Star Fox Outfit

Bayonetta 2, one of the highest profile third-party exclusives on Wii U — albeit published by Nintendo — is getting close to release. The Platinum Games extravaganza is all set to deliver high-intensity action to the system, and we've been impressed so far; we said as much in our preview.

Nintendo's contribution to making the game happen is being recognised, however, and as recently revealed the sequel will have the same outfits previously confirmed for the original Bayonetta Wii U port — yet there's more. The announcement of a Fox McCloud-themed outfit was new for the sequel, and naturally has fans of both Platinum's franchise and Nintendo rather excited.

The outfits bring more than superficial changes, however. In the case of Mushroom Kingdom Princess and Sarasaland Princess — Peach and Daisy — stringing together combos replaces the standard over-sized fist and heel with Bowser's arm and leg. The Hero of Hyrule — Link — has a special block move, where a well timed push on the stick blocks the attack with a Hyrulian shield on Bayonetta's arm. Galactic Bounty Hunter — Samus — has an arm cannon and can turn into a morph ball form. Finally, Star Mercenary — Fox McCloud — has little Arwings as guns, which lock on with that well-known square symbol. Beyond slight move amendments, each comes with minor flourishes such as franchise-specific sound effects when picking up items, and in the case of Peach, Daisy and Link there are appropriate pick-ups in place of the Halo currency — coins and rupees, of course.

The outfits, as a whole, are integrated rather well and serve their purpose of raising a smile and adding a sense of fun. They carry across into cutscenes, which can look rather humorous, though there is clipping in the cutscene visuals where the new outfits don't match — in dimensions — with the standard outfits; that's a relatively minor visual gripe. We've also noticed that effects such as the Bowser limbs show when using the standard Love is Blue gun weapons, but are replaced with weapon-specific animations with other sets; again, it's a minor but noticeable shortcoming, and highlights that these outfits — when purchased in game — are simple extras that were clearly thrown in for just that purpose.

To wrap up on these outfits, we've produced a quick-fire two minute action video to show them in-game, also showing off snippets of the first five chapters. Details and the video are below — enjoy!

Chapter 1 – Noatun, the city of Genesis — Mushroom Kingdom Princess
Chapter 2 – A Remembrance of Time — Sarasaland Princess
Chapter 3 – Paradiso – The Gates of Paradise — Hero of Hyrule
Chapter 4 – The Two Meet — Galactic Bounty Hunter
Chapter 5 – The Cathedral of Cascades — Star Mercenary