I'm usually a massive Platinum mark (as can be seen from the scores I have given their games - including Infinite Space, a game from Platinum that nobody has played, but I love to death), but I couldn't with this one man. There were too many things that I actively disliked about the game and the gameplay that I couldn't bring myself to complete this.

The perspective is incredibly annoying and obfuscates a lot of the action. You sometimes can't even see smaller enemies on the screen at all, which is incredibly annoying! It also makes exploration of levels a pain as well, which added to my frustration immensely because this has some of the most hidden collectables of all of their games. Add to the fact that each mission is usually incredibly long and meaty, outside of boss fights, and you get a recipe for real one very annoyed gamer.
The second screen gimmick also does not work at all without a WiiU gamepad. I don't know why they didn't rework this port so it was more compatible with modern systems and controllers.

The combat is just not as fun and fluid as I have come to expect from the developer either. I got all of the good moves early on - such as Unite Guts, the dodge, and Hero Time upgrade - and that made things a little easier to manage in fights, but I was still taking hits from enemies I couldn't perceive or attacks coming from off-screen or because I was unsure of where an attack would land due to the aforementioned perspective.
The drawing mechanic was also so clunky and unresponsive that I had immense difficulty with it. If my line wasn't getting caught up in geometry, then it would extend randomly off-screen, despite my own input. It made pulling out weapons with more complex designs, like the Whip or the Hammer, an actual pain and required multiple tries each time I was forced to bring out those weapons for puzzles or to fight enemies (which is another irritating nitpick). You would think that the original team behind one of the best combat drawing mechanics (Okami) would be able to pull off the mechanic in a better way than this. Even something as simple as cramming heroes into a toilet or open doorway or window to get a collectable could result in some bullshit shenanigans.

The story and characters are cliche as all hell and, yes, that's never been a Platinum strong suit, but they are usually so dumb that they're immensely fun. Nobody took Revengeance seriously, but it has one of the most batshit insane casts and storylines in all of video games. The same can be said of many of their greatest hits! This one was not fun and I actually found myself vastly uninterested in it and the characters of the story, who are all just cardboard cutouts with no real personalities.
It doesn't help that the art style is not to my liking either. I know they were going for an aesthetic similar to Viewtiful Joe - another Super Sentai send-up they had made previously (which I have yet to play as well) - but I still didn't vibe with it all too much.

I made it halfway through the game, so I gave it an honest effort, but there were so many things bugging me that I couldn't force myself to continue. I'm shelving it for now, but I honestly don't know if I'll ever return to this. It was such an unfun experience for me, which is sad because I actually really love Platinum and consider them one of my favourite studios.

Wonderful 101 is an... interesting game. It has both amazing aspects, concepts, battles, cutscenes, and character moments.
Taking inspiration from SUPER SENTAI (the original shows that later inspired POWER RANGERS and all the generations of that show.) Wonderful 101 has the same concept of a team of Flamboyant cool suit wearing teams, each with a specific color that later equals to a total of 7 specific members among the Wonderful 100 (yeah they're not called Wonderful 101 up until the literal end of the game).

The main 10 members are:

1. Wonder Red - Will Wedgewood - American Teacher who is a leader, and a nerd in terms of whenever he meets a new member or enemy he tends to give all the background info on the individual in a grandiose way, also has a tragic backstory with the death of his father. Has a mutual liking with Alien Police officer Immorta, and is both rivals and good friends with Prince Vorkken who throughout the game, they fight and respect eachother, and towards the end become friends and respected rivals. That and Vorkken knows Will and Immorta like eachother. He's a leader that can be both very heroic, and very dumb in terms of coming up with One-Linears, and not reading the room when it comes to giving useless information about an individual they are meeting, usually giving excess information or repeating information about an individual the team met before. Blue calls him out on this. He's very likable and heroic.

2. Wonder Blue - Eliot Hooker - Hot headed-egotistical American detective who uses a sword to attack enemies, he has a tragic backstory where one of the villain's in the game, Vijounne (thicc and busty blue alien woman who has a helmet similar to Hella from Thor Ragnarok), killed his brother by betraying him by pretending to be an assistant and causing Blue's brother to die. He seeks revenger and usually runs head first into problems, usually causing more problems for the entire team. He butt heads with Red early on, but later become best bros after beating the shit out of eachother in a 1 v 1 fight (Similar to Dairanger Ryo vs Jin, except Jin is the blue ranger instead of as a likeable enemy rival who sadly dies). He starts off as an unlikable asshole and later grows to be a bro with Red.

