- May 30, 2019
- Dotemu
Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap
Much more than a fresh coat of paint, Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap is a new classic nearly thirty years in the making and truly a project of passion for Lizardcube.
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About
Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap is a single player casual hack and slash game. It was developed by Dotemu and was released on May 30, 2019. It received mostly positive reviews from both critics and players.
The cult classic returns with boasting beautiful hand-drawn animations!
- Gorgeous hand-drawn graphics and art style that beautifully update the original game while allowing switching between retro and modern visuals.
- Faithful and polished remake preserving the classic gameplay and music, providing a nostalgic yet fresh platforming experience.
- Good controller support on many devices, with responsive gameplay and customizable touch controls for those without a gamepad.
- Frequent crashes and bugs, especially when using USB-C or Bluetooth controllers, leading to frustrating gameplay interruptions.
- Touchscreen controls are often unresponsive or overly challenging, causing poor playability without a controller.
- Performance issues including slow frame rates, lag, and audio glitches on various devices, with lack of updates or fixes causing compatibility problems.
- graphics40 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
The game features beautifully hand-drawn, eurocomic-style graphics that successfully refresh the classic with modern visuals while allowing players to toggle between retro and updated art styles. While the art and animations receive widespread praise for their quality and nostalgic appeal, some users report graphical glitches, inconsistent visual transitions, and performance issues like lag and crashes on certain devices. Overall, the graphics are highly regarded, though technical hiccups and occasional distractions slightly detract from the experience.
“A lot of love, care, and attention has gone into making this game and it shows. Great shout out to the retro era and a total refreshment of gameplay, sound, and graphics making it a modern game that you can switch between the two at a second. Works fantastic with an Xbox One controller.”
“The art style is amazing, the animations adorable.”
“A great classic revamped with beautiful graphics and sound.”
“Unexpected random crashes, a quarter of the screen displaying the master system retro graphics and the other three quarters displaying modern graphics among other bugs.”
“There seems to be a glitch when pressing on the inventory sometimes that it makes a slice of the screen in retro graphics, which doesn't affect gameplay but is distracting - have to open options and turn retro graphics on/off to remove.”
“Some glitches with erratically switching between old and new graphics on my device though...”
Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap Review
Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap Review
80%Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap Review
It's clear that the team at Lizardcube are massive fans of the original Wonder Boy III, and that affection translates into what is without a shadow of a doubt the definitive version of a game which has previously been ported to the Game Gear and PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16. The new visuals are sumptuous and the soundtrack - which uses traditional instrumentation rather than computer-generated audio - proves just how catchy the original tunes were. Despite the passing of the years The Dragon's Trap remains a perfectly-pitched non-linear action adventure which must surely rank as one of the best of the 8-bit era. Its biggest failing is the fact that like the Master System original, it can be completed in the space of an evening. Still, that evening will be one of the most enjoyable you can possibly spend with your Switch, making this a recommended purchase regardless.
80%Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap Review
The Dragon’s Trap: Wonder Boy is an excellent remake of a beloved classic. The enhanced visuals and superb audio really bring the game into the modern age complementing the excellent design of the original. Unfortunately, inherited design flaws such as some obscure puzzles, imprecise hit detection, and the lack of a hints system do hold the game back. However, these issues do not detract too much from the overall experience. This modern version of a classic game will appeal to a new generation of gamers and also remind longtime fans why they fell in love with the original.
80%
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Frequently Asked Questions
Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap is a casual hack and slash game.
Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap is available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, iPhone and others.
Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap was released on May 30, 2019.
Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap was developed by Dotemu.
Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap has received mostly positive reviews from players. Most players liked Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap for its graphics but disliked it for its optimization.
Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap is a single player game.
Similar games include Castle of Illusion, DRAGON QUEST, Rayman Jungle Run, Dead Cells, Final Fantasy IV and others.