Wonder Boy in Monster World

Wonder Boy in Monster World

Genesis - USA - 1st edition.

Developer Westone Publisher Sega Published 1991-10-25 Platforms Genesis, Master System, TurboGrafx-CD Genres Action-adventure, Metroidvania, Platformer Themes Action, Adventure, Cartoon, Fantasy Series Wonder Boy Distribution Commercial

Wonder Boy in Monster World is a platformer action-adventure video game developed by Westone and published by Sega on 1991-10-25 for the Genesis. It is the fifth game in the Wonder Boy series and a very well-made Metroidvania.

The game exists in four fairly different versions. The original Mega Drive/Genesis release, a Master System port which had various aspects cut to fit into a smaller ROM, a TurboGrafx-CD port which replaced the soundtrack and a lot of the graphics, and a special Brazil port which redid the graphics to fit a Brazilian children's comic strip.

Personal

Own?	Yes. US Genesis cartridge and box.
Won?	Yes.
Finished	2018-12-10.

I discovered this game while looking for older Metroidvania games I missed out on in the earlier days of the genre. After playing it, I found it to be quite amazing, one of the best of the era.

Review

8	7	9	5	7

Best Version: Genesis

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• The cartoon artwork and detailed background graphics are phenomenal. The game makes really good use of parallax scrolling.
• The character design and animation is fantastic. I especially love the death animation for monsters and the large attractive boss sprites.
• The game has a lot of hidden chests to find for those players who search long enough.
• Although I'm not a huge fan of the soundtrack, I recognize that Shinichi Sakamoto composed it to nicely fit the game.
• There are lots of little graphic quirks that add to the game. Your player sprite updates as you equip better weapons and shields, heat emanates from fireplaces, the menus are well drawn, etc.
• The indoor cut-aways are a good design.
• The sidekicks are a fun addition. They're mostly useless, but Priscilla's animation where she smacks enemies with her wand is hilarious.
• The ending sequence recap is quite nice.

Bad

• Unless you spend a lot of time searching for the hidden power-ups, the game will be really hard, and several of the hidden treasures are hidden really well.
• Most of the bosses are really easy to beat. In my first play-through of the game, I was usually really low on hit points by the time I reached the bosses, but still ended up winning.
• The dialog saying how much gold you picked up covers up a lot of the screen and could have been replaced by a less-obtrusive sprite.
• I don't like being told, every time I want to buy something, that I "have a discerning eye."
• All of the game's documentation is pretty bad. The box art is horrible for pretty much every region and port. The game's manual, though it gives very detailed instructions on how to play, is very dry and has only a couple paragraphs of story and almost no art. The title is also stupid. I wonder how many more units could have been sold with better marketing.
• Near the end of the game you get tons of gold with nothing to spend it on (unless you want the charm stone upgrade, but, by this time, it's pretty useless).
• The game doesn't let you change your equipped items when you're moving, but if you're stuck in a corner taking damage from a monster, you don't stop moving, so you can never change items or use them.
• The final boss is annoyingly difficult. It's not just that he's hard to defeat, but he's unfairly hard. In his second form, there are so many things on the screen, it become extremely difficult to even avoid getting hit, let alone make precision attacks.

Ugly

• The moving platform puzzle above the dragon room in the Dark Castle is really annoying. It would have been annoying even if you didn't have to defeat the dragon every time.

Media

Boxes

• 

  The original Japanese box uses chibi art of Shion and his side-kicks. It fits the in-game style, but looks pretty childish. It's my favorite cover, but I still don't like it much.

• 

  This box was used for North America. Europe used the same art with a slightly different graphic layout. Although the art does a decent job or portraying the game, it's so awful I'm sure it affected sales. But don't judge a book by its terrible cover.

• 

  The Master System port, although a bit different from the Genesis game, uses the same art.

• 

  The PC Engine Super CD-ROM2 System port changed the game's graphics and the odd cover art reflects that.

• 

  The North American TurboGrafx-CD uses the same art as the Japanese port, only with a different title and a worse layout.

• 

  Wonder Boy games released in Brazil were reworked to the Monica's Gang comic strip and the poorly-drawn cartoon cover reflects that.

Documentation

• 

  Genesis manual.

Maps

• 

  Genesis - Alsedo Ocean.

• 

  Genesis - Alsedo.

• 

  Genesis - Purapril Sewers.

• 

  Genesis - Purapril.

• 

  Genesis - Lilypad.

• 

  Genesis - Jungle Temple.

• 

  Genesis - Poseidon Ocean.

• 

  Genesis - Poseidon Temple.

• 

  Genesis - Maugham Desert.

• 

  Genesis - Pyramid.

• 

  Genesis - Begonia.

• 

  Genesis - Childam.

• 

  Genesis - Ice Palace.

• 

  Genesis - Volcano.

• 

  Genesis - Dark Castle.

• 

  Genesis - Final Battle.

• 

  Master System - Way to Alsedo, Alsedo Cave.

• 

  Master System - The Large Tree.

• 

  Master System - Purapril Purapril Castle, Maugham Desert.

• 

  Master System - Lilypad the Dwarf Village.

• 

  Master System - Lilypad Temple.

• 

  Master System - Poseidon.

• 

  Master System - The Pyramid.

• 

  Master System - Begonia the Dragon Village.

• 

  Master System - Ice World.

• 

  Master System - Sky Over Purapril Castle.

• 

  Master System - Space.

Videos

Longplay.

Play Online

Master System

Play Online

Genesis, Master System

Representation

Strong female character?	Fail	Queen Eleanora and Priscilla is a loyal sidekick, and there are many female NPCs, but they're sidekicks and quest givers, none are important.
Bechdel test?	Fail	No women ever talk to each other.
Strong person of color character?	Pass	The game uses a cartoon style, but everyone appears to be whiteish.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no queer characters.

Titles

Language	Native	Transliteration	Translation
English	Wonder Boy in Monster World
Japanese (Mega Drive)	ワンダーボーイⅤ　モンスターワールドⅢ	Wanda Boi V Monsuta Warudo III	Wonder Boy V: Monster World III
Japanese (PC Engine CD)	超英雄伝説ダイナスティックヒーロー	Cho Hideo Densetsu Dainasutikku Hiro	Super Hero Legend: Dynastic hero

Links