My dad bought me Wonderboy in Monster Land (the Japanese Mega-Drive verison) from who knows where, way back when it was still new. We had to saw off parts of the cart to get it to fit into my Genesis, but it worked beautifully. Funnily enough, I used this method for several Mega-Drive games (including Castle of Illusion) he brought me.
I was young and had NO fucking idea what to do but I managed to make it to the final castle. I never beat it because I imagine there was something important that in that Japanese moonspeak that I needed to know. Despite being unable to read any of the script, I played the absolute shit out of this game. Easily one of my favourite games on the Genesis.
Give this unto me. MY BODY IS READY! Finally, I'll actually be able to play this series to completion AND know what the heck is going on.
How in the world would you make it to nightmare castle without being able to read? aside from stuff like the trident and oasis boots, whose uses aren't obvious but necessary to proceed, there is an entire boss that revolves around a text-based 10 question quiz, where you need to get at least 8 right to continue, and where the answer choices and questions randomize every time you play. Not to mention the entrance to the final castle isn't obvious because you need to equip certain equipment to access it, and you have to press up in a specific location which the princess tells you.
Not that I don't believe that you played far into the game, but I'd wonder if what you thought was the final castle wasn't actually one of the earlier castles. Monster World isn't a long game, but there are certainly parts which look end-game enough before you actually get to the final castle (and the subsequent space battle).
Hmm... you're probably right then. It's been a long time, but I DO remember that "boss" that asked questions. It was a sphinx right? That was the place where I hit a wall for a long time. I would restart and replay up until that point until one day I managed to blunder through it. That felt like such a huge victory to me at the time.
Now that you've reminded me, I remember hitting another wall after that point. I remember getting the Star Sword, I remember fighting a purple dragon... but that's about it. It has been around 18 years since I played it.
The sphinx is indeed the boss that quizzes you, and the purple dragon is the final normal boss. When you beat the dragon, he gives you Tom Tom's axe from the first wonderboy, so the craftsman in the dragon village can forge the legendary sword (the star sword you spoke of).
To get to nightmare castle, you have to talk to the Princess of Purapril at her throne, and she'll get up and leave, and then you'll find her at the bell tower, and she'll tell you that the bell tower is actually an ancient gateway to the clouds and that "one with the sword of legend can look to the sky and access the monster world" meaning you have to stand between the bell tower, with the legendary sword equipped, and press up to get to the final castle.
The actual stage is pretty straight forward, but the final FINAL stage, a boss run in space, is monstrously hard. The absolute last boss is one of the most difficult bosses I've faced. I can be maxed out on everything, with both an elixer and a hi-potion, and beating him is still luck.
My dad bought me Wonderboy in Monster Land (the Japanese Mega-Drive verison) from who knows where, way back when it was still new. We had to saw off parts of the cart to get it to fit into my Genesis, but it worked beautifully. Funnily enough, I used this method for several Mega-Drive games (including Castle of Illusion) he brought me.
I was young and had NO fucking idea what to do but I managed to make it to the final castle. I never beat it because I imagine there was something important that in that Japanese moonspeak that I needed to know. Despite being unable to read any of the script, I played the absolute shit out of this game. Easily one of my favourite games on the Genesis.
Give this unto me. MY BODY IS READY! Finally, I'll actually be able to play this series to completion AND know what the heck is going on.
How in the world would you make it to nightmare castle without being able to read? aside from stuff like the trident and oasis boots, whose uses aren't obvious but necessary to proceed, there is an entire boss that revolves around a text-based 10 question quiz, where you need to get at least 8 right to continue, and where the answer choices and questions randomize every time you play. Not to mention the entrance to the final castle isn't obvious because you need to equip certain equipment to access it, and you have to press up in a specific location which the princess tells you.
Not that I don't believe that you played far into the game, but I'd wonder if what you thought was the final castle wasn't actually one of the earlier castles. Monster World isn't a long game, but there are certainly parts which look end-game enough before you actually get to the final castle (and the subsequent space battle).
Hmm... you're probably right then. It's been a long time, but I DO remember that "boss" that asked questions. It was a sphinx right? That was the place where I hit a wall for a long time. I would restart and replay up until that point until one day I managed to blunder through it. That felt like such a huge victory to me at the time.
