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Bayonetta (ベヨネッタ) is a 2009 hack and slash video game developed by PlatinumGames and directed by Hideki Kamiya. It follows the titular character Bayonetta, a witch who hunts angels and fights using magical firearms, demons summoned using her hair as a medium, and the iconic "Witch Time" technique. Possessing no memories of her past, Bayonetta holds the left half of the "Eyes of the World", a pair of priceless gems, and travels to the European city of Vigrid to seek out the right half, inadvertently uncovering the truth behind her past and the true nature of the Eyes of the World in her adventures.
Directed by Hideki Kamiya, Bayonetta is considered a "spiritual successor" to the Devil May Cry series, which he created earlier in his career under Capcom. Bayonetta's fast paced, innovative action gameplay and stylish presentation earned it universal acclaim upon release. Bayonetta was one of PlatinumGames' most commercially and critically successful games, becoming an iconic game for the company and cementing their status as an action game developer.
At the time of The Wonderful 101's release, the Bayonetta series consisted only of its first game. Since then, the series expanded greatly, receiving a film adaptation Bayonetta: Bloody Fate in late 2013, a sequel Bayonetta 2 in 2014, a second sequel Bayonetta 3 in 2022, and a prequel spinoff Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon in 2023. A 2D demake, 8-Bit Bayonetta, was also released by PlatinumGames as an April Fools' joke.
Bayonetta herself has also made multiple crossover appearances in other games over the years, including Anarchy Reigns, the Super Smash Bros. series, and of course, The Wonderful 101.
The first Bayonetta game had a strong influence on The Wonderful 101, from many aspects of its game design and content to various callbacks and Easter Eggs. Likewise, later games in the Bayonetta series also include notable references to The Wonderful 101 in return.
Bayonetta in The Wonderful 101[]
Note that all points in this section refer specifically to the first Bayonetta game only:
Gameplay[]
Three characters from Bayonetta — Bayonetta herself, and her allies Jeanne and Rodin — all appear in The Wonderful 101 as the unlockable Wonderful OnesWonder-Bayonetta, Wonder-Jeanne, and Wonder-Rodin, with Wonder-Bayonetta having the distinction of being the reward for 100% completing the game. Though they were at first kept as a surprise in The Wonderful 101, their inclusion in the game became a prominent selling point for The Wonderful 101: Remastered and its demo through the addition of the Wonderful Code system, allowing them to easily be unlocked early.
The Wonderful 101's five difficulty levels are based on Bayonetta's. Both games include two easy difficulty levels with similar accessibility features, including a unique item that automates gameplay, and two unlockable hard difficulty levels, where the highest of which possesses a unique name and restriction based off the game's core mechanics: for Bayonetta, it's "Non-Stop ∞ Climax" (NSIC) which disables Witch Time, and for The Wonderful 101 it's "101% Hard" which forces you draw the Wonder-Liner in real-time.
The Wonderful 101's overall level structure is highly similar to Bayonetta, consisting of traversing linear environments to complete Missions (called Verses in Bayonetta), backtracking to find Secret Missions, and optionally exploring to find hidden collectibles or various forms of significant upgrades. Boss fights in The Wonderful 101 also consist of single levels dedicated to battling a powerful and unique enemy over the course of multiple parts, exactly like in Bayonetta.
The Wonderful 101 features a training room loading screen similar to the one in Bayonetta.
The special Secret Missions in The Wonderful 101, Kahkoo-regahs, are identical in concept to the Alfheim Hidden Verses in Bayonetta. Likewise, The Wonderful 101's bonus level, Operation 101, is identical in concept to Angel Slayer in Bayonetta, and is even unlocked in the same way.
The Wonderful 101's item mixing system is almost identical to the Concocting system in Bayonetta.
The Wonderful 101's point and multiplier based combo system is based on Bayonetta's combo system.
The Award (scoring) system in The Wonderful 101 is almost directly copied from Bayonetta. This includes the same metal-based Award tiers —consisting of trophies modeled after the game's characters and presented with a quote— given to the player for the completion of every Mission and Operation, and the same penalties (although The Wonderful 101 is slightly more lenient than Bayonetta in regards to item penalties.) The only major difference is that Bayonetta's "Stone Awards" were replaced with "Consolation Prizes" in The Wonderful 101.
The Award systems in Bayonetta and The Wonderful 101 are also both based on the scoring system from Viewtiful Joe.
The Wonderful 101 references Bayonetta's prominent use of dodge mechanics through the Nice Try!Bottle-Cap, which references both one of the quotes Bayonetta can say when she perfectly dodges an attack, and an achievement with the same name in Bayonetta.
The GEATHJERK Slayer Bottle-Cap is also another reference to an achievement in Bayonetta.
Related to dodging, the Unite Ball ability in The Wonderful 101 is based on the Panther Within technique from Bayonetta.
