Windjammers 2 Devs Talk New Characters, Controls, and Dog Distance

The inside scoop on the awaited Windjammers sequel.

In case you’re too young to remember (or to have lived through) 1994, Windjammers was once the hot name on a select few arcade goers’ lips. Before 2016, however the disc launching, hockey-like had largely fallen out of memory, save for a few arcade collectors and “what was that game called again?” pub ventures. Since then Dotemu has revitalised the series, with their port of an arcade classic hitting PS Vita, PS4, and Nintendo Switch consoles.

Now they’re turning their attention to a sequel and the much anticipated Windjammers 2 is on the horizon. We caught up with Arnaud De Sousa at EGX and learned all about progress on the second instalment.

Windjammers 1 was a fairly simple game in terms of controls. How did you guys tackle adding new things while still maintain that easy to pick up simplicity?

So we released the first Windjammers on PS4, PS Vita and Switch. That’s about right. During that time we spent a lot of time just trying to get a better understanding of how everything works. Because the game looks simplistic but really isn’t. There’s a lot of stuff going on under the hood. From the way the frisbee moves to the way the character moves. The way the game balances itself that you don’t see on the screen but is happening in the background. And for us, when working on Windjammers 2, it was really important to reproduce the feeling. Because it’s a new Windjammers game, so its important that you still have that feeling that your playing Windjammers. So that was the foundation set, we really wanted the feeling that when you pick up the controller you go “okay, this is Windjammers”.

But afterwards, we built upon it. How we work is that we try new stuff. Does it work? Okay, good. Does it follow Windjammer’s philosophy of easy to learn but hard to master? And does it work well with the original gameplay and the original mechanics? And does it make sense? And is it fun? And if the new mechanic works with all of that, then yeah it’s a keeper. And then we try another thing. So we try another thing and there’s a lot of back and forth. And that’s pretty much it.

Will all of the previous Windjammer characters be returning, or is it a mix of old and new contestants?

At the moment it’s a mix of new and old but I can’t say anymore than that.

So far, who is your favorite new character to play?

So my personal character is Mika. I do like Max because at the moment because, [laughs] okay, so the game is not balanced at the moment and Max is really overpoweringly strong.

Is Max the Canadian one?

Yes, Max is the Canadian wrestler and he has this really cool design that’s funny. But I think that my favorite new character hasn’t been announced quite yet.

And let’s move away from characters for a moment to talk about stages? What new stages can we expect and what makes them unique?

There are going to be new stages but I can not talk about them quite yet.

So Windjammers 2, very good reception at PAX and Anime EVO. And the game was too early in development to talk about last year, but will Windjammers 2 be replacing the original on the circuit or will they be competing side by side?

We still don’t know, to be honest; we’re still looking into it. We don’t know what we’re going to do but we have a lot of ideas. But at the moment, there is nothing definitive.

So, will this still be using Rollback netcode, like the previous one?

I [laughs] don’t fully know the answer to that yet. We are working on it though.

So back along time ago, when we were talking about the PS4 release of Windjammers, you said part of the reason the game is so endearing to gamers was its unique and authentic 90’s/80’s vibe that not many games have. Did you guys try to recapture that vibe or are you taking it in a different, more modern direction?

We pretty much did both. We still keep that 80’s vibe. But the storyline is 10 years. So it’s a bit different but we still wanted to keep those colorful visuals and everything. And for us, there’s still that retro feeling there but it’s less, like, obvious maybe than the first one. ‘Cause the first one almost looks like a joke, like someone trying to do some 90’s stuff. It’s a bit too obvious. But what’s funny is that at the time, that wasn’t the point. It is what it is because it was made in the 90’s. We try to follow the same aesthetic but we also try to go much further because modern graphics are much different with more options. For example, we’re not using pixel art. So we try to find the right balance between new and old.

Is the Dog Distance mini game coming back? Can you still play with your Dog? And can you tell us a little more about the mini games?

That’s a good question. Actually I don’t know. At the moment we are still working hard on the gameplay, trying to refine it. That was our main focus. Making sure that we get the game and the gameplay right. Because what makes Windjammers what it is, is its gameplay. So for us, its where we are putting all our efforts at the moment, trying to have the best gameplay possible, both having something really Windjammer-y but something as well that goes beyond what we had on the first one. A continued legacy that brings more into it while also keeping that classic feeling. It’s always about finding that right balance. But yeah, that’s what we’re focusing on, so no word on Dog Distance quite yet.

Is there an ETA on the release date?

At the moment, the release date is 2020 but that’s all I can say.

There’s plenty to be excited for with the next chapter in Windjammers. From arcade cabinets to the Nintendo Switch, the series has seen new life from the coding fingers of DotEmu, and it’s certainly on our watch lists for next year. Windjammers is currently available on Switch and PS4, and you can follow the development of its sequel via Twitter at @Dotemu.