, French, Italian, Japanese, Spanish
copy protection	Steamworks
Age rating	USK PEGI
PEGI content rating

Bayonetta ( Jap. ベヨネッタ , Beyonetta ) is one of Platinum Games -developed action - video game from the Hack-and-Slay genre of which by Sega for the game consoles Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 has been released. It was first published in Japan on October 29, 2009. The publication in Europe and the USA took place in January 2010. Worldwide it has already been sold more than 1.1 million times across platforms (status: February 2010). On October 24, 2014, the successor Bayonetta 2 was released exclusively for the Nintendo Wii U , as well as a Wii-U version of the first part. On April 11, 2017, a PC version of Bayonetta was released on Steam unannounced . At the Games Award 2017 in Los Angeles, the game was announced along with the successor for the Nintendo Switch and released on February 16, 2018. Bayonetta is only available as a download code.

Game mechanics

Bayonetta is a single player - third-person - Action Game . The combat system is similar to that of the game Devil May Cry , which was also developed by Director Hideki Kamiya . The player controls a witch named Bayonetta, a survivor of the medieval witch hunts, who uses melee and ranged attacks, complex combo chains and many different weapons to eliminate angelic opponents as stylishly as possible. At the beginning of the game, she has four pistols at her disposal: two in her hands and two on her feet. With these she whirls through the levels and kills the opponents with crazy movements. With gold records , which are hidden and partly to be found in individual parts in each chapter, new weapons such as a shotgun , a katana and a whip can be unlocked and then placed on their arms and legs in various combinations.

Special actions such as executions and special "torture attacks" in which Bayonetta uses many different devices such as a chainsaw and torture instruments of the Inquisition such as the Iron Maiden cause devastating damage to the enemy. Opponent's weapons can be picked up and used, but will wear out and break over time. Bayonetta's strongest weapon is her hair: in short quick-time events , it becomes gigantic fists, boots or monster-like demons that can torture and even devour opponents.

Bayonetta also has the unique but limited ability: to slow down the time with the witch time and thus inflict massive damage on the opponents without them being able to defend themselves. This ability is activated for a short period of time if it dodges enemy attacks in time. The player can reach special heights with a double jump, dodge backflips and destroy background objects and doors. The camera can be rotated freely, enemies can be marked and weapons can be changed while playing.

With unlockable transformations, Bayonetta can transform into other living beings, such as a panther , and thus improve her skills for the duration of the transformation. Permanent lollipops in different colors can heal Bayonetta, replenish their magic or increase their power. Many enemies and objects left behind after its destruction haloes , similar to the rings of the Sonic-the-Hedgehog -Play. These halos are the game's currency and can be used to purchase items, techniques, and weapon upgrades at Rodin's Jazzbar, Entrance to Hell .

The game is divided into several chapters and verses. Depending on how well the player finishes a verse, he receives a stone, bronze, silver, gold, platinum or pure platinum medal for it . Some of the medals can only be achieved by deviating from the normal gameplay and by mastering challenges in certain areas that are not necessary for advancement in the game and telling the story. At the end of each chapter, a final score and award is given based on the medals earned in the entire chapter. The calculation also includes how many items were used and how often the player saw the game-over screen .

A mini- game can be played between the chapters . In Angel Attack , the player uses a limited number of balls on a slot machine that he has previously found in the main levels to shoot angels and earn points. These points can be exchanged for items or halos.

The game can be played in five levels of difficulty: very easy , easy , normal , difficult , non-stop climax . An automatic mode can be switched to light and very light . This makes it possible to play the game with just one hand: The game controls the character Bayonetta, and the player only has to press the button at certain points. Of course, he can still take control of Bayonetta at any time and start his own movements and attacks.

Game world

The world of Bayonetta is futuristic and, in the broadest sense, based on the real world. In it there are three dimensions of the world: Inferno, Paradiso and the human world. These three are connected by another dimension that only magical beings can enter: Purgatorio . What happens in Purgatorio has an impact on every other dimension.

