The Wonderful 101, Most Underrated Game of 2013, Reveals All That’s Wrong With the Industry

Nintendo Enthusiast delves into the greatness of The Wonderful 101 and why it was so unappreciated.

[dedicatedtogamers]

We all have our own 'underrated gems' (one of mine is Resonance of Fate) but the attitude that 'since my niche game didn't sell like hotcakes, the entire industry is crazy'. I seem to see this logic all the time with die-hard Nintendo fans.

Look, Wonderful 101 was an okay game with a lot of charm. That's...about it. It wasn't a system seller. Heck, it wasn't even a broad-appeal game for the people that currently own a Wii-U. Don't blame the industry that the geniuses at Nintendo (and their few affiliates on the Wii-U) seem to be making every effort possible to turn the Wii-U into the Gamecube 2.0 (as in, low sales, low number of 3rd party games, lots of artsy niche titles, etc).

I mean, if Mario and Pikmin can hardly excite the Wii-U's sales, how can people expect THIS game to excite the Wii-U's sales?

[Baka-akaB]

It is indeed ridiculous .Everyone got favorites left out in the dust . The current volume of quality games warrant it no matter what .

Not to mention that sometimes people can't deal with the simple fact that while recognized and possibly awesome , a game might just not appeal to most , if even "any" at all .

I can recognize the quality of W101 indeed , however it did nothing to attract me with its own artistic choices , i'm afraid . So even while i'd usually complain about a lack of interesting WiiU games , for my tastes , i'd still ignore the game and wait for better or pick something else elsewhere .

[OtakuDJK1NG-Rory]

every game doesn't need to be a system seller. Hardly nothing Sony had sold their systems except Naughty Dog and Sony Santa Monica games.

Also none of Platinum Games's games are big seller.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

But they really should be. in the case of Platinum Game's action titles, I truly feel that calling them highly under-rated is totally justified, regardless of the console their games are on.

[LOL_WUT]

"We all have our own 'underrated gems' (one of mine is Resonance of Fate) but the attitude that 'since my niche game didn't sell like hotcakes, the entire industry is crazy'. I seem to see this logic all the time with die-hard Nintendo fans."

Very well said! And those are the same people who blame the low sales on dude bro games and FPS all while they sit in there little room playing those said games. ;)

[maniacmayhem]

I love Resonance of Fate and I feel that game deserves a sequel if only for the reason of fixing some of the little issues I had with it.

Another underrated game was El Shaddai, the game was beautiful and deserved more than what it got.

The Wonderful 101 is a good game but hardly a system seller or blockbuster. It's a shame that games like CoD or Battlefield will always be huge money makers. Hopefully though this doesn't discourage Platinum games from making the niche games that I love.

[Aceman18]

for me this gen it was Mirror's Edge.

[Loadedklip]

So basically you are exactly the type of "gamer" this article is talking about. You clearly didn't play the game to any worthwhile length yet are judging it. I ... like the author of this opinion piece have a lot of trouble believing a true gamer can play thru this game and not call it amazing.

[dedicatedtogamers]

And basically you are exactly the type of "gamer" that I am talking about, the person who loves a game but then takes it WAY too far and acts as though anyone who doesn't also love the game has missed out on some sort of enlightening, life-changing experience.

[Baka-akaB]

I have more trouble taking seriously someone deciding you MUST love the game to be a true gamer . Takes me back to the FF6 and 7 "fanatics wars" .

I dare consider myself mostly cynical and bitter , but between your world , where something like above 120k are the true gamers , and mine where at least a few dozen millions could partake on the label on consoles ... i know wich one i choose to live in .

Well either way i love platinum games , but we didnt click this time . Even if again i can't say it's not a good game

[Concertoine]

Yeah it was a game by Platinum Games who has never once met sales expectations. I don't think nintendo even had much faith in this because they only printed 30,000 copies for japan at launch. But securing this and Bayonetta 2 i think was a good idea, because platinum has a hardcore fanbase that will go anywhere for their games, especially Bayonetta 2.

[NYC_Gamer]

Its a niche game and to be honest the fanbase for titles like TW101 will always be limited

[Loadedklip]

There is nothing like it though. Give it a real chance and you will change your mind.

[TheFutureIsBlue]

He didn't say anything negative about it. He is just telling it how it is and why it sold bad. That doesn't mean he or anyone thinks it's bad though.

