Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap

Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap
Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap
Wonder Boy III - The Dragon's Trap boxart.jpg
North American boxart, Master System version
Developer(s) Westone
Publisher(s) Sega
Platform(s) Sega Master System, Sega Game Gear, TurboGrafx-16, Virtual Console
Release date(s)
Genre(s) Platform
Mode(s) Single player
Rating(s)
Media/distribution Cartridge

Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap is a platforming and action-adventure video game developed by Westone. It was published by Sega and released for the Sega Master System in 1989 and for the Game Gear in 1992 under the title Monster World II: Dragon no Wana. It was ported by Hudson Soft in 1991 and was released for the PC Engine in Japan under the title Adventure Island and for the TurboGrafx-16 in North America under the title Dragon's Curse. In 1993, the game was released in Brazil by Tec Toy for the Master System under the title Turma da Mônica em o Resgate, with the game retooled to include characters from Brazilian comic book series Monica's Gang (Turma da Mônica). The PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 version was released for the Wii's Virtual Console service in 2007, while the Master System version was released in 2009. It is the third game in the Wonder Boy series and immediately follows the events that took place in its predecessor Wonder Boy in Monster Land.

In Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap, the player controls Wonder Boy who has been cursed after defeating the Mecha Dragon. The object is to remove Wonder Boy's curse by finding the Salamander Cross, which has been hidden by the Vampire Dragon in Monster Land. The player explores Monster Land in a nonlinear fashion while going through differently-themed levels such as underwater, desert, jungle, cave, and sky. Players find items and clues needed to access different parts of Monster Land, and they can transform into other forms and gain different abilities after defeating dragons.

Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap received extensive coverage worldwide in gaming magazines from 1989 through 1991. It was praised for its colorful and cartoon-like graphics, rich sound and diverse sound effects, and varied and addicting gameplay. Criticisms include sprite flickering in the Master System version as well as slippery controls. The game has been compared to the Castlevania and Metroid series, while one review called it "a straightforward and simple 'Metroidvania' adventure".[1] It won Electronic Gaming Monthly's "Best Game of the Year" award for the Master System in 1989. Reviews from Mean Machines have described Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap as one best games on the Master System, while IGN said it is one of the best 8-bit titles of all time.

Contents

Gameplay

Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap is a side-scrolling platform game and action role-playing game. In the game, the player controls Wonder Boy as he looks for the Salamander Cross that is hidden by the Vampire Dragon in Monster Land after being cursed the Mecha Dragon's defeat.[2] (Some sources refer to this creature as the "MEKA dragon".[3][4]) The player uses the directional pad to move Wonder Boy left or right, crouch down (only possible with Hu-Man or Lizard-Man), or to enter doors. Players use the buttons on the controller to attack enemies and to jump. Wonder Boy can attack with his main weapon or with secondary weapons by holding down on the directional pad and pressing the attack button. Pressing the pause button brings up the Status Screen and pauses the game if Wonder Boy is fighting a dragon.[5]

After completing the first level in the game – which is the same as the final level in Wonder Boy in Monster Land – the player begins from a town in Monster Land as Lizard-Man, and the gameplay becomes nonlinear in the same style as Metroid.[6] From there, the player explores and finds items and clues needed for Wonder Boy to access different parts of Monster Land. Defeated enemies drop gold or additional secondary weapons which are collected by touching them.[7] Players can also find gold and items by opening treasure chests. With gold, players can buy additional items in shops and restore their life meter in hospitals. Shops, normally designated as doors with windows on them, are located in town or in caves, and they allow players to buy better equipment. Items in the shop with question marks displayed cannot be bought due to not having enough "charm"; players can increase charm by collecting collect Charm Stones or by equipping certain items.[8][9] The Status Screen shows how much attack and defense power, and charm Wonder Boy has in the form of "points"; the higher the points, the more of that attribute he has. The amount of attack, defense, and charm depends on his form and what equipment is currently equipped.[10][11]

Lizard-Man attacks an enemy frog by breathing fire at it.

