The master at work

In July BitSummit 4th took place in Japan, and Lizardcube's Omar Cornut and Ben Fiquet were in attendance showing off Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap, a HD remake of the Master System classic.

During the show the team recorded a development diary which not only shows off the public reaction to the game, but also features Wonder Boy series creator Ryuichi Nishizawa putting it through its paces.

Nishizawa has given his blessing to both this remake and Monster Boy, a "spiritual successor" to the Wonder Boy franchise being developed by The Game Atelier. In the development diary, he speaks a little about the origins of the 8-bit game and how he and his team decided to take the series forward on consoles as the arcade environment wasn't suitable for deeper experiences.

During the chat, it is explained that the remake project began when Cornut was playing through the Master System original and attempting to track down all of the hidden doors. He got in touch with Nishizawa who sent him game code in order to locate them, and having dug through this data, Cornut decided that he knew the game's inner workings well enough to remake it for the modern era.

Lizardcube also revealed that the game's original soundtrack is being recorded with instruments which reflect the tone of each dungeon. One example given was the Pyramid level, where the music has been recorded entirely with authentic Egyptian instruments.

What's especially interesting about the BitSummit footage is that Lizardcube's work attracted the attention of several famous faces, including Koji Igarashi - currently working on Castlevania successor Bloodstainted - and President of Sony's Worldwide Studios for Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Shuhei Yoshida. Seems like Yoshida is something of a Sega fan, judging by his animated reaction to seeing the original Mark III box for the game.

Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap was confirmed for Wii U eShop release at the BitSummit event.