10 More Great Video Games Nobody Bought
9. The Wonderful 101
Sometimes, games release into ecosystems that are already overstuffed. There's just too much going on in the industry, specifically on a particular console, and deserving titles are lost in the shuffle of players having too much choice.
The Wonderful 101 suffered a different but no worse fate. Not that Wii U owners weren’t distracted by better games - there were disparagingly few titles on the system as it was - there just weren’t many people with the console to even sell it to.
This particularly stings because not only is The Wonderful 101 a solid game in its own right, it also was one of the few to make great use of the console’s gimmicks. Players use the Gamepad to draw symbols for their groups of heroes to take formations, be that giant swords to smash down foes or ladders and so on to traverse environments. It was truly original.
The Wii U is Nintendo’s least successful home console of all time and because of this The Wonderful 101 is certainly one of Platinum Games’ worst selling titles. Estimates at the end of its first quarter put it at less than 80k combined across Japan and North America. Thankfully, the game has since gotten a remaster due to fan support to give it another lease on life.