"The Wonderful 101—the 101st hero is you."

Wii U owners have suffered through delay after delay. We were promised Pikmin 3, The Wonderful 101, Game & Wario, and Wii Fit U within the launch window, but the window closed and not one was released. Now, nearly a year after Wii U’s launch, some games like the aforementioned Game & Wario and Pikmin 3 are finally starting to trickle out, but we’re still waiting patiently for The Wonderful 101. But despite the length of time we’ve known about the game’s existence, The Wonderful 101 isn’t exactly a known quantity.

Carrying gameplay that combines the unit management seen in Pikmin games with all of the styling of a traditional Platinum Games action title, The Wonderful 101 is being directed by Hideki Kamiya, the same man behind Devil May Cry, Viewtiful Joe, Okami, and Bayonetta. And like Viewtiful Joe, the games share the same tongue-in-cheek sense of humor and Super Sentai/Kamen Rider-esque aesthetics.

Of course, unlike Viewtiful Joe, you’re not just taking the role of one character. In The Wonderful 101, you are an amalgamation of up to 100 “Wonderful Ones” (you’re the 101st member). Though the game focuses on controlling the team as a whole, there are a few characters that take the spotlight over the rest, like Wonder-Red, Blue, Green, Pink, Yellow, White, and Black. The other members of the Wonderful 101 are also unique, but you’ll have to scout them out before you can call on their help. Furthermore, citizens that you save during missions can give you a helping hand by becoming temporary Wonderful Ones when you give them a substance called “Wonder Energy.”

Many of these heroes also have an ability called “Unite Morph” that allows them to transform their sentai brethren into several different weapons, such as Wonder-Red’s massive fist and Wonder-Pink’s spiny whip. To put it bluntly they’re the weapons that you’ll use to kick some serious alien butt. Before you use the advance Unite Morph technique, however, you’ll have to learn to work as a team. This is where fans of Pikmin will feel right at home—you act as team leader and everyone follows you. If your rangers get too stretched out or are dispersed by an enemy attack, you simply press the Y button and they’ll huddle in on you if they’re still conscious. If they’re not conscious, however, you’ll have to slap some sense into them and wake them up. Aside from this, the basics of the game are fairly typical. You can jump; you can double jump; you can dash—in other words, you basically traverse the game’s cities and other settings like any other action game. Or at least, that’s how it is until you get to the basic combat.

I briefly mentioned the Unite Morph abilities, but the game also features basic attacks. They’re not your usual weak punches and kicks seen in most action games. Instead, Platinum Games seemingly took a page right out of Pikmin with its “Team Attack.” Simply put, you ram your Wonderful Ones into the enemy by pressing the X button, and then watch as they crawl all over them and snare them like you’ve seen in the abovementioned Nintendo series many times before. This is also when the Unite Morph ability has the greatest effect.

With the enemy snared, all you have to do is draw a corresponding shape with the right stick or on the touch screen, summon your unite weapon, and send the alien scum back where it came from. The more allies you have, the larger and more powerful the unite weapon you can summon. Of course, this is helpful when fighting any one of the game’s several bosses that appear at the end of each mission-packed stage. It also helps if you pay attention to each individual enemy’s weaknesses, as there’s likely a Unite Morph that can exploit them. Chaining Unite Morphs into combos also increases the damage output and your overall score, and you’ll gain even more combo possibilities as you unlock new skills. You can even activate up to five Unite Morph attacks at once using the Multi-Unite Morph technique.

Additionally, Unite Morphs can also be used to traverse the world by building bridges, forming a hang glider, and scaling buildings. There are several uses for the ability, and some will even help you gather O-parts, the currency that allows you to upgrade your abilities through purchasing new Unite Morphs and other power-ups at the Wonderful Mart.

But the Wonderful Ones don’t stomp aliens into the pavement just because it’s fun. In their reality, Earth has been under attack from the GEATHJERK Federation Supreme Armada for 40 years. In response to the alien menace, the people of Earth created the CENTINELS Planetary Secret Service, a group that includes our heroes, the Wonderful Ones. By the time of our story, however, Earth has already survived two invasions, but this time the GEATHJERK aren’t pulling any punches; they’ve launched their entire fleet. Don’t expect The Wonderful 101 to take its story very seriously though. All signs point to it being a very tongue-in-cheek adventure filled with plenty of humor.

In addition to the single-player campaign, The Wonderful 101 also sports a 5-player multiplayer mode that puts each player in control of a team of Wonderful Ones, one using the Wii U GamePad and four others using Wii U Pro Controllers. The multiplayer appears to be similar to the campaign; however, the action takes place largely in arenas where you and your friends will obliterate the GEATHJERK while competing for high scores.

Though Wii U owners really can’t be too picky with the games they play if they ever want to turn on the system, The Wonderful 101 seems like a wholly ambitious and fresh title. The Wonderful 101 releases on August 23 in Europe, August 24 in Australia and Japan, and September 15 in North America.