Wonder Boy has a life meter represented on the top of the gameplay area by a series of hearts. The hearts turn from red to black when Wonder Boy sustains damage from enemy attacks, and he dies when all his hearts turn black. If he has a life potion ("medicine vial" in Dragon's Curse) remaining as shown on the top of the screen next to the life meter, Wonder Boy will revive with some of the hearts refilled. If the player does not have any life potions left, the game ends, and the player is taken to a "continue screen"; there the player has an opportunity to earn a free life potion if the cursor surrounding the border of the continue screen lands on a red heart (or a red vial in Dragon's Curse). After that, the player continues the game, starting at the town.[12][13] Players can visit the town's church to receive a password in order to continue the game at a later time after turning the system off. The password saves the current player's form, equipment, and amount of gold; but it does not save any secondary weapons or life potions in stock.[14] Dragon's Curse has a "file cabinet" which allows players to store passwords into the game's memory; the player may access these stored passwords and continue the game without needing to manually input them.[13]

Throughout the game, players will go through differently-themed levels: underwater, desert, jungle, cave, and sky. At the end of each level is a different dragon.[15] After defeating a dragon, Wonder Boy changes form, and his abilities change.[7] Wonder Boy begins the game as Hu-Man, equipped with all eight hearts and the strongest equipment.[6][16] He turns into Lizard-Man after defeating and being cursed by the Mecha Dragon in the first level. At that point, he loses all equipment and all hearts except one.[16] Lizard-Man attacks enemies by breathing fire at them, and he can duck.[6][7] He can assume other different forms throughout the game: Mouse-Man can walk on walls and ceilings designated by checkered "mouse blocks",[17] Piranha-Man can swim freely underwater and can access underwater places which the other forms cannot, Lion-Man attacks enemies with his sword by swinging from directly above to directly below him, and Hawk-Man can fly freely in the air but sustains damage if he enters water.[7]

Development and release

Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap was developed by Westone and was published by Sega; it is the sequel to Wonder Boy in Monster Land.[18] It was first released for the Sega Master System in 1989 in North America and Europe.[19] The game was then ported to the PC Engine in Japan April 19, 1991 (1991-04-19) under the title Adventure Island (not to be confused with the Adventure Island series of games for the Nintendo Entertainment System); it was released for the TurboGrafx-16 that same year by NEC under the title Dragon's Curse.[20] Westone allowed Hudson Soft to publish the game provided they made no reference to the Wonder Boy series.[18] Sega then released the game for the Game Gear in 1992 in Europe under the game's original title and in Japan under the title Monster World II: Dragon no Wana.[21] In 1993, Tec Toy released the game in Brazil for the Master System under the title Turma da Mônica em o Resgate. Tec Toy replaced the sprites with characters from Brazilian comic book series Monica's Gang (Turma da Mônica).[18][19] In 2007, Sega released the game in Japan for the PlayStation 2 as part of a compilation of all the Wonder Boy games titled Sega Ages 2500 Vol. 29: Monster World Complete Collection.[22] During the same year, Dragon's Curse/Adventure Island was released for the Wii's Virtual Console service worldwide.[23] The Master System version of Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap was released in Europe on September 10, 2009 (2009-09-10) and in North America on November 9, 2009 (2009-11-09).[24][25]

Reception

 Reception
Review scores
Publication Score
Allgame 4.5/5 stars[26]
IGN 7.5 of 10[1][6]
The Games Machine 71%[27]
Computer and Video Games 86%[28]
Mean Machines 95%[29]
Zero 73%[30]
Raze 80%[31]
Video Games 83%[32]
Awards
Entity Award
Electronic Gaming Monthly Best Game of the Year (Master System), 1989

Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap received coverage in the September 1989 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, where they provided a brief overview of the game and a summary of the events in Wonder Boy in Monster Land leading up to the game's plot.[33] Two months later, in its December 1989 issue in its "Best and Worst of 1989", the game won an award for "Best Game of the Year" for the Sega Master System.[34] GamePro gave a brief overview of the game in its September–October 1989 issue, adding that "it's truly an adventure worthy of Wonder Boy".[35] It received extensive coverage in both the January and February 1990 issues of VideoGames & Computer Entertainment, featuring an overview and a walkthrough of the game. The magazine praised the game for is challenge and overall look, which it says "will have you manipulating your control pad for days on end".[17][36]

Various UK-based video gaming magazines gave Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap significant coverage. The Games Machine complimented the game's colorful backgrounds and sprites with "the [Wonder] Boy himself being particularly well-drawn", while they criticized the weak animation on some of the characters as well as its choppy scrolling. They called it one of the best games by Sega but complained that it was expensive, saying "do you really want to spend 28 quid on it?"[27] The magazine's successor, Raze, reviewed the PC Engine version titled Adventure Island. The magazine praised the game's simplistic and addicting platforming gameplay and its smooth-scrolling graphics, though they said they were "a little blocky". They noted that the game had excellent music which was "worth listening through some headphones".[31] Zero, along with praising the game's graphics and music, called it "enormously addictive"; the review said the ability to transform into different forms and hence being able to progress into new areas kept the game fresh.[30]