The Wonderful 101's Custom Block system is similar to the Accessory system in Bayonetta. Most significantly among these Custom Blocks is Hero Time, which gives you the ability to stop time by dodging enemy attacks, a direct reference to the Witch Time mechanic from Bayonetta. Several other Custom Blocks also have similar effects to an Accessory in Bayonetta.
Wonder-Bayonetta and Wonder-Jeanne also possess the special ability to inherently activate Hero Time even without the Custom Block equipped, further referencing Witch Time.
Various elements of The Wonderful 101's interface design, from its icons and menu layouts, quick time events (QTEs), enemy introduction cutscenes, unlockable gallery, and even its game over screen are similar to Bayonetta's.
Notably, the Unite Hand icon is almost identical to the punch control icon from the Bayonetta series. Likewise, the Unite Gun icon is very similar to the shoot icon.
When Female Wonderful Ones who use Unite Hand cannot form their Unite Morph, they perform a kicking backup attack whose animations are based on the first two hits of Bayonetta's combo and the final hit of her combo.
Story and Characters[]
The GDA armored transports seen in the Prologue and Epilogue are based on the armored transports seen in Bayonetta. Likewise, the GDA Warship being piloted by Arthur Wedgewood in Operation 006-B's flashback sequence is almost identical in appearance (externally) to the Valkyrie Military Transports also seen in Bayonetta.
Concept art of Bayonetta's Luka as a child
The character Luka Alan Smithee is heavily based on Luka Redgrave from Bayonetta, both in character and in design (particularly Luka's childhood self). Similar to The Wonderful 101's Luka, Bayonetta's Luka incorrectly believed that his father was killed at the hands of the Umbran Witch prior to the events of the first game, and sought to avenge his father until the true cause of his death was made clear.
Pink striking Bayonetta's pose
Wonder-Pink possesses several similarities to the character Bayonetta:
Pink's "laissez-faire" personality, her playful yet brutal style of fighting, and her tendency to flaunt her sexuality is similar to Bayonetta's personality.
Though Pink is described as disliking children, she becomes attached to one during her adventures, just like Bayonetta in her game. The fact that Pink becomes attached to Luka, who's heavily based off another character from the Bayonetta series with the same name, further reinforces this similarity.
Design-wise, Pink's high ponytail hairstyle is evocative of Bayonetta's beehive hairstyle, and her weapon, the Beautiful Whip, is extremely similar in design to Kulshedra, an unlockable whip weapon in Bayonetta.
The GEATHJERK Officer Vijounne physically resembles Madama Butterfly, the infernal demon Bayonetta contracted to gain her magical powers.
Gimme's quote during the Giga-Goojin boss fight "So it has come to this, you crying baby cockroaches!" is a reference to a quote from Bayonetta "If there's two things I hate in this world, it's cockroaches and crying babies! Well, a crying baby cockroach would be truly terrible… So don't you dare cry."
Bayonetta and The Wonderful 101 both utilize bookend story telling by having the games begin and end in the same locations to emphasize the changes the characters went through. Both games also feature a playable credits sequence highlighting various gameplay sections from over the course of the games, and an end-screen consisting of a collage of every character and enemy from the games.
The Wonderful 101 in Later Bayonetta Games[]
Bayonetta 2[]
The Wonderful 101's roll out jingle is used at the end of a news program in the Prologue.
Wonder-Red's "Diplomacy fails again!" catchphrase is referenced by Bayonetta in Chapter XII, when she responds to a threat from the Lumen Sage with "So you're saying diplomacy has failed then?" It is also referenced by one of Rodin's possible shop quotes "Diplomacy has failed. Thank goodness capitalism still has its place in hell. Let's do business."
Wonder-Blue's weapon, the Valiantium Blade, appears in Bayonetta 2 wielded by the angels Valiance and Valor. Although this version of the Valiantium Blade has a completely different appearance, Valiance's in-game description suggests that it and Wonder-Blue's sword are one and the same.
Wonder-Rodin's weapon, Yagyu, appears in Bayonetta 2 as a weapon used by Jeanne with the same name. Yagyu's in-game description references Rodin's usage of the weapon in The Wonderful 101.
The Platinum Code, a cheat code present in all versions of The Wonderful 101 that makes it possible to unlock secret characters early, returned in Bayonetta 2 with a similar function.
Bayonetta 3[]
Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon[]
Trivia[]
Because their inclusion in The Wonderful 101 predates the film adaptation Bayonetta: Bloody Fate and the Japanese dub of the first Bayonetta game, Wonder-Bayonetta, Wonder-Jeanne, and Wonder-Rodin all use English voice lines regardless of the game's language setting. All of their voice lines are reused recordings from the first Bayonetta game.
In addition to her various other crossover appearances, Bayonetta was also at one point considered as a playable character for the Sega crossover game, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, but was rejected over concerns that her inclusion may raise the game's age rating.
