Axiom Verge has been critically acclaimed on a host of platforms, a reward for years of solo effort by creator Tom Happ. Now the ‘retro-style action-platform-exploration game’ that’s drawn comparisons to a range of 16-bit classics is heading home, as it were – it’s landing on the Wii U eShop on 1st September for $19.99 / €17.99.

That date is for North America and Europe, and Happ has posted a lovely blog entry called ‘Feels Like Coming Home’ to emphasize why it matters to bring the game to Wii U. He also reiterates that the Wii U version is ‘probably the best one’, citing online leaderboards for the Speedrun mode and the use of the GamePad screen to view the map. We recommend reading the full blog post, but an excerpt is below.

The Nintendo games of my childhood are what inspired me to make Axiom Verge. Metroid is probably one of the more obvious influences, but it’s actually a lot more than that. Axiom Verge actually started out as an exercise in game design. I wanted to deconstruct my favorite games from my youth and see what would happen if I took the best elements of each and put them together. The Bionic Commando‘s grapple hook and Rygar‘s Yo-Yo in the setting of Blaster Master and Shatterhand. I wanted to see what would fit together – and just as importantly what wouldn’t work.

…So for so many reasons, Axiom Verge truly belongs on a Nintendo platform. It was only because of Blitworks’ amazing technical skill that we were able to make that happen, and I’m grateful for their work on the pixel-perfect port. Even though the game’s been out for a little while on other systems, the Wii U version is probably the best one. It’s the only console version to support leaderboards for the dedicated Speedrun Mode. And the Wii U GamePad will allow people to have the world map viewable at all times without pausing the game – or to play Off-TV.

Are you planning to grab this on 1st September? Let us know in the comments.