[TheDivine]

Gave it a shot. Nice artstyle, graphics, a lot of variety, but still an average game. Combat isn't as fun or fluid as it should've been, a lot of the mini game segments are slow, boring, and clunky. It has some good humor and charm but there's two dozen games from 2013 I would finish before I touched this.

Just because its unique doesnt make it fun or great. Just because i dont personally adore it doesnt make me a casual fantard dudebro who just doesnt "get it". I love some niche games to death but I know they're not for everyone. What I see in Resonace of Fate, Kid Icarus, or Infinite Undiscovery others might not see. Giving this more time won't make it click or make me change my mind. Your opinion doesn't mean jack shit to me only mine does. TLOU was supposedly the GOTY and I found it a generic shooter and kind of boring. Def nothing revolutionary and not even close to the best ND game.

Also I despise hipster ass****s who think they're a true gamer and their taste is every gamers taste. Most of these guys have awful taste, are new to gaming and love every game due to not having played many good games, or they're kids. Which are you?

[3-4-5]

or MAYBE it's because there are way too many flashing colors on the screen at any one time and it's distracting and annoying and bit " too much".

* Also, each of those heroes should be able to be played solo with all unique abilities instead of forming into generic fists and swords and stuff.

There is NO NEED to have all those characters, too create all those cool designs, and then use them as one character.

That is straight up lazy and they know it.

[_QQ_]

"or MAYBE it's because there are way too many flashing colors on the screen at any one time and it's distracting and annoying and bit too much".

No, just no, just because you can't keep up. ask any RTS or MOBA player if having to keep up with alot on screen is a problem.
but yes they must be lazy because they didn't give all 100 characters unique abilities.You forget that how many characters you have, and what weapon you form make a difference? or maybe you just didn't play the game, probably the second one.

[3-4-5]

I understand my comments probably rubbed people the wrong way. Not really my intention, just stating how I felt. I don't think the game is bad, I just felt it didn't live up to the potential that I saw for it.

It could have been so much more than what it was.

[mydyingparadiselost]

The lead hero you pick can have different effects on some of your abilities depending on who it is. Unlockable characters like Bayonetta or Rodan have the most noticeable like 'witch time' or being able to use the hammer with a higher combo. It doesn't change the the kind of weapons you can use but it does augment an available weapon of skill. Besides with all the weapon options it would get frustrating changing characters each time you need to use a different one, which is often and usually in the heat of battle

[Activemessiah]

I think the author is seeking gamers to be more open to niche games in a world of GTA and FPS... he's asking for alot lol.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

Maybe, but it wouldn't be a bad thing to see more niche titles get more sales.
The more sales they get, the bigger their future projects can become.

[josephayal]

i love this game, Wonderfully Underrated

[admiralvic]

"The Wonderful 101, Most Underrated Game of 2013"

Can we stop using the term underrated when speaking of sales? The game was reviewed positively and a lot of people spoke fondly about it, but people didn't want it. This happens a lot and you can't always make something successful.

"Reveals All That’s Wrong With the Industry"

How in the world does The Wonderful 101 reveal anything wrong in the industry? Right now our biggest problem is developers releasing games too early and having a "patch it later" mentality (ala Battlefield 4), which did not happen for The Wonderful 101. In reality, Nintendo didn't really market this game, which was probably due to them seeing how niche the game was. I've played and beat TW101 and can tell you that the average gamer is not going to spend the time mastering the game, will never learn there are 10+ secret characters, won't unlocked all the members of TW100 and in some cases beat the game on a difficulty above easy.

Furthermore, I know a lot of people were waiting on a price drop. This is another huge problem we have now a days. Too many games drop way too fast, which prompts people to wait and see. I can't blame anyone for doing this, since we saw Killer is Dead hit $20 in a couple of months (I got the launch edition no less for that price) and Tearaway hit $20 within days of releasing. A lot of people know PG don't sell and they know this game had no sales force behind it, which is why places like Target already have it for $30 dollars. Now, these wait and see people indadvertedly ruin the game industry (by discouraging new ideas and making the sales look like crap), but this is another topic for another day.

When push comes to shove, TW101 was an interesting game that was just that, interesting. It was not the best game Platinum Games has made, nor is it the best game on the Nintendo Wii U. It will probably become a niche classic that few talk about (ala Mad World) in the next couple of years, but it got about all the success it was ever destined to get.

