Wonder Boy Collection Reviews
The Wonder Boy Collection is a beautiful and interesting journey into the past that will entertain and test the mettle of younger players.
Review in Greek | Read full review
Wonder Boy collection isn’t a bad collection of games. It’s just a simple no-frills homage to a bygone era. It could have done with a few more games, modes or even a few extra celebrations for this once-great franchise. Still, this is a pleasant run and jump down memory lane.
Wonder Boy Collection is stacked with four classic titles that are all worth your time to a degree. Fans of the franchise will likely be disappointed by the omission of other titles that hold much more value in terms of critic appeal. The two standout games for me, Wonder Boy and Monster World IV, have both been remade on the Nintendo Switch as their own standalone video games with updated graphics and some quality-of-life features. After playing through this collection, I'm now tempted to revisit these via their remastered counterparts. Wonder Boy Collection feels more like a collector's item rather than an item you'll purchase because you genuinely want to play these classics.
Wonder Boy Collection is a pack with four good classic games from the Wonder Boy series, but it ends up being an incomplete collection, with nothing very new implemented and with a high price.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
If you flash back to a concern exacerbated from our Turrican Flashback review, Wonder Boy Collection's paltry four titles puts pressure on retro gamers to question its value for money, because it omits series defining titles and key console ports when compared to the more expensive Wonder Boy Anniversary Collection from Strictly Limited Games — which has sold out of its 2,000 PS4 retail copies. It's also worse value than retro compilations that released within weeks of the Wonder Boy Collection, when set side-by-side against the cheaper and more complete Pac-Man Museum+ and the superior extras in Sonic Origins.
It's a weird collection that doesn't include the best game of series (Wonder Boy 3) and feels like a glorified emulation package. Unless you're itching for some Wonder Boy, you may want to wait until Anniversary Collection is released.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
You’ll still have a great time playing Wonder Boy V and Monster World IV if you haven’t already done so, and the original Monster Land is a decent time, but at the end of the day, Wonder Boy Collection just feels strangely disjointed.
The Wonder Boy Collection is a package of four games. It includes Wonder Boy, Wonder Boy in Monster Land, Wonder Boy in Monster World, and Monster World IV. Do these retro revivals warrant a pickup considering the newer games they now have to compete with? Find out in this Rapid Review.
Despite not feeling good about the way this collection has released, and the collection itself feeling like a cash-in more than a celebration of Wonder Boy, there are some excellent games present in Wonder Boy Anniversary Collection. While the two best games in the package have excellent modern remakes, playing the rest of these games is worthwhile, as is seeing the original versions of these classics. This isn’t a release for every player, certainly, but if you’ve yet to check out the series, Wonder Boy Anniversary Collection offers a thorough introduction.
Wonder Boy Anniversary Collection is a brilliant homage to a fantastic slate of games with some great options that really optimise it for modern platforms. The controversy of it following a stripped back version, plus containing content originally designed as an exclusive for a physical collection cast a bit of a dark shadow over this collection and mean it probably won’t make for an attractive purchase for people who already own it. However, what we have here is a great selection of products that have aged well and are treated with great regard and respect.
Save big collector’s editions to Strictly Limited and let ININ handle the complete versions for release. Change the cover art or something between the two releases but maintain the same game on both carts. Even a full removal of the ININ physical release for a digital only release outside of Strictly Limited’s physical release would be welcomed if it meant I got to experience the full collection. Just be upfront too: explain that you’re the same company handling different release methods. If certain games come with a limited licensing deal be upfront with that information. Mistakes are going to happen, so why choose to make them.
Wonder Boy Collection was an excellent trip down memory lane for me. I have continued to play these games on and off over the years. Now, having four of them in a nifty collection on Switch to take on the go when I have the Wonder Boy itch is great. This is a series of games that holds up very well especially if you love your retro adventures. The collection feels disappointingly incomplete offering only single versions of each game and lacking two very important entries. Still, whether you are new or old the wonder that is this series is still a worthwhile pick-up.
After years of relative obscurity, the series has enjoyed a renaissance in recent years thanks to a stream of remakes, remasters, and all-new sequels—and now, Wonder Boy Collection looks to put the series’ lengthy history back in the spotlight by compiling four of its most influential entries. While the package itself leaves something to be desired, the included lineup and its quality-of-life enhancements make Wonder Boy Collection a solid snapshot of platforming history fit for longtime veterans and genre aficionados.
With that in mind, it’s a little difficult to recommend Wonder Boy Collection to anyone other than those who’ve grown up playing these games and have enough nostalgia to play through them again on never systems. It’s hard to imagine a newer audience getting any play out of these – well, maybe Monster World IV since it’s easily the best playing out of these, and even that one is already available elsewhere on its own – when there are already much superior reworks of them like Dragon’s Trap to begin with and at a probably much lower price point.
If you are interested in picking this one up, I would say wait for a sale or price drop before diving in. Decent games in an overall disappointing package.