Developer: Westone Bit Entertainment, Ratalaika Games
Publisher: United Games Entertainment GmbH, Bliss Brain Co., Ltd, ININ Games
Platform: PS4, PS5, Switch
Tested on: PS5
Wonder Boy Collection – Review
Retro games are quite popular nowadays. We see many old-school titles being released on Nintendo’s Virtual Console, but over the years we have also seen more and more remasters of classic titles. Alex Kidd saw such a remaster not that long ago, but today it’s all about Wonder Boy. The Wonder Boy Collection includes four titles of the series bundled into one neat package. You’ll be able to play through Wonder Boy (1986), Wonder Boy in Monster Land (1987), Wonder Boy in Monster World (1991), and Monster World IV (1994). We were curious to see if these games aged like fine wine, or if they were best poured down the drain.
If you’re going to pick these games up hoping they have a lot of story value, you’ll probably be somewhat disappointed. The title that has been fleshed out the most in terms of story content is Monster World IV where you’ll play as Asha, a young girl destined to do great things. As a whole, it’s all about the gameplay, but these titles still look quite spiffy. On top of that, the soundtrack is extremely catchy for all the titles included in the collection, even though some of the background tracks can get a bit repetitive.
All in all, the presentation of these games has been handled in a fun way. On the menu screen, you’ll get a bit more information about the titles, and you’ll also see when they were released. If you wish to see more artwork of the different games, as well as the cover arts of the Master System and Mega Drive (Genesis) releases, you can also explore the gallery. While this is just a bit of window dressing to hide the fact that this is a glorified emulator for four different games, it is still much appreciated.
Other new functions also include the additions of fast-forwarding, rewinding, and being able to save your game on the spot. While the fast-forward function doesn’t amount to that much, it’s the rewind function and the added save states that make the four games a lot easier. If you make a mistake or get hit in a battle too many times, you can just rewind what just happened by pressing down the left trigger. By doing this, you can retry a particularly hard battle, or simply try to land a few more jumps without taking any damage. If you then get through a battle unharmed, you can just save the game on the spot via the save states. The latter is certainly also a plus if you have to stop playing, making sure you don’t have to beat one of the games in a single sitting.
Truth be told, the games themselves have withstood the test of time quite well. While the later titles in the series had a bit more in terms of gameplay mechanics, the overall offset of the games in this collection is quite clear. You’ll have to go through several stages, battling opponents, collecting money for new items, and ultimately fighting several bosses. This is the basic formula for the last three games in this package, with the first of the four games being a simplified platformer with a few combat elements. Fans of games such as this will easily find something to love here, and the games also run very smoothly on the PS5. We loved seeing the crisp visuals of these retro games. Even though we mentioned earlier this is a glorified emulator, the team that ported these games did a great job restoring them and readying them for modern consoles.
The main question is, however, if these games will pique the interest of younger gamers. We sadly think those who are not familiar with the franchise will probably not pick this one up. Luckily, the franchise is still going strong, and this may be what entices players to play through these classic games. We very much enjoyed playing through this collection, but we did have prior experience with the franchise.
Conclusion
Wonder Boy Collection is a fun blast from the past. We had a lot of fun seeing these four old-school games be revamped for modern consoles, and the gameplay still held up quite nicely, especially considering the first game is already more than 35 years old. Fans of the original games, or even the newer iterations, will certainly have a great time playing through these classic titles. The added functions, such as the rewind function and the save states, are also a big bonus, especially for gamers who want to casually play through these games, or those who just simply want to finally beat these titles after decades of trying on the original consoles. For fans of the franchise, it’s a no-brainer to check this one out.
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