When I first saw gameplay footage for this one a couple of years ago, I remember highly doubting I’d ever consider buying it.

For starters, it is a remake of Monster World IV (from the Wonder Boy series), a SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis game only released in Japan back then, highly praised for its visuals - which are, frankly, super beautiful and well made, especially for a 16-bit game -, an aspect that was replaced by 3D models and environments, turning it into a 2.5D platformer.
That decision alone was enough to make me, a fan of the Monster World games, completely uninterested in the thing. Whilst the original was pretty, the remake has 3D cel-shaded models that resemble something from the GameCube era, and I thought it really harmed the charm of the original.

The thing is… I didn’t really enjoy the original as much as I enjoyed the other games in the franchise, to begin with. It was a flawed game in MANY aspects, and the charming visuals and sound presentation were the only redeeming aspects it had for me at the end. It was just OK.
So, because of that, I unpretensiously decided to pick this remake up when it got on sale on Steam just to see how it looked like and how the gameplay aspects were handled… and, to my surprise, I ended up enjoying it more than its source material.

The visuals here are not as bad as I once thought them to be. Actually, it’s quite nice looking, even if it ultimately butchers the gorgeous pixel art from the original. I really wish the developers could follow the same path that was taken by Monster Boy and the Wonder Boy III remake by using hand-drawn characters, environments and animations, but the results here are pleasant, cute and mostly faithful to the original. (It has SOUL, guys!)

It was also made easier. I’m not that crazy about making things easier most of the time, but the QoL changes made here, in my opinion, were for the best. Apart from the controls being a tad more fluid, you can save at any point of the game, relieving A LOT of the stress that came from the game’s many unfair moments.

That said, the core experience was made intact, which is a bit of a bummer. As I said, the game already had its fair share of flaws (mostly regarding its level design), and instead of changing and improving some bits of level design here and there, the same issues from the original still persist here, and that keeps me from rating it any higher.

…that said (again), MWIV still is a fun little platformer from the 16-bit era, with inventive mechanics and a charming Arabian Nights setting, and I believe this remake did a good job of trying to keep its legacy alive. It would be a lot better if they made an option for playing it with the original graphics (again, like the Wonder Boy III remake) or if they made the original version available as an unlockable after you beat your first playthrough, but it is fine as it is, especially since not only it made the gameplay a bit more refined, but it also made it more accessible. The original eventually got released in the west, but the only way you can get it is digitally from a legacy console like the PS3, so it is nice to be able to get this one on multiple current-gen platforms.

Yeah, it’s still far from a fantastic game, unlike the masterpiece that Wonder Boy III is and the amazing metroidvania that Monster Boy presented us some years ago, but Asha in Monster World IS a fun and worthwhile experience, all things considered, so you might as well pick it up when you get the chance.

I just wish that Wonder Boy in Monster World, another SEGA Genesis game, got this treatment instead!