After years of waiting, Wonder Boy fans are getting two new titles to sink their teeth into. Brand-new outing Monster Boy is being developed by The Game Atelier, while HD reboot Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap is the work of Lizardcube. Both titles have input from Ryuichi Nishizawa, the creator of the character, and are seen as continuations of the series by fans.
We've now got a third Wonder Boy title in the mix, this time a remake of the 1986 arcade original. It's being developed by Korean company CFK and features 40 additional game stages packed with new monsters and bosses.
Wonder Boy Returns (for that is its name) is coming to Steam in October and while no plans appear to exist for console ports, we'd like to think that if the demand from fans is there, CFK will bring it over.
After all, The Dragon's Trap appears to be headed to the Wii U and Monster Boy is coming to a Nintendo format of some description. Why not make it three for three?
[source 4gamer.net]
Comments 44
Will probably grab at least one of these, loved Wonder Boy in Monster World
Wonderful
Technically, all of WayForward's Shantae games are Wonder Boy clones (of the Monster World variety), so it's a 'Wonder Boy' bonanza 2016-17!
Wonder Boy, what is the secret of your power?
How wonder-ful!
Must have
Previously announced wonderboy-like games look very good, but this... not really. Graphics are awful, it looks like smartphone thing.
@Elanczewski Exactly what I was going to say.
The graphics are almost great, but at the same time they're horrible, and look made-for-mobile.
@ECMIM Big different between a "clone" and "inspired by"
Graphics are great! And scream Nintendo console in my mind. Coming to this article I was like "Please be for 3DS, please be for 3DS" But I guess steam is also fine.
@Billsama please, don't be ridiculous about hair-splitting--no one is saying Shantae or WayForward are thieves or that their games suck.
Ah, if only the original Adventure Island trilogy would get the same treatment.
@gcunit Yeah... it's odd. I saw the stills (especially the one with the octopus) and thought it looked fantastic, but in motion it looks... oddly cheap. There's something unsettlingly 'bowser game' about the footage.
@Maxz ?
@ECMIM It's always funny how one can not mention someone on this site without risking to get an insult. Internet I guess, people feel brave behind a screen.
I'm not assuming you said WayForward are thieves or that their games are bad. I'm just clarifying the term because people usually use the word "clone" lightly.
@Billsama the irony here is you think I was insulted or was insulting. I made a simple statement: splitting hairs over "clone" versus "inspired by" is ridiculous. Full stop. And it's something that happens all the time for whatever reason--it'd be great if it would stop, since no one, 'in the good old days' made such an assumption or had such a view. Anything beyond that is you making assumptions.
P.S. I'm not insulting you or feeling insulted now, either, so just let it lie.
It looks pretty
@ECMIM I'm not talking about that. It seems to me that you are a bit predisposed, which is understandable since this comment section is normally fill with trolls. I usually feel insulted when someone call me ridiculous, that is what I'm talking about. But if that wasn't your intention then is fine. If you find the "clone" vs "inspired by" war ridiculous that is your opinion. I as a developer find it very important. That's why I felt the need to clarify the term. No big deal, try to relax a bit.
@Billsama lol, I am relaxed. I'm not "insulted", etc.--the fact you feel compelled to reply time and time again says you are and can't simply walk away! Let it go! You can even have the last word as proof that I don't care! Have a grand day (seriously)!
REALLY reminds me of Adventure Island. I might get it on steam...
@Fuz You're right about that. I'm one of those that think about the RPG elements whenever I see the name Wonder Boy. This remake made me think more of Adventure Island. Which is also fine. Both are great games. Knowing the history behind then only help to raise the hype for me.
I love this clean, colorful graphics!! I think I'll be getting all, if they come to Steam.
@MrPuzzlez @Billsama Wonder Boy was the original game, but an odd licensing arrangement meant that while Wonder Boy couldn't be ported to non-Sega consoles as Sega owned the characters and name, the developer owned everything else about the game and worked a deal with Hudson to bring the game to the other consoles with different names and characters. Thus, Adventure Island was born. And of course since the developer owned the gameplay which they had licensed to Hudson, future Wonder Boy games had to do something different. Thus, the RPG-like Monster World/Dragon's Trap/etc games.
