While relatively unknown in the West, Wonder Momo made a comeback thanks to the ShiftyLook webcomics. Wonder Momo made her debut in the arcades as a female heroine that kicks really high. After building up the Wonder meter on the top of the screen, you can transform and throw the Wonder Hoop (basically a hula hoop) at enemies.
WayForward is making a new Wonder Momo video game and we played it at GDC. The new game is actually a lot like the original Wonder Momo. Both are side scrolling beat ’em ups where Wonder Momo kicks enemies. In the new Wonder Momo the enemies are aliens since it follows the plot of ShiftyLook’s comic series and Wonder Momo doesn’t kick as high. The sketchy photographer that follows Wonder Momo isn’t in the game either, but there is a little homage to the classic game after you complete a level.
Defeated enemies drop gems which fill up the Wonder meter. You can transform after a few bars are filled, but if you wait until the meter is full you can get a full health recovery boost too. Transform and Wonder Momo gains the Wonder Hoop, a projectile weapon that bounces off enemies. You can hit multiple aliens with the Wonder Hoop if your timing is right and it’s the main combo system in Wonder Momo too. Wonder Momo’s kicks doesn’t learn any combination attacks, she just has the same high kick and low kick. The level I played had sections where walls pop up and Wonder Momo gets trapped until she defeats all of the aliens that fall from the sky. This is where the Wonder Hoop and it’s bouncing ability come in handy.
The stage ended with a boss fight against a fire breathing dinosaur. The dinosaur had two main attacks, a lunging bite and a trail of fire. If Wonder Momo sweep kicks the flames you can get gems to transform and whack the boss with the Wonder Hoop. Wonder Momo also has a fireball attack, but it drained the Wonder meter too much to be useful.
Wonder Momo is for Android and PC, but designed with a controller in mind. The build I tried was running on MadCatz’s Mojo microconsole. The game will also be available for the NVIDIA Shield in March. There are no plans for an Ouya or smartphone release. A PC version is slated for April, which will have two player co-op. One player controls Momo and the other the gets to fight as the original Wonder Momo.