Now that you've reminded me, I remember hitting another wall after that point. I remember getting the Star Sword, I remember fighting a purple dragon... but that's about it. It has been around 18 years since I played it.
The sphinx is indeed the boss that quizzes you, and the purple dragon is the final normal boss. When you beat the dragon, he gives you Tom Tom's axe from the first wonderboy, so the craftsman in the dragon village can forge the legendary sword (the star sword you spoke of).
To get to nightmare castle, you have to talk to the Princess of Purapril at her throne, and she'll get up and leave, and then you'll find her at the bell tower, and she'll tell you that the bell tower is actually an ancient gateway to the clouds and that "one with the sword of legend can look to the sky and access the monster world" meaning you have to stand between the bell tower, with the legendary sword equipped, and press up to get to the final castle.
The actual stage is pretty straight forward, but the final FINAL stage, a boss run in space, is monstrously hard. The absolute last boss is one of the most difficult bosses I've faced. I can be maxed out on everything, with both an elixer and a hi-potion, and beating him is still luck.
Aahahaha! Wow... I was so close then. I definitely made it to that palace in the clouds but never could figure out what to do from there. I was a huge spear fanboy as a kid so I never had the legendary sword equipped
Honestly though and maybe this is me remembering incorrectly... But I SWEAR that on the back of the box there was a couple screenshots where Wonderboy had longer hair. I remember thinking that I had to be close to the end of the game but not quite because my hair was still short. It was a red herring that really threw me off course.
I always figured the archway had something to do with it but always thought I was missing a key item, was there too early, or that the cart was glitched because jamming a Japanese game into an American console wasn't exactly supported.
EDIT: Thanks for jogging my memory on this. It's been so long I'd twisted it around in my mind. Sheesh!
I have the box at home, I'll take a look because I've honestly never looked at the screenshots before. It'd blow my mind if there were beta screenshots on the box.
I like how different items in Wonderboy in Monster World had different perks. Like spears - obviously the trident let you swim (and thus opened up half the game) but you couldn't carry a shield at the same time. BUT you could press up and attack and it'd spin the spear, letting you block a hit (or rapid fire hit an enemy if close enough). Where as, with a sword, you could hold a shield (and thus block a variety of attacks, namely magic) but, until you get Excalibur and the Legendary Sword, your sword is usually weaker than spear.
I wish they would have expanded this further in MWIV, which honestly is a big step back in terms of inventory. They should have brought back some concepts from WB3 to make managing your equipment more essential. For example, different combinations of armor and shields did different things in WB3. Like there was armor that let you swim in lava, and there were 2 special types of equipment - the heavenly shield, which drastically raised you SP but made you very weak, and the Hades Armor, which brought your SP down to 1, but gave you the best defense in the game beyond the legendary armor. Equipping both at the same time would grant you infinite life.
Throw that in with the spear/sword stuff, and you would have had an awesome inventory. But WD kinda dropped the ball, there.
Well, I just went and looked at the back of my Monster World box, and no screenshots of Shion with long hair. BUT, I also realized that you had the JPN version, and thus you likely had different pictures. I'd love to see the back of the JPN box now just to see if there is indeed a beta screenshot on there.
BTW, I know several people who would be foaming at the mouth over you sawing off the sides of your Megadrive cart to get it to fit into a genesis, haha. I don't particularly care, because a cart is a cart to me, but a wiser move would have been to invest in a game genie. Today, they're pretty much the best import devices you can buy for the Genesis, because in addition to letting carts physically fit the unit, by the very nature of the device, you can remove region locking from games. All it requires you to do is locate the part of the game header which contains the game region selection, and changing it either to JUE or U. There are entire websites out there that list game genie codes for region-locked genesis games to circumvent this. That's how I play my copy of Donald Duck in Maui Mallard on my Genesis (since it was never released in the US).
Many games, especially by Sega, didn't have region locking, though. I have a european copy of Super Fantasy Zone which I can pop into my US Genesis and run without the game genie (with the added benefit of the game running at the correct speed, since the PAL version wasn't PAL enhanced).
Awesome awesome awesome. About time WB gets some spotlight again.
I have to say though, as much as I love the main series... they left Dragons Trap off?? Really?? Oh Sega, again you get right up to the line of perfection and instead you just throw-up all over it.
