Wonder Boy Returns

Wonder Boy Returns key artwork

***Wonder Boy Returns*** is a remake of *Wonder Boy* developed by CFK and released for PC (via Steam) on October 10, 2016 and for PlayStation 4 on March 30, 2017. An "updated" version titled ***Wonder Boy Returns Remix*** was released for Nintendo Switch on May 23, 2019 and following with Steam & PlayStation 4 on August 8, 2019, featuring the original arcade level designs and bosses instead of the new ones.

These remakes in particular brings back the original Wonder Boy gameplay formula that hasn't seen for long time in original series aside from the Adventure Island series. This time it featuring brand new character design for Boy/Tom-Tom & Tina/Tanya, a new playable of latter along with Classic Boy (only on Returns) & also bring many new variety to the table including difficulty options, stage themes, quality-of-life update (only on Returns Remix), & overall presentations to keep the original game fresh.

## Overview

On September 22, 2016. *Wonder Boy Returns* was unveiled for the first time to the public & developed by South Korea-based developer CFK. The notable additions for the remake are new character designs, new artstyle, new stage level themes, new 40 levels, new enemies, new bosses, & new difficulty & challenge modes, along with new villain Red Devil. The game eventually released on Steam in October 12, 2016 & also launced a then-new website & Facebook page regarding information updates & features. After numerous of issues were founded, the game recieved a version 1.0 update to address said issues with additions of new playable characters on November 22, 2016. This version had become a basis for the PlayStation 4 digital port released on January 19, 2017 & physical release via Strictly Limited Games on January 27, 2019, & an "update" version of the game *Wonder Boy Returns Remix.*

On May 1, 2019. *Wonder Boy Returns Remix* was unvieled & claimed the game had been "remixed" the elements of arcade original & *Returns* & featuring the same King bosses, while improving the base gameplay into absolute best it had. Following this resulted an announcement of pulling *Wonder Boy Returns* off from Steam posted on May 18, 2019 & had been delisted on the same day as Nintendo Switch eShop release of *Returns Remix* (along with closure of its website & Facebook page) & eventually ported back at Steam & PlayStation 4 on August 8, 2019. The notable changes in this "update" are brand new Charge Shot, the same level designs of arcade original, & had keep Tina/Tanya playable from the start as well as restructured difficulty modes; this also came with cost of ommited diversive level themes, unique enemies & bosses, & only had 32 levels straight from arcade original.

Tina/Tanya have been in jealous after finding Boy goes hangout with two beach girls & smacked him up concluded with throw a big rock on him before she walks away & Boy warns her there's Red Devil who want to capture her from above. Boy panicked so hard & eventually goes to adventure across Wonder World to find Tina/Tanya & defeat Red Devil. After defeated him, Boy discovered that Tina/Tanya is laying on relax all along & noticed Boy having victory, the two immediately walk up & giving a love hug. Red Devil smiles at them & eventually turned into Cupid who disguised as such, then giving thumbs up at Tina/Tanya. She gives thumbs up back too as their trick to giving Boy sense of urgency to chase her afterwards was successful. The ending cutscenes around this story were kept intact for *Wonder Boy Returns Remix* with additional ending postcards in Normal & Arcade Mode being a differentiate, while Practice Mode had an intro cutscene of *Wonder Boy Returns* as its ending.

## Characters

### Protagonist(s):

* Boy/Tom-Tom
* Tina/Tanya (Version 1.0 & onwards)
* Classic Boy (Version 1.0, *Returns* only)

## Items

* Egg (Normal & spotted)
* Fruits & Vegetables (Apple, Banana, **Strawberry**, Melon, Carrot, *Tomato*, & Mushroom)
* Foods & Beverages (Milk, Strawberry cake, Ice cream sundaes, **Chicken stew, Pudding, Macaron, Coffee, French fries, Burger)**
* Hatchet/Boomerang
* Skateboard/Scooter
* Angel
* Grim Reaper
* **Coupon**
* Tina/Tanya dolls
* *Tina/Tanya* accessories
* *Letters (C, F, & K)*
* *Boy/Tom-Tom doll*

\*Note: Bold-marked & Italic-marked names are exclusive to *Wonder Boy Returns* & *Wonder Boy Returns Remix* respectively.

## Levels

### **General**

* Forest
* Beach
* Cave
* Ice Cave

### ***Wonder Boy Returns* exclusives**

* Village
* Coral
* Snowfield
* Lava
* Dungeon

## Enemies

### **General**

* Snail
* Bee
* Cobra
* Octopus
* Blue Marlin/Tuna
* Coal/Native
* Bat
* Fire Skull
* Spider
* Frog
* Snake
* Coyote/Goblin

### ***Wonder Boy Returns*** **exclusives**

* Seagull
* Monkey
* Snowman
* Penguin
* Hermit Crab
* Fly Fish
* Blower Fish
* Skeleton
* Ghost
* Zombie

### **Bosses**

* *Mother Snake*
* *Queen Octopus*
* *Bear*
* *Polar Bear*
* Shark
* *Yeti*
* Devil Dog
* *Snake Chief*
* Minotaur
* Red Devil
* King (all *Wonder Boy Returns Remix* bosses)

\*Note: Italic-marked names are tentative as they're not stated in any official material.

