LostWinds

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. 

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

LostWinds 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.