Leaving DT off ranks up there with that last Genesis Collection disk on 360/PS3 "Hey guys, let's put all these Sonic games on the disk and then leave S3&K off because we're out of time and no-one would want that anyway."
Whoever is in charge of these compilations really needs a kick in the groin...
Wonderboy
Wonderboy in Monster Land
Wonderboy III - The Dragon's Trap
Wonderboy in Monster World
Monster World IV
Wonderboy III - Monster's Lair is pretty much a sequel to the original wonderboy, set in the monster world universe, and can take place at any time after Monster Land but before Monster World IV, because it's about monsters stealing the Legendary equipiment and Leo retrieving it.
There is a few years between Wonderboy and Wonderboy in Monster Land, with the latter explained as taking place in the time it took for Tom Tom to tavel back to Monster Land after saving the princess. Wonderboy III - the dragon's trap begins at the very end of Monster land. Monster Land doesn't really have an ending, and the last level in Monster Land is the first level in Dragon's trap.
There are thousands of years between The Dragon's Trap and Monster World, and thousands of years between Monster World IV and Monster World, although the exact time between isn't specified. It, however, is enough time for the climate to change enough for the desert to become an ice world.
And yes, all the games, even the original Wonderboy, tie into each other. The main villain from Wonderboy is a major villain in Monster World, and the central item for the rest of the series - the Legendary Sword - is so powerful because it was forged with Tom Tom's axe, and originally wielded by Tom Tom, and you have to make a new Legendary Sword in Monster World using Tom Tom's axe.
The order in which the games were created is apparently
Wonder Boy
Wonder Boy in Monster Land
Wonder Boy III: Dragon's Lair
Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap
Wonder Boy in Monster World
Monster World IV,
if that helps.
It confuses the hell out of me that there's two Wonder Boy 3's. And no Wonder Boy 2. (In the title, anyway.)
That's because one is Wonderboy III - as in the third wonderboy game, and is more like Wonderboy I, and the other is Monster World 2, as in a sequel to Wonderboy 2.
It makes much more sense in japanese:
Wonderboy
Super Wonderboy in Monster World
Wonderboy 3 - Monster's Lair
Monster World 2
Monster World III
Monster World IV
The series, together with the other Sega ports, is on sale on XBLA. Bought all the collections, and finished Monster Land today. I can't believe anyone could ever beat that game back in the day, given the lack of lives or continues. Still, the game was a lot of fun until the final level.
Started Monster World, which seems to be the game Super Adventure Island 2 based itself on. Terrible jumping range aside, it seems promising.
I only played monster land. It was great. I never beat it because I never understood what to do in the last dungeon to win
Oh man, sorry for the late bump, but here's the trick to beating the dragon's castle in wonderboy in monster land. I am so proud to say I figured all this shit out without a guide back in the 80's, because none of it is really obvious.
First up, in round 2, when you're jumping over the lava pit, a message will appear over one of the platforms saying there's a secret around. On the 2nd to last platform, hit up and you'll find a secret door containing a fortune teller. She'll give you a letter to betty.
Betty is located in round 4, in the town outside of the bay. He (she?) is located on the second floor of the last building, past the shield shop. Go to the part of the building with the windows, and knock on them to find a hidden door. Betty will give you a flute.
Next, in round 7, after you fall from the sky past the first town, go to the far right past the ocean and you'll find a tall hill with a ladder. Climb the ladder and you'll play the flute, which causes a second castle to appear to the right. Enter the castle and make your way through - near the end you'll see a door suspended in the air with a floating platform under it. Ride the platform and knock on the door to meet the skeleton, who will give you the charm stone. (Bonus tip - kill the boss before climbing the hill, and when you exit the castle, the boss door will be open again. Defeat the boss a second time and you'll get double the gold, plus a giant heart for doing so which will net you an easy perfect bonus because the exit is immediately to the left)
Then, in round 11, when you jump into the water at the far right edge of the over-water portion of the stage, hug to the left while falling down so you'll fall on the ledge to reach the item shop. DON'T BUY ANYTHING. Instead, enter and exit the shop twice, which will make the shop nail the door shut like normal. Knock on the door again, and you'll enter a hidden shop with the fish king, who gives you the hero pendant in exchange for the charm stone.
