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Sega's Wonder Boy series - produced with the now defunct Westone - is one of those classic 8 and 16-bit franchises which tragically never made the transition to 3D, and as a result has faded into memory in recent times.

However, things are looking up for fans. While we're not exactly getting a new Wonder Boy game - that brand belongs to Sega - it looks like we could be gifted with the next best thing. FDG Entertainment has just announced that it is working alongside The Game Atelier to create Monster Boy And The Wizard Of Booze, a spiritual sequel to the classic series produced with the input of Ryuichi Nishizawa, the brains behind Wonder Boy.

Monster Boy isn't an entirely new project - The Game Atelier is taking the cancelled (and Wonder Boy-inspired) Flying Hamster 2 and modifying it to suit the new lead character - but there's plenty to be excited about. As well as having Nishizawa on board, legendary composer Michiru Yamane (Castlevania: Symphony of the Night) will be contributing tracks to the game. Those who backed Flying Hamster 2 will get a free copy of Monster Boy when it is eventually released.

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The game is confirmed for the PlayStation 4, PC and "more" formats. We contacted FDG's Thomas Kern for clarification, and he confirmed that the team would love to bring Monster Boy to Nintendo fans, but it's still very early days:

It's a pretty exciting day as we didn't expect such an overwhelming positive response from the Internet. After all, there hasn't been any news about the series for years.

We love the Wii U but for the moment I can't confirm anything. It's definitely considered as we believe Nintendo fans would appreciate the game.

To celebrate the news, FDG and The Game Atelier have commissioned YouTube star Banjo Guy Ollie to produce this video, which contains screenshots of the game:

[source monsterboy.com, via kickstarter.com]