Hello everybody! On behalf of our studio Undercoders, and forward of the sport’s launch on July 15, we’re thrilled to offer you an unique in-depth have a look at the primary boss of Denshattack!
Denshattack! is a frenetic trick-based motion sport the place you kickflip, ollie, and grind… as a prepare! Set in a colourful dystopian model of Japan, you have to rack up factors, full goals, and race rivals to turn into one of the best Denshattacker of all time.
We took inspiration from a few of our favourite extreme-sports collection, equivalent to Tony Hawk’s Professional Skater and SSX, and mixed them with the vitality of traditional arcade hits and the fascinating Y2K, colourful, cel-shaded aesthetics seen in video games like Jet Set Radio or Auto Modellista.
Denshattack!’s world is constructed round outsiders
Denshattack! takes place in a future model of Japan the place a local weather disaster has left the wealthy untouchable inside their air-purifying domes, whereas everybody else is pressured to outlive within the undomed wastelands. A rebellious motion referred to as Denshattack has reclaimed the deserted legacy railroad tracks, utilizing them to struggle for recognition in underground duels of velocity, methods, and approach.
Emi, a younger however expert ramen supply lady, discovers Denshattack when she crosses paths with a journalist and units off on an intense journey of discovery, progress, and problem. From the southern lands of Kyushu to the freezing north of Hokkaido, she might want to make her approach throughout Japan, crossing the ruins of the once-powerful railway community, assembly outcasts, studying new strategies, bettering her expertise, and battling native gang leaders.
Gang Bosses: an epic prepare showdown!
When designing the sport, the group had a transparent imaginative and prescient for the story arcs: identical to in a traditional shonen anime, every chapter needed to finish with a catharsis that felt spectacular, making a problem to place all of the newly discovered mechanics to the check.
In Denshattack!, every of Japan’s areas is managed by a gang of outlaws led by a strong fighter. Every gang has its personal visible id, character, vogue, and musical character, straight impressed by Japan’s suburban tradition. These leaders every have their very own motives, signature strikes and secret strategies to offer the right base for a significant boss battle.
However how do you create a boss struggle with trains? Occurring rails could sound like a giant limitation, however when your prepare can defy gravity to leap, wallride, trick, or grind, it could possibly additionally dodge punches, parry projectiles, stomp on a protect, or launch itself in opposition to a mecha with a drive of fifty tons!
Practice-to-train (or train-to-giant-machine) fight seems to be fairly attention-grabbing. And when mixed with a solid of distinctive characters, native folklore, and Japan’s infinite supply of popular culture influences and aesthetics, it opens up loads of alternatives to create unique boss fights.
Kogals Unite! Meet Yoshie from the Dashing Queens
Yoshie is an influencer from Fukuoka whose recognition turned so {powerful} that the federal government branded her a menace. In actuality, they merely concern her affect. Her visible design and bubbly character clearly embody gyaru, a Japanese subculture that challenges conventional Japanese magnificence requirements by centering glamour, quantity, and confidence. You possibly can see this in her hair, make-up, clothes, equipment, and, after all, her prepare.
However most of all, you possibly can see it in her transformation sequence. Paying homage to traditional Sentai exhibits or anime equivalent to Sailor Moon, Yoshie’s prepare joins forces along with her troopers and morphs into an enormous magical girl-esque mecha. The gyaru parts prolong right here too, with bows, stars, and hearts galore.
Each boss struggle follows a traditional construction of various phases, the place gamers must establish patterns, keep away from injury, and search for openings to carry out counter-attacks. On this struggle, Emi first makes use of methods and combos to entry the primary battle, then performs fast rail adjustments to keep away from the punches and makes use of grinds and floor kilos to ship blows to the mecha. All these strategies are launched all through the primary chapter after which put to the check through the struggle.
The extent’s music displays Yoshie too: her battle theme is a collaboration between composer Sean Bialo, main Vocaloid producer Yunosuke, and pop singer (and real-life gyaru idol) Alice Peralta.
Onto the subsequent station!
Our writer, Fireshine Video games, beloved the duel in opposition to Yoshie once we first offered it, however raised an attention-grabbing query: if that is the primary boss struggle and also you’re already battling a large mecha… the place can we go from right here? The one potential reply was: up and past!
Boss fights have been probably the most enjoyable and attention-grabbing design challenges we’ve encountered whereas creating Denshattack!. We’ve been working exhausting to create set items that really feel intense, difficult, unique, stunning, and, above all, memorable.
We will’t wait so that you can play them!
Denshattack! launches on PS5 on July 15.
