The Wii U was a weird console, with its giant controller with a screen embedded into it, the Wii U was always set up to fail as a successor to one of the most popular things ever created. Underpowered, encumbered with gimmicks and a wasteland of support, it’s the few oases that make me love this VHS-looking box.
For now, it seems that most of the games are making their way over to the Switch or even other platforms, but there’s fear that some games might be lost to time and trapped within the confines of a failure. One of those games seems to be The Wonderful 101, Platinum Games’ second Wii U game, just never could find the audience it needed to shine.
I adore The Wonderful 101, even after struggling with how it plays until you manage to unlock all the main characters. Its ridiculous Platinum one-up-manship is in full force, as well as benefiting from the Saturday Morning Cartoon setting as it never takes itself entirely seriously from the get-go. Wonder-Red is your A-Typical goodie-two-shoes, while Wonder-Blue is your arrogant, handsome wannabe who can’t really admit that he’s number 2. There’s Wonder-Pink, your regular affair for anime/cartoons who have a woman in their roster. Outside of that the four others, Wonder-Yellow, Black, White and Green, all of who just seem to be there for comic relief or gameplay purposes.
The story might seem to be sold as “it’ll remind you of this!”, but it honestly is one of the most enjoyable Platinum stories because you can actually follow what’s going on without being baffled. The Wonderful Ones must save the world from an alien invasion, starting small as everyone is scattered to slowly surmounting to a massive force that can take the form of one of seven weapons as you unlock the main cast.
While it offers you to use the screen for most of the game – especially when drawing the required shapes for weapons – it honestly felt best with the right stick and quickly scooting it around like in director Hideki Kamiya’s previous game, Okami. Each shape you draw, like a circle for Unite Fist, results in a weapon you can then use to batter aliens in a variety of ways. But while it looks like Nintendo’s Pikmin or even a strategy game, you have zero control over the rest of the Wonderful Ones that follow, just that you can produce bigger and bigger weapons the more you collect, resulting in fights being easier to deal with.
Because of this, it effectively becomes a tilt-shifted looking Platinum action game, with all the eccentricities that come in their usual games. The whip can be used to knock off armour, while the sword can be used to deflect lasers back onto the enemy. There are puzzles to solve and it’s brimming with personality that I got intoxicated with, especially as it seems to get more self-aware as it goes on. Nearly all the quick-time events have a fail state with a cute cutscene you won’t get anywhere else and the main theme absolutely fills me with an energy that was in more games.
This is one of those games that I’m sad more people didn’t and might never play if it doesn’t come to the Switch or other platforms. According to an insider – her Twitter Account is private, so I won’t share it – Platinum are struggling to find someone to help bring it to the platform due to low sales. This makes me hurt because I feel Kamiya and Platinum put their best energy into this. It’s a game that rarely wallows in negativity and its brash style is something you need to experience. I know a lot of people didn’t like how it played, but if folk were given another, proper chance, I feel that it would swing more hearts to the side of enjoying this title.