3. Wonder Green - Jean-Sébastien Renault - Fat French Middle Schooler who uses a gun, and when afraid likes to yell, "MAMAN!!!" Usually gets bullied by Blue or Pink. Tends to surrender, and 100% thats because of the "FRANCE SURRENDERED FIRST" joke, very outdated joke. He can be funny both on his own and when he gets roasted. He grows in terms of... eating, but his character is mostly the fat comic relief.

4. Wonder Pink - Mariana Kretzulesco - Transylvanian High School girl who loves fashion and loves using her whip to punish her enemies. She's very hot headed when made fun of by friend or foe. She has a little-brother complex (similar to DaiRanger with the Pink Ranger Rin, being a big sister/having a little brother complex with a boy she's not related to named, Kou, the KibaRanger [White-Tiger Ranger from Power Ranger]) She also has a VERY UNHEALTHY LOVING OBESSION with the enemy-later turned friend Prince Vorkken, usually getting excited by him... existing, or planning on fighting the team. Every scene with Vorkken and Pink are funny mostly because he ignores her and she says something like, " YES I'LL GLADLY JOIN YOU! I DON'T CARE ABOUT THESE BOZOS ON MY TEAM, I LOVEEE YOU!!!"
Causing her team to look at her in dumbstruck like: "Bruh... really". She's funny, but can be a bit over obsessive and hot headed... coming across a bit unlikable. She becomes more heroic and caring, but is still hot headed, doesn't grow a lot in terms of her character.

5. Wonder Yellow - Ivan Istochnikov - Uses Hammer, and speaks like a USSR soldier... saying things like Comrads, or Motherland... a very outdated form of showing a Russian person but oh well. He's kind of absent throughout most of the game, in the sense that... he's there in scenes, but he doesn't say much. Also theres an implication that he's gay which is cool. He's very likable when he speaks, and adorable when he gets flustered, but in terms of impact you'll forget he's there.

6. Wonder White - Momoe Byakkoin - Uses claws as his weapon and is a Japanese Ryu Leader who is good at martial arts, and dresses like a ninja. He can be both very poetic and cryptic by the way he speaks, that and his speeches, or statements can stretch for long periods of time causing team members like Pink to hurry him up. He is both wise and tactical, and while he doesn't say a lot when it comes to interaction when he does speak you're captivated by him.
7. Wonder Black - Krishna Ramanujan - Uses time bombs and is Indian... the worst member in the entire game. Not once does he every say anything, and when he does he says it in the most boring monotone way possible. I get it, it's hard coming up with personalities, but choosing the unspeaking Kuudere was not a way to go. This dude legit spends time playing games and dancing rather than actually speaking. Is his ability cool? Yes, he makes bombs that STOP TIME, yet as a character, he's as interesting at paint drying.

There are also important support characters like:

Captain Laurence Nelson (originally in Will's past the original WONDER RED [Emeritus])

Alice MacGregor (Ship Controller, and Captain's Assistant, is also WONDER 107 - WONDERSCARF),

Luka (Little shit kid who has a tragic passed similar to Will Wedgewood, however after his mother's "Death" he decides to momentarily join with the bad guys because he blames CENTINALS and WONDER 100 for killing his mom. Turns out his mom didn't die, she became the last source of protection for Planet Earth. Luka realizes his mistake and later looks up to Wonder-Red. Luka and Red inspire the other members to work for a better tomorrow and who at the very end of the game becomes WONDER 101 [or 105 based on the DATABASE gallery] WONDER- GOGGLES)

Prince Vorkken - (Red's Rival who alway's calls him Blunder Red, who has a really tragic backstory involving the destruction and death of a lot of his own people and enslaving others. He's being mindcontrol by the GEATHJERK into being evil, and after having it broken he repents for his sins to both his past and to Chewgi [His right hand man who was only helping Vorkken fight because he was unbeatable at the time] in order to make things right. And he does with both Chewgi, the Guyzoch Pirates, Wonder Red, and his little sister Immorta.)

