ININ Games continues their work to bring classic franchises to new audiences with their latest being Wonder Boy Collection from developer Bliss Brain. This new collection consists of four classic Wonder Boy games that released from the late 1980’s through the early 1990’s. Whether you’re a fan of these titles already or are maybe just heard the name before and are curious this collection is sure to please.
There are four Wonder Boy titles included in this collection with those being the Arcade version of Wonder Boy that released in 1986, the arcade version of Wonder Boy in Monster Land that released in 1987, the Genesis version of Wonder Boy in Monster World that released in 1991, and the Genesis version of Monster World IV that released in 1994. All four games feature great emulation quality and the team has even included some extra features like filters, an art gallery, save states, a rewind function, and more. It’s always great to get features like these in these classic game collections especially when so many of these classic titles featured some pretty steep difficulties.
As for the games themselves the original Wonder Boy is a side-scrolling platformer featuring Tom-Tom who is trying to save his girlfriend named Tina from the evil King. It’s a pretty standard platformer that doesn’t hold up the best due to some shoddy detection when trying to make jumps. Thankfully, if you do mess up you can use that handy new rewind feature to give yourself another try. The sequel Wonder Boy in Monster Land is the next one in the bunch and it is where the series begins to add RPG features into the mix. This includes the ability to get upgrades for your weapons and the ability to use magic. You also have to deal with a time limit in each level though so you always have to be on the move. Wonder Boy in Monster World continues using the RPG elements found in the last entry while also boasting a better graphic style and longer run time. Finally, Monster World IV rounds out the collection and has you playing as Asha who is trying to save four spirits. I actually reviewed ININ Games re-release of this title around a year ago so if you’d like to know more about it you can find that here.
Now while this collection does feature some pretty good entries from the franchise there is one odd thing about the digital version I should mention. There is a retail version releasing later this year that contains more versions and games but for some reason if you buy the game digitally you only get the four games I talked about. It’s a weird decision for sure so if you really want to experience all of Wonder Boy that you can you may be better off waiting to get that physical version.
Wonder Boy Collection is another nice collection of classic games from ININ Games but one that has some downsides. Not only is it missing important entries like Monster Boy III but the physical version releasing later has more to offer than the digital version. If you don’t care about that though you still are getting four pretty good entries here and with some nice quality of life additions like save states and rewind there has never been a better time to experience these titles.
*Wonder Boy Collection is available now on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. PlayStation 4 version reviewed. Review copy provided by the publisher for this review.
Wonder Boy Collection
$29.99
Pros
- Four classic Monster World games with great emulation
- Nice extras like save states, rewind, and art galleries
Cons
- Retail version contains far more versions than this digital version
- Some things about these games haven't aged well
