Previously released on PS4, Switch, and Steam, Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World, a remake of the 1994 Mega Drive original, is now available on PS5, XSX, and PC via the MS Store.
A kingdom is in peril, and it is up to you to free four spirits and defeat the invader. Sure, the troupes have been done before but such was par for the course in the mid-90s.
This remake plays fast and fluid. In fact, it might even be a little too fast because the controls can often feel loose and imprecise, which is definitely an issue during some platforming segments. The player character is also always centered in the screen just like the original, but this can make navigation and some platforming areas troublesome especially when doubled down with the higher speed of movement. There is also no option to pivot the camera up/down resulting in blind jumps.
The gimmick comes from your little winged companion, called a Pepelogoo, to help you navigate this 8-10(ish) hour quest.
While this Metroidvania-lite is enjoyable, a couple of annoyances caused way more frustration than necessary. First comes from the lack of a waypoint system. Early in the game, for example, when the player enters the town hub, one wizard prevents progress until the correct piece of “armor” is found and equipped. After tediously wandering around this hub area for over an hour, I realized I needed to open a few chests hidden in the castle’s treasury… which was insanely difficult to find thanks to the awkward navigation into the background layers. I also found this path on a whim and imagine many players will get stuck here. Plus, there was no” armor” in these chests. Instead, the player finds the Pepelogoo egg but the game doesn’t tell the player how to hatch it. Again, through random trial and error, it triggered a cut scene when I went to the save fountain which caused the egg to hatch and granting me passage from this armor situation. All this frustration could have been eliminated if there was some type of waypoint or map system to guide the player where to go. A better translation wouldn’t have hurt either.
On top of the lacking direction, the game doesn’t tell the player how to use the Pepelogoo. Once again, through random luck, I realized if you hold the RB button, you can float and double jump when summoning the little winged helper. Unfortunately, this gets super tedious because you need to constantly tap the RB button to bring the winged helper to you… but he never immediately responds. So instead of just giving the player a double jump, you need to tap a single button a few times in preparation before each jump. Further, it is possible to throw this winged creature to plug up holes, launch skyward in certain spots, and even hit switches. But again, the game never tells the player how to do it. So if you are walking around like an idiot for an hour like how I was, throw your bird into whatever problem you have and it will usually solve it.
Maybe this game design choice was more forgivable back in the day, but it feels horribly out of place as a modern release. Forcing the player to trial-and-error through archaic game mechanics is way more frustrating than fun, leaving me to think this game might only be enjoyed by fans of the original. Sure, if you read an FAQ or watch a long play, things will make more sense. But as a word of warning, going in blind, like my experience, will often test your patience.
Once you get over the learning hurdles and you understand the flow of the gameplay, it transitions into a middle-of-the-road action platformer. It is playable with some varying degrees of entertainment, but this remake is best recommended for fans who enjoyed and played through the original.
SCORE: 6/10
By: Zachary Gasiorowski, Editor in Chief myGamer.com
X/Twitter: @ZackGaz
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