According to Platinum Games artist Yong-Hee Cho, Bayonetta's director Hideki Kamiya requested concept art of Bayonetta in Princess Peach's costume for the Wii U version. In addition, Kamiya also requested Cho to design a Mario Charm for Peach's costume and a Luigi Charm for Daisy's costume, and pulled Bayonetta's long black locks in favor of flowing fabric.

Cho also goes on to talk about the concept for the Link and Samus Aran costumes, with the second costume being based on the NES original. According to Cho, it was actually Nintendo who pushed for Bayonetta to show a bit more skin while dressed in her Link costume.

Additionally, Bayonetta in her Samus Aran costume was at one point given the ability to form into a Morph Ball like how Samus does in the Metroid series, but the idea was scrapped and instead was later implemented in the game's sequel, Bayonetta 2.