Meet the new Wii U exclusive that proves the console's future is bright

There's a little corner of Cardiff that's forever Kyoto. Here, in spitting distance of Cardiff University and within the sprawling student district of the Welsh capital, lies Dakko Dakko, a little cauldron of colour hidden in an otherwise drab office block. Leave your shoes at the doors and you enter a small, busy space, decorated with bright tatami and candy-pastel Mario toys.And at the far corner you'll find Rhodri Broadbent, a man whose heart's been touched by the Japanese city. He's had a fascinating career, has Broadbent - having worked at Lionhead on the first Fable, the Welsh developer moved out there to join Q-Games, where he got to meet Shigeru Miyamoto while working on Star Fox Command."It was possibly the most embarrassing moment in my life," blushes Broadbent. "Because everyone knew that I was a Nintendo fan - well, everyone was a Nintendo fan at Q, but there was a focus on me."And then the producer says to Miyamoto 'I asked Rhod why he moved to Kyoto, and he says it's because of Nintendo'. Everyone started laughing, Miyamoto did his humble thing - and I just collapsed in my chair. I crumpled up into a ball, and then realised I was crumpling into a ball in front of Miyamoto. That must have been strange for him."Broadbent's more than a Nintendo fanboy, though. In his life post Q-Games he's set up his own outfit, Dakko Dakko, a studio responsible for a brace of games whose titles are as long-winded as their play is simple: The 2D Adventures of Rotating Octopus Character was a well-defined PlayStation Mini, the follow-up Floating Cloud God Saves the Pilgrims an undisputed highlight of Sony's humble service."Towards the end of Cloud God we started to get a bit more ambitious," explains Broadbent. "We thought we can't just keep doing the same development cycle, so we'll have to do something that takes a bit longer." And so Broadbent followed his heart. "I just shot off an email to Nintendo - which was a bit blasé - but they said yeah, you can come and develop for our platform."

The Nintendo difference

When it comes to big console companies embracing indies, Broadbent's got a clear-minded view. "Mid-tier developers have had a hard time the last few years, so they need to start fostering the smaller ones to become the new mid-tier - and to recreate the games industry - if they want to have a games console industry."
So what's Nintendo's support like compared to Sony's, a company that's famously good when it comes to dealing with smaller developers? "I wasn't expecting it to be there in the same way that it was with Sony, and it turns out that it is there. Sony's forums are slightly more advanced, and more busy, but the general feeling is that Nintendo's at the same level. Mostly it's in game design - they're intrigued and interested in what you're bringing to the platform, and they have interesting questions. With us they've been very involved and interested in what we're doing."

http://images.eurogamer.net/2013/art...x-1/quality/91Rhodri Broadbent and his octopus friend.

A brilliantly bold move, and it's one that paid off. A meeting was set at GDC last year, the scheduled ten minute chat blossoming into over an hour of shared enthusiasm, and what was once a 3DS project evolving into an all-new game for Nintendo's Wii U. "Yeah, that was a good day," deadpans Broadbent.Aligning itself with the Wii U has meant that Dakko Dakko has had to scale up its operation, moving away from the living room that birthed its first two games and into an office space with room for new recruits. Like Broadbent, they're a bunch with an impeccable track record - Dan Croucher of Relentless joins the team, as does Soul Bubbles and Perfect Cell programmer Thomas Volbrecht, while Gary Lucken of Army of Trolls fame, the creator of some astounding pixel art who lent his talents to Floating Cloud God, returns.

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