After much anticipation, Platinum Games' Hideki Kamiya came on board to host today's 20 minute Nintendo Direct dedicated solely to the Wonderful 101. Aside from sharing details on the game mechanics, Kamiya brought with him a loaded seven minute trailer that gives Metal Gear a run for its money with all the information overload.
A lot of the information on the Direct has been communicated in the Platinum Games blog before, and we have subsequently covered them here, here and here. Of course, Platinum and Kamiya used the Direct as an opportunity to share this information in an entertaining and exciting way, and there are new tidbits.
So, as explained before, you don't start out with all 100 heroes, and in a brief screencap, Kamiya pointed out that you actually start with 20 of them. You collect the heroes from different parts of the world, and having more heroes on hand increases the size and power of your Unite Morphs. So, really, Platinum has cleverly hidden the leveling up mechanic for the game in plain sight.
Now, in demonstrating the Unite Morphs, Kamiya revealed something novel and unexpected; you don't have to do the Unite Morphs one at a time. You can in fact do as many as five Unite Morphs simultaneously. This ability is called Multi-Unite Morphs This definitely increases the strategic element of the game. Platinum also demonstrated the nonoffensive applications of the Unite Morphs, using Unite Hand to turn knobs, Unite Sword as a key to open locks, and in tandem, using Unite Gun to move a crane, and then Unite Whip to grab the crane's hook end and swing on it like a vine.
Finally, the last major new announcement is the Wonderful Mart, the prerequisite merchant shop of the game. Throughout the game, you can collect things called O-Parts, which function as currency. You can buy certain Unite Morphs, such as Unite Guts (15,000 Parts) and Unite Spring (10,000 Parts). You can also purchase Custom Blocks, which are power up items to enhance your abilities, heal you, and so forth.
Kamiya is informing us that every stage is made up of small missions that are meant to be replayed for higher ranks. #TW101Direct
— Tobiichi Polyaness (@Tobiichi_JAAP) August 9, 2013
Finally, Kamiya details how Platinum designed replayability into the game. You can get a high score by trying to finish missions faster and without taking any damage. Now, your Unite Morphs can also be leveled up just by using them in combat. These new skills will then allow you to add more to your moveset, in such a way that if you could originally only swing your Unite Sword left and right, you would later be able to use the sword to strike upwards, over and over, and keep lifting your opponent up in the air. Using Multi Unite Morphs and combos will raise your score above what's possible with basic attacks.
Kamiya ended the Direct with a gigantic seven minute trailer, which I think spoils way too many story elements than some of you may want to know. I will share that the trailer reveals new heroes, Wonder Yellow, obviously Russian in origin, Wonder White, a very honorable ninja, and Wonder Black, also a kid like Green and Pink and apparently an expert in gadgets. You also have a very Thunderbirds-esque support team flying in their fortress ship, the Virgin Victory. The team comprises of CENTINELS commander Laurence Nelson, spaceship operator Alice MacGregor, support mech P-Star, and research professor James Shirogane.
Shortly after the Direct, Platinum posted on their blog that they were releasing the Wonderful 101 demo for both European and Japanese markets. Satoru Iwata came on Miiverse to inform US users about the Direct, affirming the September 15 release date, and confirming that US is also getting the demo today.
If you've gone this far and are now going back up to watch the Direct, a word of warning:Kamiya jokes about repeating the release date over and over because he is pretending he's announcing different games each time. If you just want to watch the story trailer, go here..