In this world, the Umbra Witches and the Lumen Sages have always striven for a balance of forces between good and evil. So the Umbra Witches stood for the dark, the Lumen Sages for the light. But 500 years ago, an incident between the clans sparked a war that sealed the fate of the Lumen Sages and made them disappear from the scene. Shortly thereafter, large-scale witch persecutions of the residents of Paradisos led to the extermination of the Umbra witch clan. So the history of both clans and their treasures fell into oblivion to the eyes of the world .

action

At the beginning of the game, an informant named Enzo meets Bayonetta - a witch who rose from the bottom of a lake twenty years ago and has little memories of her past. Enzo informs them of the possible whereabouts of the person who is supposed to have the right eye . Half of two that together make the eyes of the world . Bayonetta goes in search of the right eye and hopes through it to regain her lost memories. The trail leads to a town called Vigrid. There Bayonetta is confronted with Jeanne, another Umbra witch, who has apparently sided with the angels. She also meets a young man named Luka, nicknamed Cheshire by Bayonetta , who persecutes her because he believes she was responsible for his father's death.

After fighting her way through Vigrid, Bayonetta meets Fortitudo , the cardinal of valor. He is one of four cardinal virtues . After he is defeated, Fortitudo reveals that he is only a sacrifice for Jubileus , the Creator, whom the angels want to resurrect. After crossing the Sunset Valley, Bayonetta finds Jeanne and Temperantia, the cardinal virtue of moderation. A fight breaks out between the two Umbra witches, which Bayonetta wins. However, Jeanne can flee. Bayonetta meets a lost girl named Cereza, who is carrying a stuffed cat named Cheshire . To Bayonetta's frustration, the child believes she is her mother and follows her. Bayonetta defends her from attacking angels, but then leaves her in Luka's care to defeat Temperantia. To continue the search for the right eye , she follows Luka and Cereza on Route 666 to reach Isla del Sol , but ends up stuck in Paradiso. After her flight from Paradiso, she fights and defeats Justitia , the cardinal virtue of justice.

Luka suggests reaching Isla del Sol with the help of a Valkyrie jet that flies to the island. You lose Cereza in the jet. Bayonetta is looking for her, but instead meets Jeanne again, who brings her back into a fight. Bayonetta also leaves this victorious. During the fight, however, the jet was shot down by the last cardinal virtue, Sapientia, virtue of wisdom, and is about to crash into the sea. Bayonetta finds Cereza and escapes the crashing jet. She hands the girl over to Luka and then attacks Sapientia, who, after her defeat, tells Bayonetta that the left eye that Bayonetta already believes she has is just a worthless stone. After the fight, Bayonetta, Luka and Cereza set out in a helicopter to Isla del Sol .

Once on the island, they are confronted again with Jeanne, who reveals that Bayonetta is the child of an Umbra witch and a Lumen sage. A circumstance that was strictly forbidden by both clans, since according to a legend this would bring disaster to the world. Jeanne tells her that for this reason, letting Bayonetta live would be a danger to the world that she could not accept. In the decisive battle, Jeanne is defeated and tells Bayonetta that the reason she has the Left Eye is because she has accepted her fate to bring disaster to the world. Bayonetta hands Jeanne the gemstone that she always carried with her and suddenly she can remember. She lived 500 years ago, her real name is Cereza and Jeanne was once her friend. It was Jeanne who sealed her in the lake and gave her the gemstone for her protection. However, the reunification of the two friends did not last long: Jeanne protects Bayonetta from an approaching rocket and thus sacrifices herself for her.

When Bayonetta meets Luka and Cereza again, Cereza suddenly hears a familiar voice and claims that it is her father who is speaking there. Bayonetta follows her and meets Father Balder , the last of the Lumen Sages. Balder reveals that he is Bayonetta's father and wants to unite the three universes, Inferno, Paradiso and the human world by resurrecting Jubileus , the Creator. To do that, he needs the eyes of the world , and one of those eyes is Bayonetta herself. Balder explains that due to the loss of her memory, Bayonetta was unable to awaken the Left Eye . Cereza, the little girl who followed her, is really Bayonetta herself. Her younger self was part of the plan to get her to remember. Balder goes on to say that he brainwashed Jeanne to get her to obey him and use her as a tool. At this point, Bayonetta attacks and defeats him.

After the fight, Bayonetta uses her ability to manipulate time and opens a time portal to bring her young self, Cereza, back to her time. As a result, she regains all of her memories and passes out. A seemingly uninjured Balder reappears and claims that the left eye has awakened. He brings her to the top of the tower on which the jubilee statue stands and places it in the left eye. He himself takes the place of the right eye . The tower collapses, revealing a missile that shoots the statue with Bayonetta and Balder into space.

