Good news: New Monster World. Bad news: The name?

[wyrdwad]

You guys remember Flying Hamster II: Knight of the Golden Seed? Here's the original Kickstarter trailer for it:



This was a sequel to the cute-em-up "Flying Hamster," which was originally released as a PSP Mini before being updated with an HD version -- but kind of like how Knightmare became Maze of Galious, then Shalom, Flying Hamster II was going to change the series from shmup to something wholly different, with Game Atelier planning to turn it into a Monster World-a-like. And it looked damned good, I thought!

Unfortunately, the Kickstarter wasn't going very well, and looked like it wasn't going to hit its mark... but then in came FDG Entertainment, who saved the game by privately funding it, resulting in the Kickstarter's cancellation (but ensuring us that the game would see the light of day).

Now, new news has surfaced about the game... and it's no longer Flying Hamster II. Here's what the email said that was sent to backers of the original canceled Kickstarter:

Many things have changed or evolved since we canceled our Kickstarter campaign and decided to make it happen through our collaboration with FDG Entertainment. So let's recap it with some shiny bullet point lists:

**THINGS THAT COMPLETELY CHANGED:**

* The game has a new name: Monster Boy
* Monster Boy will be an all-new adventure and as we closely work together with Ryuichi Nishizawa (creator of the original Monster World) it can be considered as an official part of the series. Since the trademark is owned by SEGA we had to pick a different name
* No more hamsters but a new hero with a story matching with the Monster World universe



**THINGS THAT GOT BETTER:**

* Tons of new hand-drawn graphics and an improved art style
* Two new transformations replacing the bear and the hamster
* While the game still has a huge open-world, some of the environments have changed for fitting more with the Monster World universe



**THINGS THAT DIDN'T CHANGE:**

* As a Flying Hamster II backer you'll still get your free copy of Monster World when it will be released (please refer to KS Update #12 for more information)
* Michiru Yamane is still supporting this project and currently works on several amazing tracks
* The gameplay remains exactly like what we initially planned
* Our hard-working team, more dedicated to this project than ever!


So we're thrilled to announce that this beautiful project is no more just a Monster World clone but a real new official part of the series. Once again thanks to both our publisher FDG Entertainment and Mr. Nishizawa who pushed this project in the most incredible good direction.

Sourced from:
click

...So, as much as I really liked the Flying Hamster aesthetic of the originally-planned game, I'd be OK with this change simply because it IS cool to be getting a new semi-official Monster World game after all this time.

The one sticking point for me? The name.

The full name of this newly-branded game is "Monster Boy and the Wizard of Booze."

I'm OK with the Monster Boy part... but "Wizard of Booze"? Seriously?! That totally cheapens the game IMHO, and makes it sound like indie shovelware. But Game Atelier is really good! They're better than that. And so is the Wonder Boy/Monster World series. We've had a string of perfectly-named games, and now Monster World IV is going to be followed up with Monster Boy and the Wizard of Booze? It just seems so wrong!

...Anyway, considering the fanbase here, I figured there'd be a lot of you who'd find this news very interesting, and I'd be curious to hear what you all think of the... unfortunate naming choice. Maybe I'm the only one bothered by it?

And regardless of the name, the game itself still looks great, so I'll play it even if they call it "Crap Pile." I'll just wince a little every time I see the title screen, that's all.

-Tom

[Kid Fenris]

Well, Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Drunk is considered the best of the series by many.

[Neo Rasa]

The invisible hand of GC9X

[The Great Klaid]

I was always joking about the Shadowy Cabal thing, but now....

[muteKi]

and don't forget that the previous time we did a monster boy game the dang ages collection for 360 showed up

[Ike]

Is it Booze like alcohol or is Booze one of those Japan-ified names for a country

[wyrdwad]

The lead developer's not Japanese, so even if it is the name of a country, the double meaning is absolutely intentional.

-Tom

[Scylla]

Well, "Monster Boy" is certainly a better title than "Flying Hamster", but yeah the subtitle is off-putting, not very Wonder Boy/Monster World-ish, and very Western-sounding. And the game looks pretty Western too. Visually it kind of reminds me of Rayman.

I already expressed my misgivings in the GC9X topic, so... yeah, I'm not very happy about this. Monster World is a very important series to me, and I couldn't have asked for anything more with how it ended. I had zero desire for it to be revived, let alone by an unrelated team. I'm not saying that this will be a bad game, in fact it could be very fun, but I don't like it being passed off as an official Monster World game. Leave the Monster World series in peace.

[shelverton]

Well, Metroidvania + Michiru Yamane is something I've been wanting for a very long time so I'm not complaining. I unfortunately have no relationship with Monster World whatsoever (though I played Wonder Boy in Monster World on the Mega Drive aaaagees ago) but it's definitely a series I'd like to get into someday. I wouldn't mind seeing some of the Mega Drive games get the 3D treatment on 3DS for starters...

