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Sega announces Wonderboy Vintage Collection (Monster World IV in english)
TheSonicRetard
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This was announced AGES ago but SEGA finally showed something off:
This appears to be a port of the Sega Ages Monster World collection (although it's missing Monster World II: Wonderboy 3 the Dragon's Trap), and it's being handled by M2, not backbone. The heart of this collection, however, is the release of Monster World IV - fully translated into english - for the first time ever outside of Japan.
This is my absolute favorite Sega series of all time, I can't goddamn wait. Only the XBLA was shown off today, but the PSN version was announced over a year ago, so this is assuredly coming to the PS3 (and likely Steam) as well.
Sega's string of DD hits continues. Expect Shenmue next.
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Probably not
I would kill for Sega to release the Fantasy Zone collection next, or really, just Fantasy Zone II DX.
I actually own the entire series, physical copies, along with the PS2 Complete Collection. But I'm so going to triple dip.
Shit.
Switch: 6200-8149-0919 / Wii U: maximumzero / 3DS: 0860-3352-3335 / eBay Shop
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I'd expect this to be a Summer of XBLA game.
Was only able to beat the final boss either by saving all my bombs or some weird glitch that gave me 99 cyclone/bomb sprite errors that had the damage ability of both.
Lovely sprite design.
The Amiga and ST version of that game is so much easier than the Sega Master System version, mainly because most bosses won't attack anymore (like the coin ghost doesn't have his floating companion ghosts which steal your gold). You can also continue in those versions - 3 times. In addition to using the potion.
But they're still really good ports. More accurate to the arcade version, in fact. This entire series is great - every single game in the series is awesome in it's own way. It's also a great series to follow if you like fan service. I played every game in the series in order, and it's neat seeing a bunch of throwbacks to Monster World as the series progresses. I also like that the one thing that really ties the series together is the music, which has several reoccurring themes. My favorite track in the series has to be Nightmare Castle:
It's been in every Wonderboy game since Wonderboy in Monster Land. That's the Monster World III version, my favorite remix. I always thought this was one of Sega's very best series, it just never got the love it deserved. It's the series that I feel like, more than any other series, helped Sega turn the corner from arcade-games company, to home-games company. It's neat to go back and be able to see how the series evolved in each installment, as Sega learned what worked and what didn't work, continuously trimming the fat while keeping the good. I feel like Monster World IV goes a bit too far, feeling like a step down in some ways from Monster World III, but that's likely because Monster World III is probably my favorite game of all time.
lmfao
Starting with the first Monster World game, the series got this chibi, big-eyed look that has aged wonderfully. There is a lot of weird, funny people in these games. This is probably my favorite character in the series:
This purple, chain-smoking, one-eyed pirate pig is the priest in Wonderboy 3. He runs the church.
You're just mad you weren't good enough at rock paper scissors. It's okay, I know the game took mad skill.
Serious note though, loved this series when I was younger. I'll definitely be picking this up. I wouldn't mind a nice Alex Kidd release either, though. Motorcycles, submarines and gyrocopters were boss~
It's funny because, provided you never die, the games of Rock Paper Scissors in Miracle World never randomize. So if you can make a perfect, 1-life run of the game, and your memory isn't terrible, you're assured to win every rock paper scissors match in the game.
Sadly, there are only 2 games in that real Alex Kidd style. The arcade version of The Lost Stars is pretty good, actually, but the home port is so simplified that it feels like a kids game. The best Alex Kidd game, however, isn't even an Alex Kidd game. Alex Kidd in Shinobi World (which was originally Kid Shinobi) is a great game, and probably the best game Alex Kidd ever graced.
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My family ended up on the SNES side of the next-gen console war, so I didn't play Monster World until I was 19. Getting to the Nightmare Castle and hearing that music out of nowhere for the first time in more than a decade was... like...
Really the only way I can describe it.
Not having Dragon's Trap is pretty gutting though, at the time, that game was just incredible.
I played Wonderboy in Monster World before I picked up Wonderboy III, I rented it just like you (it must have just came out, because I was able to buy Wonderboy III at Kay Bee Toys). I remember it blew me away when I figured out that you could go to new places with new items. I remember how I figured out how to swim using the Poseidon trident and realized how there was an entire world under the one I was playing. It was also one of the very first games that I can remember being too big to beat in 1 sitting.
