The Wonderful 101 May Have Been Like Super Smash Bros

The latest Iwata Asks feature delves into The Wonderful 101's art direction and deeper development ideas.

The session, held by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, included designers Hideki Kamiya, Atsushi Inaba, Shingo Matsushita and Hitoshi Yamagami from Platinum games.

The group discussed the game's very bold and bright look, attributing the design decision to Kamiya and how it homed in on his childhood. Originally The Wonderful 101 was set to take on a far darker, grim look compared to the final release.

The main coal for the game played on Kamiya's childhood desires to bring "small, separate things" together and "become strong". There were concerns that there may have been too many characters, and that there were too many things going on "as it we were running wild". It had even originally been proposed as a game that would bring together Nintendo characters - almost in a similar way to Super Smash Bros.

There was an initial concern between both Platinum Games and Nintendo, given the House of Mario's quality control with other studios in the past, but with The Wonderful 101, Nintendo kept their distance but "really looked after us".

Finally, there's a hidden character that "will fight with guns, and that other trademark item has been changed into a mask as well".

What are your thoughts on The Wonderful 101?