Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Developer(s) | Sega |
| Publisher(s) | Sega |
| Release date(s) | 1989 |
| Genre(s) | Platform |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Platform(s) | Sega Master System, PC-Engine, Sega Game Gear |
| Arcade display | Raster, standard resolution (Used: 256 x 192) horizontal orientation |
Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap (Monster World II Dragon No Wana in Japan) is a 1989 platform game by Sega and Westone. This game is a direct sequel to Wonder Boy in Monster Land and starts in the final lair of the previous game.
Contents |
[edit] Gameplay
The game begins at the end of the previous Wonder Boy game with the character all armored up. He will be able to traverse through the castle with the enemies hardly doing any damage to him. After he faces the Mecha dragon, he has been cursed and changed into Lizard man. His goal is to find the Salamander Cross so he can return to human form.
This game keeps features from the previous Monster World game, like buying equipment and using items. Unlike its predecessor it is not divided into a sequence of levels, but the character is allowed to go anywhere, as long as he has the right form or equipment. Upon defeating various dragon bosses, the character would be cursed and turned into another (were-)animal. He will go through the shapes of lizard, mouse, piranha, lion, hawk and finally his original human form. Each animal has different abilities, and switching between them is required to progress.
Hu-Man: This form has no distinct advantage.
Lizard-Man: Shoots flame with a reach longer than the ordinary sword.
Mouse-Man: Because his body is small, he can enter places other creatures cannot. He can also walk on walls and ceilings made of "mouse blocks".
Piranha-Man: Can swim freely in water.
Lion-Man: Attacks by swinging a sword in an arc. This will allow him to reach blocks that are too high or low for the other forms. (Note: was a Tiger-Man in the PC-Engine/Turbografx-16 version)
Hawk-Man: Has the capability to fly. However, he cannot swim and takes damage if he touches water.
[edit] Conversions
The game has been ported to the Sega Master System, PC-Engine/TurboGrafx-16 and Sega Game Gear. In Japan, Master System and Game Gear versions were called Monster World II (although the game was actually never released in Japan for the Master System, but when played the cartridge in a Japanese region, it displays the Monster World II title). The Game Gear port in Europe names the title simply as Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap (without the numeral, due to the European release of Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair for Mega Drive). Tec Toy, Sega's distributor in Brazil, altered the Master System game and released it as Turma da Mônica em o Resgate. Tec Toy replaced the boy with a young girl named Mônica, a character from Monica's Gang, known as Turma da Mônica in the original Portuguese version. A graphically enhanced version was released as Dragon's Curse on the PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 with no reference to the Wonder Boy franchise.
[edit] Secret Human Code
While only meant to be playable in Mecha Dragon's castle at the start of the game, it is possible to play in Human form outside of the castle. In the original US instruction manual, under the password section there is a screenshot of the password interface with a code entered into it. Entering this code in the game starts the player in town in Human form. The player is then free to roam a large portion of the adventure area, though he cannot progress past certain sections of the animal specific stages as many of these require abilities specific to the animal forms. He can, however, fight each of the animal-stage bosses via secret invisible doors scattered throughout the main area which provide as shortcuts right to the boss fights. Defeating a boss in human form will, however, result in the unavoidable transformation into dragon form. If the player transforms into another form (by using a transformation platform) he cannot switch back into Human form. While in Human form any magic used does not get depleted. This ability makes the Human form nearly invincible as the player can repeatedly cast the lightning spell and damage all enemies on screen.
[edit] Name inconsistencies
- There has been inconsistencies in the spelling of Meka or Mecha Dragon.
- Except for the Japanese version, while the game is the third in the Master System, this game is actually the fourth in the Wonder Boy series, since the arcade game Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair appeared first.
