Despite the name, Wonder Planet is a game that has you blasting foes across ten different planets, not just one, as your cute little protagonist attempts to save the day. Data East was no stranger to trying weird things off the backs of proven successes, so with Wonder Planet, they took elements from Xevious, TwinBee, and Fantasy Zone and made quite an interesting concoction. It’s generous with currency and weaponry options, but ammo is limited and every single enemy is a durable threat. Collectible letters can grant special attacks and free money/lives if you can spell certain words, but finding these letters is far easier said than done. Wonder Planet is cute, but it’s extremely brutal and a bit out of whack in nearly every way, a true wonder of a game!
In theory, Wonder Planet’s blend of Twinbee/Xevious gameplay with Fantasy Zone’s shop system sounds great, but the execution is severely lacking. Individual shops for weapons, barriers, and engines are found across each stage as well as a room dedicated to selecting your loadout. There’s a generous variety to choose from, including shots that aim for the sides or behind you, bombs that clear the screen, and engines that make you ludicrously fast. Most of it is cheap to start, so experimenting is possible and encouraged, though continued purchases will jack prices up over time. You can even opt to buy and store a weapon for later use so you don’t lose it upon death. However, these shops are spread extremely far apart and some levels won’t feature certain ones at all. This creates a load of problems if you die since this game uses checkpoints and your ship’s starting state is completely worthless. You also can’t buy a weapon for immediate use if it’s already stored, so it’s possible to end up in a situation where you’re not allowed to buy anything but also don’t have a chance to take out what you already have. If you can manage to store every single item, you’ll transform into a robot that can take a bunch of hits and has a powerful spread shot, but dying in this form will cost you everything.
Wonder Planet features disappointingly bland environments and enemies, but the bosses are at least a highlight. You get to fight things like an octopus that uses its tentacles, a lizard made of several segments that can only be bombed, a three headed dragon, and even an angel-like creature that attempts to shield its eyes from your attacks. These fights are fun, but surviving in Wonder Planet long enough to experience them is a brutal challenge that many likely won’t see through to the end. You’ll have to memorize the game, know exactly what weapons to buy when, and preferably never die at all. Though Wonder Planet wasn’t a hit in its time, it can still serve as a strong example of how games can hide sharp edges beneath their cute appearances.
