That point about not wanting to miss optional treasures is definitely something I've felt in Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy dungeons. Sometimes Pokemon as well.
Hmm, the note about water levels often being terrible gives me an idea. I think it would be fun to explore the BEST water levels in games. Can’t really think of any particularly good ones off the top of my head though
Mega Man generally does water levels pretty well since you can't get lost, can't run out of oxygen since Mega is a robot, and water actually helps him jump higher. Unfortunately that also usually heralds lots of spikes on the ceilings and floors, but it's better than getting lost. I really liked Centaur Man and Acid Man's levels.
Skyward Sword's Ancient Cistern immediately comes to mind as not only being a fantastically done water level, but widely regarded as one if the best dungeons in the entire Zelda series.
The pyramid dungeon was the one that really frustrated me in the remake due to the slow paced statue puzzles. In fact, it even managed to annoy me while using a guide thanks to the one I had been using being for the original release (as the remake had been overshadowed by Monster Boy). So I had to figure out which statues the guide was talking about after they had their religious imagery censored.
It's funny, whenever I think back to this game, the Stream Sanctuary does stand out in my mind as the most tedious dungeon... then I get to the Ice Pyramid and immediately beg the sanctuary's forgiveness.
In the age of no maps, limited checkpoints and copy/pasted rooms, many games suffered from at least one 'maze level' that went on far too long for comfort. One I will always remember outstaying its welcome and then some was Mt. Badsel in Dragon View. The climb up the exterior isn't bad and has great music, but once you get inside there's a seemingly never-ending cavern maze of one-way doors, fake walls, pits and respawning enemies with no checkpoints or healing in sight until the very end. It's a bad cell in the immune system of a game I enjoyed most of.
When it's both linear *and* somehow confusing, you know it's a pain. This water dungeon doesn't even submerge you either, and yet it's still got the curse of all other water levels. :v
On the topic of the remake. I haven't played the original game so there's probably some minor changes I'm not aware of but it seems mostly the same aside from one major point. You can save anywhere from the pause screen. Amusingly the wizards are still there and one will comment on the change. On a side note, the remake will also tell you how many heart pieces (they're called Life Drops there) you've collected at the end of an area as well as at the end of the game. You get an achievement for finding them all. (There might be a different reward as well but I haven't done it because it's a pain)
Its been a while since ive played this game (I still need to play the remake), but...i understand why this level is so tidious. In regards to the death from WBiMW, the reason that Shion is floating off the screen after losing his last heart is because he is actually floating back to the Inn where he last saved...at least in the Japanese version. In Japan when you die, you go back to your last save point and lose half of your gold. They took that out of the American version to make it more difficult (like how they added the conveyer belt to the last boss).
9:45 I can understand the pain of a level layout being confusing, and then a map of said level being even more confusing. I remember when I first played Etrian Odyssey (the first one), after I made it through the 29th floor (second to last floor of the entire game, basically a giant warp maze), I looked at a map to see if I was missing anything and just looking at a finished map submitted online made my head spin.
TBH I was expecting Ice Pyramid or Sky Castle to be here. I can understand the problems mentioned here about Stream Sanctuary, but the two dungeons after it annoyed me far more.
For me, the worst and most hated level of this game is the ice pyramid Dx, it is long as hell, difficult, tricky, full of cryptic puzzles, and the music overwhelms me too quickly after spending hours lost in those damn pyramids Dx
I came in here expecting the Ice desert/pyramid and honestly at first I was like.. this level never was too bad for me, but then watching your video.. I started to agree about your points with backtracking and such.. a lot of that can be cut down.. I think they should leave the 4 holes with the middle two leading to basically the first one since in my opinion, I think the devs did that as a funny little joke to mess with the player into thinking the dungeon was going to turn into a full on maze which would especially work on someone who already kinda despises the dungeon on their first playthrough..
Oh i personally enjoyed this level. It's the Ice Pyramid that I have beef with lol. Creative place but frustrating to play through some of it. More chill in the remake of course. Pun unintended. Otherwise yeah, this and the remake are my favorite entries in the series easy.
Sounds like whoever designed the Stream Sanctuary was bored AF with their job. Nothing really hard, just uninteresting and a bit tedious. And it shows the Yang of bad water level design-dickish one-way currents-compared to the usual Yin of crappy underwater handling possibly with a side of tight air conservation.
At first, I dug the song here for its odd rhythms. As the video went on, though, it got real grating. I cant imagine how obnoxious it must be in-game when youll probably be hearing it for half an hour straight.
