Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap

From long-time Wonder Boy fans to platformer enthusiasts who've never heard of it until now, you'll likely be able to find whimsical fun and a neat bit of genre history in this charming adventure.

Short but sweet, this superb remake reintroduces an overlooked classic in style.

The Dragon's Trap's HD sheen belies the simplistic gameplay of its era, but there's undeniable charm in that simplicity.

Even though the Master System was an also-ran next to the NES's dominance, there were some real gems created for it, and Wonder Boy 3 just might have been the best game released on the platform. Lizardcube and DotEmu have done a lot of work to bring The Dragon's Trap up to today's standards, and the new version plays as good as it looks. It's plain to see how much effort went into making this into the best possible version of a game that deserves to be a classic, and it's absolutely worth your time.

Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap is a ruthlessly faithful remake of the Master System classic that boasts a dramatic and beautiful audiovisual makeover. The game itself is still very enjoyable with a world map that's fun to work through and a lean Metroidvania structure that introduces new ideas right to the end. The controls are quite loose, which can lead to some frustration, but by and large this is a wonderful recreation that both fans and newcomers will enjoy.

It's clear that the team at Lizardcube are massive fans of the original Wonder Boy III, and that affection translates into what is without a shadow of a doubt the definitive version of a game which has previously been ported to the Game Gear and PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16. The new visuals are sumptuous and the soundtrack - which uses traditional instrumentation rather than computer-generated audio - proves just how catchy the original tunes were. Despite the passing of the years The Dragon's Trap remains a perfectly-pitched non-linear action adventure which must surely rank as one of the best of the 8-bit era. Its biggest failing is the fact that like the Master System original, it can be completed in the space of an evening. Still, that evening will be one of the most enjoyable you can possibly spend with your Switch, making this a recommended purchase regardless.

Much more than a fresh coat of paint, Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap is a new classic nearly thirty years in the making and truly a project of passion for Lizardcube.

Despite carrying over a couple of issues from it's early Sega days, Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap is still a stellar platformer and metroidvania game.

Gameplay is king, as the saying goes. That's the case in probably ninety-nine percent of games. It ultimately doesn't matter what the game looks like or how it sounds; people just want to know how it plays. Then occasionally, this phrase gets turned on its head by some game that is so beautiful or stylish that it almost doesn't matter how it plays. Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap is one of those games.

The Meka Dragon is finally won, you banished the beast from your castle… but with its last breath, the monster casts a curse turning you into a Lizard-man; your only goal is to restore your original form by locating the Salamander Cross, hidden somewhere in Monster Land…