While Bayonetta is caught in the eye and Jubileus wakes up, Jeanne suddenly appears again. The gem that Bayonetta gave her solved Balder's brainwashing, and she was able to protect herself from the impacting bullets. She pulls Bayonetta out of the statue's eye. Jubileus awakens and consumes Balder. Bayonetta and Jeanne can defeat the deity in an ultimate battle, partly because without Bayonetta as his left eye , Jubileus did not have the power of the inferno and was not awakened to full strength. The epilogue shows the two Umbra witches fighting with angels.

development

Platinum Games began developing Bayonetta in 2007 under the direction of Hideki Kamiya . They developed the Xbox 360 version, while Nex Entertainment, with Platinum Games' support and with the original game data, ported the title for the PlayStation 3. The Japanese game publisher Sega took over the distribution of both versions. Mari Shimazaki created the game characters and Hiroshi Yamaguchi composed the soundtrack.

The Wii-U version features special costumes for Bayonetta from Nintendo franchises, including Super Mario , The Legend of Zelda, and Metroid . The game supports touchscreen controls and off-TV play, which is made possible by the Wii U GamePad . Furthermore, the player can choose between the English and the original Japanese voice output. The port was released together with Bayonetta 2 in October 2014.

marketing

In collaboration with the men's magazine Maxim, Sega started a competition looking for a woman who looks as similar to Bayonetta as possible. Andrea Bonaccorso won it. In addition to the normal version of the game, a 'Climax Edition' was also released in England, France, Spain and Australia. In addition to the game, this contained the soundtrack 'Rodin's Selection' and an art book . In Australia and most European territories, a replica of the Scarborough Fair, a weapon used by Bayonetta in the game, was also included. Japanese pop singer MiChi sang the song "Something Missing," which was written for a bayonetta commercial and posted on the game's official website. On November 4, 2009, the official soundtrack for the game, which consisted of five CDs with 150 songs, was released in Japan . On October 22, 2009, the book Bayonetta: Witch of Vigrid was published in Japan. It includes illustrations of the main character and "interviews" with her.

reception

The computer game press received the game positively, with the PlayStation 3 version being viewed as less mature; According to Matt Leone of the website 1up.com, the advantages of the Xbox version are clearer graphics, smoother movement and shorter loading times. 4Players also gave the Xbox 360 version a rare platinum award with 93%, but the PlayStation 3 version still received 89%. The "visual creativity" and "breathless action" are praised here. In fact, only the Xbox 360 version was developed by Platinum Games itself, the PlayStation 3 version is only a port of the Xbox 360 version, which was made by a Sega-internal development studio. In retrospect, Platinum Games considered the unsuccessful porting to be a big mistake. The Japanese magazine Famitsu and the English magazine Edge each awarded one of their rare highest ratings.

successor

→ Main article : Bayonetta 2

Atsushi Inaba (producer, left) and Yusuke Hashimoto (director, right) at E3 2013.

At a conference on September 13, 2012, Nintendo announced a successor. Bayonetta 2 was developed by Platinum Games, Nintendo took over the publication. Platinum Games President Atsushi Inaba acted as producer, Yusuke Hashimoto as director and series founder Hideki Kamiya as supervisor. At E3 2013, Bayonetta 2 was presented for the first time with video material and was playable for trade fair visitors. The game was released exclusively for the Wii U in October 2014 . Since February 2018, however, both titles have also been available as a remaster for the Nintendo Switch.

On December 8, 2017, another successor as "Bayonetta 3" became exclusive during the Game Awards 2017. announced for Nintendo Switch.

Web links

• Official website (German)
• Official Website (Japanese)
• Bayonetta at MobyGames (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.onlinegamesdatenbank.de/index.php?section=game&gameid=31459
2. ↑ Bayonetta sales figures ( Memento of the original from April 12, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ Average rating of the Xbox 360 version on metacritic.com
4. ↑ Average rating of the PlayStation 3 version on metacritic.com
5. ↑ 1up.com, Matt Leone ( Memento of the original from January 6, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
6. ↑ [1]
7. ^ 1up.com, Kat Bailey
8. ^ Computerandvideogames.com, Andy Robinson
9. ↑ Announced exclusively for Wii U: Bayonetta 2.