When Famitsu interviewed Keiji Inafune (of Mega Man fame) about the upcoming collaboration between Capcom and Level 5, he said he was nearly convinced Level 5’s request for a joint game would be shot down.
"I thought it would be impossible," he said in the interview (which has been translated, thanks to the good folks at Eurogamer).
Inafune told Famitsu he was surprised Phoenix Wright’s director, Shu Takumi, gave the proposal a green light.
"Phoenix Wright is handled very carefully within Capcom," Inafune said, while also jokingly implying stubbornness on Takumi’s part, telling Famitsu, he "doesn’t listen to what people say."
According to Famitsu, Inafune’s Capcom colleague, Akihiro Hino, is the person who convinced Takumi to not only go along with the project, but to take the role of the scenario writer for the game.
"Nobody but Hino could have thought of it," Inafune said. "In a sense, we’re rivals, so usually you wouldn’t want to do this sort of thing…"
Inafune emphasized the notion that Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright isn’t just a one-sided affair, with both names slapped on.
"It wasn’t a case of licensing out the Phoenix Wright characters and demanding our license money. That isn’t a collaboration, and users would see that. For this standalone game, we wanted to create a great history, which would have been impossible if both parties were not fully involved," Inafune told Famitsu.
For more information and the entire interview, jump on over to Eurogamer.
Here’s the trailer, in case you missed it.
