Over the years, I've really become a fan of the Wonder Boy series. I think it started out because of a fascination with the history. I mean, Wonder Boy/Monster World has some of the most convoluted history when it comes to game titles, ports, licensing and so on. It was all so totally confusing that I couldn't help but go down the rabbit hole. While there are only seven proper Wonder Boy games in the main series, it's still a huge mess. Like, the original game was ported to the NES as Adventure Island and then that game spun off its own series of sequels. Interesting stuff.
And then there's the whole naming convention. For instance, Wonder Boy In Monster World is the fifth game in the series proper. In Japan, it's known as Wonder Boy V: Monster World III. Even this is strange, as there was never a Wonder Boy IV. Instead, there were TWO games called Wonder Boy III (Monster Lair, and The Dragon's Trap). Also, the "Monster World III" thing presumably ties itself to the second game in the series (Wonder Boy In Monster Land) along with the aforementioned Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair. Like I said, it's confusing stuff. Never mind the genre inconsistencies. The original Wonder Boy is a straight up arcade platformer. Wonder Boy In Monster Land was a platformer/action RPG thing. Monster Lair was... kind of a platformer/shmup hybrid. The Dragon's Trap went back to the action RPG thing, but also mixed in the ability to change into animal forms (and probably inspired the bulk of the Shantae series later). And then finally, we get to Wonder Boy In Monster World, which continues the action RPG tradition, but also pulls things back, and simplifies them a bit, making the game feel like a 16-bit sequel to Monster Land. Although the Wonder Boy games were ported, re-skinned, and sometimes completely bastardized on a myriad of different systems, I can't help but associate the games strongly with Sega. Westone was one heck of a publisher when it came to Sega hardware. And so today I'm playing this one on the Sega Genesis Classics collection on Xbox One. To my recollection, I hadn't actually played this one prior. Though, that's kind of weird because I have actually played the majority of the series over the years. And this was a popular one. My first impression was that it's certainly a much better and more fleshed out take on its spiritual predecessor (Monster Land on the Master System). And it's also a pretty big step back from it's actual predecessor (The Dragon's Trap, also on Master System). That said, it also looks fantastic. And while it does have the RPG elements of those previous games, it's also a bit more linear in execution. Heading right, you'll eventually end up in the first village where you're rather obviously tasked with grinding for money so you can buy all the gear, then heading to a cave to the right to track down an ocarina (YEARS before Zelda did it!) and then finally, using said ocarina to learn songs to open doors (again, ahem, Zelda) and making it to the first boss – a gigantic mushroom. It's all very... whatever you want to call it. Wonder Boy? Monster World? Whatever it is ineffably, I think it's pretty great. Though, in fairness, it can also be rather clunky. Combat can be tricky with puny weapons and even little things like opening doors can feel impressive. But it's also ambitious as all get out. Even with the omittance of the animal forms from The Dragon's Trap, the inclusion of the magic spells here and their ability to be mapped to left or right; or even the ocarina and its need to learn musical patterns can be tricky, but appreciated. And once the world opens up, it becomes clear that Monster World is very in the metroidvania tradition. Which is not really surprising, as probably the majority of Wonder Boy entries could fit into that sub-genre. It's certainly streamlined, though with characters literally telling you to "go to this village next," or whatever. But you'll need specific items to proceed. And you'll need to beat certain bosses to unlock more areas. But having the ability to backtrack can be handy for grinding, anyway. Overall, Monster World falls most in-line with the Action RPG sub-genre, though. It definitely has that classic game-loop of (1) go to a new village, then (2) grind around the vicinity until you can afford all the near gear for sale. That's not a good or a bad thing. You either like this or you don't. I'm fine with it, but it does slow down the pacing of this adventure a bit. And speaking of slowness, this is a slow game. And I mean this in multiple ways. First of all, our new hero (Shion) moves at a snail's pace. And enemies are laid out in dungeons in such a way to really disuade you from moving ahead to hastily. Indeed, most hallways you traverse will consist of taking just a few steps, then making some deliberate swipes at enemies before taking a few more steps and repeating the process. Which is not to say that it's a slog, but it can teeter on the tedious at times. Especially compared with other entries in the series. Also, the overall structure of the game is a bit slower than you might expect. Once you get into the thick of things, there's lots of grinding to do, and a heck of a lot of back-tracking. Again, this isn't necessarily bad, but there are times where it feels like Westone deliberately used back-tracking as a means to pad things out a bit. I have a hunch that Wonder Boy In Monster World is probably the most popular entry in the series in the US. I say this unscientifically, as I've done no actual research on sales numbers. But I mean, the Master System did not sell well in America. And the Genesis did really well. And while Monster Lair was also on Genesis, it was a weird shmup hybrid, while this was marketed as an action platformer. I have to think it did better than the games that came before it in the series. But while it looks really great in screenshots, I actually think it plays fairly worse than The Dragon's Trap on SMS. That one may actually be the high point of the series, really. And while it took decades to see a release in the States, Monster World IV (also on Genesis) actually perfected some of the ideas here and really outshined this one. Don't get me wrong, Wonder Boy In Monster World is a fine game. But as part of a bigger series, it's kind of a middling entry. I've said this before, but I really wish Sega would someday wise up and instead of continuing to pump out Genesis collections, they should dig deeper into the well and give us compilations of Master System and Game Gear games. It's actually amazing to me that in 2022 there's still now way for me to play the original Wonder Boy (Adventure Island) on my Xbox, even after it has gotten the remake treatment on PC and Switch.
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It's so strange that I never really played Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project back in the day. I mean, I remember it existing - vaguely. I remember my friend Ted had a copy of it. And I know I played it at his house because the opening beach level is kinda burned into my brain. But I can only remember playing it there - briefly. I never owned a copy. And there's really no nostalgia attached. All I can think is that because of the time it was released, it went mostly unnoticed by me.
The Manhattan Project is an interesting game. It was released on NES at a time when the 16-bit consoles were in full swing. It was also released AFTER Turtles In Time had hit arcades. Even more interesting, it was mostly developed by younger members of Konami, making it a sort of curiosity in the TMNT franchise. Thanks to the Cowabunga Collection on Xbox I've finally gotten around to playing this one. And y'know what? It's really good. Like, impressively good. Like, this is one of those late NES games that everybody overlooked but they shouldn't have because it's proof that when developers actually know the hardware inside and out they can do some seriously amazing stuff. I've talked a lot about my love for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game - specifically the NES version. Obviously there's a whole bunch of nostalgia here. But I have to be honest, The Manhattan Project is probably the better game. It's amazing to me that I'm only just finding this out all these years later. The most noticeable change from II to the III is that in this one the stages are long. They're also very diverse. There's lots of environmental threats here. There's lots of verticality. You'll see all kinds of stuff throughout your playthrough and really it keeps things fresh, even if the game does feel slightly long for a beat-em-up of its time. But the overall theme of The Manhattan Project is more. More stages; more bosses; more variety. The levels play out like a tour de force of nods to the cartoon, live action movie, and even Turtles In Time which had been released in the arcades earlier in the year. As such, the levels are a barrage of cool references and surprises to keep you on your toes. All in all, I must say that while I have really no nostalgia for The Manhattan Project, it turns out that it is definitely a bit of a hidden gem of the NES library. Or maybe it's not even hidden. Maybe everyone already knows this. But I'm not so sure. I think it's one of those really late NES releases that was overlooked in its day. So with that in mind, I'm definitely thrilled that it finally has a widespread release via the Cowabunga Collection so everyone can finally see how awesome it is - myself included. |
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