Though they're calling it a Kickstarter.

Almost as though they are mocking what the platform should be used for, PlatinumGames just put up a new Kickstarter today for The Wonderful 101: Remastered. This Kickstarter has already surpassed a few goals despite having gone up just a short time ago today.

At the time of this going up, the Kickstarter has already destroyed its initial goal of a Switch port of the beloved Wii U title. In fact, it has now surpassed the $250K stretch goal for a PC release on Steam. The next stretch goal seems to be a PlayStation 4 version at $500K.

What makes this more of a "pre-order" than a proper Kickstarter lies in the fact that the game will ship in April 2020, a scant two months away. It seems less that the game needed funding for the initial port and more that they are using Kickstarter as a platform to pull in pre-orders. It really seems to be a smack in the face of what Kickstarter should be used for, but given the amount already pulled in, fans don't seem to give a flying toss about any of that.

The Wonderful 1010 was a game in which players took control over an ever growing group of heroes. It was the creation of Hideki Kamiya, eccentric game designer and known Twitter blocker. These heroes would follow the main player around as they did battle against all sorts of threats. These threats mostly originated from outer space. They came to the once peaceful city of Blossom City. What they didn't anticipate were running into Wonder-Red, Wonder-Blue, and all of the other Wonder heroes.

Though the release seems to be locked in for Switch and now the PC, the PlayStation 4 version goal still hasn't been hit yet. In addition, while an Xbox One version isn't mentioned, there are a number of additional stretch goals that have yet to be revealed.

The Wonderful 101: Remastered is planned to be an enhanced version of the original. It may even included some additional content if funding hits a high enough amount. Though since this is on Kickstarter, higher pledge tiers will already get you some additional bonuses besides the game. These bonuses include things like an OST, shirt, stickers, vinyl record, figures, jacket, and even a hand painted controller. The higher tiers also include a reward of being blocked on Twitter by Kamiya.

Despite this being more of a pre-order than a proper Kickstarter, one still has to wonder why this is even necessary when PlatinumGames had a significant investment from Tencent just a month prior. According to the FAQ for this Kickstarter, the "plans for The Wonderful 101: Remastered precede that agreement" with Tencent. They go on to say that "capital received from the investment will not be used to fund the development costs associated with the project."

Of course, that doesn't mean everything is on the up and up for this pre-order campaign. According to a Gematsu interview, Platinum is working with Dangen Entertainment on these ports. Dangen is an indie publisher that has been in some boiling hot water recently. Specifically, they have been found to be involved in multiple accounts of "harassment and other inappropriate behavior." They are also apparently holding some indie developed titles hostage without providing payment to the creators who made them. Despite word of Dangen's involvement on these ports, their names are not listed on the Kickstarter page itself.

As is the case with most things, none of these negatives seem to matter amongst gamers. The Kickstarter/pre-order page has already surpassed $446,000 and is rapidly nearing the $500K PS4 port goal with over 30 days remaining.