What’s changing in The Wonderful 101: Remastered

PlatinumGames is bringing its 2013 Wii U game, The Wonderful 101, to Nintendo Switch — and possibly PlayStation 4 and Windows PC, if the developer’s Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign is wildly successful. That transition from the Wii U to other platforms will mean some changes for The Wonderful 101: Remastered, according to game director Hideki Kamiya. It’s also a chance to fix a few issues with the original.

In an interview with Polygon at Tokyo Game Show 2019 in September, Kamiya said that PlatinumGames was happy with the size and content included in the original The Wonderful 101. It’s one of Platinum’s biggest games, he noted. But the Wii U version wasn’t a success, Kamiya said, and he wants to bring the game to more players.

By nature of coming to Switch, that will mean a far larger audience. Nintendo has shipped more than 52 million Switch systems to date, nearly four times the total amount of Wii U systems that shipped. And to cater to that broader audience, Kamiya wants to tweak a few things and make The Wonderful 101 “more user-friendly.”

The game’s easy mode will be a little easier in parts, Kamiya said, and more consistent in its difficulty. There will also be new on-screen prompts that will help players better understand The Wonderful 101: Remastered’s gameplay mechanics.

Image: PlatinumGames

But perhaps the biggest change will come in The Wonderful 101: Remastered’s user interface, which will transition from two screens to just one on new platforms. The original could be played on a single screen on the Wii U GamePad, thanks to a picture-in-picture mode, but Kamiya said he wants to tweak this, letting players move and resize the “submenu” screen.

Mechanics like drawing on a touchscreen to summon Unite Morph actions will still be present on the Switch version, Kamiya said.

While there won’t be new heroes or gameplay content, Kamiya said that Platinum wants to add new modes to The Wonderful 101: Remastered. The addition of new modes is dependent on the game’s stretch goals. Only two stretch goals are confirmed so far: a version of the game for Steam and one for PlayStation 4.

Most of what will be added to The Wonderful 101: Remastered was described as “cosmetic” by Kamiya.

Kamiya and producer Atsushi Inaba said that they’ve been thinking about bringing The Wonderful 101 to Switch for a while, and that “Nintendo’s kindness has allowed us to expand to other platforms.”

In an email to press, PlatinumGames also touched on the Kickstarter campaign for The Wonderful 101: Remastered and the developer’s recent infusion of investment from Tencent. Kamiya said that that capital investment is linked to Platinum’s goal of self-publishing and other plans for the future. Plans to re-release The Wonderful 101 predate investment from Tencent.

PlatinumGames’ Kickstarter campaign already appears to be on its way to success. In the first hour, the developer has raised more than $250,000 from backers on the crowdfunding platform.