Immorta - (Alien Police officer set to help Wonderful 100 in order to stop the GEATHJERK invasion. She saves Wonderful 100 several times throughout the game and butts heads with Blue. She shares a lot of moments with Wonder Red and both towards the end of Wonderful 101 share a mutual feeling of romance to eachother.)


There are so many other members of Wonderful 101 that I'm not going to list them here, but I will acknowledge the cameo characters:

111 - Poseman (Aka Viewtiful Joe except because Capcom owns him they can't directly say it's him... but it is lol)
112 - Wonder Director (Hideki Kamiya himself, and he uses the Special PLATNIUM FOREVER ABILITY)
113 - Wonder Rodin (Rodin the bar tender from Bayonetta)
114 - Wonder Jeanne (Jeanne, Bayonetta's rival and friend)
115 - Wonder Bayonetta (Bayonetta)

The game's story is the invasion of Earth by Aliens called the GEATHJERK who want to collected the statues of Earth to destroy the planet's defenses and later annihilate Earth.
You fight in cities, ruins, Inside Vorkken's Body, a volcano, a Hydro-City, a destroyed planet, and finally in space doing mostly the same thing. You collected civilians to both save and have them become temporary heroes to help you own your journey throughout each operations. There are a total of 9 operations but in terms of levels it's 10 levels with 3 acts (called Operations A-B-C) inside each except for in OPERATION 007/Vorkken's Body which only features ACT 1 and 2 (OPERATION 007-A and 007-B)

The structure of the gameplay is essentially collecting civilians and fighting enemies throughout each stage while progressing forward. Collecting civilians is important as you can find other members of WONDER 100 in said civilians, these Wonders being the 008-100 that would take too long to mention.
Occasionally you will have to solve puzzles using character specific abilities:

1. Giant Gear needs to be turned - Fist 👊
2. Key Hole - Sword 🗡
3. Target - Gun 🔫
4. Spikes needing to be taken down, or Swinging from area to area - Whip 📈
5. A button or a crack on the ground need SMASHING - Hammer 🔨
6. Shut Tight Door or Enemy Need Opening/Climbing climbable walls- Claws 🦞
7. Object Coming in too fast and needs to be slowed down- Bomb 💣


There are so many combinations you can do with the group of people you have in your arsenal, that it makes the game feel very unique and yet similar to Pikimin except you attack as a single unit.
You have different morph options that you can use the touch screen or right thumbstick to make like:

1. Fist 👊 - Draw a cruvy line (line will become red🔴)
2. Sword 🗡 - Draw a straight line (line will become blue🔵)
3. Gun🔫 - Draw a straight line that turns sideways left or right (line will become green🟢)
4. Whip📈- Draw a swiggly line going forward (line will become pink💗)
5. Hammer 🔨- Draw a straight line and at the end curve a circle (line will become yellow🟡)
6. Claw🦞- Draw a Z shape (line will become white⚪️)
7. Bomb💣- Draw a complete circle then a straight line after connecting the circle (line will become purple🟣).
8. Goggles🥽- Draw infinity symbol (line will become a bright orange)
9. Bow🏹- Draw a heart shape (line will become a light pink💗)
10. Glider🪂- Draw a Triangle (line will become rainbow colored🌈)
11. Naginata🌟- Draw a straight line - pause - then continue drawing (if done correctly, line should become a dark orange/brown🟤)
12. Drill🐚- Draw a spiral (line should become red🔴)
13. Boomerang 🪃- Draw a straight line - pause - turn right or left and make a straight line going right or left, similar to making a gun but after the straight line, pause then turn (line should become purple🟣).
14. BIG 🅱️ - Draw a letter B (line should become a rainbow🌈)
15. WONDER FOREVER - Draw a Letter W (line should become a rainbow🌈)
16. PLATINUM FOREVER - Draw a Letter P (line should become a rainbow🌈)

You face various bosses throughout Wonderful 101, that are very fun to fight but can also be very tedious and annoying. The game uses a battery system to make you understand how much power or energy consumption is used when using a morph.
The villains are very over the top, and have great designs and fights: however some fights are certainly better than others.

