Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap plays just like the 2D platformers you know and love: you jump over obstacles, hit enemies with your sword, and discover secret areas. At the end of each level, a boss awaits you. Magical items such as thunderbolts, arrows, and boomerangs aid you in your quest, and you can upgrade your stats by buying and discovering better equipment. So in that sense, you could almost call it an "RPG lite." It's probably the coolest addition because it allows you to have a much easier time with certain enemies and bosses. Enemies too hard? Go back, explore, and find better equipment, more life potions and secret hearts which add to your health, then try again! Because some stuff is blocked off at the beginning, you could also call this game a "Metroidvania lite" since you have to revisit some areas again after getting a new ability - a new transformation.

Graphically the game looks absolutely fantastic - the 2D animations are just magnificent and fluid, the backgrounds are beautifully painted and the art style is rock solid. The music is fine. I'd say it sets the mood just right, although it does give off some "generic free YouTube music"-vibes sometimes.

There is one thing I am not too fond of: the actual platforming. Since you can switch to the original art style on the fly with just a button press, that means the game plays just like the original one that was released in 1989. That also means it inherits all the clunkiness and issues of the original game, and it does show in more hectic situations and situations that require precise jumps (the Mouse-Man "unknown area" is pure torture). Pro-tip: The amazing animations can actually be a distraction here, so switch to the original style which allows you to focus more on precision jumps. Once you are done with the difficult parts of the level, switch back to the new art style for some eye candy.

All in all, it's short and sweet with an art style that puts any Mario platformer (including Mario Wonder) to shame. More platformers should have 2D-animated, cartoony graphics. The actual platforming is a bit clunky though, making this game unnecessarily hard and unfair sometimes. You can really tell that this is a reskin of the original game because the level design does come off as archaic / outdated sometimes. Still, a solid recommendation from me. Bonus points for Piranha-Man, who reminds me of Hangyodon!

7/10