Ahhh the summer holidays to Spain 1987/88/89. The Yeti arcade Tossa De Mar housed the original Wonder Boy and In Monster Land too, very very popular with myself and the local guys and girls. Along with Monster Lair and Dragons Trap, these are still my favourite games of all time.
I agree about Dragon's Trap, but Monster Lair has aged extremely poorly. Strip away that fancy System 16 exterior and you are left with a mediocre shoot 'em up, which Wonder Boy was never meant to be. (T_T)
I'm back on Monster Lair via the PS5 Wonderboy Collection and my Astro City. Trying to 1 CC it is proving to be a nightmare... I've not completed it for years but I'm enjoying it as much as I always have. Have to love Slotshroom.
@@LeShark75 Played it a few years back on my mate's MAMEcade, and even though I did finish it, I can't say I enjoyed it really. It involves way too much button mashing, which I no longer consider appropriate for any game outside of Track & Field / Hyper Sports. Fair enough, I accept the need in an arcade setting, but such a game should be based on skill, not how fast you can press the fire button. I mean, all the Touhou games would be way too easy if that was the case. (^_^;) It's funny, you know, since Monster Lair was the first PCB of the three I bought, and I did play it quite a lot during the late 80s in various locations round the country before that, including later on my apprenticeship where we had it in our old clubroom along with Jackal. Nowadays, however, having played far superior platform RPGs such as Wandering Souls, I really struggle to return to these titles now. I did not even bother with Monster Boy as I didn't feel it brought anything new to the table for me, which is unfortunate (I was kind of hoping for a Shion/Asha collab game myself).
@@LeShark75 Ehh, my brother liked it, yet watching a playthrough just after it came out, I knew I wasn't going to get on with things. I mean, it's clearly aimed at modern gamers with shops / save points every few screens for one thing, which I absolutely detest. For sure, the multitude of Touhou fan games I've indulged in over the last 10 years have hardened me way too much to get any satisfaction from that. (^_~) I guess my Wonder Boy days truly are long behind me now. It's hard to believe I once had the biggest, most informative site for the whole series on the Internet, which by Shin'ichi Sakamoto's own admission at the time, was better than Westone's own site in Japan. Haha! It was, by all accounts, pretty bland as I recall. (#^_^#)
When I was five years old we visited my dad's backwater hometown in Italy. There were maybe 50 people still alive and they were all very old. We were high up the mountain. Every day my grandfather would give me a few thousand lire and he'd tell me to walk down the mountain to the bar to buy him a beer. The old men at the bar would make change for me, and then prop me up next to the one arcade machine they had, which was Wonder Boy in Monster Land. I loved this game so much. I remember being stunned that one of the first enemies I faced was DEATH haha. I was so proud of myself when I finally beat him. After I had a play or two, they'd give me the beer and I'd dutifully truck it back up the mountain to my grandfather. Great times.
I have never played the original Arcade version of WONDER BOY IN MONSTERLAND, but it does look and sound as good as the Amiga version 😺👍🕹️. A big retrospective like 👍🕹️ from Vantaa, Finland 🇫🇮.
Not to cast a negative light on your personal experiences, but the 16-bit conversions were objectively terrible. Even if you forgive the horrible box art, the ludicrously long load times, worse than the C64 tape version, the game itself was clearly incomplete, with oodles of missing features, such as armour having no effect whatsoever on the damage you received. Hmmm, and don't get me started on the Dragon at the end of the game, which doesn't even move about!! (--_--) I remember a local sweetshop had the arcade version and playing it after the ST one had me gobsmacked at just how smooth and fast it was by comparison - it had been a while since I'd last played the original. At least the Master System version ran okay, even though I was quite critical of that too at the time, perhaps a little unfairly given it was only a 256K cartridge. (^_^)
Used to play this on the C64 back in the days, and had lots of fun from it. Only downside was that at the final battle the game kept on crashing. I probably had a wrong copy or the inbuild trainer was causing issues.
It was always a wonder to know there were full blown RPG games like this and Cadash in arcades. I know for a fact my younger self would have put many tokens in these if I ever saw them back then.
Sure enough, this game became legendary and influential thanks to the home system conversions. Even where those conversions don't now seem very good at all, compared to the actual arcade machine, at the time they were still entrancing, just because many people had never seen a game like this before (and also, of course, they hadn't seen the arcade machine). The first Wonderboy was everywhere in arcades, and at the time it looked like a more visually advanced version of the Super Mario template. In retrospect it was much closer to being an early iteration of a game template that is now super popular, so much so that examples far outnumber Super Mario clones... The endless runner! Wonderboy didn't have forced scrolling, as far as I remember - so Moon Patrol was purer in that regard - but it did force you to keep moving forward.
