First Play: Watch us explore platforming history in Wonder Boy Anniversary Collection

Wonder Boy Anniversary Collection bills itself as the definitive collection of Sega and developer Westone’s Wonder Boy series.

The compilation consists of all six games in the main series:

• Wonder Boy (1986)
• Wonder Boy in Monster Land (1987)
• Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair (1988)
• Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap (1989)
• Wonder Boy in Monster World (1991)
• Monster World IV (1994)

What’s more, it also includes multiple versions of each game – the first game, for example, features the arcade, SG-1000, Master System and Game Gear versions).

The sales pitch is good, but how does it play out in reality? You can find out in our First Play video of the PS4 version at the top of this article.

Wonder Boy Anniversary Collection is out now on PS5, PS4 and Switch.

First Play is our returning video series designed to shed light on new and upcoming games that may be hovering underneath the radar but are no less worthy of your attention.

For each First Play video, we’ll run our capture unit, turn on our microphone and play each game for the very first time, meaning you get to experience them while we do.

To all intents and purposes, they will act like the initial stages of a review. If we see something like or dislike while we’re playing, we’ll call it out, and we’ll give a summary of our initial views at the end of the video.

Naturally, though, they shouldn’t be considered a definitive verdict on the game – they’re just a way for you to see what it has to offer.