Sega's Wonder Boy series is one of its strongest 8 and 16-bit franchises, but it has been dormant for many years - a situation no doubt related to the fact that original developer Westone sadly no longer exists.
While a "spiritual successor" is in development in the form of Monster Boy - complete with input from Wonder Boy creator Ryuichi Nishizawa - it seems there's still room for some old-school action too.
Mobile firm DotEmu is teasing a possible remake of the Master System classic Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap, which was also ported to the Game Gear and PC Engine / TG16.
A site has gone live with a counter which would suggest that we're going to hear some solid news sooner rather than later. Based on a tweet by the firm - which has recently rebooted Pang for mobile devices - it would appear that French studio Lizardcube is involved with development.
While DotEmu is focused on mobile, it has produced titles for console formats in the past so there's an outside chance we could see this reboot come to the 3DS or Wii U. Keep those fingers crossed.
[source pocketgamer.co.uk, via thedragonstrap.com]
Comments 42
I can dig it. The Wonder Boy game looked kind of fun. I would probably pick it up.
That is indeed some lovely news.
Wonderboy in Monsterland on Master System was my fave. Never finished it back in the day coz couldn't get passed the maze.... Didn't realise you could by a bell to chime you to the Mecha Dragon... Which is also rock hard. Finished it last week on my N3DS. Had to use save state for the last boss. Way too hard. Would like to take on Dragons Trap again (without using the famous WE5TONE cheatcode)!!
Please make it good.....please make it good!!!!
Hot diggity I dig the prospect! I'm a HUGE fan of the original!
Wonder Boy is... a lion? Wtf?
Oh, (wonder) boy. Fingers crossed indeed.
Now this is brilliant news!
Wonder boy! What is the secret of your power?
Yay! I loved Wonder Boy III: Dragon's Trap! Actually, I love most of the Wonder Boy games, but this is the one I played the most. Considering they'll probably never come to the Wii U or 3DS (unless Sega's M2 gets involved, which is what I was hoping this news was about), I'd be fine with a modern take from a newer company.
Wait, who did you say was involved?
Pang? A rebranding of* DotEMU, the guys who mostly made mobile ports? Whose console and PC games were barely functional, since they couldn't program their way out of a paper bag?...well, at least they're not the developers. I don't know who this French developer is though...but, I swear to God, I have seen that Smoking Pig somewhere before...
That's really cool
dotEmu ? No thanks....
They are the gaming equivalent to Uwe Boll movies -.-
Correction, Uwe Boll movies actually work...
I like the art style, but not the logo... Hope it's good.
@ThanosReXXX I think this is the one where he gets turned into various forms, like Lion Man, Dragon Man, and....Hu Man (not even kidding). I played this on the Wii VC, and although I prefer Monster World IV, it's definitely a good game!
@World Aha, thanks for the info. Although I was being slightly sarcastic (hence the smiley) I still appreciate it.
@fluggy Hey wait, how did you play Monster Land on the 3DS? Was there a release I missed?
@CanisWolfred
Yeah.... From the good people at libretro!!!
@fluggy Bookmarked Thanks
@ThanosReXXX Aw, I didn't see the smiley! Sorry if I told you stuff you know!
(I think it's just so rare that I've played a game that not every other person on the site has that I guess I got a bit overexcited. )
This series along with James Pond and Earthworm Jim were on my revival list but if mobile developers are involved, no thanks.
@CanisWolfred The smoking pig is from Wonder Boy
@World No worries, and I didn't know, which is why the info was appreciated, even though I wasn't entirely serious in my initial comment...
@fluggy I remember that cheat code so fondly, reminds me of being a seven year old all over again
@Damo ...Damnit, why did I think it was from anything else! XP
If done right, this could be awesome. But, my instinct tells me they will likely get the look all wrong*, and also not fix the slight sluggishness/clunkiness in character controls/movement that was an issue with the original at times.
*It needs to retain the cartoony look of the original 2D games but just look modern and better, as though it were drawn by a proper illustrator in the style he might have done some poster art back then, but now like that inside the actual game. Something like this, in-game:
Although even that isn't quite right. It needs to look like classic illustration/cartoon character type illustration from the era.
Ya know, like this kind of quality seen in the Mario illustration, in-game:
This is about the closest official image I could find that shows the general look I'm after (but a bit less of the "water colour" look to the colours here. It needs to be strong, bold, solid colours and strong shading, shadows, and highlights):
But, if this is just for mobile devices anyway, I mostly won't care.
If the actual game's style looks like the promotional art, consider me down for it!
For a while I've felt that Wonder Boy would do quite well if SEGA were to bring it back given the recent spike in popularity of Metroidvania-style games on things like the eShop and Steam. The promotional picture has me excited too, since that art style's great. Touch it up a little bit and Wonder Boy 3 will hold up quite well I think.
@DTFaux Yeah...I...Uh...
I'm sorry, I'm too distracted by your avatar. I like it. What is it. Where did it come from. Who made it.
https://d.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1396499146ra/9143835.gif
Please.
Yes!! Bring it on!!! Lord knows Sega not making any effort!
This is one of my favorite Sega franchises, so I'd be super down for a remake - on consoles, that is. I'm not about to even try playing an intricate adventure platformer on a mobile phone.
One of my all time favourite games and probably my absolute favourite on the Master System in particular. Let's hope it comes to a Nintendo system, i'll get it day 1.
I'd love to have this on Wii U.
Holy! Ahh! This is so exciting I freaken love this game and have been singing its praises for years. Please come to either vita or 3DS - I dream of having this portable.
Maaan I used to love wonder boy in my youth days
Really digging the promotional art there. Looks like this could be good!
Whoa mama, that art looks so good. I've actually been really interested in playing this game before, so this is some pretty awesome news. If it doesn't end up coming to Wii U or 3DS, which I don't expect honestly, then I hope it at least comes to PC, which seems to be in the realm of possibility.
Dragons trap was the best.
And now...Wonder Boy In Monster Land!!! Arcade version!!!
Just a heads-up to the editor, it appears that New Adventure Island was linked in the article as the Turbografx 16 port instead of Dragon's Curse.
(To be fair, the fact that Dragon's Curse was named "Adventure Island" in Japan makes that totally understandable, further making telling what Adventure Island game is which Wonder Boy game and vice versa a complete mess!)
@CanisWolfred Glad you like it!
To answer your questions, the character is Bunny Bass, she's from a personal project of mine (currently in its conceptual phase), and I animated this avatar.
If you'd like, I can link you to my pages that contain art of her and many other characters I've drawn. Just PM me (or I, you).
Well, it looks like the visuals feel short of what I was after, as I expected:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyVtaLNsinc
It's not terrible looking but I'm largely disappointed. It suffers from a bit of that "Flash" look, and I know they could have done the cartoony look of the original more justice than this. The animation, however, is pretty nice.
@DTFaux Wait, do we have PMs now?
EDIT: Nope. But I found the source, anyways. Thanks.
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