Wonder Boy in Monster World/The Dynastic Hero Review - Quickies Don't Cut It
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 มิ.ย. 2024
- [Watch in a browser with support for 720p60/1080p60 playback if possible!]
-----
Stay updated via social media:
Facebook ► / retropoliszone
Twitter ► / retropoliszone
-----
Ever heard of Wonder Boy? Chances are you have not as it's a rather forgotten series of games. During the glory days of the Nintendo Entertainment System in the mid to late 80's, Wonder Boy served as one of Sega's biggest platforming franchises before the rise of Sonic the Hedgehog. If you do happen to know of it, it's likely you remember titles like Wonder Boy in Monster Land and Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap for the Sega Master System. I'm looking at neither of those today; instead, Wonder Boy in Monster World, the first 16-bit installment of the series, is stealing the spotlight. Do you enjoy Super Metroid, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and/or similar experiences? Perhaps Wonder Boy in Monster World is for you and one of the goals of this review is to help you find out. Also, the game was ported to the TurboGrafx-CD two years after its initial release under a different name: The Dynastic Hero. Why is that so? Well, all the details are within the video.
-----
Writing, editing & narrating: Michael Hardeman
Game creation: Westone Bit Entertainment
Wonder Boy © Sega
The Dynastic Hero © Hudson Soft
Adventure Island © Hudson Soft
Ys © Nihon Falcom
Castlevania © Konami
All music & imagery © to their respective owners - เกม
![Every Wonder Boy Game [Reviewed]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/_j--Nb_HAPA/mqdefault.jpg)
Probably one of the most overlooked games from my childhood here. Always loved the music, graphics, and gameplay. Not a fan of RPG games, but this game is one of the few exceptions to that. Great to see people review this game!
Also Here in Brazil, they released the game as Turma da Mônica na Terra dos Monstros (Monica's Gang in the Monster Land), you know like Super Mario Bros. 2 and Doki Doki Panic.
Turma da Mônica is a popular comics here in Brazil and since Tectoy had the rights for the game, they change the sprites to get more sales, they also translated Phantasy Star in portuguese and dubbed Riven for the Sarturn, which is also the only way that americans can play the game without PAL or Japanese copies.
Monica's Gang!? KKKK
Melhor tradução.
@@vitormartins9547 Mas ta certo, procura no youtube/google os desenhos da Turma da Monica como "Monica Gang" e veras um novo mundo kkkk.
The Wonder Boy series is one of my favorite, and responsible for some of my greatest early gaming memories(Wonder Boy in Monster World.) Thank you for making such an informative and well edited video about this commonly confusing series numerical placements and their differences. Criminally underrated.
Fun fact: The final boss difficulty is only punishingly high in the US release of WB. The JP release has a difficulty similar to DH.
If you've never played it, I recommend playing the WB US release on your first go. It has the feeling of "Holy crap. I need to go back and stock up if I'm ever going to beat THAT. I need to get more heart pieces and rethink my strategy."
You know, it was this video (and the one for MW4) that made me pick up the great PS4 compilation that recently came out. I enjoyed it a lot! Thank you for covering it!
I'm happy you covered this. I always see people talk about the other wonder boy titles but not this one. Loved it even watching my dad to play it to beating it myself when I was in college.
Westone is Wes-stone dude :D (meant to be West Stone) Every one mixes it up because of that West 0ne cheat in Wondertboy III :D
But most excellent video presentation Sir, I am most impressed!
Thanks for the compliment, as well as correcting me on the mispronunciation. I will be sure to say Westone correctly the next time I get to a Wonder Boy game, haha.
Retropolis Zone
Lol, I don't think they really did much else :D
But yeah, some fantastic editing work there Sir, Kudos!!!
That's nice to read because I don't really like my older videos. :')
You ever played this game Larry?
I have yeah, i own a copy of Monster World from all three regions :D Synastic hero goes for silly money, so I just burned a copy instead.
Seriously love your review format!! I can watch this over and over! Fantastic!!!
