Amidst the big news that dropped this week, a certain remake of a beloved game from the 90’s era launched. You may have heard of the Wonder Boy series – it was one of Sega’s platformers released across the Sega Master System and the Game Gear. It was a cutesy action platformer that threw in a pretty interesting twist in the form of monster transformations. After clearing certain sections of the game, the main character would be zapped into a new monster complete with new mechanics.

It was a really interesting concept for the time and now DotEmu, the company behind ports of many classic games, has teamed up with Paris-based dev team LizardCube to bring a full HD remake of Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap to modern consoles. The game is available on Playstation 4, Xbox One, and the Nintendo Switch. A Steam release is planned for June.

Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap is a lovingly crafted remake of the original game. Actually, I’m not sure if I should be calling it a remake or a remaster. You see, the game is 100% faithful to the original game. For those who played the original, everything will feel right at home. There’s even an option to switch between the updated HD look and the old sprite look, and the game will still play like it always has.

I have to say though, the new art style looks absolutely fantastic. Everything is hand-drawn with the game’s original chibi style reworked into a new, almost comic-esque style that really pops out. Just take a look at the launch trailer and see for yourself!

Looks great, doesn’t it? On top of the beautiful new art style, the game has been updated with some quality of life changes. The item menu has been cleaned up making it easier to sort through your stuff and sub weapons are mapped to their own button. Everything else is exactly how it was left back in 1989 (or 1992, if you grew up with the Game Gear version). DotEmu and LizardCube have demonstrated the perfect way of bringing an old classic into the modern day, and I hope to see more old favorites get the same treatment complete with the utmost care and respect.

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