Updated at 6:30 p.m. ET
No more teases. PlatinumGames is giving The Wonderful 101 another shot.
The studio turned to its fans for help though, launching a Kickstarter campaign on Monday to crowdfund a remaster of the 2013 cult classic for the Nintendo Switch, at minimum, with stretch goals to bring it to Steam and the PlayStation 4.
The Wonderful 101: Remastered is Platinum’s first attempt at self-publishing one of its games, and the first of four projects to be revealed on the “Platinum 4” website the developer opened early Monday morning.
Within minutes of going live, the Kickstarter campaign reached its $50,010-minimum goal to make the Switch version a reality, then quickly surpassed the $250,000 stretch goal for a Steam version and the $500,00 threshold for the PS4. The estimated delivery date for backers to start receiving their copies is April 2020.
Thanks to over 9,000 wonderful backers of our Kickstarter for The Wonderful 101: Remastered, we’ve already hit our goals for the Nintendo Switch, Steam, and PlayStation 4 versions!#ALLFOR101 #Platinum4https://t.co/5i8iwBiL9K pic.twitter.com/NScXd9SYOV
— PlatinumGames Inc. (@platinumgames) February 3, 2020
The stretch goals have since been updated to include a time attack mode at $1 million and “Luka’s First Mission” — a 2D side-scrolling epilogue — at $1.5 million.
“We’re developers first, not publishers,” Hideki Kamiya, Platinum’s senior vice president and The Wonderful 101’s director, said in the pitch video. “So this creates a lot of challenges for us.”
“That’s why we need your help in order to bring The Wonderful 101 to modern platforms,” he added. “With enough help, we might even be able to add additional content to the game. Therefore, I humbly ask for your assistance.”
Like most crowdfunding campaigns, The Wonderful 101: Remastered’s Kickstarter offers backers an array of digital and physical rewards in addition to their copy of the game. However, this campaign offers a prize that only Platinum can deliver. Those who pledge 11,000 yen ($101.22 USD) or more will receive a tweet directly from Kamiya himself…and then he will block them.
For those not in the loop, blocking people is kind of his thing.
GameXplain was the first to report Platinum’s plans for the remaster, verifying through two anonymous sources that the game would be coming to the Switch, and the PS4, at least, and the existence of the company’s Kickstarter account.
Industry insider Liam Robertson corroborated the report on Twitter, adding that the Kickstarter was a backup plan after Platinum pitched the game around to different publishers, Nintendo included.
Platinum (apparently) pitched it around to different publishers. Nobody wanted it. Nintendo certainly didn’t want it. Kickstarter is a back-up plan.
— Liam Robertson (@Doctor_Cupcakes) February 1, 2020
The launch of the Kickstarter follows up the photo Platinum tweeted a few days before, which many immediately read as a tease related to The Wonderful 101. Front and center is Kamiya, with a Switch console on his left, and the monitor behind him having a date and time set to Oct. 1 (10/1) at 1:01.
Scenes from the PG office! Who’s that photobombing Hideki Kamiya? pic.twitter.com/D70oalUTKo
— PlatinumGames Inc. (@platinumgames) January 31, 2020
Originally released for the Wii U in Aug. 2013 (Sept. 2013 in North America), The Wonderful 101 was, and in many ways still is, one of the more unique action games out there. Its foundation is built on the idea of strength in numbers, having players control an army of superheroes and citizens they rescue along the way to combine (literally) and fight an invading alien force. Add in an over-the-top charm and sense of humor, and some very large scale boss battles, and the result was a gem of an experience for those who played it.
“For those who played it” is the key phrase though. The Wii U was a struggling platform, and The Wonderful 101 was a game with niche appeal, so it didn’t sell well.
Still, a majority of the standouts in the Wii U’s library have received second chances on its successor, the Switch, including Bayonetta 2 (also from Platinum) and Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE more recently. Neither of those games did great sales-wise the first time around, so it stood to reason from fans that Wonder-Red and company could get one, too.
They can and did.
Platinum recently received a capital investment from Chinese holding company Tencent, an agreement the developer said it made in order to be able to self-publish its own titles. The plan to crowdfund The Wonderful 101: Remastered preceded that deal, said Platinum, so none of the money received from Tencent will be used for the development costs of the remaster.
The studio also has Bayonetta 3 (Switch) and Babylon’s Fall (PS4, PC) in the pipeline, while their last project, Astral Chain (Switch) was just announced to have sold over a million copies.
The post Wonderful 101 Kickstarter Launches To Bring Wii U Gem to Switch, Steam, PS4 by Nick Tricome appeared first on DualShockers.