Bayonetta is a series known for its bewitching protagonist, enticing enemy designs, and deeply satisfying combat. But it's also home to many impressive little details that even the most eagle-eyed of fans might have missed.
Developers PlatinumGames is known for planting details in its games, both as references to other works, but also smaller details that breathe some extra life into the worlds of its games, and Bayonetta is chock full of them.
10 Bayonetta Speaks a Real Language When Summoning
To many, the words spoken by Bayonetta when she summons her infernal demons are likely gibberish, or maybe just a language Platinum made up for the sake of the game. But in fact, it is a (debatably) real language.
Known as Enochian, the language was claimed by Edward Kelly and John Dee (both of whom appear as bosses in Nioh) as the language spoken by angels. Fitting then, that Bayonetta uses it to summon demons to destroy angels.
9 Cereza Doesn't Have Bayonetta's Mole
A major aspect of the story of Bayonetta is that of time travel. Confusing as those stories can be, Bayonetta tries it anyway, meeting with a younger version of herself who is quite relevant to the plot.
But an interesting note is that Cereza, despite being a younger Bayonetta, lacks the mole that is so characteristic of Bayonetta. There is no in-game explanation of this, so perhaps only Director Hideki Kamiya knows for certain.
8 Frozen Enemies Can Be Picked Up
Throughout the Bayonetta games, prompts can appear throughout stages to summon a demonic arm to pick up various objects like cars to throw around during combat. Though a helpful feature, it can be rare for these objects to actually appear.
However, the weapons Odette and Undine from Bayonetta 1 & 2 respectively allow enemies to be frozen into a solid block. Though at first, this might seem like just a means of immobilizing an enemy, they can actually be picked up and thrown around, giving you a free wrecking ball at a moment's notice.
7 Bayonetta Has A Secret Playable Character
Bayonetta has always given you the ability to play as other characters with some small differences between them, such as Jeanne and her split-second witch time and double damage for her and enemies, and Rosa with her more powerful revolvers and mech-powered umbran climax. But in the original Bayonetta, there is actually a third secret character.
After completing the lost chapters, Zero unlocks as a playable character, sharing a model very similar to that of the summonable Little Devils, which he can summon at any time. He doesn't have full animations for weapons or voice lines and serves mainly as a humorous reward for those who beat the Lost Chapter, but he is a nice reward all the same.
6 Tag Climax Has A Unique Boss And Playable Characters
In Bayonetta 2, a new multiplayer mode was added called Tag Climax where two players would compete against each other to see who could get a higher score, allowing you to play as any unlocked characters. But Tag Climax actually featured two secret playable characters and a unique boss of its own.
After beating the Rodin secret boss, Rodin himself became playable. After completing other conditions, Balder also became playable. Neither were as fleshed out as Bayonetta but did feature wholly unique gameplay of their own. And finally, a unique fight against one of Bayonetta's new demons, Labolas.
5 Bayonetta 1 & 2 Have Secret Cheat Codes
Bayonetta games are marked of course for their combat, but also their intense difficulty, especially in the original. As a result, this made unlocking characters like Jeanne, who needed all Platinum results on normal difficulty, quite hard. Platinum implemented a solution to this to more dedicated players in both Bayonetta games.
In the original, during an early visit to Vigrid, Bayonetta can approach a payphone and after inputting a certain sequence and paying money, can unlock things like Jeanne. This functions similarly in the sequel, where certain doors throughout the world can be tapped, allowing you to input the code for a paid reward.
4 Rodin Secret Boss Fights Reward A Unique Weapon
In both Bayonetta games, Rodin is featured as a pinnacle secret boss after buying the ticket to activate his fights. These are in and of themselves difficult to encounter, and even harder to defeat, but they come with a rather powerful reward.
Defeating Rodin rewards you with a weapon of the same name. This weapon is absurdly powerful and takes on the form of the various angel and demon weapons in the games through varying combos. A worthy reward for defeating a fallen angel.
3 All Characters Have Different Beast Within Forms
Bayonetta has always had its playable characters with slight differences in pure gameplay, but their cosmetic changes go deeper than just their default model. Bayonetta and Jeanne have different outfits, and all of their weapons have different names and colorations. But Bayonetta, Jeanne, and Rosa all have different beast forms as well.
Compared to Bayonetta's panther, crow, bats, and snake, Jeanne has a Lynx, owl, moth, and centipede. Meanwhile, Rosa has a tiger, falcon, hornet, and cobra. Even Balder has unique forms, with a wolf and eagle for his flying and running forms.
2 Sai Fung Is A Commonly Missed Unique Weapon
Bayonetta has earned its place for the sheer fun and variety of its many weapons, from ice skates and whips to chainsaws and flame/ice throwers. But in Bayonetta, there's one weapon that even many dedicated players may not have seen.
After completing a cumulative 100 chapters of Bayonetta, you unlock Sai Fung, a pair of nunchucks that fire off bullets during attacks. Gun-chucks, even. They're also heavily styled after Bruce Lee, with Bayonetta releasing shouts very similar to those of his movie appearances between attacks.
1 Everyone Has Glasses
One that should seem obvious but doesn't tend to click until it's brought up - every character in the original Bayonetta wears glasses. So the rumor goes, people opposed director Hideki Kamiya having Bayonetta always wear glasses so, in retaliation, he made every character wear glasses.
Bayonetta, of course. Enzo too. Rodin wears sunglasses, very rarely ever showing his eyes. Jeanne has glasses raised up, but they are there. Even Balder has a monocle. The only exception would be the demons, but they're not characters in their own right, so we'll give them a pass.