The bosses include:

1. Laambo - Murder of Will's Father, you fight him while he's using his giant robot dragon
2. Wanna - Flies in a UFO and uses his giant space ship that acts like an Egg to unleash his Dragon-Like Robot with buzzsaws for hands.
3. Vijounne - Blue's brother murder, you fight her while she's inside her giant octopus... and considering her sexy design, I 100% believe the developers knew what they were doing lol.
4. Walltha - Brother of Laambo, you fight him in a very janky and unfun PUNCH-OUT STYLE boss fight where you beat the crap out of his giant Tiki-Head Robot, and later go inside the robot and kill him. Then escape by having him drown in Lava.
5. Gimme - an evil robot alien dude who Like Waltha uses a giant robot to fight you, and you have to again fight in a PUNCHOUT style fight.
6. Jergingha - The true final boss who has 3 stages to his fight. He starts off as a giant brain (Metroid much huh), and later uses a Wonder Mask to become WONDER-Jergingha who has the ability to use giant Wonder Punches and Lasers. And his final form Planet Destruction Jergingha who uses barriers to defend himself, and later uses a destruction beam to attempt to destroy the planet, where you have to SPAM A/X in order to push back the beam destroying him once and for all.

Boss fights after having all their health drained end with the heroes doing quick time events that essentially tell you what you have to drawn in order to progress/kill the boss, giving you epic visuals and amazing music to accompany it, though I wish the music was cooler rather than attempting to sound heroic 24/7, it would be cool for some more diverse and cooler sounding songs.

The story reveals that the GEATHJERK are from the future attempting to stop humans from becoming evil in the future as CENITINALS and the WONDER 100 have become evil apparently, though instead of course correcting history for the better, they decide, "HUMANITY MUST BE PURGED AND DESTROYED!"
And this results in WONDERFUL 100 destroying Jergingha and the GEATHJERK. The game ends with Wonderful 100 attempting to create a better future in order for the future GEATHJERK to never return and to make sure they set humanity towards the right path.
The game ends the way it started, as in the beginning you start as Will Wedgeworth as a teacher protecting his class in a school bus, getting them to safety and later becoming Wonder Red, meeting Blue and saving the Bus before it crashes into a school. At the end it does the same thing except it shows Luka become WONDER GOGGLES and do the same thing as red, as it ends with the WONDERFUL 101 preparing to fight enemies similar to the beginning of the game.

Overall the game starts very tedious and you might think... "WOW THIS STARTS REALLY BAD, WHY IS THERE SO MANY TUTORIALS, WHY IS DRAWING SO HARD? WTF IS THE STORY? WOW BLUE IS AN ASS!" But if you stick around it, you'll realize that it's an enjoyable unique experience that I recommend you all to play.

I will say not a fan of the camera angle and the secondary small screen that can be toggled via the (-) button as it's very faded and tacked on. Add on to the fact that while combat can be fun using the different morphs, it gets really annoying when your team gets hit really easily by enemies. A big issue is how long the game can go on for per levels. The game sometimes felt like a chore to play. Also I get the GEATHJERK are attempting to stop humanity from becoming evil in the future but when you think about it, they could've just told CENTINELS and WONDERFUL 100 that they need to stop from becoming evil. That and Luka's character is just annoying little brat shit who doesn't realize he's about to destroy the world over a misunderstanding, however he does redeem himself a bit towards the end. Also a straight up bad decision was the PLATINUM ROBO part, in terms of having a cool mech like SUPER SENTAI it makes sense to have a giant robot, but it's a bit of ego stroking to Platinum games, like I get they made the game, but it's like the game is saying, "PLATINUM GAMES SAVED THE DAY" would've made more sense to call it the WONDER ROBO and not have the Platinum games P and instead have the WONDER W on it.
So these issues cause a drop of 1 star.

Anyway a great unique game with an average story, with likable characters, average music, fun boss fights and QTEs, and a lot of heroes.

TLDR: Good game, characters, music and story are ok/meh, Luka's a little shit who gets better, Blue's an asshole who gets better, Immorta's Best girl. And Platinum Robo seems like a Platinum games ego stroke.
4/5 Stars. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

You know, there’s something about both movies and video games where you can often tell who directed what you’re experiencing based on the quirks that appear throughout. You can tell you’re watching a Sam Raimi film when you see women screaming in an exaggerated fashion and a slow build up showing something small become something big. You can tell you’re playing a Hideo Kojima game through the very cinematic cutscenes and constant references to earlier material.

So when I picked up The Wonderful 101, I knew I was absolutely playing a Hideki Kamiya game, with all of the positives and negatives that brings.

