The Wonderful 101: Remastered

As the name implies, The Wonderful 101: Remastered is a port of the Nintendo WiiU game, which itself was a sort of spiritual successor to the Viewtiful Joe series from Platinum's predecessor Clover. I played said WiiU version years ago, and while I did finish the story back then, I never went as far with it as I have with Remastered (for instance, I only ever beat the game on Very Easy and never found all of the files). I remembered having fun with it back then, but I had forgotten just how enjoyable and delightful the game truly is. But before I get into the actual gameplay and why I recommend it, I want to give a few heads up to anyone hoping to give the game whirl: 1. I HIGHTLY recommend starting on either Very Easy or Easy. Not only do your unlocked characters, stats, abilities, etc. carry over for each mission regardless of difficulty, but the difficulty spike from Easy to Normal is bafflingly large. And with the unusual gameplay style and approach to introducing mechanics, starting with Normal is like going to be a lot more stressful than may be seen as reasonable. 2. If you're someone who likes to hunt down secrets and collectables, this game has tons for you to track down and will reward you for doing so with bottlecaps/achievments. But I suggest not only waiting until you've beaten the game at least once before seriously beginning the hunt, but a lot of the collectables such as additional Wonderful Ones, heart fragments, and data files are in such absurd and downright unfair locations that there is genuinely no shame in using a guide. Heck, a bunch of them in are spots that I do not understand how the developers expected any player to figure out the solutions to on their own. 3. There are 15 secret characters who are intended to be unlocked via getting specific combinations of bottlecaps/achievements. However, with the Steam version of the game, there seems to be a unique yet very serious bug that has not been addressed. If the conditions for the last of a character's bottlecaps are met but you do not pause the game as the bottlecap notification appears on screen, the game will automatically take the player to the character's section of the Secrets tab on the Bottle-Cap Collection (under the Files section in the Menu) and crash. It doesn't matter whether the game is being played on PC or Steam Deck: as soon as the game tries to show you what character you just unlocked thanks to whatever bottlecap was their final requirement, the game will close itself and kick you back to the desktop. But other than than pausing trick (serious thanks to Dukerdude's discussion post here on Steam for the tip), the only other work around I've found is using a Wonderful Code ahead of time to unlock the character before meeting all of the criteria, but not only is there still one character who CANNOT be unlocked via codes, entering those codes without beating the game at least once spoils a LOT. I have not come across any posts regarding this issue popping up on other ports such as with PlayStation or Nintendo, so it might very well be exclusive to the Steam version. Regardless of these concerns, I do still recommend the game. The Wonderful 101 moves at a very brisk pace, with tons of fun set pieces, characters, music, humor, and delightfully over-the-top action that keeps finding ways to escalate even further with each new Operation, culminating in an absolutely and deliciously insane final stretch and boss fight. Occasionally, the game will take a moment to catch its breath and take itself seriously, but it chooses when and where to do so quite well so that it doesn't come across as jarring. The gameplay itself will take some getting used to, being mostly hack and slash with quick time events but with multiple different ways to attack and solve puzzles that require moving the right control stick in specific patterns as well as a plethora of vehicle sections, and the game doesn't always give you chances to practice comfortably after introducing something new. But even then, as long as you're starting on the lower difficulties, it shouldn't be too stressful. Overall, the game does have issues and it won't be for everyone. But even so, The Wonderful 101 never stops trying to have fun, and sometimes that's all we really need.

Wonderful idea, poorly executed. Most of the time you will be fighitng with the controls and camera, and being absolutely bombarded with information in every moment. The presentation and style is fantastic, but your enjoyment may hinge on how willing you are to learn the ins and outs of the battle system and drawing. The original game did use a touchscreen and that might be why it's challenging to use on a regular controller.

Eu devo ser um dos poucos brasileiros que gosta desse jogo, é mais um excelente jogo da platinum, mas que possui alguns problemas, o maior deles pra mim é o tempo de gameplay. Eu não sei o que deu na cabeça deles de fazer um jogo de quase 30 horas de duração, eu joguei durante um bom tempo, umas 25 horas direto, não fechei pque tava demorando demais e acabei colocando o jogo de lado, voltei a jogar esses dias pois achei que estava no final e o jogo me deu mais uma hora e meia de gameplay sendo que ainda não finalizei ele. Toda hora tem um plot twist, o jogo encaminha pra um final umas 5 vezes e nunca fecha. Foi uma decisão péssima pois geralmente os jogos da platinum compensam em rejogabilidade assim como esse jogo mesmo possui, mas eu não me sinto motivado a voltar e rejogar sendo tão grande do jeito que é. Na questão do port eu achei que tudo funciona muito bem não tenho do que reclamar.

The Wonderful 101 is a game I really wish I could appreciate more than I do. The combat system is fantastic but new moves are unlocked at a snails pace. Even basic moves like stinger need to be unlocked, which takes time, and each weapon has individual attacks that need to be separately unlocked. You might say you need to complete the whole game before you can play the game proper (i.e. you have access to your full arsenal). I've played action games like this before. I don't want to have to play for hours before it gets good. Dialogue is a roughly 50/50 split between funny satire and boring. There is definitely more of it than there should be. Likewise, combat is incredible but the gameplay is broken up into some combat, and lots of gimmicky minigames and setpieces, which pretty much always feel half baked and shallow. In short, the game does not play to its strengths. They often make use of the "picture in picture" window which is an atrocious idea designed to attempt to make use of the Wii U's gamepad as best they could. Even worse is that the PC port offers no way to move this second screen to your second monitor, or have it be a separate window which would have at least alleviated some of the problem. Instead it takes up a constant portion of the lower right screen. The UI as a whole feels clunky and awkward to use too. Given enough time poured into the progression systems and time spent learning individual missions I'm sure the game really could shine, and perhaps if I gave it that time then I'd feel more positively about it overall - but I've tried to get into it several times and failed on each count, for which reason I really can't recommend buying, especially at the price point which has strangely remained high despite the game's commercial failure.

One of the best action games ever made once you get a hang of its mechanics.

World's #1 Wonderful 101 Fan Excited to Play it for the First Time

The Most Wonderful and Brilliant Action Game I Played in My Life!