

Upon defeating Mecha Dragon, Wonder Boy is hit with a curse and transformed into Lizard-Man. The game begins at the end of Wonder Boy in Monster Land, with Wonder Boy (aka Tom-Tom) defeating foes and traversing through the castle looking for the Mecha Dragon, who had taken over Wonder Land and subsequently renamed it Monster Land. Everything about this remake screams love and dedication, and the game feels remarkably modern despite its classical heritage. It contained elements of the original Metroid and Zelda II, except it took their concepts of exploration even further than those two did. I definitely hope that LizardCube’s remake of The Dragon’s Trap fixes all of that though, as it’s a game that deserves everyone’s attention. I suspect that I am not the only one who found themselves in that boat, as The Dragon’s Trap did not see an arcade release and did not see the same kind of exposure. Of course, remembering back to my childhood, I bought it instantly and loved it too. I had honestly not even heard that The Dragon’s Trap actually existed until it was released on the Wii Virtual Console. Related reading: Another good choice for fans of retro platformers that has recently been released is The Disney Afternoon collection. It wasn’t until my parents bought me a Super Nintendo that I left Wonder Boy behind, and because of this, I missed what was possibly Wonder Boy’s greatest ever game, The Dragon’s Trap. I loved that game even more, and I can’t count the amount of times I finished that game. Same goes with its sequel, Wonder Boy in Monster Land. I owned it on the old Commodore 64, and despite that version being inferior to the arcade and Master System editions.

Wonder Boy was one of the first video games I had ever played.