I’ll start more on why I played the game. My buddy, Luke, is a big fan of this game, it’s his favorite. So I got curious and bought the game at Target about a year ago. I played it until the start of Operation 2C and then dropped the game.

There was just something about the game at that point that I just didn’t like. Combat encounters felt incredibly dragged out and sluggish, levels would go on for what felt like 25-30 minutes, with many mini-game encounters appearing to break the pace of the game and introduce entirely different control schemes to a game that already has an unorthodox style.

Of course, I was still engaged with the witty dialogue and pure spectacle that are the cutscenes, but that could not save the game from just being unpleasant to play.

Now, I’m coming back after playing Metal Gear Rising Revengeance, Bayonetta, Devil May Cry 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. So how has my opinion changed between last year and now?

At the beginning of this playthrough I didn’t think it would. Despite being told about things I should get and about the mixing system that I didn’t even know existed in my first playthrough, the first third of this game is one of the biggest slogs I have ever experienced in a video game.

It comes down to a few things, but mostly that compared to many other Character Action Games, you are so limited at the start. If I had to compare it to one of Kamiya’s other works, I’ll go with Bayonetta here, it’s night and day. At the start of that game, you have a dodge, various combo chains, Dodge Offset and Witch Time for in between those combo chains.

At the start of the Wonderful 101 you have only 2 abilities, Fist and Sword, you don’t even have a block or a dodge, those are something you have to buy after the first mission, which a first time player might not even know to do if they’re not told. Sure, you can do combos with the Fist and the Sword but even those are limited by this game’s Rank system, which while I’m sure isn’t random, feels that way during a first playthrough, and this leveling up system is what unlocks individual moves for the various Unite Morphs you attain throughout the game.

Why is this in the game? That is the question I have been asking since about half of the way through because it just doesn’t make sense to me. In a game, a genre type where you want to push forward as much as possible, why are there these RPG mechanics awkwardly implemented. It doesn’t make sense, especially when you consider that Kamiya also directed the first Devil May Cry. Why couldn’t the abilities like each weapon’s individual stinger or air launcher attack not just be something you can buy in the game’s store? I mean, you have to buy the block and dodge in the store after all, so why not have the other skills be unlockable that way to be consistent?

But back on course, because of these limitations the early game feels incredibly sluggish, especially because they have to introduce the various main Wonderful Ones and their abilities, some of which like Wonder Pink’s Whip feeling incredibly situational, and being tied to some of the worst time wasting enemies in the game, more on that later.

I’ll be completely honest, throughout the entire first third of this game, I wanted to drop it harder than the quality of the Mega Man X series’ second half. It was so dull, so exhausting to go through, I was constantly being reminded of things I didn’t like about Kamiya’s other work’s but at their most maximum force. Using only one weapon at a time, the drawing controls sometimes getting an entire morph wrong, Spiked Enemies that can only be hit by the whip and without knowing the proper strat take an asinine amount of time to de-spike and kill, awkward platforming sections that don’t work with this game’s stationary camera in mind, really just the utter sensory overload and sometimes not being able to see where the hell I was on the screen at points, it all added up to a level of frustration and exhaustion that I had only truly felt with the second half of Bayonetta.

And alongside all of that, there were the Kamiyaisms of having Mini Games with their own control schemes, specifically to note this one mini game where you manually control a ship by having the Wonderful 100 walk on buttons within the ship and it’s super awkward and this gameplay style never shows up again so it is a literal waste of time that does nothing but freeze the gameflow for what feels like a solid 5 minutes.

I felt awful, I felt very dissatisfied and tired.

Then, I got Multi Unite.

A lot of people say that the game eventually clicks with the player after a while, and personally I’ll have to disagree. It isn’t so much that the game clicked with me but rather that your options open up by the second half of the game, and you are now capable of much more feats then you were at the beginning, but none of that is because you as a player began to understand the game more. The game gave you these tools and now you have access to them, nothing more nothing less.

Multi Unite in my opinion, is what makes this game work. Being able to chain multiple Unite Morphs at once to absolutely decimate an enemy, like using Unite Bomb to freeze time before making a Unite Sword, a Unite Claw, and a Unite Fist to attack the enemy all at once, evicerating their health bar within seconds, creating a massive combo. There are few things as cathartic.

Which is what makes the fact that Multi Unite was something on by default in the original version of this game, but something you have to buy in the remaster is something way more asinine to me.

