Wonder Boy Anniversary Collection Review
First of all, there’s been a few Wonder Boy collections released as of late but this is the one you want. The Wonder Boy Collection contains 4 games, whereas the Japanese Ultimate Wonder Boy Collection contains 6 games with ports from different hardware bringing the total included games to 13. The Wonder Boy Anniversary Collection contains all 6 games along with ports which equates to a whopping 21 games in total.
Features
The Wonder Boy Anniversary Collection is the best way to play some of these classic titles outside of the original games on authentic hardware, even then I would argue that this collection is better for the quality of life improvements offered by modern hardware such as save states, a fast-forward and rewind feature (aka cheating), Screen filters etc.
Each title benefits from excellent emulation quality and I noticed no glitching, bugs or jank with the software as I played through and completed the 6 games in this collection.
Wonder Boy
Five versions are available: System 1, SG-1000, Sega Mark III (as Super Wonder Boy), Master System, Game Gear (Japanese version) and also the international version for the Game Gear which was retitled Revenge of Drancon.
Wonder Boy is the game that started it all, it’s a side-scrolling platformer where we play as Wonder Boy or just Boy in the Japanese version. The king has kidnapped Wonder Boy’s Girlfriend Tina and it’s up to the player to guide him through each level avoiding obstacles and defeating monsters to rescue her.
In each level, Wonder Boy has a vitality / Hunger meter that is refilled by collecting various food items, such as fruits scattered throughout the lands. You can really tell this is originally an Arcade game as the music, although catchy, plays on every level and is very repetitive. The difficulty is another factor, the game is pretty hard, which makes sense from its arcade origins.
For this Review, I completed the Sega Mark III version which was also known as Super Wonder Boy. My original intention for this game was to play the SG-1000 version, but the lack of proper ‘smooth’ scrolling made this almost unplayable to be and I would class this as the only port in the collection to have not really stood the test of time.
Overall, Wonder Boy is a lot of fun and lays a solid foundation for its sequels.
Wonder Boy in Monster Land
Four versions are available: System 2 (Japanese), Sega Mark III (as Super Wonder Boy: Monster World), System 2 (international version) and the Master System.
Wonder Boy in Monster Land was also originally released as an Arcade game and put in place systems that will be used by most of the sequels going forward. Monster Land play’s more like a traditional action platformer with light RPG elements, shrugging off the caveman-style aesthetic of the original game and leaning more towards a medieval and fantasy setting.
Throughout Wonder Boy in Monster Land you will collect gold from chests and from defeating monsters which can be used to buy more powerful weapons and more durable armour, this is vital as the game gets progressively hard but has a nice sense of satisfaction with getting stronger gear.
A version of the vitality meter returns here except this time it’s an hourglass, after a while, it will run out and take some of your character’s hearts. This is super annoying, but it does keep you moving onward and was probably added to make sure arcade sessions ran smoothly.
The game is great, I opted to complete the Master System port for this review and I forgot just how hard this game is, especially the final sections of the game. I highly recommend playing the Master System version as the Arcade version shrinks the screen somewhat to fit in the game’s rather large user interface.
Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair
Two versions are available: System 16 Arcade and Sega Genesis
Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair is a bit of a weird one, the game is an auto-scrolling platformer with every other area essentially being a shoot ’em up. Monster Lair plays a little like the first Wonder Boy except this time around we have auto-scrolling. Your character has a suit of armour and a sword much like in Monster Land which can shoot projectiles and damage upcoming enemies.
Fruit makes a return and can be used to fill up your life bar and the game quite prominently displays your score in large numbers at the top of the screen, this is clearly an arcade game and plays just like one.
The shmup sections are actually a lot of fun with varied boss designs all with their own unique attack patterns and it does get genuinely difficult in the latter stages of the game.
Overall, I did not like Monster Lair as much as the other games in the collection but the game still is fun. It’s just not one I’m in a hurry to go back and play
I finished the System 16 version for this review, the genesis version is somewhat watered down graphically and is missing a couple of the levels present in the System 16 version.
Monster World II (Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap)
Four versions are available: Sega Mark III (Japanese version), Game Gear (Japanese version), the international Master System version (Also known as Wonder Boy III) and the Game Gear version Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap.
I chose to play through the Master System version of the game purely due to nostalgia as this was the version I had as a child.