It's also the first Genesis game I went out of my way to buy myself (a few weeks after I bought Wonderboy III). Such a great gaming series. I wanted another wonderboy for years and years afterwards, dreaming of Monster World IV. Finally, last year, I built myself an english Monster world IV cart and finally, FINALLY played the game (I refused to play via emulation). Such a wonderful, bitter-sweet end to one of my favorite series. It was so worth waiting to play on a real genesis.
That's one of the most confusing game lineages ever.
Switch: 6200-8149-0919 / Wii U: maximumzero / 3DS: 0860-3352-3335 / eBay Shop
Yes, the end of Monster Land, and beginning of Dragon's Trap flow together so well. That Nightmare castle theme song is so awesome. I like how many throwbacks to other entries in the series are in Monster World - the pygmy room where you can shrink is the transformation room from Wonderboy III which let you change between forms. The Dark Prince, when you find him in Nightmare Castle, has a curse put on him which turns him into a monster with changing heads... which is the original boss from the original Wonderboy. The hammer you use to forge the legendary sword is Tom Tom's hammer from the first wonderboy. Of course the entire world in Monster World is lifted almost entirely from Monster land. Just a great deal of fan service for a game which never had an abundance of fans.
It continues in Monster World IV, by the way. I don't want to spoil a lot of things for people who haven't played it, but in particular, going back to the Sphinx (for the third time in the series) and seeing the desert overrun by snow and ice is pretty cool.
It's more confusing than that. Wonderboy, the first game, was made by Escape, who owned the actual game, while Sega owned the Wonderboy IP. Escape licensed their game to Hudson, who created an NES port, called Adventure Island. The Adventure Island games are technically spin-offs of Wonderboy. Even crazier is that Adventure Island 4, never released in the US, actually abandoned the original wonderboy style, and started mimicing the wonderboy 3 style. To add to confusion, Hudson got the rights to port Wonderboy 3 to the Turbo Grafx-16, sans wonderboy license, and called it "The Dragon's Curse." When the game went to Japan, they changed the name to Adventure Island (where the original adventure island games were known as Takehashi Mejin Shin no Bok). what's even more confusing is that there is a Super Adventure Island game on the SNES, which is a new, wonderboy-styled Adventure Island game. But there is also ANOTHER Super Adventure Island, released only on cell phones, which is a straight 1:1 port of Wonderboy in Monster Land with Master Higgins replacing Tom Tom:
The only Monster World game never to see a port to another system (until now) has been Monster World IV. Which is also the only game not to be translated.
I compare it a lot to Super Fantasy Zone - games with a bright, cheery artstyle that is still very aesthetically pleasing. Monster World IV, being released in 1994, is such a late-era genesis game and it shows. It's easily one of the best looking genesis titles released. Aside from it's charming and inviting art style, the actual graphics themselves are well done. Lots of big, colorful sprites:
I think Monster World IV has the weakest music in the series, personally, mainly because it doesn't have as many remixes of classic songs. but there is still a lot to like in its selection.
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That game taught me the phrase, "discerning eye." I use that phrase all the time, and every time I do, I think back to Wonderboy.
Sold.
Well he doesn't actually say anything funny or anything. He just kinda gives you your password. But he's fucking bizarre and they don't explain why he's a purple, chain-smoking, 1-eyed pirate. Who also runs the church.
Actually, every game in the series handles the other inhabitants differently. I like Monster World the best, where each village is run by a different race (fairy, dragons, dwarfs, ice devils, etc).
Well, you know what they say...
I still want an Alex Kidd reboot. Can't help but think that maybe a more developed version of the Werehog combat portions of Sonic Unleashed would have been good for it...
That said, I think Alex Kidd in Shinobi World is probably my favorite.
As for Wonderboy, I wonder how much this collection will run...
And, just to split the difference, looking at the timeline of Shinobi in the 3DS game has made me realize how much we need an Ultimate Shinobi Collection.
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!
Also... I would like to have a Wii version...
Monster World IV rated for Wii VC
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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.
EDIT: I definitely don't remember any space battles!
Thank Jebus.
Switch: 6200-8149-0919 / Wii U: maximumzero / 3DS: 0860-3352-3335 / eBay Shop