This is easily the biggest mistake they made with this game. Not having Multi Unite at the start of the game really drains the combo potential you could have. It’s like taking Dodge Offset away from Bayonetta and making it something you have to buy, it would cripple the mechanical depth you could achieve in the early game.

Once you unlock it though and upgrade it, hoo boy, the game opens up in a variety of ways, allowing for the player to do unthinkable things to their opponents, speeding up the combat in a way that the first third of the game wishes it could achieve.

The mini games too start to improve as the game goes on, with references to Libble Rabble and Punch Out being among my favorites, with this game’s mandatory Space Harrier section being easily Kamiya’s best due to having a system where you can slow down the game to lock on for the tracking attacks, and is not nearly as long as in his other games, or in other levels in this game itself.

We even start to get unique sections where we go into a flashback and play as the original Wonder Red, or fighting Wonder Blue 1v1.

And that ending… I’m not going to spoil it but… god damn. This game is very much one of the most Gurren Lagann Adjacent games I’ve ever seen in my life.

If I really had to summarize this game, it would go as follows:

The Wonderful 101 is Platinum Games’ Platinum Game.

From the various Platinum Games iconography that pervades throughout the game, references to their other titles, and the sheer amount of mini games, it very much fits the description in my mind.

And that leaves me in a bit of a predicament because I think I’m in a rare position on this game. I am someone who doesn’t dislike playing the game, but I understand why there are people who don’t. I am also someone who doesn’t unanimously love the game, but I understand why there are people who do.

It has an unparalleled amount of charm, an artstyle that exudes the same vibes as watching a Saturday morning cartoon, incredibly witty and funny writing, a simple yet engaging story, fun characters and a triumphant main theme…

It also has one of the worst starts I’ve seen in a character action game in regards to pacing, it’s chocked full of mini games that break the pace, it still has the signature Platinum Games self-mastubatory score system, and it’s unorthodox…

So, if you’re looking for something fresh and innovative in the Character Action Game genre and are willing to stomach a rough start to see a solid game through, The Wonderful 101 is for you.

And if you’re not, might I recommend Devil May Cry 3 for you instead.

Hideki Kamiya, you have my respect. I may not fully enjoy the way you overindulged in this game, but I respect it.

If you do decide to go into this game, I recommend looking up a tutorial online to get more insight on your bearings. This is a game about working together after all, so we should work together to spread this experience the best way we can.

That’s what’s truly wonderful.

P.S.: I don't know if this is just a Switch port issue, or if this is a problem in all versions of the remaster, but around Operation I wanna say 5B my game softlocked me due to a cutscene not loading in properly and I had to replay 5 minutes of lost game time, and at a later point I think 5C or 6B the game flat out crashed completely when I got to the final boss of the level and I had to do the entire level over again, so keep in mind that the remaster might be a bit buggy at points.

Es complicado hablar de este juego en términos templados. Supongo que te espanta o te encanta. Parte de la culpa, la tiene el tremendo muro que supone la cantidad de cosas que hay en él todo el rato a todos los niveles. Decenas (por no decir cientos) de enemigos y aliados a la vez en pantalla; decenas de cosas que deberías saber para disfrutar el juego pero que el propio juego no te explica; Decenas de habilidades que comprar…Por suerte, yo me di de cabezazos contra ese muro hasta que mi cerebro se llenó de felicidad y descubrí un juego histórico. Es bayoneta + pikmin + starfox (eso he oido, las dos primeras referencias seguro, la tercera, ni idea). Es lo mejor de platinum y lo mejor de nintendo. Carisma, alegría, amor por el videojuego, diversión y exigencia. Este juego es el multitasking metido de esteroides. Probablemente el mejor juego que vaya a hacer Kamiya en su vida.

Cómo lo conseguí: lo encontré precintado en wallapop por 17€ y por venta de juegos, solo gasté 5€

Team, Unite Up!

as of 2/23/2023, this just barely didn't make it onto my list of favorite games. this was my first platinum game and the game that converted me into one of their most violent fans. This game is the cure for every design trend that plagues modern video games. This game is a cure for boredom and apathy. This game is the cure for clinical depression. This is one of the most confident, over the top, self-assured, experimental, and successful games of all time. Of course, the game was a commercial failure, but who the fuck even cares. The Wonderful 101 exists, and you get to know about it. Take pride in being one of the few who get to achieve Nirvana. Take solace in the fact that in the hell world we have to live in, sometimes, just sometimes, a team with a vision and passion for an art form gets to put their all into making a product by and for the people who truly want to see that art form brought to the apex of what it can achieve. Play this, laugh at the jokes, be inspired by the story, and continually improve at the combat. Show Geathjerk what for. We only need one Wonderful 101 to last us a lifetime.


