Wonder Boy Anniversary Collection Review (Switch eShop)

So, if you shelled out your hard-earned money on which collection, you are the proud owner of poor quality packaging in less than a year. Also, if you overpaid for a physical copy of Strictly Limited, you might not be very pleased that it no longer has any strict restrictions.

The final nail in the coffin of this ill-conceived marketing event is that you can own this all-encompassing Anniversary Collection digitally for a grand total of $50. Yes, you read it right: fifty dollars. For many fans, you no doubt already own these games in one form or another, as they have been released several times over the decades on various platforms. For that king amount, you have to be an absolute die-hard Wonder Boy to consider this – and the digital die-hards will no doubt buy the previous collection, meaning you’ll double down if you want the full set. Ironically, there are listings of physical releases online that sell for $10 less, not including shipping.

Given these circumstances, our assessment is a difficult task. If we were to calculate solely based on the contents of the package, that would be fine. If the price doesn’t matter and you haven’t purchased the previous version yet, you can add three figures to the bill, as this is by far the better of the two collections. But our primary job as reviewers is to provide information that will help you decide how to spend your disposable income—income that you have undoubtedly worked very hard to generate. However, since the whole structure of the release and its exploitative nature is so obnoxious, we are sincerely reluctant to award a high score that indicates rave praise.