Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap
Released in 1986, Wonder Boy became an instant classic. Originally featuring in arcades around the world, the hit game was ported to many consoles and spanned 5 sequels in its initial run.
The game centred on a tribal-islander boy (Wonder Boy) who’s girlfriend (Tina) had been captured the Dark King. Wonder Boy subsequently travelled across different environments, ranging from mountainous regions to the ocean whilst defeating oncoming foes and collecting power-ups along the way.
These were gained by breaking ‘good’ eggs and some power-ups included:
- Skateboard (to speed the way through levels)
- A Stone Hatchet (to throw at enemies)
- An Angel (who would temporarily appear and allow foes to be destroyed by simply running into them)
Alternatively, ‘bad’ eggs also featured in the game, recognisable for the red spots on the shell, and would had negative effects on the game play. Another aspect to consider when playing Wonder Boy was the ‘Vitality Metre’ that acted as the health bar. The player would be required to collect fruit and a doll in each level to keep this high.
Today the critically acclaimed Wonder Boy finally returns to our modern consoles, in the form of a remake of Wonder Boy 3: The Dragons Trap.
Following on directly from the finale of the 2nd game in the series, Wonder Boy has been cursed as a ‘Lizard-Man’ and is tasked with defeating every other dragon in the kingdom to return to his human form.
Alike the original, the remake will have Wonder Boy exploring various lands and terrains, defeating enemies, earning power-ups and gaining different animal forms. Each animal that Wonder Boy can transform into holds different power-ups and abilities to aid the player. These include:
- Lizard-Man (who spits fire)
- Mouse-Man (who can climb marbled walls)
- Piranha-Man (Who can swim under water)
- Lion-Man (can trike overhead and below with his sword)
- Hawk-Man (who can fly)
Already being highly praised, the level design remains the same with password save-points from the original working being fully supported as well!
Though sharing many similarities with the original game, a new hard-mode will feature as well as modern hand-drawn graphics, a re-imagined soundtrack and a female protagonist. However, you will be able to switch between modern and classic graphics if you’d prefer to play the game as you did many years ago.
If you’d like to found out more about the Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap, visit their website or development blog to see how they remade this classic game to suit the modern day.
Coming to all your favourite consoles from today, experience one of the most highly regarded games of times passed on your PlayStation 4, Xbox One or Nintendo Switch.
Let us know what you think of this classic game and if you will be playing the revised version…