Forks in the road are the bane of my existence too (espcially the upteemth fork in the dungeon). Just tell me which one leads to the dead end with treasure already
Since you expressed curiosity about the remake I'll give my two cents about it. I never played any of the original Wonder/Monster Boy games but I played all of the remakes on Switch and I'm sorry to say that I found this one to _easily_ be the worst, and by "worst" I mean the only one I didn't like. Cursed Kingdom and Dragon's Trap were both kinda janky and unfair in places but still had a lot of charm and enjoyability, but this one was utterly boring. I barely even remember it. There are only two things I clearly remember about it: that I never really had fun at any point of the game and how ungodly frustrating the ice palace was. On the first point, the main reason why I didn't enjoy it was how disappointingly simple Asha's moveset was. The other protagonists had magic and transformations, but Asha just had her sword and never got anything else. I remember the other two games being unfairly difficult at times, but never rage-inducingly bad, while this one was just... boring. I normally don't mind games being easy, and I proudly admit that I usually play games on the lowest difficulty settings because I genuinely find them the most fun that way, but this one wasn't just easy, it was uneventful. Asha had such a simple moveset that I never felt powerful. Neither the combat nor the platforming were ever fun because I always felt like I was merely trudging through my problems instead of conquering them. I also found it obnoxious that Asha had to do an unnecessarily long animation when opening chests. On the second (and more relevant to the video) point, I only vaguely remember this level, but I remember it not being too bad. At least, it definitely wasn't _nearly_ as bad as the ice level, because if it was I'm sure I _would_ remember it. But that ice level... again, I don't remember the game very well because I only did one playthrough back when it was first released and it utterly bored me, but I clearly remember the ice level in particular being irritatingly unclear as to where to go next and involving a soul-sapping amount of backtracking (oh, and having bad ice physics). Basically the same criticisms you have about this level, but in my experience with the remake it was the ice level that sticks out for these reasons while the others were just monotonous. This leaves me curious as to whether the ice level was in the original and if it was any better back then. That ended up being more than two cents, but there you go. To put it bluntly: I don't recommend the remake.
This sounds like one of those levels that doesn't seem so bad in hindsight, but it indeed is actually WAY worse when going in blind. It's hard to describe why because I don't think it's cut and dry as being any given thing since players can approach things different ways, but I still think that's a pretty bad design flaw. Like... Let's say there's some sort of puzzle that shows the solution somewhere, but a player misses it because it's like... Hidden in background scenery or something and becomes frustrated at being stuck. Is that the fault of the player or fault of the design? Design indeed can be too obscure so there's a certain art to making it work out. Same with stuff like tedium.
The first level sounds like Scrap Brain Zone and Metropolis Zone to me. I never understood why people hate Labyrinth Zone. It's not even remotely close to the worst classic Sonic Level ever made.
Haha Git how in the earth it is the VI-th if the titles says IV? Is this Jap/Eu/Usa version you are talking about? Also screw this ima gonna play this retro game asap in my emulator. I like something like this where the protagonist is a heroine with cute pets following her (actually the pet is optional but eh). Also i will remembet where those actual progress holes leads to in the Stream world so yeah gonna try this till finished 😁
Also, I swear, I heard that dink-dink instrument in Lars: The Wanderer when Vinny Vinesauce played through a teeny bit of it in one of his DOS showcases, but then realized he'd be in over his head once he saw that it was 1) in Korean, and 2) text-heavy. Makes me think the newer MS-DOS model was built on Sega Genesis hardware as opposed to, uh, Atari 2600 or Magnavox Odyssey or something.
"Gentlemen, this is a bucket."
"Dear Lord!"
"There's more."
"NO!!"
That game over scene is heartbreaking. Asha's dead, Pepelogoo's crying, and you have to go through that part of the dungeon all over again.
That point about not wanting to miss optional treasures is definitely something I've felt in Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy dungeons. Sometimes Pokemon as well.
when i play RPGs and find the right path, i usually check all the other paths just in case there is loot there
Hmm, the note about water levels often being terrible gives me an idea. I think it would be fun to explore the BEST water levels in games. Can’t really think of any particularly good ones off the top of my head though
Hydrocity and aquarium park from sonic 3 and colors respectively are pretty fun
Mega Man generally does water levels pretty well since you can't get lost, can't run out of oxygen since Mega is a robot, and water actually helps him jump higher. Unfortunately that also usually heralds lots of spikes on the ceilings and floors, but it's better than getting lost. I really liked Centaur Man and Acid Man's levels.
Skyward Sword's Ancient Cistern immediately comes to mind as not only being a fantastically done water level, but widely regarded as one if the best dungeons in the entire Zelda series.
Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends has some pretty nice water levels, especially Legends.
Pikmin 1/4 have really good water themed areas, even if Distant Spring makes my eyes hurt
The pyramid dungeon was the one that really frustrated me in the remake due to the slow paced statue puzzles.
In fact, it even managed to annoy me while using a guide thanks to the one I had been using being for the original release (as the remake had been overshadowed by Monster Boy). So I had to figure out which statues the guide was talking about after they had their religious imagery censored.
19:51 the wizard taunts not only Asha but the player saying "it's no use saving"...
*Sonic 06 PTSD kicking in*
It's funny, whenever I think back to this game, the Stream Sanctuary does stand out in my mind as the most tedious dungeon... then I get to the Ice Pyramid and immediately beg the sanctuary's forgiveness.
Is it worse than the Stream world?
Infinitely worse.@@vandieyahya1024
Oooh man the stream sanctuary - ice pyramid combo made me drop the game
In the age of no maps, limited checkpoints and copy/pasted rooms, many games suffered from at least one 'maze level' that went on far too long for comfort. One I will always remember outstaying its welcome and then some was Mt. Badsel in Dragon View. The climb up the exterior isn't bad and has great music, but once you get inside there's a seemingly never-ending cavern maze of one-way doors, fake walls, pits and respawning enemies with no checkpoints or healing in sight until the very end. It's a bad cell in the immune system of a game I enjoyed most of.
When it's both linear *and* somehow confusing, you know it's a pain. This water dungeon doesn't even submerge you either, and yet it's still got the curse of all other water levels. :v
This game is wonderful, so why is it here...
Oh right. Damn ice pyramid.
So, I guessed wrong. There are two annoying levels.
2:56 ACKCHYUALLY, bubsy came out a year before this game, thus fall damage was a thing already.
On the topic of the remake. I haven't played the original game so there's probably some minor changes I'm not aware of but it seems mostly the same aside from one major point.
You can save anywhere from the pause screen. Amusingly the wizards are still there and one will comment on the change.
On a side note, the remake will also tell you how many heart pieces (they're called Life Drops there) you've collected at the end of an area as well as at the end of the game. You get an achievement for finding them all. (There might be a different reward as well but I haven't done it because it's a pain)
Its been a while since ive played this game (I still need to play the remake), but...i understand why this level is so tidious.
In regards to the death from WBiMW, the reason that Shion is floating off the screen after losing his last heart is because he is actually floating back to the Inn where he last saved...at least in the Japanese version. In Japan when you die, you go back to your last save point and lose half of your gold. They took that out of the American version to make it more difficult (like how they added the conveyer belt to the last boss).
He floats away for sucking too much.
Never expect 2 types of videos in one
Now I understand why Pepe says he hates fire in Monster Boy & the Cursed Kingdom. That's a nice callback.
2:49 May as well insert a clip of Sub-Zero plummeting to his death here from MK Mythologies XD "Aaaaaaaaaaaaah-aaaaauuuuugh...!!"
9:45 I can understand the pain of a level layout being confusing, and then a map of said level being even more confusing. I remember when I first played Etrian Odyssey (the first one), after I made it through the 29th floor (second to last floor of the entire game, basically a giant warp maze), I looked at a map to see if I was missing anything and just looking at a finished map submitted online made my head spin.
I hope someday for Git to talk of Phantady Star II dungeons. Most confusing, redundant and annoying levels ever.
TBH I was expecting Ice Pyramid or Sky Castle to be here. I can understand the problems mentioned here about Stream Sanctuary, but the two dungeons after it annoyed me far more.
I would love to see a boss analysis on this game
I love your Flareon profile
Same!
Asha Besto Waifu. LOL
Neat vid as always
For me, the worst and most hated level of this game is the ice pyramid Dx, it is long as hell, difficult, tricky, full of cryptic puzzles, and the music overwhelms me too quickly after spending hours lost in those damn pyramids Dx
I came in here expecting the Ice desert/pyramid and honestly at first I was like.. this level never was too bad for me, but then watching your video.. I started to agree about your points with backtracking and such.. a lot of that can be cut down..
I think they should leave the 4 holes with the middle two leading to basically the first one since in my opinion, I think the devs did that as a funny little joke to mess with the player into thinking the dungeon was going to turn into a full on maze which would especially work on someone who already kinda despises the dungeon on their first playthrough..
Oh i personally enjoyed this level. It's the Ice Pyramid that I have beef with lol. Creative place but frustrating to play through some of it. More chill in the remake of course. Pun unintended. Otherwise yeah, this and the remake are my favorite entries in the series easy.