(my only issue with the remaster is that the new version of Tables Turn blows and I wish there was a toggle back to the original)

What I thought would just be a kind of mid Platinum game turned into an awesome adventure that somehow blends Pikmin-like gameplay with the over-the-top Metal Gear Rising action the company is known for. It's honestly really funny to me that half of the game is just Platinum Games jerking themselves off with how many references to their own games and accolades they sneak into the narrative.

The overall story is mostly great with just a cheesy Saturday morning cartoon vibe but is undermined by what may be one of the worst fictional characters ever created: Luka. Luke is whiney and hotheaded who the game expects you to gain some sympathy for, but you end up loathing his existence for the entire duration of your playthrough that he exists in. The story besides him is actually pretty fun. There are plenty of characters to get attached to each with their own unique personalities that end up blending well together. Wonder Blue is probably my favorite out of the main cast. It's only Luka that ends up as a real blight on an otherwise great cast.

The gameplay does take a bit of time to get used to. But once you finally understand it how it plays, the clunkiness of the controls fades away and its beings to click. The combat is pretty fun and the multiple forms you can approach combat is always neat to see. There are times where the game is vague on how to approach certain obstacles, especially with how many new diverse minigame styles they throw at you. This game definitely needed more tutorials.

Overall, though if you're on the fence about playing this game, I really recommend giving it a try. It's a fantastic adventure that feels like you're going on a rollercoaster ride. Sure, the ascent may feel slow and awkward at first, but once you go past that first slope, it's an action-packed adventure that is unforgettable.

Wonderful 101 is Platinums most bombastic title and for that I have to give it respect despite having a few issues with it. Mainly being while I love Hideki Kamiya's style I do not care for his gimmicks and find that they all drag the experience down (besides Punch-Out that shit rules). All that being said It can't take away just how insane W101 gets in terms of not only providing a deep gameplay experience with tons of depth and personality, but also delivering an engaging story with some of the greatest spectacle in the genre. Wonderful 101 absolutely deserves to be played and I am immensely satisfied with going through its wild ride.

9/10.

What initially seems like an absolutely absurd, incomprehensible mess of ideas that almost seemed to hate those who decided to pick this up ends up being one of the single greatest gaming experiences I've had. Nothing about this game seemingly makes sense, but once you start really getting into it you realise just what you've been missing out on by considering it all as such. An idiosyncratic experience through and through that's willing to push boundaries and experiment a whole lot with its core mechanics to make it stand out strongly from the pack while also showcasing nothing but an unabashed love for the genre. It's got the standard ideas that you'll find in a lot of the Platinum Games lineup with the way it insists on being a mishmash of differing styles, has an insane skill ceiling that'll make you feel like a fool on your first playthrough in all likelihood, and also going absolutely all out in its sense of pure maximalism. The big difference that separates a lot of what this game does compared to a game such as Bayonetta is the way that it takes extra measures to do as much as possible to unify these styles, having them feel more in line with the rest of the game experience as to not entirely distract while still providing a nice bit of absurdity to the sharp left turns it can take to further reinforce its incredibly full on, over the top vibe.

One of the most truly bizarre aspects of this game is the way that almost all of its defining features can be seen as pure negatives when you start off before they eventually reveal their significance once you've gotten a bit better. The weapon drawing is definitely the biggest example of this with the way that it initially seems as if it's adding another layer of complexity to something that doesn't require it that also adds an additional thing that the player could get wrong. There are a few benefits to this however that end up making it extremely well worth it as a mechanic. Most importantly is the way this opens the door to a far more seamless method of swapping between the absurd amount of weapons at your disposal, with the player having access to 10 different ones by the end of the game and then a couple extra for repeat playthroughs, giving the player this method of quickly and (relatively) easily swapping between them all in a fast paced, chaotic game like this is a perfect fit, not to mention that the additional nuance of the different sizes for each weapon is another benefit of this. Furthermore, additional elements to do with actually drawing are quite interesting too, with enemy positioning and room layout potentially obstructing you and forcing you to make certain compromises or devise another strategy to deal with the situation at hand, providing a slight additional wrinkle to how the player approaches combat without becoming an extremely dominant element either, providing depth without being frustrating.