Finally, in round 12, knock on every door outside of the castle (the exact door escapes me, but since the exit is the last one, you don't have to worry about missing it) and you'll meet the Monster Land prince who will give you a choice of two items - a bell or a ruby. The bell will ring when you're in Nightmare castle to let you know when you're going in the right direction. Choose the bell, and write down the directions for the castle, because they never change. Even with the bell and knowing the path, the castle is still insanely hard thanks to one particularly annoying jumping sequence, but knowing where to go makes a world of difference.
HOWEVER, once you know the path through the castle, you should never choose the bell again, because the ruby is the much better choice. The ruby is a one-time use item that automatically gets activated the moment you start fighting the Mecha Dragon which HALVES his life. The Mecha Dragon is already plenty hard, and by this point, even if you knew your way through the castle, you will have lost 2 hearts to the timer alone, and you can still run out of time while fighting the dragon. The ruby makes the boss battle much, much easier.
There's yet another side quest in the game that will net you the correct answer to the sphynx's riddle, but I assume you know that one. Incredible game, it took me years to figure all this shit out.
I thought this was going to be $10-$15 for the set, not $9 a piece. Bleh.
Yeah that kills my interest as well.
That's the Wii pricing. It's going to be in line with the other Vintage Collection release prices on XBLA and PSN.
Also, Streets of rage collection and Golden Axe collection are coming.
If they translated the Sega Ages Phantasy Star stuff I would cry tears of joy.
Oooooh hey hey, I just saw this comment too
Guess what - The Sega Ages Phantasy Star collection is on the japanese Playstation store. And they include the english translations. As I'm sure you know, given your avatar, these games feature a litany of improvements which makes them the definitive ports of all these games, like a difficulty select which sets the encounter rate. For example, Very Easy has 5 times less encounters than normal, but gives you 5 times the experience so it balances out. It also adds the ability to run, which really improves the pace. Being able to set the encounter rate and having the game scale the experience can really alter the flow of the games. At Very Easy you will never grind, for example, because bosses also give you 5 times the experience, meaning you never have to level up needlessly.
Sadly, the FM-Sound enabled Master System version of PS is still available in japanese only, but you can play the PSG-version in english. All 4 PS games are in full english on the game, selectable in the options menu. The PS3 isn't region locked, and you can easily download them from a US PS3 by creating a japanese account.
That is pretty nuts. I forget, are those the ones with graphical updates and bug fixes and all that? How much is the collection? I'll take any excuse to buy PS4 again.
That is pretty nuts. I forget, are those the ones with graphical updates and bug fixes and all that? How much is the collection? I'll take any excuse to buy PS4 again.
No graphical updates, but tons of bug fixes and new gameplay options like I described above. The collection is 800 yen, about $9 usd. That's for all 4 games, not each.
I played Monster World IV because I saw it randomly on the PS store and thought it looked fun. Boy, was I right. That game is a side scrolling masterpiece. Strikes just the right balance of adventure, puzzles and RPG-like elements. I didn't beat it because the Wii U came out and has since hogged the spotlight in my gaming time, but someday I'll come back around and beat that thing. Fantastic game.
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That is pretty nuts. I forget, are those the ones with graphical updates and bug fixes and all that? How much is the collection? I'll take any excuse to buy PS4 again.
No graphical updates, but tons of bug fixes and new gameplay options like I described above. The collection is 800 yen, about $9 usd. That's for all 4 games, not each.
I managed to find them on the Japanese PSN...but apparently my American account has $10 and that doesn't transfer over. Ugh. I don't have the strength right now to look up a guide on how to enter my card information in Japanese, or to figure out how to get ahold of a Japanese PSN card.
I played Monster World IV because I saw it randomly on the PS store and thought it looked fun. Boy, was I right. That game is a side scrolling masterpiece. Strikes just the right balance of adventure, puzzles and RPG-like elements. I didn't beat it because the Wii U came out and has since hogged the spotlight in my gaming time, but someday I'll come back around and beat that thing. Fantastic game.
It's a great game, but I personally like Monster World III (aka Wonderboy in Monster World) better.
I finally went back and played through Wonder Boy in Monster World and Monster World IV over the last few weeks.
