The Wonderful 101 Remaster Turns An OK Game Into A Prettier OK Game
Who doesn’t love a good remaster? Most of the time they can vastly improve upon the original — and then there’s Secret of Mana.
Many remasters and remakes have serious backing from companies with deep pockets, but The Wonderful 101 was primarily funded by Kickstarter and it met its goal in a very short amount of time.
I met with a few members of the team at PAX East 2020, and they were very passionate about this project. Platinum Games sent me a review code of the remaster for the Nintendo Switch, and I would like to share my thoughts.
The Wonderful 101 started its life as a Wii-U Original, gaining a cult following in both the US and Japan.
You play as either Wonder Red, Blue, Green, Pink or Yellow as you lead a team of up to 96 other masked heroes in a battle to stop the invading Geathjerk Army, led by the nefarious Prince Vorkken.
If you didn’t get a chance to play the original title, you’re not alone; It was a lesser known title during the Wii-U’s life span but had quite the cult following. And while I never owned a Wii-U, I got to try out the demo a few times and I didn’t hate it.
So, what does this remaster bring new to the table? Not much honestly. Visually it has a bit more polish than the Wii-U version, but sadly it only runs at 30-40 FPS. Of course, that’s never been a deal breaker for me.
The voice acting and humor remind me of Viewtiful Joe, which the game totally carries the spirit of. None of the performances really stand out, but as a lifelong otaku I have heard way worse English dubs.
Combat for the most part is fluid and has a moderate learning curve, but the game’s main gimmick of drawing out the shape of the team’s various weapons is rather flawed. As the game progressed drawing more complex tools and weapons with the right analog stick became a joyless task and I found myself getting frustrated regularly by it.
The camera wasn’t all the great either. While I understand that the bird’s eye perspective was meant to show off all 101 heroes in action, its biggest flaw is how it allows random objects and buildings to obstruct your view in battle.
The music was superb. Composer Norihiko Hibino really put some love into the game’s score, and the various bombastic themes are bound to become massive earworms.
This game is definitely going to be a divisive one for the community overall. It’s definitely not a horrible game, and has a lot of love put into it in various areas, but it is a lackluster remaster.
I give The Wonderful 101 remaster for the Nintendo Switch, PS4 and Xbox One, a 3 out of 5.
