Professing my utter ignorance of the Wonder Boy trilogy I would like to point out that won't really affect your experience with Wonder Boy The Dragon's Trap even though it is a remake of the third game in aforementioned trio. Provided you find yourself in the same situation, of course.

Considering the material it draws from this is one of those cases where story isn't exactly the highest priority. Not to say platformers can't have a good writing or anything, but in summation we have the following: Wonder Boy, or Wonder Girl in the remake if you choose so, beats the Mecha Dragon in the prologue only to get cursed and shapeshifted into a Lizard-man. For the remainder of the game you embark on taking out other dragons holed up in their castles in the attempt to become Hu-man again. Needless to say, things aren't that simple because there are more forms you “unlock” over the course of the game and each has its own properties that will help our intrepid Wonder hero accomplish his goal.

It is precisely those forms that make up the backbone of the game seeing as I kinda lied above. They do more than just come with a single signature ability you will use them for. For example, Lizard-man you start with doesn't even have a melee attack like everyone else which may lead you to believe it's the easiest form to use, but in reality it gets pretty weak bonuses from equipment to offset his default ranged attack. Something like Lion-man is a walking engine of destruction considering his massive bonuses from weapon, armor and shield alongside arc-based attack instead of aiming for what's directly in front of you. Others like Piranha-man or Hawk-man lean more on the specialized side, though. Ability to freely dive or fly is invaluable once they're made available because you really want to scour all corners of the world for goodies, but it just points out not all forms are created equal. Doubly so when you know you CANNOT freely change them and need to find a dedicated room where you switch them.

Equipment I briefly mentioned is the most tangible way you “develop” your character. You will find some swords, armors and shields along the way, one even drops inconspicuously from a random enemy and I almost missed getting it, but majority of your arsenal you will have to purchase with hard cold coins. Provided you're playing the game correctly and not spending gold on things you can get through alternative methods, like keeping track which enemies drop keys, this is where your money will be going to. Along with healing if you lack patience to rely on RNG heart drops. Trick with equipment is all forms get different bonuses from same piece and some are uniquely suited to them, like Aquatic shield for Piranha-man and such. In practical terms this means you may find yourself rotating gear depending on which shape you're currently inhabiting. Add to that some limited use side weapons like fireball, arrows, boomerangs, etc and encouragement to use such because you lose them on death unless you have a healing potion on-hand and you suddenly find yourself quite well equipped for whatever the game throws at you.

All of these lovely things I've written would be meaningless unless the game world itself was engaging enough to lose yourself in and I guess I'm in luck because Wonder Boy absolutely delivers on that front. Given its origins game certainly doesn't hold your hand nor is it overtly linear, though. It merely limits what you can do based on abilities you currently make use of. For example, you cannot move past a certain block wall before unlocking Mouse-man who can scamper across certain block types and this is your indication of the direction in which to proceed. Game is surprisingly subtle with design like that and I never felt particularly lost because it's not there's an open world to contend with. There's a zone leading to the castle, and then the castle itself, for each dragon boss and they out stand out with their own identity thanks to presentation elements. One thing that struck me as odd and counter intuitive was how dealing with certain elements, star blocks and lava specifically, was handled because up to that point equipment description never really mattered as more than just flavor text.

I wish I could tell you more about the game on the gameplay front, but sadly platformers aren't my usual thing and weren't even back in their heyday because JRPGs and strategies were my poison. What to say? Well, nothing in particular stood out as bad so I can only assume everything worked as intended. No, wait a second. I remember being slightly peeved by how Mouse-man sticking to walls made controls fiddly because game suddenly requires more pixel-perfect accuracy in regard to dropping from mentioned wall. Easier said than done when there's ghosts and gargoyle heads chucking projectiles in your direction. Wonder Boy is otherwise pretty generous with controls and aside from those slippery exceptions it's just a matter of taking in that all forms have varying ranges and defense capabilities.

Glancing at my play time tells me I've spent just over four hours with the game... and that I've apparently done everything there is next to finishing the game on Hard difficulty, something I opted out of because I don't like having a constant timer in a game where I can search every nook and cranny for stuff like heart containers to expand my health and such. Keeping relative ease in mind I almost wish I had played on Hard, though. It would've made hidden Unknown Areas pretty challenging and they're the only optional content if you ignore post-game ability to fight previously defeated Dragons anew. What I'm trying to eloquently say here is, well, game is short so prepare yourself for that if you were expecting to put in dozens of hours into this one.

But this presentation. Oh man, where to even begin?

Having dedicated buttons for switching between remake/original really puts forth what a straight up gorgeous job Lizardcube's artists did. By that I mean both visual and audio people because they're equally impressive and show just how far we've come from pixel sprites and tilesets of yore. Hand-drawn 2D assets with clever use of layering perspective paired with just damn charming animations steal the show. Not to be outdone the composer and performers hammered home what an asset actual instruments can be over samples. And just so you don't think I'm wasting space here, have a sample for everyone to compare: ORIGINAL and REMAKE. Really makes me want to congratulate to everyone involved for showing you can stay faithful to the original and present your own take on it.

Final Thoughts and Rating?

If you ever needed proof to that show remakes can, in fact, be worthwhile efforts and not mere cash grabs for creatively bankrupt companies I believe this may be the one you were looking for. Ability to switch from original's to remake's presentation puts that faithfulness on display with this action platformer and diminishes none of its strengths. Defeat evil Dragons, acquire more shapeshifting forms and slash your way to become Hu-man once again as you pile on fighting equipment on top of unique form properties. Outstanding production values at every step steal the show and tight, throwback design make Wonder Boy imminently playable. It could have benefited from somewhat longer play time seeing I clocked out at four hours or so, though.