Monster Boy will revive a Metroidvania cult classic on PS4

Developer FDG Entertainment will bring its upcoming Metroidvania game, Monster Boy, to PS4 in spring 2016.

Monster Boy is something of a sequel to Monster World 4, which itself is something of a successor to the Wonder Boy series. Created by developer Escape (later known as Westone), Wonder Boy started in arcades and concluded with the release of Monster World 4 in 1994. It hasn’t been heard from since, but FDG never lost their love of the series.

“We loved Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap for its transformation feature, so we took it as the biggest inspiration,” Producer Thomas Kern wrote on the PlayStation Blog. “Monster Boy continues the colorful, side-scrolling adventure tradition with a character who can transform into different animal forms to solve puzzles and proceed in a connected (open) game world."

"While we're creating a new experience targeting 1080p at 60 frames per second with hi-res 2D visuals, we're happily bringing back our favorite monsters, music tracks, and features of the classic games," he added. "We're working hard to deliver a game that you will be able to fully enjoy as a fan of the series but also if you [have] never heard of it."

Monster Boy will utilize art and sound assets from the original Wonder Boy games, and even be developed by some Wonder Boy veterans, including musician Yuzo Koshiro, who handled the music for Streets of Rage. The game is slated to release in Q2 2016, with a more exact date to come.