Platinum Games launched a new Japanese-language Twitter account earlier in July. Without skipping a beat, the new account started teasing fans with images suggesting a Nintendo Switch port of The Wonderful 101.
The image in question shows three characters from the game gathered around a table, playing a game. While blurred out, the image on the television appears to show gameplay from The Wonderful 101. What adds plausibility to the tease are the controllers being used in the image. The characters are using the Nintendo Switch Joy-Cons, with the console’s logo clearly visible. Interestingly enough, the Nintendo Switch being used features a design based off the original Famicom.
When The Wonderful 101 released on the Nintendo Wii U, it frequently used the console’s dual-screen feature. This could make a port difficult, leading some to suggest the tease is a sequel rather than a port.
Earlier in the week, Platinum Games released an image featuring Bayonetta from both the first and second game. While officially this was meant as a celebration of the new Twitter account, but fans were quick to speculate. They noticed that the background colors for each image matched the red and blue Joy-Cons. This is less conclusive as these colors also match the title treatment for each game’s original box art.
Platinum Games developed Bayonetta 2 and The Wonderful 101 as Wii U exclusives thanks to Nintendo’s involvement as publisher. A port to the Nintendo Switch would likely already have Nintendo’s approval. This would also follow the trend of Wii U ports coming to Nintendo’s latest console. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe released in April, while Pokkén Tournament Deluxe is scheduled for a September release. In a conversation with Waypoint last month, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime suggested that more Wii U ports could be on their way.
“Given the install base of Wii U, there was some fantastic content that consumers did not get to play, so that creates certainly a business opportunity,” Fils-Aime said. “On the other hand, one of the things that we’ve discussed internally is, there really needs to be an additional element to that game to make it fresh, and to further compel the consumer to buy in.”
Both The Wonderful 101 and Bayonetta 2 would be welcome on the Nintendo Switch. We gave Bayonetta 2 a near perfect score, praising its combat and imaginative setting.
