Wonder Boy IV in Monster World (Sega Mega Drive/Genesis) - Part 1

Wonder Boy IV in Monster World continues the adventure path laid out by its predecessor on 8-bit. It also received a Master System port which I considered to use for the playthrough, but it is way inferior (not just technically, but also content- and gameplay-wise) so I picked the 16-bit version. At some point I'll have a detailled look at the Master System version, but not anytime soon I guess.

Again, monsters are causing trouble and Shion, our legendary hero, equips his sword and goes on monster hunting. Wonder Boy IV has gorgous graphics with all the generic level types you can imagine. Water stages, deserts, slippery ice levels and even futuristic alien environments. Music and sound are well done and the game is cute and funny in general.

It is also pretty long which is why you have a battery save on the Mega Drive/Genesis and an extremely long password on the Master System. I find the learning curve and increasing difficulty well balanced and the game is not quite easy at all. You can't skip upgrading your gear which is why I had to farm money at some points, but I didn't want to cut that out and there's only one five-or-so minutes long grinding where I made a link to skip this part.

Compared to Wonder Boy III this game is superior in most aspects except that in the predecessor you could transform into other characters with different abilities which added interesting gameplay elements you won't find here. Again, there is much to explore and discover. Yep, some of these doors I didn't find myself and looked up, but with enough patience you would find them all yourself.

This series is over three hours long - phew. I only did two full playthroughs before recording and this is the only recording I made since it turned out to be so successful the first try with the last bosses and the jumping puzzle. Therefore, it's not an optimal playthrough with super efficiency, but even if I estimate 30 minutes wasted by not doing things perfectly it's still really long.

Anyway, this concludes my Wonder Boy anthology with playthroughs of all Wonder Boy games. There is Monster World IV listed on hardcoregaming101, but it was only released in Japan with a fan made translation and Wonder Boy is not part of it. So only this and the 8-bit version of Wonder Boy IV is left to tackle, but I put those on the backburner if I'd ever do those... Next will be some action games. Of course, feel free to request a playthrough of a game and I'll look if I can fit it in.

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• Wonder
• Boy
• IV
• in
• Monster
• World
• Sega
• Mega
• Drive
• Genesis
• Master
• System
• arcade
• adventure
• playthrough
• walkthrough

[JBOPatrick]

This is not part IV. It is Wonder Boy V: Monster World III. The fourth game in the series is Dragon Trap: Wonder Boy III. There is also a game titled Monster World IV, but it stars a female. The one in your video is neither titled Wonder boy IV, nor is it 4th in the series.

[temujin9000]

@JBOPatrick It's true that it's called Wonder Boy V: Monster World III, but only in Japan. And in the respective videos I did mention that there are two Wonder Boy IIIs and the shooter one is complete crap. I also mentioned in the description of this video that there is a Monster World IV. The Wonder Boy is quite a mess with the sequels, but since the real third installment sucks so bad, this is the 4th for me. I'm not a historian anyway so meh...

[jenniferhowl2008]

i soooo remember this game :) loved it but never got the chance to finish it coz i was still around 5 years old that time :D

[temujin9000]

@jenniferhowl2008 haha, yes, it's pretty hard considering the cute graphics.

[phuggardVideos]

Wow! this brings back memories! I remember playing this for hours on end when I was a kid!

[curruptsector]

@temujin9000 i was just being an idiot, great game, thanks for the upload.

[temujin9000]

@curruptsector for yourself? great idea. btw, you press down to open doors in this game and if you aren't in the middle of a door, you duck. so what's the problem?

[cludo88]

i could never get passed the giant toadstool

[MrSahil1585]

My first RPG ever played..........now its SKYRIM!

[Bemani012]

I just love it! omg that is so long ago that i've played this game :) one of the best games ever!

[nikosgrsk8]

My father got that game...and I like it muuuuch more than today's crap ...

[Harkz0r]

Also, you know how when you take coins after you slay the monsters, the coin counter goes up in increments? I've maintained for many years that helped in the development of my mental arithmetic!

[Harkz0r]

Oh my God, this game is the one! I had so many fond memories of playing this game as a child. From 5 or 6 through 10 years old perhaps? Poseidon, the pygmy bit, the sphinx, and that bit at the end where you're like beamed up into the stars or something? Ah yes, it's still pretty clear. I guess this was the first RPG-ish game I played, predating FFVII considerably, and it was awesome.