X
- E10+
- ININ Games
- E10+
- ININ Games
- E10+
- ININ Games
- E10+
- ININ Games
Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World
Released On: May 28, 2021
66
6.7
Where to Buy
Where to Buy
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 42 Critic Reviews
66
24% Positive
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
69% Mixed
29 Reviews
29 Reviews
2% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 42 Critic Reviews
66
24% Positive
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
69% Mixed
29 Reviews
29 Reviews
2% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Unlike many remakes glutting the market, the existence of Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World makes complete sense. After all, many gamers in the west never got to delight in what is likely the best entry in the Wonder Boy/Monster World series. How does this fancy remake play? Imagine for a second that Zelda II: Return of Link was good. That’ll get you pretty close.
Make no mistake: Asha in Monster World is a fun game, and there's plenty here to enjoy. The game's delightful old-school framework is nice, even without being caked in a layer of nostalgia. There's a reason, after all, that Monster World IV warranted a remake in the first place. As far as HD remakes go, though, this isn't exactly Link's Awakening. [Issue #54 – September 2021, p. 23]
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 28 User Ratings
6.7
61% Positive
17 Ratings
17 Ratings
14% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
25% Negative
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 28 User Ratings
6.7
61% Positive
17 Ratings
17 Ratings
14% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
25% Negative
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
A classic title remade for the modern day. Nearly everything has been updated, but some things are still a bit dated by today's standards, but other remakes tend to be too, so it's not truly an issue. The controls, music, and even the cut scenes are indeed superior to the original game in every way.
It really boils down to what graphical style you prefer honestly. The reveal trailer had me disappointed, but the developers managed to clean up a lot of that and I'm happy with the result! It gets a ten from me ^_^
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Nintendo Switch
The original Monster World IV is considered the black sheep of the Wonder Boy series. Despite that, it's still a great entry in the series and this remake, Asha in Monster World, is an improvement in many ways.
The story is simple and easy to jump into even if you never played a Wonder Boy game. The text is alright and it's interesting to see what the townsfolk have to say as you keep progressing, though there are moments where it's missing words or has spacing issues. The Japanese voice acting is pretty good, especially since it's done by just three people.
The game is pretty comparable to Zelda II: Link's Adventure. Asha can swing a sword in multiple directions, block attacks with a shield, and either walk or dash across areas. It's fairly simple to grasp and pretty fun, especially if you can pull off tricks like using a downwards slash to pogo off numerous enemies. The remake adds the Magical Hit mechanic, which can make some encounters easy but it also comes in handy if you're in a pinch.
You can get coins and buy items from merchants in the hub world of Rapadanga. Swords increase your attack, the type of shield can determine what element is easier to block, and the armor upgrades your heath. You can also buy healing items and trade any gold bars you find to an NPC in exchange for more coins.
Another way of extending your health is by finding ten Life Drops, of which there are many. They are often hidden in chests, around areas, and sometimes enemies can drop them. There are also items that pertain to dungeon puzzles, and the remake helpfully makes it so that you simply have to interact with something as long as you have the required item instead of having to open the inventory.
One huge improvement is that before, carrying too much items would prevent Asha from collecting more, and would have to discard an item to get another. Now the herbs and gold bars stack on each other, giving you way more space to collect items.
Once Pepelegoo joins her, she can use him to glide, double jump, and serve as a means to hit switches or become a platform for her to jump upon. It serves to emphasize platforming and exploration and makes the levels more enjoyable. If things get tough you can also call the Lamp Spirit to whisk you back to town to recover, although you'll have to travel all the way back to where you were afterwards.
Another thing unlike most Wonder Boys is that's it's largely linear. After the beginning, you search around the town and palace finding the medallion to open the entrance to one of the four dungeons, then go through a short path followed by the dungeon itself. The remake redesigns some of the areas in 2.5D, which makes exploring the kingdom and dungeons less of a hassle than before
One issue the original had is that you couldn't backtrack to previous stages after you cleared them. The remake fixes this somewhat by leaving the portals to the levels open so you can revisit them. However, you'll still locked out of the first few levels and later on you're unable to fully explore most of the other areas. I feel like this could have worked better. That said the only content lost are gold bars and life drops, the latter of which there are more than enough of in the remake to max out your health and only changes some text at the end otherwise.
In MW4, you could only save if you talk to an old man that appears often. In the remake, you can save wherever, though you have to manually save. The lack of an autosave is a valid criticism, but as long as you remember to save before a tight spot it shouldn't be too big a deal.
The dungeons can be pretty lengthy and maze-like like the Water Temple and Ice Pyramid, and early on the enemies can easily kill you. But it never gets brutal, the platforming is some of the best in the series, and the bosses put up a pretty good fight without feeling too hard.
The overall look is that of a 100,1 Nights fairy tale compared to the medieval style seen in other Wonder Boy titles. The presentation is colorful and cartoon-like, and the characters can range from pretty cute like Asha and Pepelegoo to surreal like the bosses.
