Developed By: Lizardcube
Published By: DotEmu
Date of Release: April 18, 2017
Price: $19.99
In the year 1989, a company known as Westone released a game for the Sega Master System. That game was Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap. It was an exciting action-adventure sidescrolling RPG with non-linear exploration, thrilling PSG synthesized music, and charming pixel graphics as was the de-facto standard for the era. It was incredibly well received, and in fact won the coveted Game of The Year award from Electronic Gaming Monthly. Fast forward to modern times, and Wonder Boy has made a triumphant return, lovingly crafted by the indie studio Lizardcube, in the form of Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap.
If you've played Wonder Boy III in the past you should be no stranger to the plot. Wonder Boy (I played as Wonder Girl, the title screen even changes to accommodate her) is out to slay the Meka Dragon, but little do they know that a trap is in store for them, as they are cursed upon it's defeat and turned into a lizard! The plot of the game is basically to journey forth and find a way to return to human form. All that is of course intact, but with a fresh
That said if you wish to, you can turn off the fancy-ass modernization, and the original game which makes the basis of the entire package will shine through untouched, with optional details such as scanlines, phosphor glow, and the like available if you want to revisit the CRT days of yore. You can also choose between the unadulterated PSG soundtrack or opt for the full glory of the Sega Mark III's FM Synthesis. The lengths they went through with this project are stunning, and you can really tell that the devs are passionate about their work. I don't often assign a numerical score to a game, but when i do it's for the few exceptional titles that demand it. I give Wonder
