Wunderling from Retroid is a colorful and fun 2D autorunner platformer you should give a go on Nintendo Switch. Learn more in our Wunderling review!
In Wunderling, you’ll be taking control of the titular character who, as it turns out, is actually a low-level video game goon who is sent on a quest to find the Carrot Man, the hero who has stolen the sorceress’ scepter. The pesky hero must be stopped before it’s too late, and with the help of Wunderling, the day can still be saved! The game will actually first allow you to take control of Carrot Man during a short platforming sequence in which you’ll get to squash goon after goon before you finally find the aforementioned scepter, all in Carrot Man’s quest to save Princess Pea. It’s after this sequence that sorceress Kohlrabi revives Wunderling, granting it a valuable skill: jumping!
As for the game’s controls, since Wunderling is a 2D autorruner platformer, your character will always be moving forward at all times. You can control its jumps with the A and B buttons. As you progress through the game, you will unlock new abilities, such as boosting by pressing and holding down the L, R, ZL, or ZR buttons. Who knows, you might also grow wings at some point and fly to your destiny! If, at any point, you realize that you have messed up, you can self-destruct with the X button. You can also go into the Options menu and change around the button mapping in case you want to do something differently.
You’ll be exploring each stage as you automatically run, trying to grab all the flower buds in your path so that you can 100% every stage. If you pay attention, you will notice that once you’ve cleared the first stage, you will be told how many collectibles you grabbed, as well as if you grabbed the hidden treasure chest for that particular stage. You see, along with the regular paths you must take to reach the exit portal, as long as you keep your eyes peeled and really notice the overall layout of each level, you will find extra paths you can take to access smaller areas that will hold the missing treasure chest.
Each of the treasure chests that you can find will include an item you can use to customize the look of Wunderling. Items will be split into different types, which will let you know what part of its body Wunderling will wear it on. There are hats, glasses, shirts, shoes, and things he can hold with its hands, as well as new “paint jobs” that will change Wunderling’s color. There are also cassette tapes to find, which will add more songs to the sound test menu, as well as pages from Princess Pea’s diary you can unlock by grabbing all blossoms in every stage for each world.
You can’t just go out and explore every area of a level without any worries, because Wunderling will actually start to lose some health when you go to take on new paths. If you don’t hurry up and collect some flower buds, Wunderling will end up dying, and you’ll have to start the stage all over again! This is because of the dark magic that the sorceress used to bring you back to life, so be sure to collect some buds (or the flowers that bloom from them if you’re replaying a stage) so that you can stay alive.
Along with all of the running and the platforming, you’ll also need to stay away from the hazards that can spell trouble for you. There are things such as bubbles that will keep you from progressing in a stage, sending you back a bit in your progress, spikey creatures that can kill you in a single hit, purple strips that, if you’re not careful, will send you speeding towards your doom. There will also be pinball flipper shaped doors that will only open from one side, walls that hide platforms, and more.
Some stages will also have hidden extra portals that are a bit trickier to reach. The first one in the game will be hidden in the center of a ton of spikey fiends, and you’ll not only need to find and enter a bonus pipe to get to that particular area, you will also need to time your jump just right so that Wunderling falls down in an arch so that you barely miss the spikes while still jumping towards the second extra pipe. Once you’ve cleared that jump, you will find a portal of a different color that will take you to the level select screen so that you can play the bonus stage.
Wunderling surprised me when I played it for this review. I was expecting a fun autorunner platfomer, and while the game is certainly that, it’s also a colorful, charming, and very addictive platforming experience. It reminded me at times of 2D classic Toki Tori, thanks to Wunderling being a short and yellow protagonist, as well as because of the attention to detail for each area that I visited. Wunderling is out now on Nintendo Switch for $14.99, and it offers more than enough content for its asking price, especially if you’re the type of player who likes to 100% a game.
Disclaimer
This Wunderling review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by Retroid.
