Onimusha: Way of the Sword director Satoru Nihei says Super Mario Odyssey influenced how he approached the tactile feel of Capcom’s samurai action game. The connection came from Nintendo’s ability to make movement easy to understand while still leaving room for more demanding play.
Nihei discussed the unlikely inspiration in an interview with Swedish outlet FZ conducted at Gamescom 2026. Asked to name one game whose mechanics or action inspired his work, he chose Super Mario Odyssey rather than another sword-focused action title.
Why Super Mario Odyssey stood out
Nihei described Super Mario Odyssey as an action game that is simple to enter but contains more dynamic and challenging elements below the surface. He also praised Nintendo’s ability to build that progression without making the starting point difficult to grasp.
His most specific example concerned the relationship between an action and its counter-reaction. In Odyssey, Nihei said, an action such as a jump is usually followed by a corresponding response such as gravity and landing. He identified the resulting tactile control feel as an influence when deciding how Onimusha should respond to player input.
That comparison is about control philosophy, not a claim that the two games share the same mechanics. Nihei’s answer points to an accessible foundation, immediate feedback and added depth as qualities he wanted to carry into a very different type of action game.
How the idea connects to Onimusha’s combat
Elsewhere in the same interview, Nihei described a dynamic dismemberment system designed around the path of the player’s sword. He said the feature was not included simply to make the game look more violent. Instead, the team wanted it to reinforce the power and weight of critical Issen attacks and make mastery feel rewarding.
That explanation gives context to his Mario answer. The shared design concern is the clarity of the player’s action and the response that follows it. In Onimusha, the sword’s path, the exact point of impact and the result of a critical strike are intended to communicate that relationship through combat.
Gundam influenced the character direction
Series producer Akihito Kadowaki offered a separate inspiration. After briefly considering Silent Hill f, he chose the Gundam series and singled out Gundam Versus. Kadowaki said he had invested considerable time and money in it, but the element that influenced his Onimusha work was character design rather than control design.
Kadowaki highlighted Gundam’s charismatic, deep characters and the way they drive its stories. He said he wanted to bring that strength into the new Onimusha. Together, the two answers show different priorities behind the project: Nihei focused on tactile action and readable reactions, while Kadowaki looked to a long-running franchise for memorable personalities.
What the interview establishes
The primary-source interview supports a precise conclusion: Super Mario Odyssey informed Nihei’s thinking about tactile controls, while Gundam informed Kadowaki’s approach to characters. It does not mean Onimusha reproduces either game. The developers identified particular design qualities and explained how those qualities shaped their own work.