@Qun_Mang Yeap, a pretty well known story and the reason why we will have three very different (and hopefully good) Wonder Boy inspired games in the coming months.
Seems like they really changed up the story this time. I'm actually kinda curious about it.
@Elanczewski - To be fair, Wonder Boy's gameplay isn't much different from your average infinite runner. If there was ever an old-school game that could fit in with the modern smartphone crowd, this'd be it. It fits with the old sprite art, too. If nothing else, it's appropriate.
Hmm, never played wonder boy before. I'll keep an eye out for reviews.
@Qun_Mang Thanks for the summary. I am glad that something like that happened because the first time I've played Adventure Island was on the original Game Boy and had the BEST time with it! Though, in retrospect, it could REALLY use a password system!
@Billsama -
You're arguing semantics while ignoring the context. Stop. While people often use the word "clone" in a negative context, it is not a perjorative by nature. If he's following up the use of that word with terms like "bonanza", while quoting a post that expressed enthusiasm for the coming onslaught of Wonder Boy-inspired games, how could you interpret his comment as derisive?<- 'Pot-meet-kettle'
Okay, I guess I misread a few things. So, starting over, I see you fully understood the difference, you just felt the need to correct him anyways. In that case, the rest of my comment still stands:
And for the record, the difference between a "derivative clone" and an "inspired homage" is not the intent, but how the audience interprets it. If you really are a developer, then I highly recommend keeping this in mind.
Never played them. They any good?
I played the nes version of this where you play as a fat guy with a hat, hardly anything special in my opinion and honestly I don't particularly like how this remake looks.
Slightly looking forward to Dragon's Curse though.
@gcunit Sorry, let me try again. Ehem, there's something unsettlingly BROWSER game about it. As in, the internet use facilitating thingamijiggy.
Though it'd be good to get a crazy destructive Bowser game. It could be the the mecha suit sections in Planet Robotbot, but all the time. Smash, bash, RAWR!
This one looks the least interesting of the 3!
Watching that trailer, mm-MM, that taste of cutsey domestic violence~
Any time I see Wonder/Monster, I'm reminded I need to finish Monster World IV, and I wonder when we'll get more Asha.
Other 2 look awesome. This one looks like a 10 year old flash game.
@jbopatrick Too harsh!! It looks like a Princess Peach clone, graphics-wise. Still, if they priced accordingly (5 bucks, top, unless it has a lot of content), I'm game (pun intended).
@CanisWolfred "And for the record, the difference between a "derivative clone" and an "inspired homage" is not the intent, but how the audience interprets it. If you really are a developer, then I highly recommend keeping this in mind."
I respect that as your opinion, but I wouldn't be so absolutist. While the audience interpretation is important, it is up to the developer to correctly convey its intention.
I think I haven't been able to explain my whole point here. But what I'm trying to say is that we can't take something like Braid and Super Jump World and say that both are Super Mario clones. There's a different in those two games. Maybe is just semantics, but for me is important to make the different clear.
@Yorumi
Thanks Yorumi. Perhaps I'll try it.
I'm mixed on the aesthetics, but I will say it feels very much like the original. The lack of animation frames the types of movements the size of the characters are all very similar. So much so that I'm wondering if it plays identically. The artwork is just super sharp and thickly outlined. It does seem like it's trying to be visible on a small screen, but I'm just suggesting that it's very true to the original game in its own way.
yeeah, it does look nice in stills, but disappointing in motion. It looks like a flash game.. :/
I hope the other two have a bit more effort and originality.
I'm getting all 3 for Wii U or NX.
Even though this looks like the worst of the bunch I still like it.
Both this game and Monster Boy looks like flash games to me. The only one that looks really good is Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap.
Looks like Adventure Island. And I loved Adventure Island.
GIVE US ALL 3!!!!!!
Mmmm yea... the sprites are fine, but, as much as they may have the justification of reflecting the original gameplay, the choppy animation just doesn't cut it. Also, the lack of parallax scrolling combined with the zoomed-in view makes backgrounds look terrible. I'd say the original game actually looks better than this. And if gameplay is the same, as it does seem to be, I see no reason to play this over the original, at all.
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...