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Post by xerxes on May 17, 2012 22:04:07 GMT -5
A heads up on this month's podcast. Joestar is our guest host, and we'll have another super secret 9X Mystery Guest on as well. Stay tuned!
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Post by Discoalucard on May 18, 2012 9:41:22 GMT -5
This is a bit outside the purview of this thread, but has anyone given Wonder Boy in Monster World (the Genesis one) another shot? I'm revising the site's article and giving them another go. I remember being disappointed with this one when I rented it as a kid, and the reasons are all the more clear now that I'm older - it's basically a rehash of The Dragon's Trap but not as good. Even with better boots, the action feels too slow, and the level design is only slightly improved. Thematically most of the areas are the same (with a few more references to both Monster Land and the arcade Wonder Boy III) but without the form-changing it's not as varied. It's also weird to swim through the underwater sections and fight bad guys that are practically identical to your Pirahna Form in Dragon's Trap. The changes to the magic systems are nice, and the charm stones are gone too, but that's really about the only improvements.
The music is also worse, and I think the graphics might be, too. I'm not a fan of huge status bars, and despite the higher color palette, it doesn't seem like it was put to much good use.
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2012 10:14:02 GMT -5
Mike was playing this and Dynastic recently, based in some of his chatter on irc. I'm planning on playing it when the Live collection comes out.
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Post by Ike on May 18, 2012 12:52:28 GMT -5
A heads up on this month's podcast. Joestar is our guest host, and we'll have another super secret 9X Mystery Guest on as well. Stay tuned! Is it me
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2012 13:13:41 GMT -5
I think he's talking about Pokey since he's part and parcel with me being there.
Pretty sure anything Pokey says will end up cut, lol.
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Post by Scylla on May 18, 2012 14:26:51 GMT -5
I'd say the graphics in Monster World III are much better than in Monster World II. I don't think there's much debating that. There's just way more detail and richness.
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Post by Snarboo on May 18, 2012 15:11:53 GMT -5
I played Monster World a few months before playing Dragon's Trap, and I honestly feel Monster World is the better game. What it loses in terms of combat variety, it more than makes up for by having a larger, more interesting world to explore. Not only is there more variety in the locales you visit, but there are now towns with people in them that you can interact with, which makes it feel richer than Dragon's Trap's static world. There's always something new to see, too, so Monster World really lives up to its name in that respect. I also like the D&D style magic system, with limited charges per spell, although it does bite you on the ass on occasion.
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Post by kal on May 19, 2012 3:17:38 GMT -5
Personally I played Monster World + Monster Lair before I came back to Monster Land. Can't really say in honesty whether they're better as I've got some heavy nostalgia for them. But I do prefer Monster World - partially because it's aged slightly better and the different weapons are kind of neat.
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Post by Snarboo on May 19, 2012 15:11:06 GMT -5
After a short struggle with the Vampire Dragon, Dragon's Trap has finally been beaten! The final boss is a bit of a disappointment, honestly. Outside of its really damaging attacks, it's no more interesting than the other dragons. It also has the exact same weakness: you just smack it in its weak point before it can hit you with its attacks.
I enjoyed this game more than Monster Land, but as I said earlier, it's much harder to talk about than its more interesting predecessor. Admittedly, if I had played this game before Monster World, the formula would have seemed more novel, but as is, it's a good, if not flawless, entry in the Wonder Boy series. Definitely worth playing for fans of side scrolling or arcade ARPGs!
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Post by xerxes on May 19, 2012 22:48:15 GMT -5
Okay, thanks to some excellent hints by a mysterious commenter to my blog post, I managed to boost my CP and money enough to buy the Prince Armor, which will almost definitely give Tiger-Man enough CP to buy just about anything. The final Shogun's castle is not easy to get through unless you have exactly the right gear. Here's what to spend your hard-earned money on.
1. Master Shield [location: very end of the beach area]
2. Murasama [location: break the block above the first well in the "sewer" area]
3. Crystal Armor [location: the very top of the tower with the desert entrance]
Don't buy any of the other crystal gear yet. I wasted all kinds of money on that crap only to find out that stuff I already had was better. Go to the Daimyo dragon's castle with this stuff, and Tiger-Man will be unstoppable. Also, before you enter the boss door, there's a secret door right behind it. It'll give you a heart-max and a potion. But with this gear, you probably won't need it.
Also, I'm not 100% sure, but it seems like if I hold down the jump button right when my potion starts working, I always get 100% of my health back. Can't hurt, right?
UPDATE I have confirmed that this does, indeed, work.
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Post by kal on May 20, 2012 9:05:20 GMT -5
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Post by Discoalucard on May 20, 2012 9:22:51 GMT -5
All of the Euro PC versions have that weird title screen.
I can't specifically get the Amstrad games working and I don't know why. I think it's just the emulator being funky.
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Post by kal on May 20, 2012 11:28:31 GMT -5
I'm not sure either, I tried about 4 different emu's and they all crashed out suggesting that maybe there's an unemulated something something involved. But I managed to get the game running on WinAPE20A18 using these specific disk files on the downside there doesn't appear to be any music...but I think the game IS supposed to have it. The controls are Keys are N,M,S,X,SHIFT,SPACE to enter shop. For anyone who caught me playing Wonder Boy in Monster Land on the C64 I mentioned it was borderline unplayable and probably the worst version of Monster Land. I take it all back - the Amstrad version is an abomination (and it crashed after LEVEL 2 when I was playing it). It has horrible hit detection, sliding movement, awful palate, you stop in MID JUMP when you swing your sword and it's slow while I may stream it along with Thunder Boy before the month is out, I really should get paid - it's really awful.
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Post by xerxes on May 20, 2012 20:14:13 GMT -5
I beat Dragon's Curse this morning. It's a surprisingly forgiving game, but the very best stuff is well hidden. The only time I felt overwhelmed by the difficulty was when I made the mistake of trying to take the Daimyo dragon's fortress as Mouse-Man.
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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2012 11:02:14 GMT -5
BTW, it looks like the Monster World games are being released on PSN & XBL this week - keep an eye out! Anyone had a chance to check PSN yet today? They normally add games on Tuesdays.
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