[wyrdwad]

A bunch of Monster World games got releases on all the major systems a couple years ago, and the collection is very much worth picking up solely for Monster World IV -- which is not only an awesome game, but also got a brand new localization specifically for this release, which I believe makes it the most modern official translation of an unmodified (more or less) Sega Genesis game in the western world.

And that alone makes it worth supporting, in my mind!

(Plus, it's also the game that clearly inspired Shantae: Risky's Revenge, but is IMHO a much better gaming experience overall -- it very much holds up, and is a real shame it never got released here in the Genesis' heyday, as it would've easily been one of the premiere titles for the entire console.)

-Tom

[Allie]

Jan 31, 2015 7:46:11 GMT -5 wyrdwad said:

A bunch of Monster World games got releases on all the major systems a couple years ago, and the collection is very much worth picking up solely for Monster World IV -- which is not only an awesome game, but also got a brand new localization specifically for this release, which I believe makes it the most modern official translation of an unmodified (more or less) Sega Genesis game in the western world.

And that alone makes it worth supporting, in my mind!

(Plus, it's also the game that clearly inspired Shantae: Risky's Revenge, but is IMHO a much better gaming experience overall -- it very much holds up, and is a real shame it never got released here in the Genesis' heyday, as it would've easily been one of the premiere titles for the entire console.)

-Tom

I was one of those types who thought that the Genesis didn't really suffer much with the games that never crossed the Pacific, but these days, I do think adding games like MW4, Pulseman, Rent A Hero, GleyLancer, Battlemania Daiginjou (though it would have been called "Trouble Shooter 2", over here I guess), and King Colossus would have made the NA game library look much better than it does (and I'm already quite fond of the Genesis overall).

[Sturat]

I know most people don't care about splitting hairs over definitions, but I don't understand how they're calling it an "official sequel" to Wonderboy / Monster World when they don't have the rights to the name or permission from Sega. (it irks me that somebody already updated the Wikipedia page for Wonder Boy and called Monster Boy an "official sequel.") It's more of a spiritual successor like Tear Ring Saga, Cannon Dancer, Child of Eden, Mighty Number 9, and The Evil Within. I'd consider it to be less related to Monster World than those other games are related to their predecessors since it began life as a tribute from an unrelated developer and only one person from the original team is involved with the new game. (that being said, there have been plenty of terrible "official" sequels that had nothing in common with their predecessors besides having the rights to the title, so being "official" isn't particularly important to me.)

[The Great Klaid]

Jan 31, 2015 12:19:02 GMT -5 Allie said:

Jan 31, 2015 7:46:11 GMT -5 wyrdwad said:

A bunch of Monster World games got releases on all the major systems a couple years ago, and the collection is very much worth picking up solely for Monster World IV -- which is not only an awesome game, but also got a brand new localization specifically for this release, which I believe makes it the most modern official translation of an unmodified (more or less) Sega Genesis game in the western world.

And that alone makes it worth supporting, in my mind!

(Plus, it's also the game that clearly inspired Shantae: Risky's Revenge, but is IMHO a much better gaming experience overall -- it very much holds up, and is a real shame it never got released here in the Genesis' heyday, as it would've easily been one of the premiere titles for the entire console.)

-Tom

I was one of those types who thought that the Genesis didn't really suffer much with the games that never crossed the Pacific, but these days, I do think adding games like MW4, Pulseman, Rent A Hero, GleyLancer, Battlemania Daiginjou (though it would have been called "Trouble Shooter 2", over here I guess), and King Colossus would have made the NA game library look much better than it does (and I'm already quite fond of the Genesis overall).

You know I've never thought about how I actually never cared that we didn't get some Genesis games. Mostly because even while I'm beginning to not like them, I still like JRPGs. And we got the best one for Genesis here as opposed to missing out on the best ones for SNES. And even better we do seem to get some of the ones people really liked, like MW4, and I thought we had Pulseman. Maybe I'm wrong I guess.

[Allie]

Jan 31, 2015 13:51:28 GMT -5 The Great Klaid said:

Jan 31, 2015 12:19:02 GMT -5 Allie said:

I was one of those types who thought that the Genesis didn't really suffer much with the games that never crossed the Pacific, but these days, I do think adding games like MW4, Pulseman, Rent A Hero, GleyLancer, Battlemania Daiginjou (though it would have been called "Trouble Shooter 2", over here I guess), and King Colossus would have made the NA game library look much better than it does (and I'm already quite fond of the Genesis overall).

You know I've never thought about how I actually never cared that we didn't get some Genesis games. Mostly because even while I'm beginning to not like them, I still like JRPGs. And we got the best one for Genesis here as opposed to missing out on the best ones for SNES. And even better we do seem to get some of the ones people really liked, like MW4, and I thought we had Pulseman. Maybe I'm wrong I guess.

I meant during the original release cycle.

Pulseman and GleyLancer did get VC'd in NA, but those are obviously way after the fact.

[Ike]

I like the name because it makes me think the game is going to be humorous and I hope there are a lot of beer jokes