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[zigg]

Not a lot of you have probably heard of Big Bang Mini, but I've had my eye on it since SouthPeak announced it this past E3. It's from French studio Arkedo, who did 2007's Nervous Brickdown, a game I had a lot of fun with.

Anyway, for BBM, I interviewed Arkedo's Camille Guermonprez. Camille's pretty infectiously enthusiastic. Here's a few of my favorite quotes:

One other thing about Yubaba, the music guys. Last year, Nervous Brickdown won the Best Game for Portable Console award in France, and they only got nominated for Best Soundtrack. For Big Bang Mini, it was the opposite: they won the music award, and BBM was only nominated for best game. So they bragged a bit about it during our Friday lunches, and we had to explain to them that they were starting to grow white hair and that one day eventually they would die.

So you move your ship with the stylus (for bullet dodging, mostly).
And you also use your stylus to shoot fireworks at the baddies, just like striking a match. You can shoot any direction, as long as it's upwards.

So, one other thing that I've wondering since the PR started coming out: how does the "Final Bouquet" work, exactly?

It's a connect-the-dot thing. We love connect-the-dots. (smiles)

...hey, don't leave!

Have you ever tried my personal GOTY contender, Soul Bubbles?

Mmm... look in the credits of Soul Bubbles, I guess you may find a clue. (grins)

Full interview

Here's a few screenshots for those of you who haven't seen the game yet. More in our gallery.

 

[fushi]

Interesting interview.

I am not big into stylus-heavy games, but I really liked Nervous Brickdown and it's pretty awesome to hear that it did so well (100k units). Big Bang Mini is looking even cooler and I'll definitely be picking that up too.

 

[zigg]

I am not big into stylus-heavy games, but I really liked Nervous Brickdown and it's pretty awesome to hear that it did so well (100k units). Big Bang Mini is looking even cooler and I'll definitely be picking that up too.

If done right, I like stylus-heavy games. BBM's still an unknown quantity, but I liked NB too (obviously)--I've got faith thus far.

One of the neater things I've heard, while SouthPeak's been putting out little tidbits every so often about the worlds, is that in one world you can draw a spiral to create a vortex that sucks bullets. This is the kind of thing I love doing.

 

[zigg]

C3 has their own interview up now.

AR: Is there anything else you would say to convince gamers to buy Big Bang Mini?

CG: Well, we have lived with BBM for 18 months now and usually it would now be the time where you just start to hate your game and cannot see it anymore. Yet we still play it with a smile, so we are cautiously confident the game is good. Our goal was to present something fresh to manic shooter players; an experience they could not have anywhere else, while at the same time introducing other players, hopefully truckloads of them, to a cheerful, easy-to-pick-up shmup on the DS. With fireworks!

 

[Mejilan]

Looks kinda neat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx0ffwDZDys
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0PghOje9Hk&feature=related

 

[jesusraz]

Camille also said it would be good to do Big Bang Mini on Wii, plus Arkedo's next project is definitely on Wii.

Cheers for linking to the interview

 

[zigg]

Camille also said it would be good to do Big Bang Mini on Wii, plus Arkedo's next project is definitely on Wii.

It was either that or some unknown Nintendo hardware, he told us that it was not DS but still Nintendo.

Dunno if anyone noticed, but according to a post here, it got the second-best review in the latest Nintendo Power, behind only Rock Band 2. (8.5/9.0)

 

[jesusraz]

Yeah, not much of a secret, right? :lol Good to see it getting a good review already...I never actually tired Nervous Brickdown, so might have to give it a whirl at some point.

 

[Hive]

Great interview raz! ^o^ I think i'll also look into getting Nervous Brickdown after reading that~ Arkanoid DS just isn't enough