[LuisAlmeida]

I agree!

[Redempteur]

I agree .

Another game that was highly rated was terraway , yet nobody complains it's not in everyone GOTY lists.

Why ? because it didn't sell muc, same with W101

What didn't sell , can't set the world on fire.

[Loadedklip]

You clearly didn't read the piece. It talks about how it WASN'T reviewed all positively which goes completely against what you said.

[admiralvic]

"It talks about how it WASN'T reviewed all positively which goes completely against what you said."

I never said it was reviewed all positively, I just said it was reviewed positively. If you want to explain how a 78 score on Metacritic http://www.metacritic.com/g... across 75 reviews is not positive, then be my guest, but good luck convincing anyone that a score that is just under 8/10 is underrated.

[Eyeco]

I don't care for the site but the game has a 78 Metascore, that is pretty positive in my eyes, there are plenty of niche/ unique games more so than any other platform on the PC, that score around that area, but you don't see people throwing a fit and defending them to their last breath, just let it go.

And if this article is getting the impression that people don't appreciate these kind of games, again unless you've been asleep for the last 5-7 years there have been plenty of Niche/unique indie games on the PC that garner high praise and recognition, maybe this game wasn't to peoples taste, or maybe it wasn't marketed right, how many TV commercials do you remember seeing of this game ? It was poorly marketed.

I'm not bashing the game I think it looks amazing and once i buy a Wii-U i'll be sure to pick it up, but come on now, just let it go.

[Dan_scruggs]

Stupid gamer logic

NINTENDO NEEDS TO STOP MAKING MARIO GAMES AND FOCUS ON NEW IP!!!

New IP comes out. No one buys it.

NINTENDO NEEDS TO STOP MAKING MARIO GAMES AND FOCUS ON NEW IP!!!!!

[NYC_Gamer]

Why should a gamer drop 60 bucks on a title that doesn't catch his/her attention?Nintendo should create new franchises that are more appealing.

[Brucis]

Problem is what a gamer might find appealing varies greatly, so just saying 'make new franchises that are appealing' doesn't actually mean anything.

[Dan_scruggs]

You just proved my point wonderfully.

MAKE A NEW IP!!

Makes new IP.

I DON'T LIKE THAT ONE MAKE ANOTHER ONE!!

[Baka-akaB]

He proves nothing . The new ip has to appeal too , it's half the job .

You're in a market dire for new ips and controlled by one big publisher left unopposed , you decide to go instead for something quirky that sells nowhere , THEN SCREW YOU , IT'S YOUR FAULT .

Sure i sound harsh there , but is Kamiya even complaining about the sales of the game , and guilt tripping anyone ? Nope he knew what he released , just wanted to go through a particular idea and project , but doesnt whine like the author or advance silly arguments like "you wanted a new ip , here is one "WHY HAZ NO BUYZ GUYZ ?"

It's as stupid as guys back then complaining about people buying fps over Folklore when the "ps3 had no games" . Then they forgot how cryptic look and unattractive it looked , despite being a decent game , to even jrpgs fans , let alone the mainstream public

[ZainreFang]

more appealing = shooter game

[Baka-akaB]

The shooter thing is like a mantra with you guys . Wich still doesnt explain the success of other deemed niche games everywhere

Yes there is a genre number one in popularity , get over it already guys , it doesnt absolve games from failing to sell .

Sometimes it's a tiny little thing . All i know is i could have gone for W101 , if i liked the artstyle and it released at some other date . I'm that shallow .

And no i dont mean some realistic one , i'm far from loving those actually . I'd just have gone for something else .. maybe something more in tones with the world of superheroes and comicsdom

[Hicken]

If only it were that simple.

Unfortunately, a lot more goes into why people buy games than that.

This author- and you, apparently- expect a new IP to come out and immediately appeal to everybody who's tired of Mario. That's not how it works.

See, if you wanna capture the people who don't want Mario, you have to make a game they want. Odds are: you're not gonna pull that off with a single game. So you may entice some of that crowd with one new IP, but it will require other games for the rest.

That's why people say Sony's multi-exclusive setup is successful: there's something for everybody, rather than one or two games that try to cover all tastes, or only cater to the largest markets.

