Wonder Boy Collection for PS4 and Switch is on the way

Break out your skateboard

Following on from a previously spotted ESRB rating and a recent Amazon leak, ININ Games has officially revealed Wonder Boy Collection. According to Amazon, the classic compendium will launch in June of this year on PS4 and Nintendo Switch, priced at £25, though these details are unconfirmed.

Wonder Boy Collection will include four titles from the… caveman… knight… genie… shapeshifter’s golden age of gaming. The compendium includes the original Wonder Boy (1986), Wonder Boy in Monster Land (1987), Wonder Boy in Monster World (1991), and Monster World IV (1994). The four titles will be boosted modern features such as visual filters, save states, an art gallery, and a rewind function for that utterly abominable “skidding” mechanic in the original game.

The elephant in the room is that the “Wonder Boy Collection” doesn’t feature the best titles in the series, namely the 1989 Sega Master System release Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap nor its incredible Dotemu remake Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap. Also not included is ININ Games’ own Monster World IV remake Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World. Licensing issues aside — as that is surely the problem here — the lack of the best game in the series and two recent remakes renders the “collection” moniker a little underwhelming.

Still, for series completionists, pre-orders will open “soon.”