Monsters have taken over the land, and every day the citizens fear for their lives, hoping that a hero will step forth and bring peace to the embattled country.
| LANGUAGE | AUDIO | SUBTITLES | INTERFACE |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | — | — | Y |
| Japanese | — | — | Y |
Conheci Wonder Boy In Monster World através de um cartucho que eu tinha junto do FIFA Soccer 96 do meu antigo Mega Drive III. É um jogo tipo no estilo Mega Man X, que ao longo do game você consegue magias e equipamentos para ficar mais forte e derrotar monstros cada vez mais poderosos.
Really amazing to see such piece of history.
A game that works as a DLC for this bundle:
The SEGA Mega Drive and Genesis Classics.
Which is basically a legal emulation bundle.
This game is originally from 1991. Very old.
And: I'm happy to see it included on Steam.
I have two main positives to say about that:
The first cool positive: The ROM is included.
Which is fantastic for the fans of emulation.
We can boot it up for example in RetroArch.
Or pretty much any other software for emu.
I can't stress enough: How awesome that is.
An actual ROM legally obtainable on Steam.
It's perfect, but let's get to the 2nd positive:
Steam Workshop is supported and It's dope.
Who would've guessed we'll get retro mods.
It's a lovely addition to the retro experience.
A really cheap way to obtain ROM's legally.
I gotta give this release my positive review.
Tem um mod da turma da monica
Обычно такие старые игры интересны только тем, кто в них играл в детстве, но в этом случае игру можно порекомендовать всем. Она и сейчас неплохо играется, не хуже современных инди-платформеров и метроидваний. Если вы играли в Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap, то можете ожидать примерно похожее, только без превращений в животных. Ходите по уровням, соединённым дверьми, ищете секретные места, побеждаете боссов. Покупаете или находите шмот, облегчающий игру. Есть какой-никакой сюжет, немало персонажей с диалогами, которые дают игроку цель. Уровни устроены не шибко разнообразно, чаще всего просто идёте в одну сторону, но выглядят по-разному. Без подглядывания в прохождение легко заблудиться в переходах между уровнями, если забыли, какая дверь куда ведёт.
Поначалу могут вызывать недовольство маленький радиус попадания по врагам от махания мечом, слишком уж близко приходится подпускать их к себе, и низкая скорость передвижения. Но первое лечится нахождением оружия подлиннее, а второе — ботинок побыстрее. Хотя всё равно придётся приноровиться бить врагов и отбегать так, чтобы они не задели вас. Игра не особо сложная, тем более если играть на эмуляторе с быстрыми сохранениями, но с собой можно брать только две лечилки разного действия, а на уровнях здоровье выпадает только из врагов, нечасто и понемногу. Потому может получиться так, что вы придёте к боссу, не имея нужного количества здоровья, и придётся загружаться с последнего сохранения в гостинице. Берегите здоровье, в общем. В последнем уровне сложность вдруг сильно подскакивает, нужно будет много прыгать и бить сильного и опасного босса.
Эта игра вышла среди первых игр для мегадрайва, потому не ждите каких-то особых графических эффектов и анимаций. Но спрайты нарисованы очень красиво, хоть всё и статичное. Всех инди-разработчиков, которые сейчас рисуют пиксель-арт «как в старину», нужно долго бить по рукам, если будут рисовать хуже, чем в игре, которой уже больше 30 лет. На скриншотах в стиме картинки замыленные, зашакаленные и растянутые, на самом деле игра выглядит лучше.
Так как Wonder Boy in Monster World вышла задолго до популяризации мегадрайва в России, да ещё и имела батарейку в картридже, то китайцы к нам её не завозили (во всяком случае, я о ней ничего не слышал), а значит, скорее всего, вы в неё не играли. Обязательно сыграйте. Проведёте несколько часов с удовольствием.
Wonder Boy in Monster World is the 5th Wonder Boy game. And 3rd one under what is known as Monster World subseries of Sidescrolling Action/RPG genre, after Monster Land and Dragon's Trap. It was made by Westone, published by Sega, in 1991, finally coming to the west in 1992, having some changes. Mostly, they increased the difficulty of final boss. And made it so when you die you get game over so make sure to save in inns. 6 Megabit ROM. Only 1 save slot.
It also had Master System and PC Engine CD thing ports, the latter under different name of Dynastic Hero. MS one is inferior, but PC Engine CD had CD quality unique music, but background was one-layer only.
The game that you have here is nothing more than emulation of Sega Genesis version.