Gracias. :D
You can buy new boots, I think the leather boots, from the second NPC building you see in the game. I agree the starting speed is obnoxiously slow, so I always take the time to grind for the 30 gold you need for those boots.
wow! great review! this is by far my favorite game of the 16bit era... the world is so adorable and the underwater music (for the genesis)... gosh! i'm starting a new game NOW!
I remember I got this game from a friend when I was a kid. I had the Master System version (which has almost the same graphics so I get your gripe). I asked him how many stages it had to have a rough idea how long the game was and he replied "It has no stages" and I was like WTF how is this possible! Good times...
Great video, I liked it a lot! It also made me discover Dynastic Hero
Nice. I love your stuff man! :D I got Dynastic Hero on the Wii virtual console and loved it!
Then I did Dragon's Curse (my favorite WB/MW game), Wonder Boy, then MW4. All great, classic games.
I remember seeing this in the Gamepros of old, back when a turbo, was out of my league. So vibrant and pretty, I hadno idea it was related to Adventure Island, or the Sega Genesis for that fact. Thanks for opening my eyes!
+Existencerased No problem. Glad my video has shed some light for ya!
It's one of my favorite games, a very nostalgic one for me... Great video !
Thanks!
Great review! I just finished this one for the first time. I hadn't heard about it before. It's Definitely an underrated gem.
This is good. Long form, individual in depth approach with none of the usual wacky "youtube person" schlock bogging it down. Rare breed.
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the video. :)
man I love this game although I haven't played in it years. One of my most vivid gaming memories was in the early 90s being at my grandmothers house for the weekend and going and renting a game and I just randomly chose this one and played it all weekend
Great video for a great game! Seeing the video makes you want to play
+MMKOP RAM Thanks! :)
I don't know if it's related to the video, but what is the name of the opening song?
This game is just so freaking adorable.
I love it. Great gameplay, great music, great graphics.
Huge 16-bit fan, but I never tried the World games, maybe should give them a shot someday. The flaws that you noted really make me reconsider. Idk, I definitely want to try MWIV but I'm not completely sure about this one yet. As usual, great work.
I played the brazilian version (monica's gang in monster world). It just changes a few key character sprites and the story is in portuguese and unrelated to the original. I love this game, and the sprites are adorable. Nice video
Wonder Boy in Monster World is my favorite Genesis game of all time. I still haven't played Dynastic Hero, although I am working my way through Dragon's Curse / Adventure Island (Wonder Boy III). The differences are interesting, even though they are essentially the same game.
Thanks for the video it's a good upload. It's just that I was waiting for you to at least mention the Master System version since the title doesn't mention that this video is for Turbografx-16 and MD/Genesis. I would understand that you didn't know about it (especially when you made the video) if you were american, but this channel's info says that your location is in the Netherlands.I had the MD version in the 90s and think that it's interesting how great it looks on TB-16/Pc E and Master System compared to MD/Genesis. I also like the MD/G musik more, It's more fitting for an 8/16-bit game. The audio on TB-16/Pc-E sounds too Read Book audio in this game. It's much better in Dragons Curse the previous title in this series.
I think the Mega Drive had a better soundtrack actually. Much more melodic and memorable songs than the generic CD music on the TG-16 IMO.
so you going to do Wonder boy 3 A Dragon's Trap through the Remake anytime soon ALSO I want this game and and Monster world IV
Great video really enjoyed it n feel its well made. Try speaking alittle slower for smoother presentation. Graphics very good. Can you do Wonderboy 3 dragon's trap as my fav game out of series. Cheers from London.
Syed Ali I appreciate the fact you took some time to leave a thoughtful comment! Thanks!
I will review Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap, yes, but there are some other games I want to look at first. It will happen at some point, though. :)
I agree with you. The one thing i find is very unique to Wonderboy in Monster World on Mega Drive ... is that it is pretty ... colorful ... compared with other Mega Drive games back then ... those are more ... gritty ...
