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This is an atrocious review. There is no discussion of the emulation quality across the many various hardware platforms from arcade boards to niche home consoles. There is no discussion of how fun the many different versions of the same games are - there is not even an enumeration of the games from each platform. There is not even the slightest effort to talk about such a wide diversity of games, from the platform action of Wonder Boy, through the RPG elements of Monster Land and the shmup/platformer hybrid Monster Lair, to the triple peak of the series, action RPGs Dragon’s Trap, Monster World, and Monster World IV. I very much doubt the reviewer spent any time with the actual games whatsoever. This is not a game review, it is a review of a price point.

Even as a review of a price point it is a failure. There is no discussion of whether this compilation at a high price point is a better value than the earlier anthology, which is dirt cheap physically and digitally and covers four great games. It falsely implies that Inin/Strictly Limited tricked people into buying a stripped down version when in fact this version was announced before that earlier version was even on sale, IN THIS VERY PUBLICATION. It accuses a digital release of an important work of video game preservation of ripping off the people who bought a physical edition (which was actually cheaper than this digital version!). Given that the normal physical copies of this collection have been sold out for months and only expensive limited editions are left, it is simply bizarre to attack a company for offering a digital alternative to paying twice the retail price from resellers.

I certainly have a few issues with Strictly Limited/Inin and don’t think they ever should have released the initial Wonder Boy collection. But this “review” is one of the shoddiest works of video game criticism I have read in a long, long time. If you have any editorial ethics at all, you should withdraw this review from publication and give it to somebody who can review it without bias against the very existence of this collection.

@OorWullie I’m glad that they added Robo Aleste, but I really wish they had included MUSHA. We missed it the first time too.

@Spider-Kev the collector’s set includes a best of soundtrack sampler. The ultra set includes SIX full soundtracks. That’s what made me order it.

@GrailUK the complete version of the collection from Strictly Limited includes ALL the games. All the versions there are. I’m super excited for that but this retail version is just a sampler of the real collection.

This is the 2012 XBLA Sega Vintage Collection: Monster World collection with Wonder Boy arcade added. They could have included Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair (the arcade version of which has never to my knowledge been released on a home console), Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap (arguably better than Monster World), and some of the many excellent and/or interesting home ports like Wonder Boy SG-1000, Monster Lair PC Engine CD, Dragon's Trap Game Gear, Monster World Master System, and so on. These are great games, to be sure, but it's a really poor overview of the series.