Bayonetta

An automatic mode lets players pull off advanced combos with one button. Bayonetta 2 has an automatic mode that performs advanced moves and combos from a single button, and a mode that can be played with one hand.

It is held up as the standard for complex games: even a studio making rich systems makes sure first-time players and players with motor disabilities have a good experience, lowering physical demand without changing the game's goals.

Top medals demand the systems casual play can ignore. Bayonetta's Pure Platinum medals need complex combos, fast chaining, taunts and dodge offset, so experts play "in a fundamentally different way to a novice, button-bashing scrub."

Scores that require the full mechanic set reveal new ways to play rather than just rewarding fewer mistakes.

Optional grades can discourage players and leave the depth unseen. Players complain about being "slapped down with a crappy grade" after a run that felt successful in Platinum games. And because Bayonetta can be finished by button bashing, many players never learn combos, chains or dodge offset.

The lessons drawn: think about when and how a score is revealed, and don't rely on optional scores alone to deliver the experience you most want players to see.

Scoring turns mastery into a goal while novices still finish. Platinum's scoring (shared with Clover) rewards combos, variety and fast successive kills and subtracts points for damage taken. Novices can button-mash through for poor grades while experts chase better ones.

Mark Brown calls scoring "the most important part of all" of what masters need, alongside very hard modes like Vanquish's God Hard and expert challenges.

Cancelling into a dodge anytime makes combat free-flowing, not easier. Bayonetta lets players cancel any move into a dodge, unlike Dark Souls, which locks out dodging during a swing. That makes Bayonetta "very free-flowing and non-committal."

With free cancelling, enemies can be more aggressive, joining in midway through finishers because they don't wait for the player to finish.

Witch Time rewards a last-second dodge with slow motion. Dodging at the last second triggers slow-motion Witch Time, a reward that gives an advantage without ending the fight like an instant-kill counter.

It is cited among ways to stop parries turning combat into "a waiting game," alongside Nioh's tight window and God of War's stun.

Sound and weapon glints warn of incoming strikes amid busy visuals. Bayonetta signals enemy attacks with audio cues and glints on the enemy's weapon, on top of exaggerated anticipation frames.

An automatic mode lets players pull off advanced combos with one button. Bayonetta 2 has an automatic mode that performs advanced moves and combos from a single button, and a mode that can be played with one hand.

It is held up as the standard for complex games: even a studio making rich systems makes sure first-time players and players with motor disabilities have a good experience, lowering physical demand without changing the game's goals.

Every Platinum game is built to be fun from button-masher to master. Platinum designs for learners who brute force encounters, players who find combinations, and masters who find techniques the tutorial never mentions, all using the same base mechanics.

Producer Atsushi Inaba argues the novice experience matters because ignoring those players means "you run a risk of becoming niche." In Vanquish, novices hide behind walls, take pot shots and use the rocket slide as a roadie run between cover, while risky AR Mode is too dangerous to overuse.

Treat the first playthrough as a tutorial and let spectacle carry novices. Hideki Kamiya says the entire first playthrough of The Wonderful 101 is something like a tutorial, and "the real game begins the second time through."

This can make Platinum's games look cold and standoffish to newcomers. Crazy animations and set pieces keep novices having a good time while players who invest are rewarded.

Looking and feeling awesome is its own reward for mastery. Beyond scores, Platinum fans master its games for "the ability to look and feel awesome when you play." The gap between a novice and an expert Vanquish player is plain to see.

Depth comes from combining few mechanics, not adding more of them. Bayonetta has only punch and kick, but pressing them in different orders, sometimes with a pause, makes stronger attacks. Vanquish chains rocket slides, AR Mode and melee while the suit's heat limit forces constant shifts between attack and defence.

Mark Brown separates depth (getting more out of basic mechanics through combination, timing and positioning) from breadth (new mechanics or unlocks). Metal Gear Rising's blade mode can start anytime, but a full meter and an injured enemy unlock Zandatsu. The aim: "the more you put in, the more you get out."

Leave advanced techniques out of the tutorial for masters to discover. Bayonetta's dodge offset lets players dodge mid-combo without breaking the combo or score streak. Vanquish's boost-dodging cancels a rocket slide into a dodge, covering huge ground nearly invulnerable without overheating.

These are not new features but skilled uses of existing mechanics: boost-dodging works because the slide doesn't heat the suit for its first split second. Other Vanquish tricks include flicking between guns to speed a reload and shooting grenades mid-air in slow-mo for massive splash damage.

Scoring turns mastery into a goal while novices still finish. Platinum's scoring (shared with Clover) rewards combos, variety and fast successive kills and subtracts points for damage taken. Novices can button-mash through for poor grades while experts chase better ones.

Mark Brown calls scoring "the most important part of all" of what masters need, alongside very hard modes like Vanquish's God Hard and expert challenges.

Readable scores with grades teach players how to improve. Platinum usually pairs complex but readable scoring with grades or medals, which teaches the advanced strategies. Vanquish broke this with a bare number, and few players know what raises it.

Vanquish's score seems tied to kills, headshots, time and cover used. "Vanquish just gives you a number with no context."