Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap
A hand-drawn remake of the 1989 Master System classic.
Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap is a 2017 platform action-adventure game from developer Lizardcube and publisher Dotemu. It remakes the 1989 title Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap, which Westone Bit Entertainment originally made and Sega published for the Master System as part of the Wonder Boy series. The story picks up after Wonder Boy in Monster Land: the hero defeats the Mecha Dragon but gets cursed, transforming into a Lizard-Man, and must journey through Monster Land to break the curse and regain human form. Players gather items and clues to unlock new areas, and can shift into different animal forms, each granting unique abilities.
The game launched on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in April 2017, then reached Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android in 2019, and Amazon Luna in 2020. Lizardcube handled development, with one artist creating all the art and animation alone. The soundtrack reworks the original chiptune music using live instruments. Critics gave it positive reviews, and it sold nearly 500,000 copies.
**Gameplay**
This remake recreates the original Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap by reverse-engineering the Master System code, adding fresh hand-drawn visuals and rearranged music. It begins right after Wonder Boy in Monster Land: the player character defeats the Mecha Dragon but becomes cursed as a Lizard-Man. To return to human form, they must travel the world and defeat all other dragons. As in the original, players explore lands, defeat enemies for items like arrows and fireballs, and earn money to buy weapons and armor. Throughout the game, the hero gains new animal forms—Lizard-Man (spits fire), Mouse-Man (clings to checkerboard blocks), Piranha-Man (swims), Lion-Man (vertical slash attack), and Hawk-Man (flies)—each opening up new exploration paths.
The remake keeps the original's gameplay and level design but adds improvements: instant weapon-switching and removal of the need for charm stones to buy equipment. It also accepts passwords from the original game. New features include extra difficulty settings, a playable female character called Wonder Girl, hidden bonus areas, and the ability to toggle graphics and audio independently between modern and retro styles, with visual filters and FM audio options. This marks the first official Western release to include FM audio.
Quick Facts
- Title
- Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap
- Developer
- Lizardcube
- Publisher
- WW · Dotemu · NA · Nicalis · EU · Headup Games
- Director
- Omar Cornut
- Programmer
- Sebastien Ronsse
- Artist
- Ben Fiquet
- Composer
- Michael Geyre
- Series
- Wonder Boy
- Platforms
- Nintendo Switch · PlayStation 4 · Xbox One · Windows · Linux · macOS · Android · iOS · tvOS
- Released
- Switch, PS4, Xbox One / 18 April 2017 / Windows / 8 June 2017 / Linux, macOS / 18 July 2017 / Android, iOS, tvOS / 30 May 2019 / Amazon Luna / 20 October 2020
- Genre
- Platform, action-adventure
- Modes
- Single-player
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The game takes place after the ending of Wonder Boy in Monster Land, where the protagonist has been cursed by the Mecha Dragon and must quest to return to human form. Players explore Monster Land, defeat enemies, earn items and money, and gain new animal forms—Lizard-Man, Mouse-Man, Piranha-Man, Lion-Man, and Hawk-Man—each granting unique abilities for exploration. The remake retains the original level design and gameplay, with enhancements such as instant weapon-toggling and removal of the need for charm stones to buy equipment. It also supports passwords from the original game and includes hidden bonus areas, the ability to toggle graphics and audio between modern and retro styles, and FM audio options—the first official Western release to include FM audio.
Reader's Guide
The game was conceived as a fan remake by Omar Cornut as early as 1998, with development beginning in late 2013 and announcement in June 2016. Programmer Cornut and artist Ben Fiquet reverse-engineered the original Master System code using a hex editor, disassembler, debugger, and emulator to replicate gameplay from scratch. Fiquet single-handedly produced all art and animation. Original game designer Ryuichi Nishizawa served in an advisory role. The soundtrack, composed by Michael Geyre, reimagined Shinichi Sakamoto's original chiptune score with real instruments, incorporating classical, tango, Middle-Eastern, and Japanese music. The game received positive reviews, with critics praising its visual enhancements and calling it one of the best retro remakes. As of September 2017, the Switch version outsold all other versions combined. Nintendo Life later called it one of the best metroidvania games on the Switch, describing it as a perfectly-pitched non-linear action adventure and a metroidvania before the term existed.
Did You Know?
- The game's art and animation were single-handedly produced by artist Ben Fiquet.
- The soundtrack was reimagined using real musical instruments and incorporates classical, tango, Middle-Eastern, and Japanese music.
- Players can toggle graphics and audio between modern and retro styles, including FM audio options.
- An unofficial fan-created mod for the PC version added characters from Monica's Gang, mimicking a Brazilian release of the original game.
More in Adventure Games of the 2010s, Part 5 1-24
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced