If you’ve not heard of Wonder Boy, you’ve either been living under a rock gaming-wise for the last 36 years or you were exclusively a Nintendo gamer virtually that whole time. The Sega –made Wonder Boy franchise has been around since the mid-80s and has gone through several evolutions of style and gameplay, spawning seven games, three remakes and inclusions on a host of game compilation collections!
Wonder Boy is popular for good reason too. These are games that started in the arcade and shifted to the console, improving with each generation and leaving fond memories with gamers worldwide. Most recently, we were treated to a new entry in the franchise, Monster Boy in the Cursed Kingdom in 2018. While most older gamers are quite familiar with the series, it’s worth noting that the original games mostly still hold up quite well. Realizing this, Bliss Brain and ININ Games have courteously published Wonder Boy Collection which contains the original four entries in the series with some modern updates to make them even more approachable for gamers of all ages and skill levels!
The Wonder Boy Collection features both original arcade entries in the series, Wonder Boy and Wonder Boy in Monster Land. Additionally, the Genesis offerings of Wonder Boy in Monster World and the originally Japan exclusive Monster World IV are present in this collection! Notably, Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap and Wonder Boy: Monster Lair are both missing from this collection, but the four games you get are more than worth your time.
Wonder Boy is the original 1986 version of the game, similar to a modern infinite runner game. As Tom-Tom, your goal is to save your girlfriend who has been kidnapped by monsters. As you might guess, you proceed to the right and the right only, dodging obstacles, acquiring weapons and items, and generally just trying to survive the increasing difficulty of the game. There are four levels in the game, each with four stages and an end boss. Fairly standard stuff.
What you’ll quickly find in Wonder Boy is that there are some nuances to the game that make things remarkably challenging. First, you need to eat. Run out of energy and you’re done for. Considering that you’re constantly getting hungrier as you travel, this is definitely an issue you’ll have to address. Every piece of fruit and meat you collect staves off death a bit longer. You’ll also get a variety of items including things like axes and skateboards that will allow you to move faster and fight enemies, speeding up level completion and saving you from starving. But Wonder Boy is also quite unforgiving. A single touch against any enemy or obstacle loses you a life regardless of health, so making every jump is incredibly important. Ultimately this is an arcade game and it’s designed to be a credit feeder so don’t get too discouraged when it starts to feel cheap because it actually is!
Wonder Boy in Monster Land is the second game on the collection, also an arcade game originally, and the designers at Westone made a few changes to the formula for this one. Most notable among these is the inclusion of a variety of light role playing elements, giving Monster Land a bit of a console feel even though it was an arcade release. While still a linear game with twelve levels, you can now buy weapon and armor upgrades, health potions and more, rewarding players with skill in order to keep the quarters rolling in. This fundamental design shift is what really memorialized the series for most fans. Bosses are still quite challenging and take a number of hits and a bit of patience to defeat but the whole game is fairly approachable, making for an entertaining playthrough.
Next we have Wonder Boy in Monster World, a console release that took everything from Monster Land and amped it up. More plot, more NPCs, more items, a complex level pathway system and now the former arcade series becomes an action/RPG hybrid. The cartoony graphics are still there and the Wonder Boy vibe is still strong, but this feels like the true evolution of the series. Monster World is simply more fun to play than earlier games in the series and the entire game has a polished 16-bit look that still holds up decades later. Bosses are noticeably easier, but you can also grind for coins and max out your equipment early like a traditional RPG. It’s kind of a best-of-both-worlds thing that is appealing to all sorts of players.
Finally we have Monster World IV, the first game which doesn’t start with “Wonder Boy”, namely because the protagonist is a girl. Asha replaces Wonder Boy in the fourth game which continues the trend of action RPGs. This time around there are more special items, more hidden things to collect, and the visuals have an almost Shantae-like look to them, capitalizing on a fictionalized Middle Eastern theme mixed with fantasy. The controls are even tighter in IV, but at the same time, some of the Wonder Boy visual elements have suffered, distancing this game a bit from the original source material. The music is also spectacularly repetitive in Monster World IV, providing a constant low-key source of irritation as you play, rather than the subtle tunes from Monster World.
Overall, it’s more preference which Wonder Boy game you prefer. Each one appeals to a slightly different audience and depending on your tastes, all or none may end up as clear winners here. Regardless, the collection itself is remarkably good. In addition to supplying all the games, ININ has also tossed in some quality of life upgrades including scan lines, full screen options, and most importantly, fast forward and rewind functionality! Remember how hard the early games are and how unforgiving? Just hit a shoulder trigger and rewind to dodge the hit! Tired of waiting for text to scroll by interminably after the third time you accidentally talked to someone? Use the shoulder button to speed back the interesting parts! Wonder Boy Collection also has default language settings for English, German, Spanish, French and Italian and save state functionality which means you can easily pick up wherever you decide to leave off rather than struggling through all those levels again! There’s even a small art gallery with 20 select pieces from the games! It’s a pretty nice package to wrap everything in.
Ultimately, if you like retro gaming and you are a Wonder Boy fan, this is a no-brainer of a purchase. There’s a physical release coming from Strictly Limited Games, but the digital is fantastic for its pick-up-and-play fun as well! At $30, it’s a pretty good price and you’ll get hours and hours of fun out of the franchise! The load times are very fast, the save state system works well, and even the fast forward and rewind buttons are responsive and easy to use. In short, this is one excellent collection that’s fun to play and well-designed so you’re definitely going to have a blast! Don’t hesitate to grab the Wonder Boy Collection and keep these great retro games alive!
This review is based on a digital copy of Wonder Boy Collection provided by the publisher. It was played on a Nintendo Switch in both docked and undocked modes and played equally well on both. Wonder Boy Collection is also available on the PS4.
