The Wonderland Board

Last Fall, I was meaning to do something special for the Wonderland series, knowing how it turned 20 years old at the time. However, I had minimal activity to do so because of my high workload and distraction with other free-time activities in October, where the milestone was hit. I was also meaning to lead a WA3E collab hub commemorating the big 20, but that didn't get anywhere.

But now that I'm hyped for Wonderland to show up on Steam in the form of Stinky & Loof in Wonderland, via the engine of the mobile version, this puts me in a spot of opportunity to show off what I think of this series. Something to give back to how a classic shareware series like Wonderland defined puzzle gaming for my inner child...

GRANDMASTER REMIX - A Wonderland 20th Anniversary Level Set

This level set I call the GRANDMASTER REMIX will be my special tribute to Midnight Synergy and their great work throughout the entire Wonderland series. The levels will consist of being based off many of the main ones throughout the classic Wonderland series - only a select number of them among the hundreds of total levels in the trilogy - and will contain several tweaks to crank the difficulty up many points. Basically, these levels will be made super-hard.

While it's been several years since I last beaten the whole trilogy (but not the bonus coins of Secret Worlds), I plan to do more run-throughs of the older games to refresh my mind. Literally any non-custom level in the classic trilogy may appear in the Grandmaster Remix, which is why I want to re-beat the majority of these games again. Also, to potentially avoid conflict with "copying" levels off these paid titles, I am debating if I want to make this exclusive to Stinky & Loof in Wonderland since everything is available there, but risk the compatibility with the classic PC versions at the same time...

I will eventually prepare the first batch of levels coming from the first Wonderland, as I have beaten (and also 100%) it a fair couple of times and remember the whole thing well. The level amount I'm looking at is about a range of 50 to 100, depending on how active I am through the journey.

In the meantime, for a bit of crowd thoughts and ideas from the community, what were some of the most notable levels you have played through in the classic trilogy?

Oooo this is a fun one.

I quickly went through all of the classic games and made a list of what stood out to me. Mostly what just looked the most unique, difficult, or levels that just really stood out to me as a kid.

Wonderland
First Steps (nostalgic), "Here, Fishy, Fishy!", Locked Up, "One, Two, Kaboom!", Trial By Fire, Barrel of a Gun, Separation Anxiety, Time is of the Essence!, The Crazy Box Factory, Let's Go For A Walk, One Last For The Road, A Day At the Zoo(playground level), Bonus 5 (playground level)

Return To Wonderland
Classic:
Bridge over Troubled Water, Be My Guide, Proper Shielding, A Thousand Gateways, Serpentine, "Hop, Skip, and Jump", We End at the Beginning, Firestorm, One Last Hurrah!, Home Is Where The Snow Isn't

Deluxe:
The Great Wonderland Gateway, Ammunition Storage Room, Friend or Foe?, New Friends, Beam Me Up!, The Chessboard, Gateway to the Rainbow World, The End of the Rainbow

Platinum:
Meanwhile..., The Forest Maze, Look Before You Leap

Secret Worlds
Probably the most nostalgic for me, so may be biased with these levels.

All the levels until Wondertown, Mushroom Grove, The Town Square, "Meet the Mayor, Save the Mayor!", The Old Windmill, The Abandoned Warehouse, Hero's Shrine, The Lost Cave, Ocean View Harbour, Useful Tumbleweeds, Through the Maze, Fire Island Fort, Free Peegue, The Volcano!, The Artifact, Toxic Mirage, At Crystal Lake, Avalanche Alley, Cannon Cave, Foggy Peak, Cloud City, Locked Out, Finding a Way Out and a Way In, Chompers!, Escape from 'THE VOID'..., Stinker Rescue