Why ‘Dewy’s Adventure’ deserves a Switch outing

The Nintendo Switch came after a comparative failure, the Wii U. As well as boasting its own wonderful catalogue of games, the success of the Switch gave Nintendo a chance to resurrect some of the Wii U games that struggled due to the console. Indeed, the smash hit Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was originally a Wii U title, and one that went on to thrive on the Switch. But I suggest that Nintendo could look even further back to expand the Switch’s game selection. There were a lot of Wii games that would suit the new console to a tee, including one that I’d love to see remastered: Konami’s Dewy’s Adventure, a 2007 game that could thrive again.

The game was kind of a platformer – you controlled Dewy, a drop of water who sets off on a quest to rescue some magical fruits and save his people, the Eau, from the villainous Don Hedron. You’ve an adorable lead character and the staples of your traditional cute adventure game. But the major selling point comes in the abilities Dewy possesses as a drop of water – the player can manipulate the environment, freezing or boiling things. As well as affecting the world it also affects Dewy, transforming him into a block of ice or a cloud, and giving him new powers and ways to interact with the environment. You also have the power to generate earthquakes and wind by moving the Wiimote.

Coupled with a surprisingly expansive level creator, there’s tons of replay value here

Behind the cute aesthetics (more than 15 years later, the game still looks great), there’s quite a high level of challenge. Each stage requires a lot of puzzle-solving, and there are some genuine head-scratchers. You have multiple challenges to balance – getting to the end of the stage, finding each of the hidden Eau in the stage, and a combination of how fast you manage to do both. The level of puzzle difficulty is pitched just right throughout, resulting in a tough experience that never becomes too frustrating. Coupled with a surprisingly expansive level creator, there’s tons of replay value here – you could play through the story mode once, just to enjoy it, before attempting to really mine the depths of Dewy’s Adventure.

You could have a fundamental title in the Switch’s catalogue

The game was broadly positively received but there was one recurring criticism, one that was common across much of the Wii’s library: the motion controls. In the game, Dewy would slide across the level based on how much you tilted the Wii remote (the buttons controlled Dewy, the tilt controlled the environment), and to say this was fiddly would be charitable. It was very easy to lose control of the water droplet and to lose lives, sending him into enemies and hazards unintentionally. Later levels became increasingly precise, and you needed a control stick that would provide an appropriate amount of precision in response – the motion controls were not this. And that’s before you started using the other buttons on the remote at the same time as trying to control Dewy. It could be a bit much, and sometimes needing to press left or right would result in enough tilt to send Dewy halfway across the stage.

Given the game’s many selling points it would be a shame not to revisit it, and it probably wouldn’t even need that much doing to it. I’m picturing a new version of Dewy’s Adventure, remastered a little with a selection of new levels and puzzles, and some much-needed updates to the control scheme – and you could have a fundamental title in the Switch’s catalogue. Although Dewy’s Adventure was a fun outing on the Wii, I think that porting it to the Switch could give it a new and much-deserved lease of life.