It came as something of a pleasant surprise when Star Fox Zero was officially announced and it was revealed that Platinum Games was to be involved in the production. The studio that's made itself famous by producing over the top action games such as Bayonetta seems to be exactly what the dormant Star Fox series needs, and it will be interesting to see how this different team puts its unique stamp on this classic Nintendo franchise.

Gamespot recently caught up with Yusuke Hashimoto – director of Bayonetta 2 and a co-director for Star Fox Zero – and talked a bit about the upcoming arcade shooter and what it was like working with Nintendo. The seeds of this collaboration were planted in Bayonetta 2, which had its fair share of Nintendo cameos and references. One such reference was placing players in control of an Arwing for a particular shooting stage in the game, which wowed Nintendo executives enough during a stage presentation that they invited Platinum Games to contribute to an in development Star Fox game.

Hideki Kamiya – a director and producer for various projects from the studio – has long since expressed desire to make a Star Fox game, but when Nintendo made its offer, he was too busy developing Scalebound. Hashimoto was happy to pick it up in his stead and remarked on how "stimulating" it is working with Shigeru Miyamoto and his team, highlighting how the team over at Platinum Games has learned a lot over the course of development.

When talking about the rather divisive dual screen set-up of the games controls, he talked about how it's a new concept to both teams and that they enjoy the process of figuring out how to make it fun.

Thinking about how we can make it fun, how we can make it interesting, that's something that neither side really has [done]. It's just new for both of us. That's where you get stimulated: what ideas, what can we do there? It's always fun to think about. We've been working with action games long enough. We understand how the players play an action game, how they respond to an action game, how they'll move, what they'll do in the situational stuff. What we're making here now, it's totally a new learning experience for us, which is kind of fun to find out.

Additionally, it seems that Star Fox Zero may not be the only project coming to Wii U by Platinum Games. Apparently, the team was "cheeky" when asked about the possibility of a Bayonetta 3.

What do you think? Are you looking forward to Star Fox Zero? What unique elements do you think Platinum Games will add to the experience? Share your thoughts in the comments below.