The Wonderful 101: Remastered (NSP, XCI) ROM + v1.1.0 Update + 3 DLCs

The Wonderful 101: Remastered is an action-adventure game developed by PlatinumGames and published by Nintendo for the Wii U. The game was directed by Hideki Kamiya and produced by Atsushi Inaba. It was released in August 2013 in all major regions except North America, where it was released the following month. The Wonderful 101 received generally positive reviews. It failed to meet sales expectations.

In February 2020, PlatinumGames announced a remastered version for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Windows, financed through crowdfunding, which was released in May 2020. A version for Amazon Luna was made available in May 2021. The remastered version is PlatinumGames’ first self-published title. A free downloadable content expansion for the remaster, The Wonderful One: After School Hero, was released in May 2023, with a standalone version released in June 2023.

GAMEPLAY

Screenshot of an earlier version of the game depicting a “Unite Morph” ability used to battle an opponent. The heroes have combined to form “Unite Hand”, which is shown punching a large enemy called the Diedough-Goo.

In The Wonderful 101, players control a horde of superheroes from an aerial viewpoint and can turn them into various objects called “Unite Morphs”. As the levels progress, players must explore each stage to find helpless citizens and recruit them to join their army of heroes. The more heroes gathered, the greater the special morph powers can be. At the cost of depleting their battery meter, players can use “Unite Morph” forms to defeat enemies, solve puzzles, or traverse the environment. The meter can be recharged by performing normal attacks or by picking up batteries dropped by a defeated enemy. Enemies will also drop “O parts” (the in-game currency used to buy upgrades), new “Unite Morph” abilities, and items. To transform the horde of heroes, the appropriate symbol is drawn on the Wii U GamePad’s touchscreen or right analog stick, such as an L for a gun or a squiggly line for a whip. In specified areas, the GamePad (by default) is used to change the view to a traditional, third-person angle and better explore tighter environments, such as those found indoors and inside caves.

The single-player campaign is broken into levels. Each level ends with a grade depending on several factors, such as how long it takes the player to complete the level and how much damage the player took. In addition to a single-player mode, the game has a cooperative mode that supports up to five players, with one person utilizing the Wii U GamePad and the four others each using their own Wii U Pro Controllers.

The downloadable expansion The Wonderful One: After School Hero, features side-scrolling gameplay with only a single playable hero, Luka. The player can use Luka’s goggles to fire laser blasts in any direction and can switch between three different laser types that each have different advantages. The expansion features 12 stages, with unlockable bonus stages score attack modes, and online leaderboard support.

PLOT

The story opens with a school bus full of children being attacked by alien invaders known as the Geathjerk. The teacher, Will Wedgewood, transforms into the superhero Wonder-Red and teams up with other superheroes to destroy the aliens with Unite Morph powers. One student, however, Luka, appears disillusioned and expresses his hate for both the heroes and the aliens.

The heroes then meet on their flagship, the Virgin Victory to plan their defenses and offenses against the invaders. The Earth is protected from invasion by a shield known as Margarita, powered by five Super Reactors. The heroes must travel around the world to protect these reactors and destroy the aliens who slip through the shield, along with their leaders. As they travel, they meet up with Professor Shirogane, who explains that once the reactors are safe, they will use an orbiting satellite cannon, the Shirogane Comet, to destroy the remainder of the aliens. Along the way, Wonder-Red struggles to lead his team, particularly Wonder-Blue, whose brother was killed by one of the alien leaders, Vijounne. Blue’s desire for revenge causes several problems until Red convinces him to cooperate with the team. Also, Luka stows away on the ship, and the heroes are forced to bring him along to keep him safe.

The heroes repeatedly fight the space pirate Prince Vorkken and his first mate Chewgi. Vorkken is searching for the strongest fighters in the galaxy so that he can have the strength to get revenge on the Geathjerk. Vorkken fights with Unite Morph attacks similar to those of the heroes and serves as a foil to Wonder-Red in their encounters. With the help of Vorkken’s sister, Immorta, the heroes defeat him, and Wonder-Red convinces Vorkken that his desire for revenge has turned him evil.

At the climax of the story, Luka betrays the heroes and joins Gimme, a first-class officer of Geathjerk, revealing that his pendant is the key that controls the Super Reactors. Luka explains that his mother, CENTINELS Professor Margarita, died working on the shield that protects the Earth and he wants the aliens to destroy the Earth to get revenge for the loss of his mother. After chasing down and defeating Gimme, Wonder-Red reveals that Luka’s mother is still alive: she had turned herself into the artificial intelligence Mother Platinum, the computer system that controls Earth’s defenses. Luka abandons his desire for revenge and Mother Platinum gathers pieces of the destroyed city to create a giant robot named “Platinum Robo”. Using the robot, the heroes fight their way to the Shirogane Comet and fire its cannon, destroying the invading fleet. Jergingha, leader of the aliens, does not give up and appears in a planet-sized fortress with an even bigger fleet. Platinum Robo flies to attack the fortress, while Chewgi and Vorkken arrive to help break through its defenses.

Upon being confronted, Jergingha reveals the Geathjerk are actually from 1,500 years in the future where Earth becomes an evil empire called the Greater Galactic Coalition using the technology of the Wonderful Ones and the Centinels, which has destroyed the homeworlds of the Geathjerk leaders. Geathjerk has come back in time to destroy Earth to prevent the Coalition from ever existing. Jergingha’s fortress turns into a giant robot, even bigger than Platinum Robo, but the Wonderful Ones, Immorta, and Vorkken all combine their power and destroy it, saving the world.

The Guyzoch leave with Vorkken to help rebuild the worlds they attacked. The Wonderful Ones vow to make sure Earth never becomes an evil empire like Jergingha seemingly predicted. Luka joins the Wonderful 100 to help make up for his mistakes. As a result, the team is renamed the “Wonderful 101”.

The epilogue shows Luka (now “Wonder-Goggles”) and the other heroes saving a school bus from the aliens, paralleling the game’s opening. The story ends with the heroes continuing their fight against the remaining Geathjerk forces.