Prior to launching the extremely successfulWonderful 101Kickstarter campaign, PlatinumGames' Studio Head Atsushi Inaba and Director Hideki Kamiya sat down with Nintendo Everything to talk about the upcoming remaster. In the interview, the two developers talk about the future ofWonderful 101and how they had aspirations of expanding the single title into a series of games.
Unfortunately, in its original release,Wonderful 101didn’t sell as well as PlatinumGames would have wanted, likely due to being exclusive to Nintendo’s relatively unpopular Wii U. However, thanks to the Kickstarter campaign, aWonderful 101: Remasteredhas been fully funded and is ready to be developed for the much more popular systems.
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According to the interview, whenWonderful 101was originally being developed, the team at PlatinumGames had always intended to turn the game into an ongoing series as opposed to the one-off title that it turned out to be.When asked about the development process ofWonderful 101, both Inaba and Kamiya commented that when working on any title, the overall series is usually considered all at once. In fact, one of Inaba’s specific comments shows exactly why this didn’t happen before thelong teased remasterhits PC, PS4 and Switch, as the game didn’t gain enough traction on its original console.
“So if fans support this and things go really well forThe Wonderful 101, then I’d say it’s pretty natural that we’d want to make another game in the series!” - Atsushi Inaba
Clearly some of what the developers have planned for the series is already making its way intoThe Wonderful 101: Remasteredthrough the new content coming to the new release, currently referred to asLuka’s First Mission. This is a pretty clear indication that PlatinumGames already has an idea of where to continue the series in the future, and if the remaster has a successful launch, then a sequel is likely to quickly go into development. While there is little information about what direction the new game might go, even with the answers given from the interview, fans can at least be assured that PlatinumGames has plenty of plans to work from.
With any luck, the actual launch ofThe Wonderful 101: Remasteredwill be successful enough to make the way for a further series of titles within the same universe. After receiving aTencent investment, a successful franchise likeWonderful 101may be exactly what PlatinumGames needs in order to earn its interdependence and begin self-publishing its games. With successful franchises likeBayonettaandNier: Automataalready under its belt, the company is well on its way to becoming a gaming giant.
The Wonderful 101: Remasteredis set to launch in April on PC, PS4, and Switch.
