It is not always clear with remakes and remasters what exactly you are going to get. Maybe its just higher fidelity graphics or a complete twist on the way you play the game. Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap may play the same but it has received a complete face-lift. The hand-drawn sprites and the instrumental soundtrack have taken this game to a whole new level. I had never played the original but switching between the classic graphics and music on the fly there is no comparison. Of course none of this would matter if the gameplay itself wasn't also a delight. The fact is this team choose an awesome side-scroller to tinker with.
You start off the game as the young warrior who has fought his (or her) way through Monster Land. You arrive at the door of the dredged castle and venture inside to slay the dragon. After slaying the dragon you become cursed and you take the form of a lizard! At this point you must take advantage of your new form to explore. You soon realize that every dragon you defeat will curse into a new form. As each transformation will open up new paths since each character has unique attributes. The question is will you ever go back to being human?
It is no surprise that the one thing left unchanged is the gameplay. The physics do take some adjusting to but once you get used them the movement feels fine. Most characters just wield a sword but most forms swing it a little differently. The level design is where Wonder Boy really shines. The game never tells you where to go next. Usually you are fairly limited in your choices but the freedom still makes progressing and finding secrets much more rewarding. As you explore you'll find hearts to increase you're max health and shops where you can buy upgrade swords, shields, and armor.
The first thing that will draw you into this world is the gorgeous art style. All the characters, good and bad, look a little silly yet they are bursting with personality. All the animations are also a little exaggerated to match the whimsical flavor of the art-style. The backgrounds, which barely existed in the original, really help drawn you into the world. When creating the soundtrack they took the original chip tunes and actually wrote instrumental music to match the original beats and rhythm. Each level has its own catchy tune it cycles through and unless you get stuck on a level you're not likely to get sick of it.
Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap is an absolutely charming experience I'm not likely to forget any time soon. This idea of a curse is really clever because by the end of the game you start to wonder why you would want to go back to being a human. With each transformation having its own attributes it starts to feel more like a superpower of some kind. The game definitely feels a bit on the challenging side but it never feels unfair. The equipment upgrades help balance the difficulty curve and the hardest levels are the secret stages which are totally optional. It took me about six hours to complete a play-through on normal with an additional two hours to 100% the run. Anyone who grew up playing side-scrollers will be absolutely delight to play through this beautiful game.