I’ve been covering the development and release of Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World pretty extensively. I had never played any of the Wonder Boy remakes (Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap and Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom for example) but my curiosity was piqued. After sitting down and having a chance to play through Asha’s journey in Monster World, I understand the appeal.

Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World is a revamped version of Monster World IV which was only released in Japan. However, if you purchase the physical edition of Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World (on PS4 and Switch) you can get both the remade version and a version of the classic Monster World IV. Essentially, this means you are getting both versions of the game for one price.

In Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World, you play as Asha, a woman who sets out to become a warrior. She is tasked by the Queen of the kingdom of Rapadagna to save the four spirits who have been imprisoned. As a result of their imprisonment, a growing darkness has begun to appear, and it is up to Asha and her friend Pepelogoo to save the world.

The game plays more like an Action-Platformer than a Metroidvania. You can attack with Asha’s sword, use her shield to block attacks (though it is kind of clunky), jump, and utilize the “magical hit” which is a super move that you can use once the bar is full. Different swords do more damage, different shields do different elemental protections, and different bracelets increase Asha’s health.

Another way to increase Asha’s health is to collect Life Drops. There are 200 life drops in the game, and for every 10 you collect, Asha gets another heart of HP. You can redo dungeons to get life drops you have missed, but certain areas can’t be revisited, so exploring thoroughly is important.

Asha’s friend Pepelogoo is more than just a partner. He allows Asha to double jump, he can hit switches and can do all sorts of things to help you progress in dungeons. Unique to this version of the game, is the ability to save anywhere. However, there is no autosave, so saving early and often is important.

When Pepelogoo is in your party and you have the requisite item in your inventory, he will revive you if you run out of hearts. If you don’t have that item or you run out without Pepelogoo with you, you will get a game over and have to restart from where you last saved.

In truth, I think Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World is an absolute feast for the eyes. Visually it looks beautiful, the dungeons are unique, the characters are vibrant, and it just looks colorful and bright. Though gameplay-wise it is a product of its time, you can tell that love and care were put into the visuals and sounds.

Even on the easiest difficulty level, Asha in Monster World isn’t an easy game. However, it is balanced well to a certain degree. There are the typical retro trappings of unavoidable damage, unfair enemy patterns, and old-school difficulty spikes, but these are a small price to pay for such a well-crafted experience.

Overall, Asha in Monster World has made me want to try out the other Wonder Boy games. I’m hoping that if Asha in Monster World does well, we’ll see more games like it hit the market, especially other Wonder Boy/Monster Boy titles that haven’t made it to the West yet. It isn’t a perfect game by any stretch, but it is definitely worth your time.

A Nintendo Switch review copy of Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World was provided by ININ Games for this review.

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Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World

$34.99 USD

8.5

Score

8.5/10

Pros

• Beautiful Visuals
• Interesting Puzzles and Gameplay
• Multiple Difficulty Options
• Can Save Anywhere Manually

Cons

• No Auto Save
• Unavoidable Damage/Unfair Enemy Patterns
• Difficulty Spikes