2017 is beginning to look like another big year for DotEmu, the French studio dedicated to updating and emulating old games for modern hardware, following word that Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap is a little over a month from making its console debut. And that’s just the opening salvo in a busy release schedule that also includes the upcoming Windjammers revival and an unrevealed project DotEmu says we’ll learn more about on March 22.
Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap is a remake of Wonder Boy 3, an action-adventure originally released for the Sega Master System (1989) and Game Gear (1992). Wonder Boy featured a nonlinear campaign, something rarely seen outside of Metroid or Castlevania at the time, and is widely considered one of the best Master System games ever released. And now Wonder Boy has a fresh coat of paint, courtesy of DotEmu, and Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap is nearly ready to introduce a new wave of gamers to the classic franchise.
Best of all, the studio found a way to ensure The Dragon’s Trap can appeal to new and old fans alike, by adding a feature that lets players swap between the game’s 8-bit textures and the beautiful, hand-drawn art created specifically for the remake. The visuals have no impact on gameplay, since Wonder Boy is a 2D side-scroller, but we’ve been suckers for this sort of thing since a similar feature was included in Halo: The Master Chief Collection back in 2014.
The only bad news this week is that the PC version of Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap won’t debut alongside the PS4, Switch and Xbox One versions of the game. DotEmu doesn’t have a specific timeline for the PC version; however, the studio says Wonder Boy should hit Steam a few weeks after the consoles builds hit the eShop, PSN and Xbox Games Store in mid April.
For an early look at Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap , take a few minutes to watch the game’s reveal trailer (embedded up top) or the “Retro Feature” trailer published last month. Then head down to the comments section and let us know what other classic games you’d like to see get a new coat of paint after Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap debuts next month.
Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap is in development for PS4, Switch, Xbox One and PC. The game heads to consoles on April 18 with a PC launch coming later in 2017.
Be sure to check back with iDigitalTimes and follow Scott on Twitter for more Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap news in 2017 and however long DotEmu supports Wonder Boy after launch.
