Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap is an action-platformer developed by Westone Bit Entertainment and published by Sega for the Sega Master System in 1989. Players begin the game cursed by the Meka Dragon and must explore an interconnected world, defeat bosses, and collect animal transformations to restore their human form. A landmark of open-world design on 8-bit hardware and a direct ancestor of the Metroidvania genre. A high-definition remake developed by Lizardcube was released in 2017.
The Vault · 1989
Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap
The Metroidvania that existed before anyone had a word for it.
Wonder BoyGame GearSega Master SystemActionMetroidvaniaPlatformer
Screenshots
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Original Hardware
Track down the SMS cartridge and play it on real hardware if you can. The original SMS version is noticeably easier than emulation due to the lack of input lag, which matters in a precision platformer. The Game Gear port exists but the screen crunch hurts the exploration.
Modern Re-release
The 2017 Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap remake is available on Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and PC. It is excellent and lets you swap between modern HD graphics and the original 8-bit sprites on the fly.
Emulation / Other Options
Grab the 2017 remake on Steam or GOG. It includes the original 8-bit mode, giving you the classic experience with modern save features.