The other big point with the game that seems bad at first but has its own little positives is the camera, which I will admit feels closer to being equal parts horrible and genius. I'll definitely say that the camera in the game feels too zoomed in or outright misplaced in certain situations and it's absolute agony at times, but there are also other benefits that it has that end up justifying it and make the problem feel more akin to "they just needed to fix up a few spots here and there". My favourite effect of the zoomed out isometric camera style is the way that it makes every threat truly feel gargantuan with the way that your army will look like a colony of ants scurrying around against even a lot of the regular fodder enemies that are sent your way. The sheer spectacle of this cannot be understated and also adds a lot to highlighting the game's core theme about teamwork being what will help fight against insurmountable odds. It's also not as bad as it seems because while it might be hard to see your individual character, the morph weapons are positioned in such a way to act almost as beacons when activated, standing tall with these incredibly bright colours that make it impossible to truly get lost in even the most visually busy scenes.

Of all the flawed masterpieces that I've experienced, this might just be the most flawed with how often it feels as if the game's almost taking pleasure in slapping you around with outright infuriating scenarios and a mix of genres that sometimes just flat out don't work, but at the same time, the highlights are otherworldly and a lot of the frustration feels far more constructive compared to a lot of other difficult experiences. In most cases outside of the spiked enemies requiring the whip, when things feel as if they're taking forever, it doesn't quite feel like the enemies are too much to overcome, but rather than the player themselves are approaching the situation incorrectly and need to further explore the seemingly limitless possibilities of their immense arsenal. So many of the tough moments here feel less like traditional action encounters and more like minor puzzles, constantly asking you to work out how to further optimise your gameplay, usually showing off just enough for you to be able to figure things out if you're paying attention and are being inquisitive while simultaneously never completely bashing you over the head with the correct answer to further make it feel like your own accomplishment with each time you're able to take down these enemies slightly faster than before. I also feel like this was the reason for the relatively few types of common enemy in the game, because it instead wants the player to build familiarity with this smaller selection to truly master what they can do, because at the end of the day, Wonderful 101 is a game that encourages players to master the systems and dynamics at play in a way that I don't really see too often. It's not really fully content with players just stumbling through to the end, it wants them to fully get a grip on everything it has to offer, and the incredibly forgiving continue system is a huge indicator of this, clearly not really being concerned about whether the player is able to beat the game, but how well they can do it, which I do think is cool in a game as dense as this.

Above all, this really does feel like one of the purest expressions of adoration for the video game medium as a whole, and it's a big reason why I think it's a masterpiece. There's an outright ridiculous amount of effort put into even the smallest of details that simply would not be so strongly considered in other games, let alone one where you probably won't even be able to see a lot of it too well thanks to the camera perspective. The fact that each of the titular 101 heroes of the game each have their own unique model and little character bio is one such aspect I love, how even though you're likely not going to be seeing them in any detail beyond "these look like tiny ants", they're fully implemented without any signs of concessions having to be made, each of them also being really funny and charming in how they look. The ever intensifying stakes are also really cool to witness in the way that it's also represented through the gameplay ramping up in ways that not only feel more difficult, but more exciting too.

Rather than frontloading the experience in an attempt to hook people with the sacrifice of making the later portions often feel somewhat less climactic and interesting in comparison, the final 2 missions of this game are instead where things get kicked into overdrive with some of the most insane and silly things I've seen in a game. Nothing about the way the game presents itself is subtle at all but I think it works exceptionally well with the way it plays so strongly into replicating the feeling of goofy superhero cartoons, never straying from making clearly dumb jokes or throwing things all at the wall for no reason more than just "I thought it'd be neat", because above all, it just wants to be a fun, maximalist experience! I haven't quite played something like Wonderful 101 before and I'm not sure if I will again, but I can always hope to find another game that feels so committed to being such a joyful time that fully embraces and adores games as a whole that I am willing to call it one of the best things ever despite having so many points that frustrated me to the point of becoming an angry goblin creature who wanted to break her controller.