You see allot more games with that kind Color Palette on Snes Games then Mega Drive Games. Another game on Mega Drive with a colorful artstyle is Story of Thor i guess.
Yeah you're right. They didn't use the full power of the 16 bit Mega Drive. Heck, i think i go and beat it again ;p.
I wonder which one would be good to get into the franchise?
+Kelly Greenidge The Dynastic Hero isn't really part of a franchise, so I would say Wonder Boy in Monster World.
Nice thanks for the heads up.
My first game ever! Loved it when i was a kid and love it now as a 30 year old 😂😂
Great video.
jonnie scott Thank you! =)
I never got past the stupid two floating platforms that you have to jump on to get to the last stage when I was a kid, I kept falling and having to kill the same enemy over and over and over till I got bored and gave up. I think maybe now that I've given it 15 years enough time has passed that I can go back and give it another try. Tomorrow after work I think I'll blow the dust out of my cartridge and finish the game finally.
Goodluck friend
Hope you did well with that
Great video, Michael. The Wonderboy games are pretty charming. Nothing I'd play over Symphony of the Night, but it doesn't need to be.
Never knew you plated the Wonderboy games. I think they are cool, especially the Genesis games. :)
H-how is the final boss a war of attrition, Michael? It tears through you if you're not careful, that Conveyor Belt is ASS to maneuver, borderline random, and those lasers regenerate. I had no luck trying to brute force it. Every other boss sort of is, however.
Welp, nice to revisit these older videos of yours... and see how less noticeable your accent is now, haha.
I remember getting my ass kicked by the final boss when I was trying. Then I just hacked away and won, lol. This game didn't have the best of bosses.
Yeah I don't like going back to my older videos. It's painful to hear my old talking style and accent, haha.
Don't Shout!
1st game I'm going to play on the Genesis Mini
Have u played it yet what do u think.
@@martymartin2894 Got through half of it, then played RDR2. Haven't played Monster World IV, but I adored this game. May have to return to it after reading your comment.
@@shockz1715 I got the mini myself started playing wonder boy it's very difficult but enjoyable I'm near the end now but only with the help of save states. Which game is RDR2.
@@martymartin2894 Which mini do you have? I imported mine from Asia because Outrun 2019 lol. The dumb thing is there's two 6-button controllers, but no 6 button games. Except for Comix Zone and Beyond Oasis.
@@shockz1715 I'm in ireland so it's the megadrive mini 3 button. Nice controllers but would need 6 button for street fighter
lol it takes 2 mins to get boots, not an hour.
I'm not sure if Ys, one of the shortest, smallest, most linear & accessible action-RPGs, was a valid example of bad player-directing. I came up far too many reasons for this thought but I'll just say: it feels out of context, hasty and quite honestly baffling. It would have served your point better to use games you are actually familiar with or games other people are more familiar with (so people could relate to your example, now it sort of misses the point since is very misguided/misinformed to both veterans and newcomers of the game, or specifically the "Ys" you decided to generalize with "other top-down JRPGs").
But it was a valid and even understandable example in the end, I concluded, since it's your personal experience as a not-RPG-player per se, I suppose? And Ys Chronicle's version of Ys 1, comparably, does have infinitely less accessible beginning than, for example, Ys Book 1&2 (PCE) or other versions closer to the original. The game used to start with an automatic section that guides you to the fortune teller, who then specifically tells you to buy starting equipment and visit her again afterwards (and after that you just leave the village without any need or reason to talk to anyone, one of the clearest examples of player-directing ever).
Ok 6 wonder boy gams and a 3 monster world but what about monster boy
How a real Wonderboy game looks like.
This is for the next time someone says 'Monsterboy' is good...
No, it's not
This comment didn't age well
Decent but please, stop shouting, it's really grating after a while.
Alianger I know what you mean. I am seeking to find a balance between speaking loudly and speaking quietly. The softer I talk, the more boring and mumbled I sound. Will experiment with it. Thanks for the feedback. :)