Played this at Holloway Road in 87 before I even realised it was the sequel (I couldn't read any Japanese at all back then) and bought the actual arcade PCB from an arcade operator in Jaywick a few years later, that's how much I liked it. (=^_^=) Dragon's Trap is actually the sequel by the way... a kind of apology to Wonder Boy fans for foisting Monster Lair on us, which even Shin'ichi Sakamoto admitted was a misstep when I talked to him years ago. Thank Christ they decided to go back to this formula for Monster World III & IV on the Mega Drive. (^_~)
Oh, interesting; as a relatively recent Islington resident, I wonder where the arcade might have been: care to give me some pointers about its location a the time?
The song near the end it's pretty awesome. At 35 minutes there!! Great energetic tune.. I underappreciated this game back then. I knew it got something. I did not get far! Was about 8 and pretty retarded somehow.
I had this game for my Commodore 64 (tape) and Amiga 500 😹👍🕹️. The Amiga version was pretty cool 😺👍🕹️. The Commodore 64 version was OK, too 😸👍... except for one thing: MULTILOAD 😹!!! Everytime i succeed to the next level, i had to wait 5 minutes, till i got the chance to continue playing 😹! And another 5 minutes! And another... And another 😹...!
The C64 one wasn't bad, all things considered (I recall watching my brother go all the way through it). At least it was a complete package unlike the 16-bit versions, which were riddled with at times, serious gameplay issues. (>_
It was a pretty rare coin-op, though, and I don't think I ever saw it in more than a few locations, and mostly the Japanese original as well. Was offered a bootleg by a guy in Ashby-de-la-Zouche before I eventually bought the one my brother's mate told us was at St Osyth's Tower Camp Park, which by that point, had been moved to one of the seafront arcades in Jaywick. I'm not sure if he still has the board, but I know the sound eventually went on it, much the same as with the original. Monster Lair, being full JAMMA, was quite a bit more robust in that regard. (^_^)
![(obsolete) [TAS] Wonder Boy in Monster Land (Arcade, Japan) in 14:05](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/1TFKrDYWA4s/mqdefault.jpg)
![(obsolete) [TAS] Wonder Boy in Monster Land (Arcade, Japan) in 14:05](/img/tr.png)
![Vigilante Longplay (Arcade) [QHD]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/8uMyG97K4PU/mqdefault.jpg)
Ahhh the summer holidays to Spain 1987/88/89. The Yeti arcade Tossa De Mar housed the original Wonder Boy and In Monster Land too, very very popular with myself and the local guys and girls. Along with Monster Lair and Dragons Trap, these are still my favourite games of all time.
I agree about Dragon's Trap, but Monster Lair has aged extremely poorly. Strip away that fancy System 16 exterior and you are left with a mediocre shoot 'em up, which Wonder Boy was never meant to be. (T_T)
I'm back on Monster Lair via the PS5 Wonderboy Collection and my Astro City. Trying to 1 CC it is proving to be a nightmare... I've not completed it for years but I'm enjoying it as much as I always have. Have to love Slotshroom.
@@LeShark75 Played it a few years back on my mate's MAMEcade, and even though I did finish it, I can't say I enjoyed it really. It involves way too much button mashing, which I no longer consider appropriate for any game outside of Track & Field / Hyper Sports. Fair enough, I accept the need in an arcade setting, but such a game should be based on skill, not how fast you can press the fire button. I mean, all the Touhou games would be way too easy if that was the case. (^_^;)
It's funny, you know, since Monster Lair was the first PCB of the three I bought, and I did play it quite a lot during the late 80s in various locations round the country before that, including later on my apprenticeship where we had it in our old clubroom along with Jackal. Nowadays, however, having played far superior platform RPGs such as Wandering Souls, I really struggle to return to these titles now. I did not even bother with Monster Boy as I didn't feel it brought anything new to the table for me, which is unfortunate (I was kind of hoping for a Shion/Asha collab game myself).
I have to say that Monster Boy was a nice nod in the right direction. The nod to Monster Lair in particular put a big grin on my face.
@@LeShark75 Ehh, my brother liked it, yet watching a playthrough just after it came out, I knew I wasn't going to get on with things. I mean, it's clearly aimed at modern gamers with shops / save points every few screens for one thing, which I absolutely detest. For sure, the multitude of Touhou fan games I've indulged in over the last 10 years have hardened me way too much to get any satisfaction from that. (^_~)
I guess my Wonder Boy days truly are long behind me now. It's hard to believe I once had the biggest, most informative site for the whole series on the Internet, which by Shin'ichi Sakamoto's own admission at the time, was better than Westone's own site in Japan. Haha! It was, by all accounts, pretty bland as I recall. (#^_^#)
I was mesmerized by the SMS port, it blended action/RPG awesomely. Kinda odd yet cool it was originally an arcade game!!
When I was five years old we visited my dad's backwater hometown in Italy. There were maybe 50 people still alive and they were all very old. We were high up the mountain. Every day my grandfather would give me a few thousand lire and he'd tell me to walk down the mountain to the bar to buy him a beer.