The music is lovingly rearranged here by a new team with main series composer Shinichi Sakamoto, who also wrote a new ending piece for this remake. With a cheat code, you can unlock the original Mega Drive music as well. Most of the tracks are based off a reoccurring leitmotif which could get repetitive to some, but to me it stands as a very good soundtrack with both the old and new versions, with some exceptions like the Sky Castle theme.
The Switch version has moments of slowdown, especially on the save and load screen, but is perfectly playable and a good choice way to play this game on the go. The physical release even comes with the original game! There's a few spots that could have been touched up better, but this is definitive way to play Asha and Pepelegoo's amazing journey through Monster World!
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Nintendo Switch
Over the course of its roughly five hour playtime, Wonder Boy: Asha In Monster World made me smile and laugh on countless occasions because of its humor, radiant graphics, and endearing world and characters. Though I wish certain aspects of gameplay were modified along with the visuals, I understand the motivation to honor the original game, and applaud the developers for leaning into its shortcomings. Wonder Boy is a lovely adventure for fans of the original and newcomers alike.
Preservationist gripes aside, Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World is a great remake of a delightful, if flawed, Mega Drive classic. The new art style is gorgeous, capturing the vibrant beauty of the original wonderfully, and the modern tweaks are welcome, though a few more wouldn’t go amiss. But most importantly, it stays true to what made Monster World IV so unique, which, for a game that Sega seems to have largely forgotten about, is lovely to see.
Unless one is a hardcore fan of classic platform titles or a Wonder Boy completist, there isn’t much to recommend Asha in Monster World. It’s an okay example of its genre’s older titles, but I’d say it’s a bit too rooted in the past to interest players who aren’t coming to it for the nostalgia.
The core gameplay of Wonder Boy is platforming and combat. Both turned out to feel their age. Simple jumps between platforms and the occasional glide were all that really encompassed the gameplay. The different enemies were bland and if you couldn’t defeat them with a simple slash, then the solution was to jump and slash. The game needs just a little more depth. There were magical slashes that did more damage, but maybe a more complex magic system would have enhanced the experience. Thankfully the puzzles break up the monotony.
While not a game to strictly advise against, Asha in Monster World has plentiful irks and, as easily the weakest of the recent Wonderboy releases, is difficult to recommend.
This is a clean recreation of the original Monster World IV with some quality of life updates and some added content. My only true beef with it is that it's too easy and some areas get blocked off late in the game for a certain reason I won't spoil for you. An update to Asha's moveset other than the Magical Hit would have been nice to have too. If they plan on a sequel or something, I hope they won't keep it so simple.
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Nintendo Switch
A complete and solid remake of a lost 1994 classic that did not reach the west until nearly 20 years later. Its simplicity may seem a bit dated to a degree, but it is a perfect way to experience the original game in a new light.
We recently received the best 2D games the series has to offer, so it's refreshing to see full 3D graphics for the first time in 35 years. If you like the original, you'll likely like this one too (if not more since it updates a lot of things). Perfect for newcomers and action game fans in general!
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Nintendo Switch
Around 27 years after the release of the original, the traces of the age are already visible. With some sometimes questionable level design, blunt plot and short playing time, unfortunately you can't win a flower pot these days. The graphic style, the remixed music and the general gameplay, on the other hand, are bursting with charm. You can really tell while playing that this project was close to the hearts of the developers. Unfortunately, they have tied a little too closely to the conventions of the original. One could have deviated a little from the formula from back then.
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Nintendo Switch
Reskins of classic titles are both often very cool but a risky proposition in many regards when the original gameplay is left completely intact. I think Asha is a pretty great example of this problem, as it looks absolutely gorgeous without a doubt but it’s hard not to reflect on the inherent repetition in the level designs and general play and be a bit disappointed by comparison. If you happen to be a fan of the original title I’m sure there will be something special about seeing it realized in such a polished modern form, but for people like me with no such connection it just comes through as being a bit sloppy where play is concerned generally. Depending on where you fall on action platformers you may find everything to be perfectly fine here, but the higher expectations you apply to Asha unfortunately the more it will suffer from its dated overall feel.
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Nintendo Switch
This game is basically a re-skin of the Mega Drive game Monster World IV. It looks and sounds newer but not much was added, except the possibility to save the game at any moment and the shrill Japanese voice acting. The production value doesn't seem to have been enormous, especially when compared to the earlier released Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom which has a lot more polish. The settings feel a little sterile, maybe the developers could've added stuff like passing birds to fill up the scenery. Furthermore this game is easy and short. It took me a bit more than 5 hours to finish it, including the time I wasted running around in the hub town to gather items needed to progress in-game.
In conclusion it might be a fine game for small children.
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Nintendo Switch
Summary An icon in adventure gaming history is back! Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World becomes a real Wonder Boy adventure that stays true to its roots as the latest part of the legendary and successful series, that dates back to 1986. Asha is tasked to free the four spirits being confined by evil forces whose origin she discovers throughout ...
Rated E +10
for Everyone +10
Platforms:
- Nintendo Switch
- PlayStation 4
- PC
Initial Release Date: May 28, 2021
Developer:
- Artdink
Publisher: ININ Games
Genres:
