Overview
LostWinds
is an original game developed for the
Nintendo Wii's
WiiWare service by publisher
Frontier that was released on May 12, 2008. It was a launch title for the WiiWare service. It was released to largely positive reviews and is still priced at one thousand "Wii points".
Plot
In LostWinds, the player takes control of
Toku, who is a young boy living in the world of
Mistralis. At the beginning of the game, Toku finds the wind spirit Enril, who lends her power to Toku, which lets him drift up to great heights, float down without falling to his death, and glide across large valleys. It is Toku's job, with the help of Enril, to remove the curse that has been placed on Mistralis by the evil spirit Balasar.
Gameplay
This is a
2-D platformer in a 3-D world. Toku is controlled by using the analog stick on the nunchuk to move him left or right, and flicking him with the Wii-mote to jump high, float across gaps, and drift down large holes without dying. While exploring the world, Toku finds 5 different abilities to help enhance his wind powers. These abilities are found in chests scattered across Mistralis, mostly in caves.
Using the Wiimote the player can create drafts of wind to control Toku.The enemies of LostWinds
are fairly tame, and only latch onto Toku when he gets too close. They are easily defeated by using the wind powers to smash them into the ground. The rest of the gameplay of LostWinds
comes from the interesting platforming while exploring and the light puzzles. Whenever the wind blows through trees or an enemy is defeated, little blue spirits are released into the air. To collect them, the player must simply point at them using the Wiimote, much like how star bits are collected in
Super Mario Galaxy. There is a meter on the in-game
HUD which which slowly fills up three symbols as you collect the blue motes. If the player ever runs out of health, you simply shake the Wiimote and you life get fully replenished at the cost of one of the three symbols.
Awards
Frontier Development TeamLostWinds won the best new IP award at the Develop awards in Brighton UK on July 31st, 2008. The award was accepted by the team who were dressed in Toku hats.
Sequel
The ending of LostWinds
clearly points to a sequel that has since been released in the form of
LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias.
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