Wonder Boy

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This article is about a series of video games. For the first game in this series, see Wonder Boy (video game). For other uses of the term, see Wonder boy.

Wonder Boy is a series of video games published by SEGA and developed by Westone Bit Entertainment (formerly Escape).

The series itself consists of the "main" Wonder Boy series, and the "Monster World" sub-series. Games may be part of one, the other, or both. This has resulted in a sometimes confusing naming structure resulting in titles like "Wonder Boy V: Monster World III". In North America and Europe, the series is kept under the Wonder Boy brand, but in Japan there is one title that belongs exclusively to Monster World and is not part of the Wonder Boy series.

To further complicate matters, Westone had a unique licensing arrangement with Sega whereby Sega retained the rights to the names and characters of the games in this series, but Westone retained the rights to everything else. Westone, in turn, had a licensing arrangement with Hudson Soft, who created new characters and titles and ported these games to non-Sega platforms. The most well known of these is Adventure Island, which was more commercially successful than Wonder Boy was.

Contents

[edit] Condensed series chronology

There are a combined six official titles in the Wonder Boy and Monster World series with original release platform.

[edit] Series overview

Explaining the "Wonder Boy" series is complicated, as its history suffers regionalization, a once-common practice of adjusting elements of a game to suit the area. This usually involves small edits to in-game art or changing the names of the characters, locations, or even the game itself. It has caused confusion for a number of franchises, including the Sonic the Hedgehog, Street Fighter, and Super Mario Bros. series.

In Japan, the first "Wonder Boy" game, simply titled Wonder Boy, was created for and released on the Sega SG-1000. It was followed in 1986 by Super Wonder Boy, as much an enhanced remake as a sequel (compare Super Street Fighter II Turbo). "Super Wonder Boy" was an arcade game, and was the first "Wonder Boy" title to be released worldwide, where by and large the SG-1000 was not available. There was no need to differentiate between "Wonder Boy" and "Super Wonder Boy" outside of Japan, so the prefix was dropped. "Super Wonder Boy" became simply "Wonder Boy". This caused many players within the western hemisphere to believe that it was the first game in its series, understandably. Both of the original titles have a prehistoric setting, not the medieval lands of the subsequent releases, and the "Wonder Boy" in question is a caveman named Tom Tom.

"Super Wonder Boy" was ported to the Sega Master System, but could not be ported to competing consoles since Sega owned the "Wonder Boy" name. Instead, Adventure Island was released on the Nintendo Entertainment System]. This was legally possible, since Sega did not own the rights to the actual game code. The game is still "Super Wonder Boy" at its core, with modified graphics and different characters. Such multi-platform, modified releases were to become a common practice within the series, particularly its TurboGrafx-16 ports. In the case of "Adventure Island", the series would continue on into its own franchise, entirely independent of "Wonder Boy."

The following year, Super Wonder Boy: Monster World was released in Japanese arcades, but only its Master System port was released worldwide. In keeping with its predecessor, the 'Super' prefix was dropped, and it was released as Wonder Boy in Monster Land in the rest of the world. As the game was nothing like "Super Wonder Boy", and was the start of the "Monster World" series, it was set in a medieval world with added RPG elements. When it was released, the TurboGrafx-16 version again was not a "Wonder Boy" title, but modeled instead after the anime Bikkuriman.

In 1988, Westone released an arcade title that was to be the third in the "Wonder Boy" series, Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair , although it was not considered a part of the "Monster World" sub-series. The title received a port from Hudson on the PC-Engine CD called "Monster Lair". Later that year, Westone developed a title they intended to call "Moster World II". Unfortunately, the SMS was struggling in Japan, and the Japanese release was scrapped. In Europe and North America, the market was stronger, so plans to release the title went forward. Since it was a direct sequel to the second "Wonder Boy" game (featuring the same character), Sega decided to call it Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap. This has led to some confusion in separating it from the other Wonder Boy III. Officially, Dragon's Trap is the fourth game in the Wonder Boy series. Dragon's Trap would see an eventual release in Japan on Sega's Game Gear hand-held, as well as another Hudson port with the usual title/character modifications called Dragon's Curse for the TurboGrafx-16.

