Wonderful 101 'wasn't exactly fun' until recently

Wonderful 101 director Hideki Kamiya says it took time and iteration to get the feel of the game right, and it wasn't "exactly fun" as recently as a year ago.

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The Wonderful 101 has gone through many iterations, most notably its shift away from starring Nintendo characters. Director Hideki Kamiya says the process has been constantly evolving, and that it wasn't even a very fun game yet when the team first debuted it.

Kamiya told Siliconera that a year ago, the game was still in a "trial-and-error process" and trying to find what really made the game tick.

"At the time, it wasn't at the level we wanted it to be," he explained. "It wasn't exactly fun, so to really get something greater out of the gameplay, we were working through that. So, at the time you could really call it a temporary state, where we were trying to show off overall concept and aesthetic and whatnot. From then, day-by-day, we've been going through this process of trial-and-error, where we build up elements or completely throw out other elements."

As an example, he cites the game's Unite Morphs, which has you draw shapes on the Wii U GamePad to summon special abilities. As of a year ago, the game only required you to press an icon on the screen, which he felt was too bland.

"That's an area that wasn't as fun, and by implementing this system of drawing the Unite Morphs--making decisions like that through development--we made progress in making the game more interesting. So, it's not as if we'd decided from the beginning what the featureset or fundamental gameplay would be. It's something that came together nicely as we went along."

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    September 3, 2013 5:00 PM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Wonderful 101 'wasn't exactly fun' until recently.

    Wonderful 101 director Hideki Kamiya says it took time and iteration to get the feel of the game right, and it wasn't "exactly fun" as recently as a year ago.

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      September 3, 2013 5:55 PM

      Somebody get this comment to Hideki Kamiya:

      I am a one eyed gamer. I love every game to date on the Wii U because I can play it. The Wonderful 101 actually requires 2 wonderful eyes. PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, give me the option to press a button to do the unite morphs! Bring it back Hideki!

      Sincerely,

      Your One Eyed Gamer

      Kenclopz

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        September 3, 2013 5:57 PM

        [deleted]

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          September 3, 2013 8:18 PM

          In the demo, many of your characters are each being attacked while trying to draw a curcle for a unite morph. Some of the morphs are easier to do because you can just draw a specific line, but to close a circle becomes frustrating and even annoying, because I have to stop looking at the tv to draw a circle with my finger. I woild very much prefer a button.

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            September 3, 2013 8:37 PM

            using the right-analog is faster...

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              September 3, 2013 10:16 PM

              Right analog works for all morphs? I need to check this out.

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                September 3, 2013 10:17 PM

                Still I think button morphs would still be fun.

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                  September 4, 2013 6:19 AM

                  I would agree, they could have kept that as an option. Maybe they have, who knows.

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            September 3, 2013 8:43 PM

            How would that be any easier with two eyes?

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              September 3, 2013 10:15 PM

              A greater FOV helps to see more around you in games like BF3. I play most wii u games lying down and holding the gamepad on my chest makes it as if I using dual monitors. But because there's so much going on, its hard to focus on everything on both screens. Sitting up and looking down is worse.

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                September 3, 2013 10:58 PM

                What you're describing is an issue regardless of how many eyes you have. It's just an inherent flaw in the WiiU second screen concept.

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                  September 3, 2013 11:34 PM

                  It's a flaw the way the game implements it, not in other games for the Wii U that use it as a map,, inventory, city scanner, etc.

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                    September 3, 2013 11:50 PM

                    It just has nothing to do with how many eyes you have unless you think people with two eyes can focus them independently in wildly different directions.

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                      September 4, 2013 8:17 AM

                      which is a funny misconception we rarely hear about, as only a person with one eye could think that. I appreciate that.

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            September 4, 2013 2:48 AM

            You know people with two working eyes can still only look at one screen at a time, right?

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          September 3, 2013 8:24 PM

          I thought all wii-u games needed 4 eyes

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            September 3, 2013 10:21 PM

            Mario U, Lego City, Pikmin 3, Rayman Legends (demo) all work fine with one eye. Haven't tried ZombiU. Too frightened.

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      September 4, 2013 6:19 AM

      The game is loads of fun and it delivers something different not only on the WiiU but in the Nintendo gaming gallery as a whole.

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        September 4, 2013 6:31 AM

        I really gotta give it another chance, but the demo didn't exactly convince me to drop my money on it. Maybe it was too much thing at once, rather than learning how to play step by step. (Feels like I'm getting old saying that, eh.)

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          September 4, 2013 8:18 AM

          I had the same feeling. On one hand, I don't want a demo to be too limited, but being dropped after many mechanics are introduced makes it so I'm not exactly sure what I'm supposed to know by that point. It still was pretty fun though.

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            September 4, 2013 8:24 AM

            Yes, the demo doesn't hold my hand very much. I was a bit confused at first. After a few minutes though I was comfortable, after my second play through (and watching the video after you beat the demo) I got it.
            None of you are old, I think its two things. We are used to demos that walk us through the process and specifically Platinum might have made a decision to just kinda put you in the mix.

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      September 4, 2013 7:49 AM

      I freaking loved the demo I have it pre ordered at Amazon I can't wait such a rad game. Sure the controls take a bit to get used to but it is worth it.

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      September 4, 2013 2:20 PM

      so I tried again and I found that the right analog stick works wonders for wonderful 101. the game is now extremely enjoyable. wow, this demo was tight.

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