[Aceman18]

i played the demo for W101 and i personally didnt like it, but for those that did it was great to them.

this game was super niche from the word go, and wasnt going to garner that many gamers to buy and play it unfortunately.

[3dmariofan68]

Exactly! Just like when some critics and SO CALLED hardcore gamers said zombie u had broken controls, or they don't want an easy game, but when a game is challenging, like the Wonderful 101 then it is too hard or the controls are broken, like I have said before, 85% of gamers who call them selves hard core gamers are not hard core gamers, they are BLOOD AND GUTS, AND BOOBS GAMERS! if a game does not have tons of meaningless shootings and demeaning of women, then it is not hardcore.

Look at the sales and the critical scores of Grand theft auto V, it got highest ratings of any game of 2013 and wonderful 101 is 1,000 times better, but because it was you know what do real core gamers like? oh yeah, A CHALLENGE! How is it that some people had broken controls on their copies and others did not??? THAT IS JUST STUPID!!! My copy had great controls, it was just hard, the broken controls EXCUSE WHICH IT IS THAT JUST AN EXCUSE, THERE ARE NO BROKEN CONTROLS IN W101, Nope, just a game that is great challenge, the industry just lost their credibility, tehy all claim Mario 3d world is too easy, but Wonderful 101 is too hard??? Sorry don't buy it, I love a challenging game, Super Mario 3d world is not that easy, especially in the later levels and 101 is a great challenge, I am up to it,too bad the Media, the idustry, and all these SO CALLED hard core gamers are not.

[Gohadouken]

Then explain games like Dragon's Crown or Demon Souls , Dark Souls , that are very successful , while deemed challenging compared to most current games ? That's right you can't .

Yo can saerch for another excuse than it was too challenging for other people's brain . The game didnt attract many that's all . Hell it didnt even attract most of the n4g Nintendo fanboys or trolls that keep pretending they've got "Superior game quality" above everything else or "are the real hardcore gamers" .

Sh*t happens ... maybe it's the timing of release , maybe it's because it's on wii u at a time it was less popular , or maybe they didnt know the game or cared about it . No need to fault anyone there

[Beastforlifenoob]

please, please dont even compare the W101 to GTAV... Their worlds apart

edit: plus its abovious your a biased nintendo fanboy when your name is mariofan68

[princejb134]

I wouldn't say is underrated is just it was released in the wrong console
If it was on a ms console or somy console I would have probably bought it
But since it's for the wii u it lost a lot of sales in my opinion

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

I hope you don't seriously believe that.
Take a look at Rayman Legends.
It has art styles similar to TW101, and it sold like crap across both Sony and Micro platforms, unlike on the Wii U.
TW101 wouldn't have sold better on those consoles because it wasn't designed around those consoles.

[princejb134]

Actually I do believe that hence I wrote "in my opinion" at the end.
I would have bought this game but I'm just not interested in the wii u
And yea I wasn't interested in rayman legends so my opinion still stands

[REDBEARD]

While it is not the best from Kamiya, it is still a fun game. Nintendo has pumped out new ips for awhile now. Sadly people ignore them because it isn't a space marine shooting aliens or a bald protagonist shooting people randomly in the streets of a city.

If you are expecting them to make a ultra realistic first person shooters or anything appealing to the dude bro gamers, then prepared to be disappointed.

[Gohadouken]

Sure but why always go for the antagonising generalisation ?

Bare a few no one here only play unpopular obscure stuff and none of the "dudebros" shooter/sports/whatever game . So it's not always about that , at least not entirely .

It's not even as if the Wii U was catering to those "obscure needs and games" , while "ignoring the dudebros" stuff .

It's ONE quirky game on Wii U , in a sea of multiplatform everyone get where they prefer too , and a few Nintendo core titles , old or new so far .

[REDBEARD]

@princejb134

no. just no. Nintendo needed a game like this, whether it was successful or not.

Platinum games do not sell well on either console no matter how great they are. Okami, Bayonetta, Viewtiful Joe, etc.

[Aceman18]

Okami is my favorite game from them i remember when i played it on PS2 i took my sweet time with it. it turned out to be one of my favorite games on PS2.

[ChickenOfTheCaveMan]

I never understood the hype about this game, it sounded boring to me.

Anyway, you can only sell so much when the console doesn't even have 5 million users, look at Tearaway on Vita.