Wonder Boy V Monster World III was the final game in the "Monster World" series to be given a release outside of Japan, and the last game in the "Wonder Boy" series. Known as "Wonder Boy in Monster World", it was made especially for the home console market. Released on the Mega Drive and Master System, it was the only "Wonder Boy" game released on both systems the world over. The TurboGrafx-16 version featured a different set of characters, and was called "Dynastic Hero". Monster World IV was the series' last installment, released only on the Mega Drive and only in Japan. Exclusive to that title is a main, female character named Arsha. Instead of boasting a medieval look, it features a Middle Eastern style.

[edit] Game list

[edit] Arcade

[edit] Amiga

[edit] Atari

[edit] Amstrad CPC

[edit] Commodore 64

[edit] MSX

[edit] NES/Famicom

  • Adventure Island (Called Takahashi Meijin no Bouken Jima in Japan)--Hudson Soft ported the original Wonder Boy to the NES with new music, new (less colorful) bosses, and a new hero: Master Higgins/Takahashi Meijin, who was based on the famous videogame player figure. Hudson went on to make Adventure Island sequels, but none of them are related to the Wonder Boy/Monster World series (although Super Adventure Island II and Adventure Island 4 {Japan-only release} have gameplay similar to the Monster World series)
  • Saiyuuki World A NES License of Wonder Boy in Monster World made by Jaleco. The Graphics were mostly overhauled and the storyline was altered so that it was loosely based on The Legend of the Monkey King.

[edit] Nintendo Wii

  • Wonder Boy - The first game in the series, was released for the Virtual Console on March 31, 2008.
  • Dragon's Curse - Also known as Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap the is played through the Virtual Console feature on the Nintendo Wii. The game is exactly like on the PC Engine/TurbografX console.
  • Dynastic Hero - Also known as Wonder Boy in Monster World. This is the second Wonder Boy title available under Nintendo's Virtual Console to feature Wonder Boy. Originally available on the TurboGrafx-CD.
  • Monster Lair - Also known as Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair. This is the third Wonder Boy title available under Nintendo's Virtual Console to feature Wonder Boy. Originally available on the TurboGrafx-CD.

[edit] Sega Game Gear

[edit] Sega Master System

[edit] Sega Mega Drive/Genesis

[edit] Sega SG-1000

[edit] PC Engine/Turbografx-16

  • Bikkuriman World -- HuCard -- (An adaptation of Wonderboy in Monster Land, released only in Japan)
  • Dragon's Curse -- HuCard -- (Curiously, this game is called "Adventure Island" in Japan) -- Another version of Wonder Boy 3: Dragon's Trap/Monster World II: Dragon's Trap
  • Monster Lair -- TurboGrafx-CD (CD-ROM2) -- (Called Wonderboy III: Monster Lair in Japan)
  • The Dynastic Hero -- Super CD (Super CD-ROM2) -- (Another version of Wonder Boy in Monster World/Wonder Boy V: Monster World III)

[edit] PlayStation 2

  • Sega Ages Vol.29 : Monster World Complete Collection (Japan only)

[edit] ZX Spectrum

[edit] Mônica

[edit] Mônica's background

The first three Monster World games were published in Brazil by Tec Toy, Sega's official Brazilian distributor. The games were translated into Portuguese and the characters were replaced with characters from the Brazilian comic book, Turma da Mônica (Monica's Gang). Other cartoon characters were superimposed on the Brazilian releases of Teddy Boy, Ghost House, Astro Warrior, Psycho Fox, and Kung Fu Kid. (The latter three forming the Sapo Xule series)

[edit] Mônica games

[edit] Sources

[edit] External links

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