Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World (Nintendo Switch) Review

Eagle-eyed gamers will recognise that the style of the game's opening text is indeed similar to Star Wars films in the manner that it fades and decreases in size when the words reach the top of the screen. This opening crawl technique provides nostalgia and brings familiarity to Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World even if none of the series has been played before. This is enhanced by the fact that the Rapadagna royalty, Queen Praprill XIII, bears a remarkable resemblance to the princesses of two famous Nintendo series; one about a plumber, the other about a green clothed silent hero. This adds to the sense of familiarity of this title. The vivid colours and cute anime style make it a joy to play.

There are two difficulties to choose from. 'Normal' appears to be the original difficulty, whereas 'easy' adds extra features to help less experienced players enjoy the game. In this mode coins are automatically collected no matter how far Asha goes past them, health items are plentiful, and the first bracelet upgrade is available from the start, unlike in 'normal' where only the most basic bracelet is equipped, and the upgrade has to be bought (bracelets increase the number of health hearts). Additionally, some paths to other areas of the city are signposted instead of being invisible and left for the player to work out their existence and location.

Asha's farewell to her family at the beginning serves as a tutorial on movement and basic game mechanics. Character movement comes with either the left joystick or the d-pad on Nintendo Switch Lite or the pro controller, which feels more natural and easier to use than the equivalent four buttons on the disconnected joy-cons. Asha doesn't just walk and run, she gets to swim through underground pipes and water channels, skate across ice, and use her curious blue pet Pepelogoo creature as a trampoline or an ice block, whatever is necessary to complete some dungeons. Climbing up and down ropes is standard but sliding down by using the attack button provides disproportionate delight to the simple move. Jumping becomes easier once Asha's Pepelogoo's abilities are enhanced, enabling her to jump even higher and leading to previously inaccessible areas now being in reach. Normal attacks can be boosted with a magical attack whose metre increases for each normal attack and must be activated separately. Tips of game mechanics can be accessed both on the title screen and in the system menu at any time within the game, same as the changeable button configuration. They are also displayed on loading screens, and cinematic scenes can be skipped with a button press, however this is only advisable if it is a replay as it includes story knowledge.

Despite shield use being restricted to when Asha is stationary, it blocks against physical attacks and elemental attacks if the correct shield is purchased, a must buy especially when facing bosses. Items, weapon, armour, and accessories can be changed at any time. They are bought with gold found in levels or given as rewards for beating enemies, and from exchanging gold bars with a lady in Rapadagna City whose prices increase with game progression. There is a section of the game where this isn't available due to a plot twist, made more frustrating as the same twist makes returning to previous dungeons to gather coins nearly impossible. Having an indication that there's a point where access to levels is limited would be beneficial.

Health recovery items can be bought but are also found in the levels, either in the air or dropped by enemies, and more frequently in the 'easy' difficulty. Additionally, there are droplets known as life drops: collecting ten of them permanently increases Asha's health by one heart. Within a level hearts can be bought at an out-of-the-way vending machine which occasionally includes another recovery item that can be saved for later. These are usually placed before bosses, so finding them signals what is coming next in the game. There are also sacred statues which completely replenishes Asha's health when prayed to.

Some NPCs use the same character design and dialogue, but the main ones who Asha interacts with have distinct personalities, even if they can be cliché. The character called Sage appears at various points in a dungeon with words of encouragement to keep going as well as occasional references to the original game. Originally, he was the only way to save, but the remake allows saving at any time in the pause screen. The save menu includes both Asha and Sage with twelve corked jars, in a style matching the rest of the game, that have individual animation for whether a game is saved or loaded. This flashier style matches the overall atmosphere of the adventure, enhanced with relevant environmental effects like moving clouds, flurries of leaves, or gusts of wind.

After a few levels in each elemental dungeon there is the end-of-dungeon boss which can take several attempts depending on platforming skills. Each boss has specific moves that need to be dodged and are based on a certain element; having the correct shield to guard against the element can be crucial to success. Once the boss is beaten a list of life drops found in each level is given, encouraging replay to get them all since they impact Asha's health. After the preliminary dungeon the lamp spirit will take Asha back to town any time she wishes, allowing levels to be replayed.

Puzzles take the form of needing to find specific objects or information that then must be placed in a correct order or entered accurately to move to other dungeon areas. These are clever but may cause annoyance if the details are not noted down. For instance, to progress through doors in the pyramids specific buttons must be pressed or else they are impassable. This had to be done any time the door was used, not just for the first time. Those who easily get carried away by pretending to be an explorer may not mind that technique but those just wanting to get on with the game may get frustrated because the game does not store the information either, it needs to be written down or remembered.

Sadly, a remake does not mean a game is perfect. Text errors are present, such as an absence of spaces between some words and missing punctuation. Gameplay is relatively simple, a bonus for those just starting out with platformers, but not so much for those with a wealth of experience. Figuring out boss moves can take time and may result in several game overs. Beating one boss can depend on performing a particular action which is not necessarily obvious and may require specific timing; thereby some players may give up on the game before it officially ends if they cannot figure it out. The maps provided are sometimes confusing in their simplistic layout.

Furthermore, the final dungeon is abysmal in terms of layout execution. Every single enemy that has featured so far appears, including bosses; thankfully, the latter do not have to be fought again if mid-way through the level a return trip to town is made to buy more resources. Battling the multiple enemies isn't the issue - it is fun using the strongest sword to defeat enemies that previously were harder to beat. Having the level be almost the simplest one in the game with no inventive environmental puzzles of any kind before the final boss is a major let-down in terms of difficulty spikes, however. Equally, the final boss is incredibly easy to defeat if using the lowest mode of difficulty, easier than some earlier bosses.