At some point, it's also on Nintendo, they made an habit to their users of feeding them always the same Mario, Metroid, Zelda and Pokemon games; they're just not used of trying or wanting new things anymore.

[_QQ_]

W101 gets high -mid range scores. someone writes article about it being underrated. comments= wow dumb Nintendo fanboy wants N games to always get perfect scores.

Knack gets terrible scores. someone writes an article about it being underrated.
comments= yeah i really enjoyed the game reviewers are wrong!!

i said this before W101 came out and following tearaway's terrible sales and this article i'll say it again... If you own a wiiu, or you own a vita and you don't support and buy these games you have no right to complain about the industry getting stale. That goes double for tearaway because that game had great scores.

[Gohadouken]

Except Knack fans werent whining about the sales and writing articles about why it should sell better , and shows what is wrong about the current and future market ...
And you'll wait a long time for those tearaway articles .

Yeah they whined , in comments mostly , about score they deemed unfair . Well everyone do sometimes , some often in the console war climate , that's all

here you've got the same case and syndrome of titles journalists feel they should force down everyone's throat . They tried that with plenty games many times , like Enslaved 1.5 or two years ago

[_QQ_]

yeah but what i said doesn't only apply to this specific article.

[Gohadouken]

But what you said barely apply usually imo . When game fails both critically and in sales like Haze , Lair , too Human or whatever , hardly a fuss is made beyond comments . You may have one article or two .

Knack was deeming terrible or mediocre in reviews , sold fine or barely .. Naturally some people can defend it , as people would do for even the worst titles of existence , but that's it .

Here (and other cases on other consoles) because it got such high reviews score , we got people pretending the game went above their head , was too challenging for "fake hardcore gamers" , or that they should be ashamed of owning a Wii U and not buying it .

That's way too much salt and goes above two uncomparable levels

[Loadedklip]

That's because Knack had plenty of articles saying how it was outselling Mario 3D World ..... in the UK .... for one week ... while being a bundled.

That's why ...

[Aceman18]

that article about Knack outselling Mario in UK was stupid from the get go because they wanted to cause a fanboy fight in their article which they succeeded doing.

just like how stupid the article about mario selling over a million worldwide sounded like a fan reassuring themselves that mario is great.

gaming media sucks period, and all it does it get nutty fanboys to fight with each other.

[Ac7iVe]

W101 was such an awesome game , one that ill always remember, challenging, fun and different. This is a real gamers game , not a todays gamers game. Newer gamers just want to shoot shit and feel manly.

[NYC_Gamer]

So why are creative games like LBP and Minecraft successful?TW101 just didn't catch many gamers attention and its failure to reach mainstream success has nothing to do with shooters.

[Loadedklip]

What is creative about LBP? It's a terrible fundamental platformer that you can create levels on.

And what levels are the most popular? Mario levels.

LBP sucks.

[Gohadouken]

The first part of the comment was perfect , then it turned into BS . There are hard and challenging games from other niche on consoles and handhelds that easily outsold it , nothing to do with what's a real gamer today and who isnt .

it reeks of self praise too . The game isnt that hard in most modes . Puzzle are ok , nothing anyone that can play Catherine , as an (even poor) example , can't handle .

you get tons of items to heal with and health pickups throughout stages.
dying won't set you back more than maybe a minute at the most, and thats really uncommon.
you have infinite retries.

[Ac7iVe]

I just got mad when I was typing lol I blacked out

[mhunterjr]

I want to play this game, but don't want to buy a wii u for it. I would like to touch on the bit about controls.

There is nothing wrong with having a learning curve, but the gamer need to be having fun while learning. It can't feel like a chore, or most gamers will lose interest before hitting their stride.

The author mentioned challenging vs bad controls, but in my experience, gamers will put up with either so long as they are having fun. The original tomb raider games come to mind for me. And MGS1 and 2...

[bigchad]

Ha ha ha ha. WTF is with all these comments. lol. W101 is pretty amazing.

[HeavenlySnipes]

Maybe it just didn't sell alot because its on the WiiU

Its looks alright from videos and such but I'm not buying the console to play that.

[hano]

I bought one Wii U for my family.

Now I will pick a second one mainly for the Wonderful 101, Pikimin 3 and Mario as well as the big hitters of next year.

Oh and Just Dance, I wanna play that with my wife.