## Changes from Original Game

### **General**

* The artstyle had been touch-up akin to anime-esque design with digitized graphics, as well as modern redesign for Boy/Tom-Tom & Tina/Tanya
* New visual & sound effects for various animations, gameplay, & UI
* New rearrangements of title screen (carried from Master System port), main stage, & stage clear themes from original, along with brand new compositions for each diversive level themes done in Electronic Dance Music style
* The game featured new difficulty modes varied between *Returns* & *Returns Remix,* (ie. stages now can be selectable & revisited in Normal Mode)
* Featured an intro & ending cutscene to explaining context of the story
* The game featured an online achievement lists varied between *Returns* & *Returns Remix*
* New playable Tina had been added complete with her own boomerang & scooter items
* The player now can't borrow an equipped skateboard item between stages much like Adventure Island NES sequels minus the score bonus
* The player can bank stage scores into total High Score tally between each difficulty modes
* The player lives had been repurposed into chances to beat stages individually between each difficulty modes
* The game no longer required for collecting Tina/Tanya dolls to unlocks final stages
* None of additional contents from Master System port were present
* The game can adjusts control inputs, sound volumes, & graphic resolutions (latter is exclusive for PC)

### ***Wonder Boy Returns* exclusives**

* Featured brand new 40 levels complete with new diversive level themes
* Each stages had a hidden Tina/Tanya dolls up to 3 & none of them hidden from specific hazards to make it appear & collecting enough amount of them unlocks new playable characters
* New playable Classic Boy
* New set of enemies & hazards varied from level to level
* Spotted egg contained either Grim Reaper & mushroom item making it difficult to where said items contained need to break, & any foods & beverages items now both transforms on-screen after collects mushroom item & appears randomly alongside with fruits
* New bosses controlled by Red Devil to tackle on
* Adjustments of player's chances on each difficulty modes (ie. Easy Mode had 10 chances, Normal Mode had 5 chances, & Hell Mode had 2 chances per stage)
* Added Challenge Mode where you had to make through all 40 levels with 2 player lives in one go
* Cobra enemy can spits fire like Adventure Island games

### ***Wonder Boy Returns Remix* exclusives**

* Featuring the same stage & level design from original with some weather effect & background changes
* The controls had been tweaked (player can now throw 3 weapons on-screen, less stiff on the movement, more responsive input so they has right sense of weight)
* A Charge Weapon that can destroy obstacles such as rocks, rolling stones, & many enemies at once in one direction
* Tina/Tanya's scooter now can ridable backwards slowly to make platform adjustment feel easier
* Time duration had been recorded per stages
* Hidden Tina/Tanya dolls in specific hazards can be appear by destroy away with Charge Weapon, casually walk/jump on, or simply kill them & not damaging the player to lose some of energy meter left
* Some spots activated bunch of collective fruits/foods between stages which is quite useful
* Restructured difficulty modes (Practice Mode is Easy Mode from *Returns* with having the player invincible across all stages & contained no boss fights, Normal Mode contained new ending postcard, & One Coin Mode is Challenge Mode from *Returns* now with 10 player lives & its own ending postcard)
* Some enemies like frog & goblin had been improved from it's AI & animations
* Same King bosses along with stolen Tina/Tanya accessories
* Tina/Tanya dolls are now optional
* Hidden letters & Boy/Tom-Tom doll to collect extra chances/lives

## Trivia

* This is the first new Wonder Boy-related project developed after supposed to be finale of entire series since 1994, thus also marked the beginning resurface of the franchise.
* This is the first Wonder Boy game not to be made by core developer Westone Bit Entertainment following its dissolves on 2014; It's also the first time in the series that the game not published by Sega.
* This is the first Wonder Boy game to be released on Steam & PlayStation 4.
* This is the first Wonder Boy game to have an online achievement lists.
* Although not officially mentioned in any promotional materials, some of new enemies & bosses names came from image files buried in the game.

## Videos

WONDER BOY RETURNS - TrailerWONDER BOY RETURNS - PS4 Launch TrailerNintendo Switch 「Wonder Boy Returns Remix」 - Launch Trailer -「Wonder Boy Returns Remix」PS4 Steam Launch
## External links

* *Wonder Boy Returns* official site **(archived)**
* *Wonder Boy Returns* on Steam **(delisted)**
* *Wonder Boy Returns* Facebook page **(defunct)**
* *Wonder Boy Returns* on PlayStation Store
* *Wonder Boy Returns Remix* on Nintendo eShop
* *Wonder Boy Returns Remix* on Steam
* *Wonder Boy Returns Remix* on PlayStation Store

## References

1. ↑ https://www.polygon.com/2016/9/22/13020034/wonder-boy-returns-remake-steam-pc
2. ↑ https://steamcommunity.com/games/523810/announcements/detail/663547937787552568
3. ↑ https://www.strictlylimitedgames.com/releases-2/wonderboy-returns/
4. ↑ https://www.destructoid.com/stories/wonder-boy-returns-remix-is-headed-to-nintendo-switch-this-month-552180.phtml?\_\_cf\_chl\_jschl\_tk\_\_=7e644157bd9c8cc4e0aed330430840979336651c-1605650117-0-AdeI\_AGba0l4bMQjNhX1shW6FiWsc56XDJXVgFj7thg3raGC5ETTNXcooMOxSM10wj0sXZ2o2zS6ha24x-gy2TbWXoiABnf7LSbJCVnt2gVl1\_HSh42xoBN6qubrTpqwAxLXkqd9SLaRAFKV0lBG6cuEP7hp9T6rvZc\_7js427UQPtJSB8aPHB7vKlvgRMVI-p-otGwV2EzW-pkKagdq\_Y9maUbr2W0PkYsZ-eVnLcz8\_hgmlZGxDmOxpZQLBGd6D2QvvyUEzsI0NhjIbwBuRkFsoH4EPX1aC5UcKYh2A0GhSozF9RDDHQM84bgFAXl9k9Ewstp4HCAZn7F3VUBPGiRDlo22UiTC8m\_KNULCg7lBk6e4OEwUCBc4zdIHaQVDrtOgRmtl1rD6ENOq02cVIe7B632\_qgImaFz0IRu\_PutK
5. ↑ https://steamcommunity.com/games/523810/announcements/detail/2566401316585536708