UK magazines Computer and Video Games and its spin-off Mean Machines – in the latter's premiere issue – gave the game positive reviews. Computer and Video Games praised the animation in particular and called it the best game of its type on that platform, using phrases such as "familiar air of polish and ingenuity" and "piles of addiction guaranteed".[28] Mean Machines' Matt Regan said it "ranks as one of the greatest Sega Master System games ever!"; he compared the gameplay to the Mario series of video games and praised the game's depth, saying that "there's always something new to discover, be it a key to a previously locked door or even a secret room!" Julian Rignall praised the game's graphics and the huge world players can explore, which he says contributes to the game's addictiveness. He said that "the combination of adventuring, shooting and platform action results in one of the best games of its type available on any console". Collectively, they praised the game overall presentation and graphics, saying that the sprites complement the background. While they additionally praised its playability for being "accessible from the word go" and longevity, they criticized its sound, saying that it "could have been much better".[29]

German magazine Video Games gave Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap a positive review, saying that the game gave more weight to strategy and tactics, that it "stands out clearly from the two predecessors", and that its graphics became less childlike but more "spectacular". The review continued, saying that its gameplay is a good example about that makes action-adventure games addicting to play. It complimented the game's depth and wide array of equipment, saying that it "provides an additional touch, which makes [it] the best thought-out game [at the time]."[32]

Upon the release of the TurboGrafx-16 version Dragon's Curse to the Virtual Console in 2007, IGN's Lucas Thomas reviewed the game, comparing the opening sequence of the game to the opening sequence of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night; he proceeded to add that the game parallels with games in the Castlevania series, calling the game "a straightforward and simple 'Metroidvania' adventure" but with "several layers of unexpected depth". Thomas noted the game's popularity among fans and that is plays almost exactly the same as the Master System version despite graphics and sound improvements; at the time, there were no Master System games on the Virtual Console. He praised the game's rich sound, gameplay depth, and "colorful and cartoony" graphics, which "was perfectly suited to the TurboGrafx platform".[1]

IGN's Travis Fahs, in discussing the SMS version, offered another opinion, praising the game as "not only the crowning achievement of the series, but perhaps one the best games of the 8-bit era," drawing comparisons to both Mario and Zelda.[37] Thomas again reviewed the Master System version of Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap when it was released two years later for the Virtual Console. In this review, he compares the gameplay to Metroid – more specifically the need to gather additional equipment and abilities to advance in the game. While he acknowledged that this version from one of the best Master System games as well as for any 8-bit system, he felt that the Master System's Virtual Console release had a reduced appeal. He said that the TurboGrafx-16 version Dragon's Curse had already been out for two years and that there was no difference in gameplay between the two versions, but there were improvements in graphics and sound in the TurboGrafx-16 version because of the system's superior capabilities. He also noted that the Master System version suffers from sprite flickering – something the TurboGrafx-16 version did not have. Despite the small differences in the two versions, he decided to give the Master System version the same rating as the TurboGrafx-16 version.[6]

The Master System version of Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap was reviewed by Allgame. The review praised the non-linear gameplay and the ability to change into different forms, which "keeps things interesting and fun" and "keeps the game from getting repetitive". It lauded its visuals and sound effects, saying the "graphics are very colorful and have a cartoon look to them". Criticisms included slippery controls and the difficulty of getting into doors; it said the controls kept the game from obtaining a perfect rating, and the gameplay was still not as good as Wonder Boy in Monster Land.[26]

