Many, myself included, are too young to remember or even have played Wonder Boy The Dragon’s Trap, the fourth title in the series Wonder Boy.
Originally released on Master System e Game Gear in 1989, a remake of the game has been released, available for Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 e PC. The game is developed by Lizardcube and published by DotEmu.
The title is a platform with some elements typical of RPGs, such as the possibility of equip armor and swords to improve player stats.
The Curse of the Dragon
Wonder Boy The Dragon’s Trap takes up the exploits of our hero from where we left them (if we played it) during the assault on the castle of the Drago Mecha.
By creating a new game in one of the three available slots we will be able to choose whether to face the game as a boy or girl and one of the three degrees of difficulty game from the start. We will have a modality easy, where enemies will drop multiple items, coins, and hearts to restore health, one normal and balanced, and finally a modality difficult, where the hearts released by the enemies will be reduced and over time our life will be slowly consumed, forcing the player to a more frenetic approach to avoid running out of health points.
However, this choice will not lead us to a too easy and monotonous game or to a challenging and frustrating game. In any case, we will have to commit ourselves and be careful with our moves, because the game punishes the approach without strategy.
Ambientiamoci in Wonder Boy The Dragon’s Trap
During the first level, set in the castle of the Mecha Dragon, we will be able to become familiar with the commands, which have been improved compared to previous versions.
- With the left stick or DPAD we can move, stoop and open the doors
- And dorsali R ed L they will be used to scroll through the usable objects
- The key A to be able to use the selected object
- With the key B salteremo
- With Y we will attack
- And finally with ZR we will be able to quickly change the graphics in 8-bit; pressing lo instead right stick we can change the music and sound effects to retro chiptune
A feature that immediately stands out is the possibility of being able to change the game mode from modern to retro in real time. This will introduce a nostalgia factor that will capture our hearts.
Continuing in the first level we will face the first boss of the game. Once defeated, however, we will be chased by a flame.
Once touched it will introduce us to the main game mechanics of the game: the curses cast by the dragons we will defeat. Due to the evil we will be transformed into different animals, distorting the game mechanics.
Each curse will bring upheavals to our hero, for example the Top he will be able to climb walls, but having the short sword will force him to get closer to the enemy.
In the game we will have to beat a total of 6 draghi to break the curse and thus be able to return to our human form.
However the game is quite short, even with the higher difficulty in 5 hours you can fully complete it, by collecting every equipment and object present, while remaining very pleasant to replay.
Welcome to Monster Land!
The first thing the eye falls on is obviously the graphics sector. Starting from the menu, colorful and hand drawn, like the rest of the game, as you progress through the adventure it seems to be involved in a interactive cartoon.
The fluid animations, combined with the background that blends with the surrounding environment and the dynamic shadows, immerse the player in the land of monsters. Moreover, despite the maniacally treated details, even during the most complex scenarios we will have a gaming experience without slowdowns and very pleasant.
Overwhelming music for all ears
Fully rearranged and orchestrated melodies provide a fast-paced and fun atmosphere.Michael Geyre, the musician in charge of the project, was able to recreate and arrange entirely the original soundtrack of Shinichi sakamoto through an orchestral work. The artist turned to different tools to immerse the player in the atmosphere of the various scenarios, without departing from the original tracks.
In the peaceful village we will have a relaxing spanish guitar to accompany us pampering us in a moment of apparent peace. While in the dark scenery of the swamp we will have gods angry violins to transmit fear, finally in the desert we will have instead of percussions reminiscent of Asian folk music.
Final conclusions on Wonder Boy The Dragon's Trap
Never change a winning team. Taking a cult game for fans and turning it upside down while leaving the original nostalgia effect is a smart move.
Despite the fact that it is too short, the game is perfectly balanced and replayable. The only real negative note is the price, very high as far as it is valid. Difficulty not depressing, combined with a fluid and colorful graphic sector and a rousing soundtrack and melodic make it Wonder Boy The Dragon’s Trap a little gem to keep in our videogame collection.