This game is great, perhaps the best in the series. It takes everything that made Wonder Boy in Monster Land great and built on it. The game starts out with you rehashing the final stage of Monster Land, going through the maze once again to face the final boss but upon defeat, you get cursed and turned into a dragon. The rest of the game revolves around you trying to lift the curse and get back to your human form.
Wonder Boy III plays a lot more like a Metroid-type game with a ton of backtracking, hidden areas and upgrades. Upon defeating the numerous Dragon bosses in each area you’ll unlock the ability to change into a new monster each with their own unique abilities. You’ll need these abilities to progress further into the game, such as needing to transform into piranha-man to be able to swim underwater.
This game blew me away as a kid and still does to this day, there’s still password saving which is now thankfully redundant with the inclusion of save states. The ability to fast-forward really helps with some of the backtrackings you’ll be doing in this game. I had a lot of fun playing through this again and many fond memories from my childhood.
Monster World III
Three versions are available: Mega Drive (Japanese), Genesis and the Master System.
Monster World III (Wonder Boy V) takes things to the next level in terms of graphical fidelity due to the power of the MegaDrive but the Master System version ain’t a slouch either!
Building on what came before, Monster World III acts almost as more of a successor to the first monster land game and even starts off very similar. It’s nice to see the familiar-styled maps but now with much-improved graphics, all the character and enemy sprites are bigger and have a lot more character.
Playing through the series in such quick succession made me notice something about Monster World III and that’s the speed, your character is so slow in this game. Thankfully, there’s a comprehensive upgrade system and soon you’ll find new boots that will increase your speed.
Sadly from Wonder Boy III: Dragon’s Trap is the transformations, although there is a little nod to them late in the game. This game is also tough, be prepared to grind for gold to get upgrades as you’ll need all the help you can get, especially with the final boss!
I almost forgot to mention; I played through the Mega Drive version for this review.
Monster World IV
Two versions are available: Mega Drive (Japanese) & Sega Genesis.
Monster World IV was somewhat of a mythical game when I was younger, it was only ever released in Japan until it got the full remake treatment courtesy of Artdink in 2021. Along with the remake came a translation of the original game, finally!
Monster World IV (also known as Asha in Monster World) puts you in a charge of a young warrior called Asha. The game features more of an Arabian aesthetic and starts off with Asha leaving her family home to prove herself as a warrior.
This game is beautiful and makes great use of colour, character sprites are large and have a ton of animation to them and the music in the game is S-tier, although I must admit, it would have been nice to have a little more variety. Most of the game’s music is just one theme that is constantly remixed to suit the situation.
Shortly after our story begins, Asha is tasked by the Queen with rescuing the four spirits who protect Monser Land. They have been captured by Wizards and taken to different areas which Asha must traverse. Luckily, Asha is not alone as a creature known as a Pepelogoo accompanies her. The pepelogoo is a sort of flying bunny type… thing? It can be thrown by Asha and used to glide to reach different areas. Throughout the game, your Pepelogoo will eat fruit and increase in size and abilities.
The difficulty in Monster World IV is a little easier in my opinion, although the game does rely heavily on puzzles for progression and some will literally have you scrawling hieroglyphs on a piece of paper.
Although packed with things to do and see, Asha in Monster World is a little shorter in length but it’s still a great game and one I recommend you give a try. For the purposes of this review, I completed the Mega Drive version of the game.
Conclusion
After completing each game I’m happy to say that the Wonder Boy Anniversary Collection is a fantastic way to experience all of these classic Sega titles. The emulation is top-notch and the fast-forward feature takes some of the tedium while backtracking in the later titles. It feels like a lot of love has been poured into this collection with all the added bonuses like artwork, screen options, save states and the inclusion of the game maps.
It’s just a shame that this is a very Sega-oriented collection, it would have been nice to have seen the PC Engine versions or even a port of Dyanastic Hero. The inclusion of Lizard Cube’s remake of the Dragon’s Trap and/or Artdink’s remake of Monster World IV would have been nice inclusions but I can completely understand why they are not on this collection (however, I would recommend checking them out separately).
The anniversary collection is a really nice, curated collection of games and serves as the perfect tribute to the Wonder Boy series on its 35th Anniversary, I highly recommend picking up a copy.
9
Nintendo Switch review code kindly provided by ININ Games