The editing staff from magazine Retro Gamer listed Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap as one of the "Perfect Ten Games" for the Master System, calling it "the best in a long and highly convoluted myriad of multi-titled games" and "a great adventure that every Master System fan needs to own. The review praised the game's brisk pace and gameplay, despite the length of the game.[38]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Thomas, Lucas M. (2007-04-11). "Dragon's Curse Review – Wii Review". IGN. http://wii.ign.com/articles/779/779903p1.html. Retrieved 2010-06-11. 
  2. ^ Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap Instruction Manual, p. 2.
  3. ^ Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap Instruction Manual, p. 1.
  4. ^ Dragon's Curse Instruction Manual, p. 1.
  5. ^ Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap Instruction Manual, p. 3.
  6. ^ a b c d e Thomas, Lucas M. (2009-11-10). "Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap Review". IGN. http://wii.ign.com/articles/104/1043730p1.html. Retrieved 2010-06-11. 
  7. ^ a b c d Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap Instruction Manual, p. 7.
  8. ^ Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap Instruction Manual, pp. 12–14.
  9. ^ Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap Instruction Manual, p. 17.
  10. ^ Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap Instruction Manual, p. 8.
  11. ^ Dragon's Curse Instruction Manual, p. 5.
  12. ^ Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap Instruction Manual, p. 9.
  13. ^ a b Dragon's Curse Instruction Manual, pp. 2–3.
  14. ^ Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap Instruction Manual, p. 6.
  15. ^ Dragon's Curse Instruction Manual, p. 7.
  16. ^ a b Dragon's Curse Instruction Manual, pp. 1, 3.
  17. ^ a b Walnum, Clayton (January 1990). "Going for the Dragons: A Player's Guide to Wonder Boy III". VideoGames & Computer Entertainment (12): 72–79. 
  18. ^ a b c Monopoli, Paul (2010-02-07). "Retrospekt Review: Wonderboy 3/Dragon's Curse/Adventure Island". Retrospekt.com.au. http://retrospekt.com.au/post/375762575/retrospekt-review-wonderboy-3-dragons-curse. Retrieved 2010-06-11. 
  19. ^ a b "Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap for Sega Master System". GameFAQs. http://www.gamefaqs.com/sms/588172-wonder-boy-iii-the-dragons-trap/data. Retrieved 2010-06-11. 
  20. ^ "Dragon's Curse for TurboGrafx-16". GameFAQs. http://www.gamefaqs.com/tg16/578657-dragons-curse/data. Retrieved 2010-06-11. 
  21. ^ "Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap for GameGear". GameFAQs. http://www.gamefaqs.com/gamegear/570321-wonder-boy-iii-the-dragons-trap/data. Retrieved 2010-06-11. 
  22. ^ "Monster World Complete Collection for PlayStation 2". GameFAQs. http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps2/935699-monster-world-complete-collection/data. Retrieved 2010-06-11. 
  23. ^ "Dragon's Curse for Wii". GameFAQs. http://www.gamefaqs.com/wii/938876-dragons-curse/data. Retrieved 2010-06-11. 
  24. ^ "Virtual Console". Nintendo.co.uk. http://www.nintendo.co.uk/NOE/en_GB/games/virtual_console_1778.html. Retrieved 2010-06-11. 
  25. ^ "Load Up on Excitebike Action, Musical Plankton and More". Nintendo.com. 2009-11-09. http://www.nintendo.com/whatsnew/detail/Qw2ZrUQplS6WhkHGtfY6V-A8teaGBqfE. Retrieved 2009-11-09. 
  26. ^ a b Sutyak, Jonathan. "Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap – Review". Allgame. http://www.allgame.com/game.php?id=1794&tab=review. Retrieved 2010-06-12. 
  27. ^ a b "Wonderboy III". The Games Machine (Newsfield Publications) (26): 26. January 1990. 
  28. ^ a b Glancey, Paul (September 1989). "Wonderboy III". Computer and Video Games (94): 104. 
  29. ^ a b Regan, Matt; Rignall, Julian (October 1990). "Wonderboy III" (PDF). Mean Machines (1): 40–41. http://www.meanmachinesmag.co.uk/pdf/wonderboythreems.pdf. 
  30. ^ a b "Wonderboy III: The Dragonus Trap". Zero (4): 84. February 1990. http://amr.abime.net/review_39597. Retrieved 2010-07-12. 
  31. ^ a b "Adventure Island". Raze (Newsfield Publications) (10): 60. August 1991. 
  32. ^ a b Gaksch, Martin (January 1991). "Kleider Machen Leute – Wonderboy III: The Dragon's Trap" (in German). Video Games 1991 (1): 78. 
  33. ^ Semrad, Ed (September 1989). "Sega Masters – Wonder Boy III". Electronic Gaming Monthly (3): 57. 
  34. ^ "Best and Worst of 1989". Electronic Gaming Monthly (5): 17. December 1989. 
  35. ^ C.A.T. (September–October 1989). "Sega ProView – Wonder Boy III". GamePro (3): 38–39. 
  36. ^ Walnum, Clayton (February 1990). "A Player's Guide to Wonder Boy III: Part II". VideoGames & Computer Entertainment (13). 
  37. ^ Fahs, Travis (2008-11-14). "The Legend of Wonder Boy". IGN. http://retro.ign.com/articles/930/930245p3.html. Retrieved 2011-01-19. 
  38. ^ Ashley Day, Retro Gamer editing staff (2009). Rick Porter, Helen Laidlaw, Olly Dean. ed. Videogames Hardware Handbook: 1977 to 1999 – The Games Machine Collector's Manual. Bournemouth: Imagine Publishing. p. 117. ISBN 978-1-906078-44-7. 

References

  • Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap Instruction Manual. Sega. 1989. 
  • Dragon's Curse Instruction Manual. NEC. 1990. TGM052089038M. 

External links

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