The Wonderful One: After School Hero (Nintendo Switch) Review

The Wonderful One: After School Hero is set shortly after the events of The Wonderful 101, where Luka Alan Smithee is training to be a new member of the team. Luka has matured a bit since the events of the original adventure, but he is still the same oafish boy as ever. During his drills, he sees his classmate in the simulation, and it is revealed that Wana, one of the Geathjerk aliens, is not quite dead yet and has uploaded his mind into the computer system.

The voice actress for Luka returns, and she delivers a convincing impression of a hot-headed kindergartener. Sadly, Steve Blum does not reprise his role as Wana. It is unusual for Wana to be silent, and in this bite-sized adventure, he never says anything. This departure from Wana's typical character is so pronounced that he could be replaced with anything, and it would make no difference.

The story is presented economically in a visual novel style format, with big expressive character portraits and static backgrounds. The Wonderful One: After School Hero was obviously made on a shoe-string budget as most of the assets and enemies are recycled from The Wonderful 101. This game was intended as a free bonus for the remaster, and it is understandable that corners were cut. All of the conservative efforts do pay off though, because After School Hero manages to impress with its unique action platforming gameplay.

The Wonderful One: After School Hero unfurls in one big homage to retro action arcade games that the developers grew up with. Luka dons the wonder goggles and with the right analogue stick, he can fire lasers in full 360-degree range. He is small, moves very fast, can double-jump, and has the ability to dash. The playability is as snappy and responsive as it was in the vanilla game, but with a 2D perspective.

The wonder goggles come with three modes: slow bounce shots that ricochet off surfaces, a short-range spread gun, and the standard long beam. Luka will be tasked with battling Geathjerk foes in simulated locations based on environments from the main game. These skirmishes are utterly chaotic and frantic due to the sheer number of enemies and bullets on the screen, which can be overwhelming, but also thrilling. Surprisingly, the gameplay is forgiving, as Luka is provided with numerous health pick-ups to sustain the fight. Lives are also easily earned since Luka's goggles are powerful enough to swiftly eliminate most enemies in succession, resulting in significant combos.

Even though Luka is a formidable child armed with a deadly weapon, even he can come close to being outmatched. Boss fights take standard foes from the base game and enhance them into massive enemies, who come with reinforcements to give Luka a hard time. Thankfully, the scoring system also levels up a meter with charges that can summon some of the main heroes from The Wonderful 101. Each of the original-coloured heroes can assist Luka in a pinch, and they all have the ability to afflict various statuses on foes. Wonder Black can stop time, Wonder Pink can stun enemies in a radius, and Wonder Red can deal moderate damage to any unfortunate Geathjerk caught within the range of his fists of justice. For gamers who want to witness the entire gang team up for a massive attack, be prepared to keep charging that gauge to fully expend it all.

The fast-paced action and the small scope of the story make it easy to get into without having to deal with expansive scripted sequences. The Wonderful One: After School Hero feels like the kind of bombastic and opulent arcade game from a forgotten era. It's an experience that's easy to return to for a quick and thrilling adrenaline rush, and much of this is attributed to its intense focus.

If there is one area where The Wonderful One: After School Hero did no cut any corners on, it is the soundtrack. All of the classic themes and leitmotifs from the main game are rearranged and reimagined as crunchy chiptune. These pieces of music were so perfect and having new interpretations of them in this style is a gift fans won't realize they wanted until they hear it.