Sounds like whoever designed the Stream Sanctuary was bored AF with their job. Nothing really hard, just uninteresting and a bit tedious. And it shows the Yang of bad water level design-dickish one-way currents-compared to the usual Yin of crappy underwater handling possibly with a side of tight air conservation.
At first, I dug the song here for its odd rhythms. As the video went on, though, it got real grating. I cant imagine how obnoxious it must be in-game when youll probably be hearing it for half an hour straight.
Wow.
Actually cheked many times how much of the video was left because this level is on it's own league of tediousness
Dude, I love your videos. I'm hoping life is good to you
Her picture on the thumbnail does look kinda cute
Forks in the road are the bane of my existence too (espcially the upteemth fork in the dungeon).
Just tell me which one leads to the dead end with treasure already
Since you expressed curiosity about the remake I'll give my two cents about it. I never played any of the original Wonder/Monster Boy games but I played all of the remakes on Switch and I'm sorry to say that I found this one to _easily_ be the worst, and by "worst" I mean the only one I didn't like. Cursed Kingdom and Dragon's Trap were both kinda janky and unfair in places but still had a lot of charm and enjoyability, but this one was utterly boring. I barely even remember it. There are only two things I clearly remember about it: that I never really had fun at any point of the game and how ungodly frustrating the ice palace was.
On the first point, the main reason why I didn't enjoy it was how disappointingly simple Asha's moveset was. The other protagonists had magic and transformations, but Asha just had her sword and never got anything else. I remember the other two games being unfairly difficult at times, but never rage-inducingly bad, while this one was just... boring. I normally don't mind games being easy, and I proudly admit that I usually play games on the lowest difficulty settings because I genuinely find them the most fun that way, but this one wasn't just easy, it was uneventful. Asha had such a simple moveset that I never felt powerful. Neither the combat nor the platforming were ever fun because I always felt like I was merely trudging through my problems instead of conquering them. I also found it obnoxious that Asha had to do an unnecessarily long animation when opening chests.
On the second (and more relevant to the video) point, I only vaguely remember this level, but I remember it not being too bad. At least, it definitely wasn't _nearly_ as bad as the ice level, because if it was I'm sure I _would_ remember it. But that ice level... again, I don't remember the game very well because I only did one playthrough back when it was first released and it utterly bored me, but I clearly remember the ice level in particular being irritatingly unclear as to where to go next and involving a soul-sapping amount of backtracking (oh, and having bad ice physics). Basically the same criticisms you have about this level, but in my experience with the remake it was the ice level that sticks out for these reasons while the others were just monotonous. This leaves me curious as to whether the ice level was in the original and if it was any better back then.
That ended up being more than two cents, but there you go. To put it bluntly: I don't recommend the remake.
This sounds like one of those levels that doesn't seem so bad in hindsight, but it indeed is actually WAY worse when going in blind. It's hard to describe why because I don't think it's cut and dry as being any given thing since players can approach things different ways, but I still think that's a pretty bad design flaw. Like...
Let's say there's some sort of puzzle that shows the solution somewhere, but a player misses it because it's like... Hidden in background scenery or something and becomes frustrated at being stuck. Is that the fault of the player or fault of the design? Design indeed can be too obscure so there's a certain art to making it work out. Same with stuff like tedium.
I played this game yesterday, very good.
Great video! :D
A Wonder Boy game?
Interesting 👀
The first level sounds like Scrap Brain Zone and Metropolis Zone to me. I never understood why people hate Labyrinth Zone. It's not even remotely close to the worst classic Sonic Level ever made.
Haha Git how in the earth it is the VI-th if the titles says IV? Is this Jap/Eu/Usa version you are talking about?
Also screw this ima gonna play this retro game asap in my emulator. I like something like this where the protagonist is a heroine with cute pets following her (actually the pet is optional but eh). Also i will remembet where those actual progress holes leads to in the Stream world so yeah gonna try this till finished 😁
What is it with water levels and having annoying, time wasting gimmicks?
Pepelogoo have strong lungs
One of the things that annoy me in games are confused debuffs that reverse your movement.
So what is it? It's Monster World IV, but you call it Monster Girl World VI.
Also, I swear, I heard that dink-dink instrument in Lars: The Wanderer when Vinny Vinesauce played through a teeny bit of it in one of his DOS showcases, but then realized he'd be in over his head once he saw that it was 1) in Korean, and 2) text-heavy.
Makes me think the newer MS-DOS model was built on Sega Genesis hardware as opposed to, uh, Atari 2600 or Magnavox Odyssey or something.