Now, technical part about Sega's emulation here:
The Sega Classic games that you purchase on Steam count as DLCs for "Sega Mega Drive & Genesis Classics" game that should appear in your library.
It has Bedroom HUB which is the one with many features yet lags for many and Simply Launcher which lacks Workshop and Online but at least it works just fine for everybody.
However, Simple Launcher has it's fair share of glitches as well. It can crash. And it does the second time you go to main menu, so always quit after saving there so it doesn't crash when you want to save next time!
Emulation itself, mostly sound, isn't that good but it does it's job. Also, yes, emulator supports quick saves.
As alternative, you can use external emulator to run games that you purchased. Sega kindly placed in all games that you purchased in "uncompressed ROMs" folder that program itself doesn't use, just change file extension to ".bin" or so. The file for this one being "MonsterWorld3_USA.SGD". They even included Japanese version in uncompressed as "MonsterWorld3.SGD", in case you want to play without game over deaths, I guess. Emulator uses former.
I also demand you to read digital manual of this game first. You can find it here on store page or go to "manuals" folder of game root and open "WB_PC_MG_EFIGS_WW_HR.pdf".
And yep, this game includes saving. In-game saving, not emulator one. Bedroom HUB works fine but Simple Launcher one is buggy:
You have to remember, you have to close emulator in proper way, otherwise it will not have them actually saved in files. That means that you have to avoid crashing it or closing in different way.
Even more, if you load emulator-side saves, the emulator will not see in-game saves and will not be able to do in-game saves either. Even if it makes look as if it does.
The plot of this game is that monsters once again have invaded Monster World.
Good lord!
Who knew?
It's like they belong there.
None the less, you play as Shion, who might or might not be the same Wonder Boy hero. And have to become a hero, talking around for clues and being send to do stuff.
The gameplay is rather standard to what you might expect. You control a hero, moving him around the dungeons, that aren't too complex or vertical, but still fancy at times, visiting towns at times to get a clues from NPCs or to buy items and equipments in the shops. You can't really sell anything in those, but there aren't that much of trash items thrown at you. I think that health potions are the only usable ones. And elixir is used automatically. You don't have any experience based leveling in this RPG either, you grow by finding or buying equipment. Well, and by getting good at the game.
And there is magic that you can use, being restored upon resting in the inn, which is used as a save point as well. I don't think that attack magic is effective against bosses, aside from the ones that directly increase your attack damage, so don't be afraid to use them in stages outside of bosses. Also, make use of return spell when you get it. No one likes to lose progress if near death.
Protip: There is going to be a Sphynx in the middle of a game that asks you questions about the previous parts of this game. Better remember those names nicely. Or just find answers on Internet, right. Also, she looks adorable.
The action is pretty nice. You have a bit of short reach at first, but it's not too bad. You actually get two playstyle. You can either get sword and shield, in which case your shield will block attacks that you are facing if you aren't attacking. Or just spear, with which you can press up+attack to spin it, which both attacks and defends you like a shield. Then again, you will be forced to use certain equipment just because it has best stats than others.
Then again, I also should warn you that this is a hard game. At least harder than most remember. Actually, it's not so hard in the middle of the game and final bosses are appropriately hard. But I feel that the beginning was the hardest part of the game, mostly the dungeon with the second boss. Your character is too slow, has not enough health yet, barely any magic. Quite a difficulty spike. Don't worry, your character will get faster, too.
It also has a bit of interesting ideas. You get ocarina in the beginning of the game that you use to open doors in the first dungeon. You also get companions in some parts of the games. Sadly, they are locked only to certain levels, having to use them only in the places where developers wanted you to. It's also not exactly linear. At least some dungeons have places that you can access only after you get ability from later in the game. There is sure quite a bunch of stuff to find. A lot of secret doors that are hidden in some places without a single hint. But no worries, mandatory stuff is usually not hidden behind such hintless doors.
It has rather simply graphics and music. On technical level both of those are done rather simplistic. But art style is bright and cartoonish, music is memorable. What a pleasant game!
That, and it sure has quite a nice amount of references to previous games of franchise. Be it the fish boss from Wonder Boy 3: Monster Lair. Or a remixes of music. Heck, there is a place that is copied straight from the first level of Monster Land.
Otherwise, pretty darn good Action/RPG right there. It's also hard, yet feels slow-paced, so some might enjoy it more compared to more hectic games of this genre. And the one to check out if you wondered why people remember Wonder Boy.
Now, Sega, why Monster World IV isn't on Steam? They made a translated version of it years ago by now and released on consoles, about time to bring it here as well.
One of the best games in my chilhood memory for the sega gen, still love the game now
