OK, full disclosure, I never played The Wonderful 101 when it was originally released on the Nintendo Wii U in 2013. Yeah, I know, I suck, but that was all the way back in 2013, and I was a different man back then! I’d like to think I’m more cultured and sophisticated these days and am ready to fully appreciate another PlatinumGames offering. Luckily, they were on hand at PAX East to demo their recently announced remaster.
If you’re not familiar with the game, you control a group of super heroes who have an ability called a “Unite Morph,” where you use an analog stick to “draw” patterns that transform our heroes into Green Lantern-esque objects. These range from all sorts of things like a giant fist to punch enemies or to turn giant gears to open a gate, allowing you to proceed to the next area. Along the way, you will find citizens calling for help, and you can draw a circle around them to recruit them into your army, thus strengthening your morph powers.
They were demoing the Nintendo Switch version, and the first thing that struck out to me was how bright and crisp the visuals were. We all know the Wii U wasn’t necessarily a graphical powerhouse, so it was impressive to see how well the remaster looked running on Switch hardware. Aside from the gorgeous visuals, the game was running incredibly smooth without a hint of slowdown.
The demo was timed for about 15 minutes, so I didn’t get a chance to fully explore the level like I would have preferred. From what I played, I thoroughly enjoyed and am looking forward to playing the finished version. Perhaps by then, Kamiya will have finally blocked me.
PlatinumGames recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund The Wonderful 101: Remaster, and it raised $1.9 million and still has a few days to go before it’s over. The Wonderful 101 will release in May 2020 for the Switch, PlayStation 4 and PC.