The old men at the bar would make change for me, and then prop me up next to the one arcade machine they had, which was Wonder Boy in Monster Land. I loved this game so much. I remember being stunned that one of the first enemies I faced was DEATH haha. I was so proud of myself when I finally beat him.
After I had a play or two, they'd give me the beer and I'd dutifully truck it back up the mountain to my grandfather. Great times.
This is a great game. Played the Master System version a lot.
This was a quality game. I did not get that back then. It seemed pretty dull. Awesome getting to see this! Thank you guys.
I have never played the original Arcade version of WONDER BOY IN MONSTERLAND,
but it does look and sound as good as the Amiga version 😺👍🕹️.
A big retrospective like 👍🕹️
from Vantaa, Finland 🇫🇮.
Not to cast a negative light on your personal experiences, but the 16-bit conversions were objectively terrible. Even if you forgive the horrible box art, the ludicrously long load times, worse than the C64 tape version, the game itself was clearly incomplete, with oodles of missing features, such as armour having no effect whatsoever on the damage you received. Hmmm, and don't get me started on the Dragon at the end of the game, which doesn't even move about!! (--_--)
I remember a local sweetshop had the arcade version and playing it after the ST one had me gobsmacked at just how smooth and fast it was by comparison - it had been a while since I'd last played the original. At least the Master System version ran okay, even though I was quite critical of that too at the time, perhaps a little unfairly given it was only a 256K cartridge. (^_^)
This game is awesome 👍 I remember playing this game back in the 90's so cool
This leads to one of the best games of the series... the Dragon's Trap/Curse
Used to play this on the C64 back in the days, and had lots of fun from it. Only downside was that at the final battle the game kept on crashing. I probably had a wrong copy or the inbuild trainer was causing issues.
It was always a wonder to know there were full blown RPG games like this and Cadash in arcades. I know for a fact my younger self would have put many tokens in these if I ever saw them back then.
I would not call them "full blown", since the RPG aspect was somehow rather light/simplified.
Sure enough, this game became legendary and influential thanks to the home system conversions. Even where those conversions don't now seem very good at all, compared to the actual arcade machine, at the time they were still entrancing, just because many people had never seen a game like this before (and also, of course, they hadn't seen the arcade machine).
The first Wonderboy was everywhere in arcades, and at the time it looked like a more visually advanced version of the Super Mario template. In retrospect it was much closer to being an early iteration of a game template that is now super popular, so much so that examples far outnumber Super Mario clones... The endless runner! Wonderboy didn't have forced scrolling, as far as I remember - so Moon Patrol was purer in that regard - but it did force you to keep moving forward.
Love the twist ending.
Played this at Holloway Road in 87 before I even realised it was the sequel (I couldn't read any Japanese at all back then) and bought the actual arcade PCB from an arcade operator in Jaywick a few years later, that's how much I liked it. (=^_^=)
Dragon's Trap is actually the sequel by the way... a kind of apology to Wonder Boy fans for foisting Monster Lair on us, which even Shin'ichi Sakamoto admitted was a misstep when I talked to him years ago. Thank Christ they decided to go back to this formula for Monster World III & IV on the Mega Drive. (^_~)
Oh, interesting; as a relatively recent Islington resident, I wonder where the arcade might have been: care to give me some pointers about its location a the time?
The song near the end it's pretty awesome. At 35 minutes there!! Great energetic tune..
I underappreciated this game back then. I knew it got something. I did not get far! Was about 8 and pretty retarded somehow.
Yeah I remember the C64 & the AMIGA version 🤓🗡️
I had this game for my Commodore 64
(tape) and Amiga 500 😹👍🕹️.
The Amiga version was pretty cool 😺👍🕹️.
The Commodore 64 version was OK, too 😸👍...
except for one thing:
MULTILOAD 😹!!!
Everytime i succeed to the next level,
i had to wait 5 minutes, till i got the chance to continue playing 😹!
And another 5 minutes! And another...
And another 😹...!
The C64 one wasn't bad, all things considered (I recall watching my brother go all the way through it). At least it was a complete package unlike the 16-bit versions, which were riddled with at times, serious gameplay issues. (>_
I think i have remaster of this in my steam, but never played it
Que recuerdos
👍👍
play both the arcade and at home the C64 version 🙂
It was a pretty rare coin-op, though, and I don't think I ever saw it in more than a few locations, and mostly the Japanese original as well. Was offered a bootleg by a guy in Ashby-de-la-Zouche before I eventually bought the one my brother's mate told us was at St Osyth's Tower Camp Park, which by that point, had been moved to one of the seafront arcades in Jaywick. I'm not sure if he still has the board, but I know the sound eventually went on it, much the same as with the original. Monster Lair, being full JAMMA, was quite a bit more robust in that regard. (^_^)
nice game 🤗
The mega drive version is much better than this . The music and graphics
Don't believe this is on the mega drive, are you thinking of Monster World by any chance?