For a while now, there were rumours that The Wonderful 101 would be seeing a remaster or remake for modern platforms. Indeed, it’s been an open secret among the gaming media and members of the community for a while now, with rumours spreading left and right about PlatinumGames having plans to remaster the title for new systems.
And now, those rumours have been proven correct. Why? Because as the article title suggests, PlatinumGames have now launched a Kickstarter for The Wonderful 101: Remastered, with the aim of redoing the Wii U cult classic for systems like the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation. It’s a surprisingly bold move for PlatinumGames, especially given their previous titles have all been published by a large company like Nintendo, Konami or Sega.
But it’s certainly one that’s paid off. Just mere hours after the campaign launched, its already blown past its £37,000 goal, with more than 8000 people having now backed over £400,000 on the project. There’s certainly a lot of interest in the title, and it’s generated a hell of a lot of hype online as a result.
So why is there so much hype? What even is The Wonderful 101 anyway?
Well to put it simply, the Wonderful 101 was a Wii U game released by Platinum Games back in August 2013, where the player is tasked with controlling a large group of superheroes and having them combine their powers to defeat an alien terrorist organisation that has invaded the planet. Think a little like Pikmin, except with superheroes and combo attacks.
What’s more, it was a received game too. Reviews generally hovered in the 70-90% range, people who played it like the mechanics and story, and with Nintendo publishing it, a fair few of their fans ended up picking it up as well, especially given how little the Wii U had going at that point in time.
But that didn’t make it sell. Oh no, thanks to Nintendo’s terrible (read, mostly non existent) marketing campaign and the Wii U’s failures, The Wonderful 101 mostly sunk without a trace on its release, with launch week sales in Japan being a lowly 5000 or so copies. It was a bit of a shame really, even a game with a concept as niche as this one probably has more potential fans than the Wii U can possibly provide.
So yeah, that’s where the Kickstarter campaign comes in. It’s an attempt to see if the game will do better on a system people actually own, as well as potentially as a Multiplatform game rather than a system exclusive.
And that definitely seems to be working out for PlatinumGames so far. As mentioned already, the campaign has already smashed its goals, with 8000+ backers having already taken the campaign past the £400,000 mark.
So Platinum’s worries have definitely been dispelled now. People want a Wonderful 101 remaster, and they want it badly enough that they’re willing to shell out hundreds of thousands of pounds for it.
What’s more, that’s without even knowing what’s changed in the remaster at all. If you read the campaign description right now, there’s no mention of extra features or stretch goals at all right now. That £400,000+ has literally been raised on nothing more than the promise of this one game being released on current gen systems.
But don’t think that means it’s just going to be a port or minor graphics update.
No, as PlatinumGames themselves say, there are going to be extra features added via stretch games. It’s unknown quite what they’ll be (the FAQ just says their ‘brand new features that’ll make it the definitive version of the game that you deserve’), but they are coming, and it’s almost inevitable they’ll all happen too. Hell, given the campaign’s success so far, it’s likely most of them have already been met, without even being announced yet!
So yeah, if you’re interested in the game, go and check out the Kickstarter campaign via the link below. It’s definitely worth backing if you’re into this kind of game, and (unlike most on the platform), has roughly a 100% chance of being completed too, given PlatinumGames’ reputation as a game developer and storied history in the industry.
Still, what do you think? Are you interested in backing a remaster of The Wonderful 101 for current gen systems? How well do you think this game will do now it’s coming to consoles and systems more than 0.01% of the population actually owns?
Tell us your thoughts on these questions (and more) in the comments below!
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