Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure

Shaking the Wii Remote rings Wiki, changing a frog into a ticking timebomb

Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure is presented as a third-person perspective adventure game. In each stage, the player is required to overcome obstacles by solving puzzles and advance towards a treasure chest.[1][2] The player controls the actions of hero Zack through the Wii Remote by pointing to objects on the screen, identified by an on-screen cursor, and having Zack move about the level and investigate objects and contraptions. Creatures and enemies in the level can be transformed into practical items by holding the Wii Remote vertically and shaking it left to right, causing Zack to shake his ally Wiki like a bell.[1][3] When the player has Zack interact with a usable item, the game shifts to a first-person view and the player is prompted to mimic the operation of the item with the Wii Remote.[1][4] For example, in one of the game's earlier puzzles, the player must create a bridge out of a tree. This is done by ringing Wiki to change an enemy centipede into a saw, then using the tool to cut down the tree by holding the Wii Remote horizontally and moving it back and forth in a sawing motion. The game contains over 80 different gestures, which range from pulling levers to playing a flute.[5]

Successful actions award the player a set amount of "HirameQ" points based on the cleverness of the action, how many attempts it takes to perform the action correctly, and its difficulty level.[6] After reaching a treasure chest, the player must exorcise the evil spirits covering it by ringing Wiki.[3] The game then tallies up the total number of HirameQs in a level and gives the player a grade based on performance. Zack's reputation as a pirate will improve with a higher HirameQ total and as more treasures and items are found throughout the game. While not exploring levels, the player has the opportunity to return to Zack and Wiki's pirate hideout to access a treasure library, send fellow pirate Maddy out to search for secret treasure, and purchase "Oracle Dolls" and "Platinum Tickets" using money found in each stage.[1] Platinum Tickets allow the player to continue if they die during a mission. Oracle Dolls can be traded for a hint at any time during a stage.[7]

Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure details the adventures of Zack, a human boy whose dream is to become the greatest pirate in history. He is accompanied by his best friend Wiki, an enchanted golden monkey Zack found with no memory of his past, capable of turning into a bell and transforming other creatures into objects. The two are members of the Sea Rabbits, a pirate crew made up of anthropomorphic rabbits, including leader Captain Hulk, pilot Johnny Style, elderly Granny, and crewmen Dimmy, Maddy and Loafrey. The Sea Rabbits frequently clash with rival pirate gang the Rose Rock and their leader Captain Rose, a spoiled girl who believes all the world's treasure is hers for the taking. Early in the game, Zack and Wiki meet the infamous pirate captain Barbaros, who has been reduced to an animate golden skull due to unknown magic, and he promises to reward the two if they find the missing pieces of his body.

Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure was directed by Eichiro Sasaki and produced by Hironobu Takeshita. Sasaki had previously worked on other Capcom titles such as Power Stone and Resident Evil Outbreak; Takeshita had previously worked on titles in the Breath of Fire series and Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins.[5][11] Since joining Capcom, Sasaki had wanted to design a point-and-click adventure game, having been inspired by such titles as Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom and Dezeniland.[11] The idea of creating such a game came about before the Wii console's announcement.[12] Development began in autumn or winter of 2005 with an early version of the game created within a six-month period using a trial-and-error approach.[13][14] At the production's peak, a total of around 55 people were working on Zack & Wiki, and it had decreased to 40 people near its completion. Five individuals were primarily responsible for creating the game's puzzles; programmers and other staff often submitted their own ideas and suggestions for the puzzles.[12][15]

The "guide cursor system" was added to allow more people to participate in this single-player game.

According to Takeshita, the Wii Remote lent itself well to this kind of gameplay: "We wanted players to be able to enjoy the puzzle solving aspects of the game without getting bogged down with complicated controls."[5] One of the team's goals was to successfully combine cognitive puzzle solving with the physical gestures using the Wii Remote. They had technical difficulty fine-tuning this gesture system to be used by anybody, as all players gesture differently.[16] Although Zack & Wiki was initially designed for players in their early teens, Takeshita was confident that the game could be enjoyed by players of all ages.[5] The game's inclusion of both logically and instinctively solved puzzles, as well its colorful cel-shaded presentation and mostly traditional storyline and characters, were also designed to appeal to wide range of audiences.[12] The design team decided in the early stages of the game's development that if the player dies, he or she must start that specific puzzle over from the beginning. Because many people complained about this aspect in the game's testing phase in America, they added the ability of the player to buy his or her way back to life.[11][17] From the project's start, Zack & Wiki was designed as a single-player video game. About midway though development, the design team decided to include the "guide cursor system", in which additional people may use their own Wii Remotes to aid the player by drawing and pointing out elements with cursors. Takeshita emphasized that this system would create a kind of "party-style atmosphere" for those wanting to enjoy the game with friends.[16][17] Although Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection support was announced for the game when it was first revealed, this feature was later dropped.[17]

The pirate theme of Zack & Wiki was decided in its conceptual stage.[13] The game was first announced by Capcom under the working title "Project Treasure Island Z" in March 2007 and was officially unveiled at Capcom's San Francisco Gamer's Day that April.[18][19] The title was changed in the English localization shortly thereafter due to international copyright conflicts relating to the similarly themed novel Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.[13][20] The developer went through nearly 200 names before settling on the final one, which Takeshita explained was descriptive of the main characters and plot and, in order to appeal to children, a name one may associate with a kids cartoon series.[20]

Leading up to its October release date, the newly titled game was featured at several gaming conventions and tradeshows including Japan's annual World Hobby Fair, San Diego Comic-Con International, the Leipzig Games Convention, the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), and the Tokyo Game Show.[21][22][23][24] In a promotional video for the game first shown at E3, Zack & Wiki featured background sounds after accomplishing certain tasks. One such sound used in the video was the Islamic prayer "Allāhu Akbar" ("God is great"), which was repeatedly used as players worked on a puzzle while tribal islanders prayed around a totem. After receiving complaints and being contacted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Capcom removed the phrase from the game.[25][26]

Zack & Wiki was advertised differently in each region of release. In Japan, the game was promoted by television personality Kusano Hitoshi.[27] A related manga titled Takarajima Z Bara Shoku no Shinju (宝島Z バラ色の真珠, lit. Treasure Island Z: Rose-colored Pearl) began publication in the premiere issue of Kerokero Ace magazine on October 21, 2007.[28] According to Christian Svensson, the company's Vice President of Strategic Planning and Business Development, Capcom's outreach was largely "family-targeted" rather than for core-gamers. Additionally, despite prominent television advertising in the Japan, the developer wanted to rely on "word of mouth" to market the game in the United States, as it had done with the Ace Attorney series.[29] Capcom later sent out an online reviewer's guide for the press and made a Flash demo available on the game's official website.[30][31] To promote the game in South Korea, Capcom included a mousepad and a tiny treasure chest containing a candy necklace with each copy preordered. One hundred of these preorders were to have a real pearl necklace in place of the candy one.[32]

• Official website (in English)
• Official website (in Japanese)
• Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure at Nintendo UK
• Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure at Nintendo Australia
• Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure at Nintendo Korea (in Korean)