{"id":284,"date":"2017-08-26T13:39:31","date_gmt":"2017-08-26T17:39:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/?p=284"},"modified":"2017-08-26T13:39:31","modified_gmt":"2017-08-26T17:39:31","slug":"game-ramblings-47-wonder-boy-the-dragons-trap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/?p=284","title":{"rendered":"Game Ramblings #47 &#8211; Wonder Boy: The Dragon&#8217;s Trap"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedragonstrap.com\/\">More Information from DotEmu<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Genre<\/strong>: Platformer<\/li>\n<li><strong>Platform<\/strong>: PS4<\/li>\n<li><strong>Also Available On<\/strong>: Switch, Xbox One, Windows, Linux, Mac<\/li>\n<li><strong>Original Version On<\/strong>: Sega Master System, Game Gear, TurboGrafx-16<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Right from the start I could see that this game is a lovingly made remake of <em>Wonder Boy III<\/em>. \u00a0This remake feels like the original, if the original was made in 2017 with fantastically drawn visuals. \u00a0While that means that it doesn&#8217;t lose its original charm, it also means that it carries some finicky mechanics from the late 80s with it. \u00a0However, the quality of the original still comes through, and being able to play it without having to break out the old consoles is still worth the experience, and the polish in place to transition between the old and new is absolutely impressive.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_285\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-285\" style=\"width: 474px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/wonderboy_lion.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-285\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/wonderboy_lion-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/wonderboy_lion-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/wonderboy_lion-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/wonderboy_lion-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/wonderboy_lion.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-285\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The hand drawn style is a standout, particularly against the original primitive pixel visuals.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The most obvious thing that&#8217;s been changed here are the visuals. \u00a0Rather than going the easy route and sticking with an upgraded 8-bit Master System style, DotEmu went all out with a full visual refresh of the original game. \u00a0Every character, NPC, and world area\u00a0has been redrawn over the original geometry, maintaining the original gameplay space, but giving it a fantastically modern look. \u00a0If it wasn&#8217;t for\u00a0<em>Cuphead<\/em> finally being ready to release, this one would probably be a runaway winner for me in terms of flat out best looking pure 2D platformer.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_286\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-286\" style=\"width: 474px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/wonderboy_transition.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-286\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/wonderboy_transition-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/wonderboy_transition-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/wonderboy_transition-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/wonderboy_transition-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/wonderboy_transition.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-286\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Transition between styles is immediate, and can be done at any time.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>However, the more impressive trick is that you can go between the original and modern looks at any time, and most importantly, the original sprites maintain the aspect ratio of the remake on modern platforms, giving a nice mix between the look of the old and the practical functionality between the two. \u00a0You simply press R2, the screen wipes side to side, and you&#8217;re right in the old style without having to pause the game. \u00a0This can also be done with R3, changing the music between the old and new, giving you the option to mix and match your preferred styles for sound and visuals at any time. \u00a0This is particularly important, because it has some surprising gameplay ramifications as well.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_287\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-287\" style=\"width: 474px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/wonderboy_hitbox.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-287\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/wonderboy_hitbox-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/wonderboy_hitbox-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/wonderboy_hitbox-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/wonderboy_hitbox-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/wonderboy_hitbox.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-287\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The hit boxes in modern graphics are&#8230;vague.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>One of the biggest issues I continued to have was that the hit boxes in modern style were not that precise to the actual visuals of the character. \u00a0In some cases they matched pretty well to the general shape of the enemies, but in a lot of cases they were often much smaller than I was expecting. \u00a0For single enemies this wasn&#8217;t a huge deal, but for packs of enemies, it meant I was often swinging and missing, then getting stuck in situations where I would take a lot of unnecessary damage. \u00a0However, the hit boxes in the original game were generally much more precise, so by the tail end of the game, I was often switching to the old visuals purely for collision convenience, and minimizing my damage taken simply due to the more instinct-precise way of attacking.<\/p>\n<p>Mechanically speaking, there&#8217;s also a few warts that were fine in the 80s, but at this point are kind of just moderate annoyances. \u00a0There&#8217;s a lot of situations where enemies can stun lock you into corners and walls. \u00a0While I wouldn&#8217;t take damage after a hit until I finally landed, it was annoying getting endlessly juggled into a corner until an enemy decided to finally turn around and back off. \u00a0For the bosses, they were mostly fairly trivial as well, with each boss generally having one attack and a single hit zone that was generally placed in the most obnoxious place to attack, while trying to avoid relatively quick and low damage attacks. \u00a0Jump physics are generally fairly precise, but mid-air control is definitely not as good as some more modern takes on the genre like <em>Shovel Knight<\/em>. \u00a0Generally speaking, this was a pretty high quality game mechanically when it originally came out, and the remake benefits from being able to start with that solid base. \u00a0While everything here is still pretty solid, it definitely plays like an 80s game, for better or worse.<\/p>\n<p>All that said, this is a great take on an older title. \u00a0In doing the port, they avoided the trap that a lot of remakes do in trying to reimagine an old title. \u00a0This one is as straight a gameplay port as I&#8217;ve ever seen, particularly since the old title runs permanently emulated in the background. \u00a0The modern visuals and audio, as well as the fantastic feature to switch to the originals in real time is a nice touch that I wish more remakes would take advantage of. \u00a0End of the day, if it comes down to breaking out an old console, or playing this remake on a modern platform, I&#8217;d say throw out the few bucks and go this way, it&#8217;s worth it just for the visuals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More Information from DotEmu Genre: Platformer Platform: PS4 Also Available On: Switch, Xbox One, Windows, Linux, Mac Original Version On: Sega Master System, Game Gear, TurboGrafx-16 Right from the start I could see that this game is a lovingly made remake of Wonder Boy III. \u00a0This remake feels like the original, if the original was &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/?p=284\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Game Ramblings #47 &#8211; Wonder Boy: The Dragon&#8217;s Trap&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":290,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,6],"tags":[19,29,112],"class_list":["post-284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-platformer","category-ps4","tag-platformer","tag-ps4","tag-wonder-boy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=284"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":289,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284\/revisions\/289"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}