Holy fuck were they good! I think the series kept getting better as it went on, even if MW4 lacked some features I loved from the previous game in the collection.
I wish Sega had kept the franchise going. I'd love an HD cel-shaded Monster World right about now...
I finally went back and played through Wonder Boy in Monster World and Monster World IV over the last few weeks.
Holy fuck were they good! I think the series kept getting better as it went on, even if MW4 lacked some features I loved from the previous game in the collection.
I wish Sega had kept the franchise going. I'd love an HD cel-shaded Monster World right about now...
Got a wii? Go play wonderboy 3: the dragonks trap. I recommend the tg-16 version, as you can save rather than using passwords.
Posts
The sphinx is indeed the boss that quizzes you, and the purple dragon is the final normal boss. When you beat the dragon, he gives you Tom Tom's axe from the first wonderboy, so the craftsman in the dragon village can forge the legendary sword (the star sword you spoke of).
To get to nightmare castle, you have to talk to the Princess of Purapril at her throne, and she'll get up and leave, and then you'll find her at the bell tower, and she'll tell you that the bell tower is actually an ancient gateway to the clouds and that "one with the sword of legend can look to the sky and access the monster world" meaning you have to stand between the bell tower, with the legendary sword equipped, and press up to get to the final castle.
The actual stage is pretty straight forward, but the final FINAL stage, a boss run in space, is monstrously hard. The absolute last boss is one of the most difficult bosses I've faced. I can be maxed out on everything, with both an elixer and a hi-potion, and beating him is still luck.
Aahahaha! Wow... I was so close then. I definitely made it to that palace in the clouds but never could figure out what to do from there. I was a huge spear fanboy as a kid so I never had the legendary sword equipped
Honestly though and maybe this is me remembering incorrectly... But I SWEAR that on the back of the box there was a couple screenshots where Wonderboy had longer hair. I remember thinking that I had to be close to the end of the game but not quite because my hair was still short. It was a red herring that really threw me off course.
I always figured the archway had something to do with it but always thought I was missing a key item, was there too early, or that the cart was glitched because jamming a Japanese game into an American console wasn't exactly supported.
EDIT: Thanks for jogging my memory on this. It's been so long I'd twisted it around in my mind. Sheesh!
I like how different items in Wonderboy in Monster World had different perks. Like spears - obviously the trident let you swim (and thus opened up half the game) but you couldn't carry a shield at the same time. BUT you could press up and attack and it'd spin the spear, letting you block a hit (or rapid fire hit an enemy if close enough). Where as, with a sword, you could hold a shield (and thus block a variety of attacks, namely magic) but, until you get Excalibur and the Legendary Sword, your sword is usually weaker than spear.
I wish they would have expanded this further in MWIV, which honestly is a big step back in terms of inventory. They should have brought back some concepts from WB3 to make managing your equipment more essential. For example, different combinations of armor and shields did different things in WB3. Like there was armor that let you swim in lava, and there were 2 special types of equipment - the heavenly shield, which drastically raised you SP but made you very weak, and the Hades Armor, which brought your SP down to 1, but gave you the best defense in the game beyond the legendary armor. Equipping both at the same time would grant you infinite life.
Throw that in with the spear/sword stuff, and you would have had an awesome inventory. But WD kinda dropped the ball, there.
BTW, I know several people who would be foaming at the mouth over you sawing off the sides of your Megadrive cart to get it to fit into a genesis, haha. I don't particularly care, because a cart is a cart to me, but a wiser move would have been to invest in a game genie. Today, they're pretty much the best import devices you can buy for the Genesis, because in addition to letting carts physically fit the unit, by the very nature of the device, you can remove region locking from games. All it requires you to do is locate the part of the game header which contains the game region selection, and changing it either to JUE or U. There are entire websites out there that list game genie codes for region-locked genesis games to circumvent this. That's how I play my copy of Donald Duck in Maui Mallard on my Genesis (since it was never released in the US).
Many games, especially by Sega, didn't have region locking, though. I have a european copy of Super Fantasy Zone which I can pop into my US Genesis and run without the game genie (with the added benefit of the game running at the correct speed, since the PAL version wasn't PAL enhanced).
I have to say though, as much as I love the main series... they left Dragons Trap off?? Really?? Oh Sega, again you get right up to the line of perfection and instead you just throw-up all over it.
