Little King's Story for PC
Little King's Story received a port onto Steam, GOG.com and the Humble Store on the August 5th, 2016. The port was later updated in February 2017 with performance fixes, after the source code was entrusted to hacker Durante of Dark Souls fame to fix some of the bugs that had held the PC Version back.
Major Differences from Wii Version
The following differences occur between the Wii version and current PC version of the game. Changes may vary depending on PC performance and performance settings:
- Many models and textures have been reworked into high-definition.
- The lighting has been made brighter and more dynamic.
- Some scenes have altered camera angles.
- Some text and dialogue has been changed or altered.
- Some unlockables appear earlier, such as the Wonder Spot sign for the Forest Cafeteria being present before Shishkebaboo is defeated.
- Long Sauvage's battle uses the Japanese version of his battle music, "Dance of the Knights", instead of the international version, "Mars - Bringer of War".
- The game has a startup options screen to adjust settings, including a 60fps mode.
- 60fps mode makes much of the game run at different speeds or not work entirely, due to how the Wii version was programmed according to frame counts for sake of consistency in real-time functions. The Durante patch added a 30fps toggle function to F1 while in 60fps mode, to avoid potential softlocks and such.
- Almost all HUD animations are missing for menus, sub-menus and the like.
- The font has changed slightly, now being thinner and appearing from the middle before spreading outwards. Some formatting has also been changed, such as the throne menu and construction signs having their text much closer to the top of their boxes than the middle.
- Some sprites, such as Life bars, have been updated. Others, such as the various Job Class icons, have not.
- The hire animation is much shorter, and the emitted stars go the wrong direction.
- Citizens run and attack faster.
- Fade and transition effects are almost entirely missing, most noticeable when the Worrywart Soldier and Huge Earthquake cutscenes start to play, as they do not transition as smoothly from the in-game footage as the Wii version.
- Sound effects are missing, such as Corobo's scepter hiring sound, or Kampbell's maracas despite the same sound effect still being present during the Jumbo Champloon fight when he lays Concodores.
- Loading Mist has been removed. This allows the player to see too far, showing the exact moment when terrain is loaded in and out and allowing the player to see into the void during regular gameplay. This is most noticeable in a few instances:
- During the in-game cutscene after beating any King, where the camera pans onto the Castle, the player can see an incompletely loaded Tiptoe Kingdom in the distance.
- During the Long Sauvage fight, the player can see much more of the surrounding environment than intended by the original game, including where the sea stops loading and enters the void. This also affects the visual effect when Corobo's citizens construct the human tower to become taller than Sauvage, as the "sky" (in reality, a disguised loading mist) no longer correctly increases in lighting with each citizen.
- Due to the zoomed out camera, Jumbo Champloon's arena shows areas of New Island outside of the battle loading in and out constantly.
- The caves in Long Sauvage's fight do not work properly, causing a situation where Corobo is forced to lose citizens to an instant-kill beard attack. Xseed Games have confirmed that they cannot fix this bug. If playing on keyboard, it is possible to still use them by holding two opposing directions on the arrow keys.
- Graphical effects are missing. For example, some obstacles like pots no longer break into a cloud of dust upon being broken, instead just popping out of existence.
- Corobo's scepter attack no longer emits stars.
- Sometimes TV Dinnah's quiz clues will fail to show up, leaving the player to guess the answers.
- The start-up animation of Jumbo Champloon's chicken laser attack lacks GFX, meaning the laser comes out without warning. The laser is also missing GFX, no longer making an impact with the floor and instead looking more like a long, nebulous rectangle.
- The TV that Corobo enters the Primetime Kingdom in no longer glows as much, allowing the player to see the moment the citizens disappear.
- The lights on the Sobamanjaro fight no longer flash, with only the red light glowing.
- Several physical animations have been altered for unclear reasons.
- The God Memos are no longer animated.
- The electric beard hair during the Long Sauvage fight no longer spins, and instead stays put. However, the original hitbox is still present, causing Corobo and his Soldiers to appear as if they have been damaged by absolutely nothing.
- The lances that rise out of the ground during Jumbo Champloon's fight no longer have smoke bubbles to indicate where they are about to rise from, and the lances have been incorrectly flipped 90 degrees, causing them to pop out of the ground on their side.
- The scrolling bar on the HUD moves at almost half the pace. This has several knock-on effects.
- During TV Dinnah's opening cutscene, the text does not display in full before being cut off, with only the first few words displaying. Strangely, it scrolls at the original speed during the fight.
- The Worker Onii's warning messages in the Jumbo Champloon fight do not display in time for the player to know which gate they have come from until the Onii are already halfway to Champloon.
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
- During the Final Boss battle, the Castle seen in the transmission from the floating communications device does not load properly, leaving several shots of Howser and the other characters where the ceiling or floor are missing. The device also sometimes has its blades stop spinning completely.
- During the bonus ending screen for Tyrant Mode, there are additional characters in the Castle throne room compared with the Wii version, namely Skinny Ray, Kampbell, and the princesses. This is possibly due to backlash from players who felt the ending made it ambiguous as to whether some of their favorite characters survived or not. While several clues in the original Wii version reveal that all characters are safe after the final battle, this change makes it more explicitly clear.
Spoiler warning: Spoilers end here.
Reception
The PC version of Little King's Story was initially not very well received, and failed to recapture the praise of the original Wii version. However, many were still pleased to see the game available in a modern form.
The Metacritic score for the PC version dropped by 30% from the Wii version, going from a rating of 87 to a 62. Many users reported frequent crashes, performance issues, glitches & bugs, and various in-game effects and objects failing to work properly, even with the recommended specifications and after the February 2017 patch, making the game almost unplayable for some. According to Steam statistics, fewer than 2% of all players have beaten the game. Others complained about the port's unreliable and unpolished nature. One of the Little King's Story series' most viewed videos was a scathing report of the PC version by Jim Sterling, a vocal critic of poor porting quality in the gaming industry. Many fans quickly concluded that the most optimal way to play Little King's Story remained with the original 2009 version on a Wii or Wii U system.
Despite this, Little King's Story for PC remains the most accessible way for new players to experience the game, with many players managing to play through the game with little to no issue when using the right performance settings. The port has gathered more favorability over time, with patches leading to an increase in user ratings.
Gallery
Early development picture to tease the port
Early development picture to tease the port
