Every Wonder Boy Game, Ranked

Summary

• The Wonder Boy series, despite its age, continues to captivate gamers with its blend of colorful visuals, tight controls, and fantastical elements.
• The original Wonder Boy game, Wonder Boy 3: Monster Lair, and Wonder Boy in Monster World have all received remakes that primarily focus on aesthetic upgrades while keeping the gameplay intact.
• Wonder Boy in Monster Land introduced RPG elements and had a significant influence on not just the Wonder Boy series, but side-scrolling games in general. Monster World 4 and its remake, Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World, are essential adventures in the series.

There’s something so, dare we say, wonderous about the Wonder Boy series. Despite having “boy” in the title, this series is well and truly an elder statesman of gaming, having first appeared in arcades back in 1986. And yet, despite a history that is creeping up on four decades, the Wonder Boy/Monster World/Monster Boy/ series has only seven titles to its name.

Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap - Every Type Of Armor And How To Get Them

Get your hands on every piece of armor in Wonder Boy: The Dragons Trap with this handy location guide.

From the Master System to the Switch, Wonder Boy has delighted gamers with its blend of colourful visuals, tight controls, and quirky fantastical elements. While some Wonder Boy games have aged better than others, the overall consistency across these seven entries is simply, well, wonderful.

The original Wonder Boy, Wonder Boy 3: The Dragon’s Trap, and Monster World 4 have all received remakes in recent years as Wonder Boy Returns, Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap, and Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World, respectively. For this list, the original and remade versions of each game will be considered as a single entry, as the remakes primarily focus on aesthetic upgrades while keeping the gameplay largely intact.

7 Wonder Boy

He Was A Skater (Wonder) Boi

When the original Wonder Boy skated into arcades in the mid-80s, it captured the attention of gamers with its eclectic mix of ideas. You play as a caveman who throws hatchets at enemies, who needs to eat food at a constant rate to stay alive, and who also sometimes rides a skateboard.

The most remarkable thing about Wonder Boy is that it somehow manages to tie all those ideas together into a surprisingly elegant package. Yes, the series would become more ambitious and refined from here on, but there’s still value to booting up the original arcade Wonder Boy or one of its many, many ports.

6 Wonder Boy 3: Monster Lair

No, Not That Wonder Boy 3

In a series that has no shortage of confusing naming conventions, perhaps the most baffling is that there are two Wonder Boy 3s. That’s right, 28.5 percent of the Wonder Boy series consists of Wonder Boy 3’s, and while The Dragon’s Trap has endured as a beloved classic amongst retro gamers, Monster Lair doesn’t get nearly as much attention.

Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap - Every Type Of Shield And How To Get Them

Here's where you can find every shield in Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap.

And that’s a shame because this arcade game improves upon the formula of the original Wonder Boy in nearly every way. Monster Lair heightens the side-scrolling action gameplay by adding more power-ups and cool dragon-flying levels reminiscent of arcade shooters.

5 Wonder Boy In Monster World

And I Think To Myself, What A Wonder Boy

Wonder Boy in Monster World doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel, nor does it have the neat monster transformations of The Dragon’s Trap. Instead, this Sega Genesis game opts to polish what came before to deliver a satisfying, if somewhat unmemorable, experience.

While the main character, Shion, moves at a snail’s pace, the rest of the gameplay makes up for it with the greatest assortment of weapons, armour pieces, and magic abilities the series had seen up to this point. The colourful graphics and interconnected level design also contribute to a Wonder Boy game that is perfectly fine, despite being in the shadow of its more consequential predecessors and successors.

4 Wonder Boy In Monster Land

The Start Of Something New

Wonder Boy in Monster Land made some crucial changes to the formula that would go on to influence the rest of the series. Gone was the fruit-eating caveboy in favour of a sword-wielding hero who sets out to defeat the Mecha Dragon.

Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap Achievements Guide

Dust off your platforming skills, there's an easy Platinum to obtain.

This game introduced basic RPG elements into the series, such as collecting gold to buy new items, weapons, and armour at shops. If it wasn’t for the headache-inducing timer system, Wonder Boy in Monster Land has all the ingredients of a great retro action-platformer, and its overall influence on not just Wonder Boy, but side-scrolling games in general, cannot be overstated.

3 Monster World 4 / Wonder Boy: Asha In Monster World

Good Things Come To Those Who Wait

It would take regions outside of Japan eighteen years before they could finally play an official version of Monster World 4, but it was well worth the wait. This Mega Drive classic diverges from some staples of the Wonder Boy series—there is a new female protagonist called Asha, the setting is more Arabian, and you’re joined by the adorable Pepelogoo who helps in gameplay.

A 2021 remake titled Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World controversially switched out the pixel art visuals for a 2.5D look but maintained the tight controls and exciting level design that defined this classic. Whether you play Monster World 4 or Asha in Monster World, you should count yourself fortunate for even having access to this essential adventure in the Wonder Boy series.

2 Wonder Boy 3: The Dragon’s Trap

Lions And Dragons And Hawks, Oh My!

Wonder Boy 3: The Dragon’s Trap begins at the final climatic moments of Wonder Boy in Monster Land, with an epic battle against the Mecha Dragon. Only, after defeating this foe, a curse transforms you into a lizard, and so begins one of the most exciting adventures in the entire Wonder Boy series.

Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap - Beginner Tips

The Lizard Man is actually good!

Throughout The Dragon’s Trap, you’ll turn into a variety of different animals, with each transformation allowing you to access new areas of the map and uncover previously hidden secrets, long before terms like “Metroidvania” were being thrown around. This game proved that 2D action-platformers could be elevated with non-linear interconnectivity in mind, and given how well-received The Dragon’s Trap’s 2017 remake was, it’s clear this game feels just as timeless and fresh now as ever before.

1 Monster Boy And The Cursed Kingdom

It Was All Leading Up To This

Twenty-four years is a long time, and that's what it took between the release of Monster World 4 and Game Atelier to finally breathe new life into this series with Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom. But what a comeback it was! Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom takes all the best qualities of The Dragon’s Trap—transforming into different animals, the non-linear design, and a cheeky sense of humour—and modernises it all to near perfection.

The Saturday-morning cartoon aesthetic and brilliant level design all add up to a game that Wonder Boy veterans and newcomers alike will fall in love with. If there’s another twenty-four-year wait before another Wonder Boy game of this quality, then it still would’ve been worth it.

Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap - Every Heart Location

Let's make that health bar as long as possible.