I'll be honest, this game had been on my wishlist forever, and I was like, do I actually even want it anymore? I have too many games on my wishlist. Should I remove it? And then I was in the mood for something I could just play around with without feeling too much stress or commitment. And it was on sale for 10 bucks. So I grabbed it up, thinking I'd just play it here and there.

But it hooked me! It's so good! Maybe I shouldn't be surprised since I really liked Monster World IV but this series confuses me with the names and I wasn't super into Wonder Boy and the Dragon's Trap and I wasn't even sure if this was a sequel to Monster World or not. And I'm still not sure. But it seems like it is?!

Anyway, it's basically a huge Metroidvania with lots of animal transformations, weapons, gear, etc. that change how you play. With a focus more on actual platforming and such. And tons of secrets, like... TONS. It took me over 30 hours to 100% it.

The animation is pretty sweet too. And it's just like, fun and colorful and full of animals and such!

Late to the party but just wanted to say some words. It goes on sale for $10 a lot. Check it out!

Ah yes... the Wonder Boy family tree...




I do want to get around to finishing the rest of the series.

I've played every Wonder Boy through Wonder Boy in Monster World (which does mean Monster World IV is next).

Ooh, I like that Wonder Boy tree, should come in handy anytime I want to jump back into the series.

Yeah, Monster Boy is a good one! The plot is total nonsense but it's got good pacing, a nice look and a good hook with the animal forms etc. Kept me entertained and has a nice number of surprises.

Where does Monster Boy even fit into that chart above? Is it actually a sequel to Monster World IV?! It definitely feels closer to that gameplaywise than it does to Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap.

I am tempted to go give Dragon's Trap another chance. It wasn't bad I just got caught up in other stuff and it fell to the side.

@Zero
Yeah, this chart was made a while ago prior to some of the later remakes (Wonder Boy Returns, Dragon's Trap remake, Asha in Monster World) and of course Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom.

Monster Boy is a combination of the "Wonder Boy" and "Monster World" monikers that the series has used over the years (I mean "Monster World IV" is strange in the naming itself as "Monster World" was never used until Wonder Boy in Monster World). I believe it's also an official entry into the IP. So I guess where it fits would be right below Monster World IV.

@Zero As an aside can you help me edit the image to better fit the size? The entire right side of that image is cut off for me. Thank you!

It's soooo good! I championned it when it came out, but haven't been beating the drum consistently over the past few years.

It's good in ways that are hard to put into words: it scratches a specific part of my brain that just loooves how old sidescrolling adventure games hid their secrets, and how meaningful new equipments and upgrades felt.

Had I grown up with Sega, I might obviously associated this with Wonder Boy's later adventures, but as it stands, my references are games like Faxanadu and Rygar. And even though it wasn't sidescrolling: Crystalis.

Glad you enjoyed it, Zero!

I did get around to beating Wonder Boy in Monster Land. It was the version that came with the Wonder Boy Collection on the Switch, which was the Arcade version.

That game got brutally hard and the time limit did not help matters, especially with the final stage. Really felt like a quarter muncher. It also really felt like a game with an identity crisis split between trying to brutally beat you down and hurry you up while at the same time making it necessary to "explore" a bit in its linear levels to find its much needed coins and secret doors. Definitely started to see the elements that eventually wound their way into future Wonder Boy games, but this one was a rough one... but I got "unlimited credits" to work with.

I also discovered apparently the Master System version is considered more superior with some more balance and no time limit, but it won't have the "unlimited credits" that I got with the Arcade version.

@CPA Wei If it's the same one I'm thinking of, I thought it was great...but you basically have to glitch the game if you want to make any money to buy upgrades. If you wiggle your character back and forth in the air, for some reason it spawns more coins than usual. And then on top of that, if you die ONCE in the final level, it's an instant Game Over. Unfortunately I didn't have the wherewithal to do that last dungeon legit. Other than that though, I really liked it.