Leaving DT off ranks up there with that last Genesis Collection disk on 360/PS3 "Hey guys, let's put all these Sonic games on the disk and then leave S3&K off because we're out of time and no-one would want that anyway."
Whoever is in charge of these compilations really needs a kick in the groin...
Coming out May 10th! Woo!
Sorry, I guess this isn't technically a thread about the Wii VC release, but figured this was the place to let people know about it.
I mean, I get MWIV, that's from Japan and all (is there a lot of text to worry about), but wasn't the other released here?
Like Mega Man Legends? Then check out my story, Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends on TMMN and AO3!
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Yeah that kills my interest as well.
That's the Wii pricing. It's going to be in line with the other Vintage Collection release prices on XBLA and PSN.
Also, Streets of rage collection and Golden Axe collection are coming.
If they translated the Sega Ages Phantasy Star stuff I would cry tears of joy.
Be nice if they did the same thing as with Sonic CD and strike a deal for that fan remake...
Like Mega Man Legends? Then check out my story, Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends on TMMN and AO3!
Switch: 6200-8149-0919 / Wii U: maximumzero / 3DS: 0860-3352-3335 / eBay Shop
Switch: 6200-8149-0919 / Wii U: maximumzero / 3DS: 0860-3352-3335 / eBay Shop
Nintendo Network ID - Brainiac_8
PSN - Brainiac_8
Steam - http://steamcommunity.com/id/BRAINIAC8/
Add me!
Wonder Boy
Wonder Boy in Monster Land
Wonder Boy III: Dragon's Lair
Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap
Wonder Boy in Monster World
Monster World IV,
if that helps.
EVERYBODY WANTS TO SIT IN THE BIG CHAIR, MEG!
Wonderboy
Wonderboy in Monster Land
Wonderboy III - The Dragon's Trap
Wonderboy in Monster World
Monster World IV
Wonderboy III - Monster's Lair is pretty much a sequel to the original wonderboy, set in the monster world universe, and can take place at any time after Monster Land but before Monster World IV, because it's about monsters stealing the Legendary equipiment and Leo retrieving it.
There is a few years between Wonderboy and Wonderboy in Monster Land, with the latter explained as taking place in the time it took for Tom Tom to tavel back to Monster Land after saving the princess. Wonderboy III - the dragon's trap begins at the very end of Monster land. Monster Land doesn't really have an ending, and the last level in Monster Land is the first level in Dragon's trap.
There are thousands of years between The Dragon's Trap and Monster World, and thousands of years between Monster World IV and Monster World, although the exact time between isn't specified. It, however, is enough time for the climate to change enough for the desert to become an ice world.
And yes, all the games, even the original Wonderboy, tie into each other. The main villain from Wonderboy is a major villain in Monster World, and the central item for the rest of the series - the Legendary Sword - is so powerful because it was forged with Tom Tom's axe, and originally wielded by Tom Tom, and you have to make a new Legendary Sword in Monster World using Tom Tom's axe.
It confuses the hell out of me that there's two Wonder Boy 3's. And no Wonder Boy 2. (In the title, anyway.)
Switch: 6200-8149-0919 / Wii U: maximumzero / 3DS: 0860-3352-3335 / eBay Shop
That's because one is Wonderboy III - as in the third wonderboy game, and is more like Wonderboy I, and the other is Monster World 2, as in a sequel to Wonderboy 2.
It makes much more sense in japanese:
Wonderboy
Super Wonderboy in Monster World
Wonderboy 3 - Monster's Lair
Monster World 2
Monster World III
Monster World IV
Started Monster World, which seems to be the game Super Adventure Island 2 based itself on. Terrible jumping range aside, it seems promising.
Twitter
Oh man, sorry for the late bump, but here's the trick to beating the dragon's castle in wonderboy in monster land. I am so proud to say I figured all this shit out without a guide back in the 80's, because none of it is really obvious.
First up, in round 2, when you're jumping over the lava pit, a message will appear over one of the platforms saying there's a secret around. On the 2nd to last platform, hit up and you'll find a secret door containing a fortune teller. She'll give you a letter to betty.
