Wonder Boy

Condensed series chronology

There are a combined six official titles in the Wonder Boy and Monster World series:

Series overview

The first game of the series was initially an 1986 arcade game simply titled Wonder Boy developed by Escape (later known as Westone) and published by Sega. It was a side-scrolling action game where the player controls a young boy seeking to rescue his kidnapped girlfriend, making use of items such as throwing axes and riding skateboards in order to proceed through eight worlds, each consisting of four stages and a boss. During the same year the arcade version was released, Sega developed a version of Wonder Boy for the SG-1000, available exclusively in Japan and New Zealand, that was a great departure from the arcade version due to hardware differences. The following year, Sega released a second home version titled Super Wonder Boy, this time for the Sega Mark III. In contrast to the SG-1000 predecessor, the Mark III was a more faithful conversion of the arcade original, but with added content such as a new set of eight additional stages and all-new bonus stages. Since the SG-1000 was unavailable outside Japan and New Zealand, Super Wonder Boy was the first console game in the series released in North America, Europe and Brazil. The overseas releases for the Master System had the title changed to simply Wonder Boy (omitting the "Super" prefix).

In 1987, Wonder Boy: Monster Land was released for the arcades exclusively in Japan. The sequel was a complete departure from the original, eschewing the original game's tropical setting with a medieval world and changing the game's format from a traditional platform game to an action RPG with elements such as a health gauge, collecting currency to purchase new weapons and equipment, magic spells and supporting character who provide the player with information. This sequel was ported to the Sega Mark III the following year under the title of Super Wonder Boy: Monster World, making it the first game in the series to be released under the "Monster World" banner. This home version was released in North America and Europe as Wonder Boy in Monster Land. Home computer versions were also made by Activision which bore the title of Super Wonder Boy in Monster Land on their cover art.

Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair, released in 1988, was the final arcade release in the series. This installment also featured a different format. This time the stages were composed of two segments each, in which the first segments featured auto-scrolling platforming action with rules and mechanics similar to the original Wonder Boy, while the second segments involved the player fighting his way to the boss' lair while riding a dragon. It bears the distinction of being the only Wonder Boy game with a 2-player co-op mode. Home versions were released for the TurboGrafx-16 in 1989 (making it the only Wonder Boy game that was ported unaltered to the platform) and the Mega Drive in 1990.

Around the same time Monster Lair was released, Westone began developing a sequel to Monster World specifically for the Sega Mark III titled Monster World II: Dragon no Wana ("Dragon's Trap"). However, when the game finished development in 1989, Sega already discontinued sales and support for the Mark III in Japan, but still sold the Master System overseas. As a result, an English-language version was still released for the Master System under the name of Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap (titled as such since it was the third Wonder Boy game for the Master System, even though its officially recognized as the fourth Wonder Boy game in Japan). The game eventually saw a Japanese release for the Game Gear in 1992.

Wonder Boy V: Monster World III was the final game in the Monster World series to be given an international release outside Japan, and the last game in the Wonder Boy series. Known as Wonder Boy in Monster World in the west, it was made the first game specifically for the Mega Drive and its American counterpart, the Genesis. A version was also released for the Master System exclusively in Europe, making it the only Wonder Boy game to be released on both platforms.

Monster World IV was the series' last installment, released only on the Mega Drive exclusively in Japan. Exclusive to that title is a main, female character named Asha. Instead of boasting a medieval look, it features a Middle Eastern style. This is the only game part of the Monster World series while not being part of the Wonder Boy series.

Part of both series

Exclusive to the Wonder Boy series

Exclusive to the Monster World series

Modified ports

Westone, the developer of the series, owns the copyrights to each game in the series, while Sega owns the Wonder Boy trademark. Because Westone was an independent company from Sega, this created a unique situation which allowed other game companies, namely Hudson Soft and Jaleco, to publish ports of the games to non-Sega platforms under license from Westone, provided that they changed the titles and characters to remove all references to "Wonder Boy" or "Monster World".

Adventure Island

Adventure Island was the first of these modified ports, which was originally released in Japan as Takahashi-Meijin no Bōken Jima. The game was made for the Nintendo Entertainment System by Hudson Soft, and was a modified version of the first Wonder Boy. In Adventure Island the main character is replaced with a caricature of real-life Japanese video game expert named Takahashi Meijin. Adventure Island was followed by a series of sequels that were independently produced by Hudson Soft with no involvement from Westone.

Mônica

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)

There were three games in the series:

Other versions

Following the launch of the PC Engine (aka. TurboGrafx-16 in the US), Hudson Soft released ports of all the subsequent Wonder Boy games for the platform with the exception of Monster World IV.

The ones that were modified included:

The PC Engine port of Monster Lair was the only PCE version of a Wonder Boy game that was left unchanged from its source game (although, the US version omitted the "Wonder Boy III" portion of the title).

A port of Wonder Boy: Monster Land titled Saiyūki World was also released for the Family Computer. Developed by NMK for Jaleco, it was released in Japan in 1988. Saiyūki World was followed by a sequel unrelated to the Wonder Boy series titled Saiyūki World 2 in 1990, which was released in North America as Whomp 'Em.

Remakes

A remake of Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap, titled Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap, is being developed by Lizardcube and published by DotEmu for release on PC, Nintendo Switch, and other consoles in 2017. The game is being developed in cooperation with series creator Ryuichi Nishizawa and features updated 2D graphics. A remake of the original Wonder Boy game, titled Wonder Boy Returns, was developed by Korean developer CFK and released for Steam on October 12, 2016.

Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom

In January 2015, FDG Entertainment and Game Atelier announced the development of an official sequel titled Monster Boy and the Wizard of Booze. The development team includes Ryuichi Nishizawa, one of Wonder Boy's original developers, and a co-founder of Westone Bit. The soundtrack was composed by Yuzo Koshiro, Motoi Sakuraba, Michiru Yamane, Keiki Kobayashi, Takeshi Yanagawa, and Haruka Shimotsuki. The developers chose a new name, as Sega owns the rights to name Wonder Boy. The game originally began development as an unrelated game Flying Hamster II. In July 2015, the name of the game was changed to Cursed Kingdom after criticism of the original subtitle, Wizard of Booze.

Soundtrack

A soundtrack album, the Monster World Complete Collection Original Sound Track was released n 2007. Composed by Shinichi Sakamoto and Jin Watanabe the 2-CD album was published by Wave Master (the audio division of Sega).

Comic books

Wonder Boy was adapted into two stories that ran in Fleetway's Sonic the Comic, which were loosely based on Wonder Boy in Monster World. "Wonder Boy in Demon World" ran between issues 2-9 and saw Shion, the protagonist who has a dislike of being referred to as Wonder Boy, fighting to save some people while staving off a demon curse. "Wonder Boy in Ghost Land" ran between issues 22-27, and saw Shion travel to a world of ghostly dinosaurs.

Manga

After the Sonic the Comic, An Manga based on videogames titled High-Score Girl (ハイスコアガール, Haisukoagāru), Purapril from Wonder Boy in Monster Land makes cameo in the arcade, saying Hauro does not playing to save her.