Last week, it was rumored that Platinum Games had planned on re-releasing the game on multiple platforms. Originally developed and released for the Nintendo Wii U back in 2013, The Wonderful 101 never sold particularly well, including only selling 5,000 copies in Japan upon its release. However, it did manage to become a cult classic among Nintendo fans.
First reported by GameXplain, who had mentioned that Platinum Games was planning on bringing the game to not only the Nintendo Switch but possibly the PlayStation and Xbox One. All of which would be funded via a Kickstarter campaign. Well, it turns out they were correct, as just a few minutes ago that Kickstarter campaign went live. And the internet went nuts over it.
At the time of this article, the campaign had already managed to fund USD 32,000 and it hadn’t been 30 minutes. Scratch that, it’s already surpassed the original asking amount and has gone on to the stretch goals. Meaning that The Wonderful 101 is headed to the Switch. That’s got to be a record for the fastest funded campaign.
As for those stretch goals, the next two are $250,000 for a PC/Steam port and $500,000 for a PlayStation port. Beyond that, we can’t see as they’re blurred out on the Kickstarter page. Though, we can speculate that beyond those two goals, that Platinum Games has plans to include content that never made it into the original game.
Oddly enough, one of the backer rewards is being tweeted by Platinum Games’ very own Hideki Kamiya and being blocked by him (optional). This stems from the gentlemen not being one to take anyone’s annoyance and has been known to block people that get on his nerves. This reward is only available in pledges $100 and above.
I suppose congrats are in order, as I didn’t expect the demand for a port of The Wonderful 101 to be as large as it is. But the internet has shown me I was completely wrong.
Once this is over and the game is out the door, perhaps Platinum Games can do the same thing for Viewtiful Joe. Of course, that’s if Platinum Games has any desire to do so and if Capcom decides to lend them the IP for the game. I’m pretty sure Capcom owns it, but who knows. Either way, I’m glad to see that more people will be able to experience The Wonderful 101 outside of the Wii U.