Betty is located in round 4, in the town outside of the bay. He (she?) is located on the second floor of the last building, past the shield shop. Go to the part of the building with the windows, and knock on them to find a hidden door. Betty will give you a flute.
Next, in round 7, after you fall from the sky past the first town, go to the far right past the ocean and you'll find a tall hill with a ladder. Climb the ladder and you'll play the flute, which causes a second castle to appear to the right. Enter the castle and make your way through - near the end you'll see a door suspended in the air with a floating platform under it. Ride the platform and knock on the door to meet the skeleton, who will give you the charm stone. (Bonus tip - kill the boss before climbing the hill, and when you exit the castle, the boss door will be open again. Defeat the boss a second time and you'll get double the gold, plus a giant heart for doing so which will net you an easy perfect bonus because the exit is immediately to the left)
Then, in round 11, when you jump into the water at the far right edge of the over-water portion of the stage, hug to the left while falling down so you'll fall on the ledge to reach the item shop. DON'T BUY ANYTHING. Instead, enter and exit the shop twice, which will make the shop nail the door shut like normal. Knock on the door again, and you'll enter a hidden shop with the fish king, who gives you the hero pendant in exchange for the charm stone.
Finally, in round 12, knock on every door outside of the castle (the exact door escapes me, but since the exit is the last one, you don't have to worry about missing it) and you'll meet the Monster Land prince who will give you a choice of two items - a bell or a ruby. The bell will ring when you're in Nightmare castle to let you know when you're going in the right direction. Choose the bell, and write down the directions for the castle, because they never change. Even with the bell and knowing the path, the castle is still insanely hard thanks to one particularly annoying jumping sequence, but knowing where to go makes a world of difference.
HOWEVER, once you know the path through the castle, you should never choose the bell again, because the ruby is the much better choice. The ruby is a one-time use item that automatically gets activated the moment you start fighting the Mecha Dragon which HALVES his life. The Mecha Dragon is already plenty hard, and by this point, even if you knew your way through the castle, you will have lost 2 hearts to the timer alone, and you can still run out of time while fighting the dragon. The ruby makes the boss battle much, much easier.
There's yet another side quest in the game that will net you the correct answer to the sphynx's riddle, but I assume you know that one. Incredible game, it took me years to figure all this shit out.
Oooooh hey hey, I just saw this comment too
Guess what - The Sega Ages Phantasy Star collection is on the japanese Playstation store. And they include the english translations. As I'm sure you know, given your avatar, these games feature a litany of improvements which makes them the definitive ports of all these games, like a difficulty select which sets the encounter rate. For example, Very Easy has 5 times less encounters than normal, but gives you 5 times the experience so it balances out. It also adds the ability to run, which really improves the pace. Being able to set the encounter rate and having the game scale the experience can really alter the flow of the games. At Very Easy you will never grind, for example, because bosses also give you 5 times the experience, meaning you never have to level up needlessly.
Sadly, the FM-Sound enabled Master System version of PS is still available in japanese only, but you can play the PSG-version in english. All 4 PS games are in full english on the game, selectable in the options menu. The PS3 isn't region locked, and you can easily download them from a US PS3 by creating a japanese account.
Like Mega Man Legends? Then check out my story, Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends on TMMN and AO3!
No, this is a PS2 classic.
No graphical updates, but tons of bug fixes and new gameplay options like I described above. The collection is 800 yen, about $9 usd. That's for all 4 games, not each.
Like Mega Man Legends? Then check out my story, Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends on TMMN and AO3!
3DS Friend Code: 1461-7489-3097
I managed to find them on the Japanese PSN...but apparently my American account has $10 and that doesn't transfer over. Ugh. I don't have the strength right now to look up a guide on how to enter my card information in Japanese, or to figure out how to get ahold of a Japanese PSN card.
It's a great game, but I personally like Monster World III (aka Wonderboy in Monster World) better.
Holy fuck were they good! I think the series kept getting better as it went on, even if MW4 lacked some features I loved from the previous game in the collection.
I wish Sega had kept the franchise going. I'd love an HD cel-shaded Monster World right about now...
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Got a wii? Go play wonderboy 3: the dragonks trap. I recommend the tg-16 version, as you can save rather than using passwords.
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Like Mega Man Legends? Then check out my story, Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends on TMMN and AO3!