Wonder Boy Collection

Setting aside considerations of overlap with other releases and a more complete version coming down the line, Wonder Boy Collection is a fine set. The original game has a lot of charm even now, Monster Land‘s ambition is admirable, Monster World is an excellent action-adventure, and Monster World IV is one of the better late-era Genesis games. As dull as the usual interface is, I can’t argue with the suite of features it offers. Please apply your own circumstances as needed, but taking Wonder Boy Collection for what it is, it’s well-worth the price of admission.

All four of thee games in Wonder Boy Collection represent a fair few hours of retro gaming, even if three of them are a tad samey.

While the release of this and the anniversary collection at the same time (where this one makes for a lesser package) is an absolute mystery, the Wonder Boy Collection is a great pack of gaming history. Not only can you witness the way the series was shaped throughout the years, but its games remain fun to play even today.

Wonder Boy Collection is a good compilation that despite the nostalgia it arouses and the new features that make it more affordable for any type of player, it can be improved. This is due to the fact that some titles of the franchise are left out, and it does not have all the versions of each one.

With Wonder Boy Collection, Westone and ININ Games prove to have a good idea that fails in its execution.

Wonder Boy Collection is a fun group of titles for people who love classic games. The ability to rewind when you die or get hit is helpful to make progress in titles like Wonder Boy, which are known for their difficulty!

Fans of these games when they came out, rejoice! You have them all in one place for one reasonable price. If the games are new to you, it’s perhaps something you don’t have to regret missing.

Wonder Boy Collection is a good collection of four classics, but it lacks any meaningful extras and the many games included in the more expensive physical-only (as of now) Wonder Boy Anniversary Collection. The games included are well worth playing if you don't already own them in some form through other releases though.

Scoring the Wonder Boy Collection is only partly related to the quality of the games on offer. They’re all excellent for what they are, and were they appraised independently, would do very well. But this is more about the package as a whole. Yes, there’s plenty here to keep you occupied, but at the same time, what could have been is a sticking point. Wonder Boy is a great little series, with games spanning everything from the Master System to the PC Engine, in various guises. It’s not difficult to offer a more extensive library for the broader gaming populace, rather than restrict certain titles to a group profiled for their magpie eyes.

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.

If you look only at what is included, Wonder Boy Collection is a decent compilation: a selection of historically significant games—the elusive Monster World IV among them—that hold up surprisingly well, ported cleanly and with the usual assortment of helpful functions. But as good as what’s here is, and despite the marketing speak describing it as a “carefully curated collection”, the package feels incomplete without the two Wonder Boy IIIs. That’d be disappointing regardless, but it’s especially egregious when the (already sold out) limited edition counterpart does include them. Wonder Boy Collection is good for what it is, but it’s missing some crucial pieces, and for the most cynical of reasons. Westone Bit’s classics deserve better than that.

Ultimately, the Wonder Boy Collection is a mediocre release. While the titles included are all decent games, it seems lackluster in options and presentation. There is a very small “gallery” of art included which is made up of Master System covers and instruction book pages as well as a small amount of promotional art from magazines. Again, seeing Master System related screens in this collection while not offering the ability to actually play those versions demonstrates how phoned-in this collection really is. While the price isn’t terrible at $29.99, I feel it should offer more in the way of playable games, options and extras. 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.