Topic: Wonder Boy.

So you reckon the Wonder Boy games get overlooked in the rush to heap praise on the Mario, Zelda, and Metroids of the world? I don't think the games have ever reached the heights of Mario or Zelda, but they are a pretty solid series of games.

Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap is a genuinely great game, my favourite non Mario 8bit game, that is still fun to play today.

Wonder Boy In Monsterland (Wonder Boy II, effectively), while not as good as it's direct sequel, is still a fine little adventure game, just the right side of difficult. Always a blast to play.

And the original is iconic, with the skateboard, the fruit, and all the series hallmarks.

Series takes a dip, perhaps, after that, with a few MegaDrive - Genesis games usually with Monster in the title, that aren't perhaps as great, but the series has been around for ever, and produced it's fair share of games that are still worth a play through on the Virtual Console to this day.

So, do you, or did you, play Wonder Boy? Underrated or rightly ignored in favour of better game series?

Random Wonder Boy fact - there is no character called Wonder Boy, in the early games the character you play as is called Tom-Tom.

GO TEAM VENTURE!
_{yay, CB is back}

That's disturbing CB

Is that racist Superman?

Seconded. Welcome back dinner Chicken.

Also, whenever I hear Wonder Boy, I think of the Tenacious D song.

_{Wooooooooooooooonder boooooooooooooooy, won't you save me from this mucky muck?}

I have no idea how you got racism from that, but the rainbow dude is Captain Sunshine, and Hank there is his new sidekick Wonder Boy. o_O

Yay, a Venture Brothers reference!
And I also wonder how Trin got racist Superman from that.

As for Wonderboy games, they probably were somewhat overlooked which you can blame on the Master System.

Hooray, Welcome Back Chicken Brutus!!!

Back on topic, I recently downloaded Wonderboy in Monster World and I think that it is a fantastic game. I will probably download Dragon's Curse when I finish Monster World.

Yes the Wonder Boy series is great. I just finished Wonder Boy In Monster World recently and its one of the best purchases Ive made on the VC.
I found out there was a sequel to it but never got a western release. And from the videos Ive seen on Youtube it looks awesome. Would be great if it was translated!

I disagree. Monster Land is absolutely brilliant, with concise stages and a nice compact adventure with a good challenge level and lots of replay value. My favorite game in the series. Dragon's Trap, on the other hand, went way overboard, having looooong plodding stages that far outlasted their welcome and an annoying need to grind money to afford overly expensive items. Meh. It's my least favorite in the series, and I never understood the love it got.

Great series. My order of favourites

WB3 Dragons trap / Dragons Curse
Monster World / Dynastic Hero
Wonderboy in monsterland
Monster Lair / Wonderboy 3 monster lair
Wonderboy / Adventure island

Id love a wiiware remake

Well, each to his own, Monster Land is certainly a great game.

It 'got all the love' though, because it is a stone cold classic.

IGN said of Dragon's Trap 'The blend of RPG-like depth, clever puzzles, and a healthy of old-fashioned plattforming action made Dragon's Trap not only the crowning achievement of the series, but perhaps one the best games of the 8-bit era. The colorful graphics were brimming with personality, and a perfect showcase for the aging Master System.'

That's pretty much my thoughts as well. It's a fine series, but Dragon's Trap is the one game that I will always come back to.

Can't spell IGNorant without IGN

(seriously, clever puzzles? RPG-like depth? ...where?)

Well I wont defend IGN, they iritate me as much as anyone, but I do agree with that statement.

The RPG stuff is equipping the different armour, weapons, etc, leveling up via changing forms, collecting charm points, blah, blah.

Puzzles... not so much. There are things you could consider to be puzzles, but they aren't clever. Ignore that bit.

Dragon's Trap sounds great, plays great, looks great, has a lot of depth, does have RPG-like elements, and doesn't have clever puzzles.

That's a mighty fine game in my book, Anty.

And what about this from the Nintendo Life review - 'Wonder Boy III was one of the ‘must-have’ games for the Master System back in its day, and as such it is worthy of your consideration on the Virtual Console.'

I think you should give it another chance, Anty.

I have The Dynastic Hero.

I'd have to say a bit of both out of the two options. The series is underappreciated, but there are a ton of greater more attention worthy series.

Also in an argument quotes from reviews are of little value. Also Anty?

Dragon's Trap was pretty freakin' great, my favorite 8-bit platformer, actually. I can't wait to play the other Wonderboys when I'm done with it!

I think you are probably right.

Also in an argument quotes from reviews are of little value.

There is no argument going on.

Also Anty?

Yup.

Wonder Boy in Monster World is one of my favorite platformers, and probably my favorite action RPG (granted, I haven't played many action RPGs. ).