The Wonderful 101
is a 2013 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, but failed to meet sales expectations.
A remastered version for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Windows, financed through crowdfunding, 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 the following month.
Gameplay
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", 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 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 and score attack modes, and online leaderboard support.
Synopsis
The Wonderful 101 occurs during the third war in a series of conflicts between Earth and an intergalactic alien armada called the GEATHJERK Federation that has invaded the planet. The only hope for humanity is the Wonderful 100 or Wonderful Ones, a group of superheroes working for the CENTINELS Planetary Secret Service, an organization created by the United Nations.Characters
The heroic main characters are Will Wedgewood , a Blossom City elementary school teacher and the leader of the Wonderful Ones, whose father Arthur is killed by Laambo; Eliot Hooker , a good and dedicated police detective that had an older brother is killed by Vijounne ; guns expert Jean-Sebastain Renault ; fashion modeler Mariana Kretzulesco ; Russian soldier Ivan Istochinkov ; ninja-in-training Momoe Byakkoin ; and video game player and genius prodigy Krishna Ramanujan .The supporting characters are P-Star, a robot assisting these heroes; Laurence Nelson , the commander of the Centinels who was previously known as Wonder-Red; Virgin Victory operator Alice MacGregor ; and science chief James Shirogane. Luka Alan Smithee is a Blossom City Elementary School student whose scientist mother, Margarita, died working for the CENTINELS and gave her life so that the artificial intelligence, Mother Platinum, could sustain the Earth's defensive shield, named Margarita in her honor. Luka joins the group and becomes Wonder-Goggles at the end of the game. The last member of the Galactic Police Federation is Immorta ; both her and her brother, Prince Vorkken, lived on the Roaming Comet of Rhullo, but was brainwashed by Gimme, an alien who plants a virus in the form of a bio-weapon insect named Vaaiki on Vorkken's body. as a result, Vorkken becomes the vicious leader of the Guyzoch space pirates and with his right hand Chewgi. The main villain is Jergingha, the supreme overlord of the GEATHJERK Federation, who is attempting to destroy Earth to take back the galaxy from humanity.
The expansion The Wonderful One: After School Hero introduces a new character, Sue, Luka's classmate. The Geathjerk scientist Wanna, who appeared as a boss in the main game, acts as the expansion's primary antagonist.
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, first class officer of GEATHJERK, revealing that his pendant is the key that controls the Super Reactors. Luka explains that his mother, CENTINELS scientist 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 actually 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 defences.
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 home-worlds 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 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.
''The Wonderful One: After School Hero''
Set shortly before the game's epilogue, Luka begins his Centinels training using a VR simulation program managed by P-Star. As his training continues, strange glitches begin to occur, and P-Star loses control of the simulation, trapping Luka inside. As he battles his way forward, Luka briefly spots his classmate Sue inside the simulation. Worried for her safety, he has P-Star dispatch Centinels security to her home. P-Star manages to extract Luka from the simulation, but Sue is found unconscious. Luka and P-Star discover that the Geathjerk Wanna survived his battle with the Wonderful 100, converting himself into a computer virus, and infiltrated the Centinels computer network using Luka's lost ID card, with Sue's consciousness getting pulled in as well due to her briefly handling the card when returning it.With Wanna quickly gaining control of the system, Luka demands to be sent back in to stop Wanna and rescue Sue. P-Star agrees, but gives him only 15 minutes, after which the network will be shut down and they will be permanently trapped to prevent Wanna from gaining control of every computer on Earth. Luka hurries through the simulation, defeats Wanna's new virus form, and escapes with Sue just before time runs out. The next day at school, Sue believes her experience to be a dream, but begins to suspect Luka of being the hero that rescued her. At his final training session, P-Star commends Luka, stating he will likely be accepted into the Centinels official ranks. Inspired by something Sue told him, Luka officially dubs himself "Wonder-Goggles".