You throw in the console variants as well as the arcade models for these games – which means, for example, that you get Wonder Boy in its System 1, SG-1000, Sega Mark II, Master System, Japanese Game Gear and US/World “Revenge Of Drancon” variants. So how do you get from six to twenty-one? What you instead get are six games to play Wonder Boy, Wonder Boy In Monster Land, Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair, Monster World II, Monster World III and Monster World IV. You might just stretch there if you included the similar-but-not-identical Adventure Island games, but they’re not here either. The Wonder Boy Anniversary Collection promises 21 games in its package, but it’s not as though there’s been 21 separate Wonder Boy games. Leaving my ancient bones aside, there’s been a pretty large number of Wonder Boy games since he made his arcade debut back in 1986. Time flies when you’re having retro fun, it seems.
I say “recent”, and then I look it up and realise that Lizardcube’s remake came out more than five years ago.
Wonder Boy is one of those classic gaming icons that you’ve probably encountered at some point in your gaming life, whether it’s the classic arcade game or the more recent remakes of titles such as Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap.
