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[img width=700 height=393]https://i.ibb.co/cCCyPBx/title.jpg[/img]
I thought for once I should do an article on a remake of a retro classic. Okay, so that is pretty much all I've done as of late (save Yo-kai Watch), and truth be told I was holding out for a new(er) game, but it just didn't happen. Anyway, I just happened to look at my Switch wishlist and saw Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap on sale for $9.99 USD and picked it up. Looking back, I think I just needed something new to play and this seemed about right. It was a remake and mostly modern looking, so I though maybe it would scratch that itch, and boy did it ever.
Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap was developed by Lizardcube and published in 2017 by Dotemu for a variety of platforms. It is a remake of the Sega Master System classic, Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap released in 1989, and lets you live the exploits of Wonder Boy, who one day going to defeat his nemesis and picks up a nasty little curse that changes his life. In a nutshell, that is The Dragon's Trap. However, there is just so much more going on in the remake that doesn't really take anything from the original game. I don't know about you, that not only sounds appealing, but also quite magical.
Continue reading Wonder Boy - The Dragon's Trap
[img width=700 height=393]https://i.ibb.co/3cQt4Xx/title.jpg[/img]
It's been quite a year for retro game remakes, ports, and compilations, during which I have played well over one hundred different games, many for the first time. Now, I have to admit that I am burnt out a bit and in need of some gaming R&R, but before I do so there is one more title that I need to play, one which has garnered a reputation for pushing the envelope on port quality. That game is Sega AGES: Phantasy Star on the Nintendo Switch.
Continue reading SEGA AGES - Phantasy Star on Nintendo Switch
I always loved Adventure Island and its sequels as a kid, it blew my mind to find out that it actually originated as Wonder Boy. So how does Wonder Boy for the Sega Master System compare to Adventure Island for the NES?
8-bit Vs.
After reading an earleier piece about Adventure Island from Crabmaster, and having not played much of it or its SMS counterpart Wonder Boy I decided to do my own comparisons of the two ports and share my opinions.
Adventure Island Vs. Wonder Boy
Prologue
First off, a small introduction. Both of these games are ports of a Sega arcade game entitled Wonder Boy. I have not played the arcade game, so I won't be comparing either of these ports to the original. As a young Nintendo acolyte, I didn't have any opportunites to play SMS games, so this gives me a great chance to get to know some titles and how they stack up.
Gameplay
I will freely admit that I didn't play either game until the end, but as the core gameplay mechanics don't vary much from stage to stage I feel confident in my comparison. I find that both versions play basically the same. The major changes are that the NES version contains hidden eggs and a bigger variety of items and an extra power up. The SMS version contains more stages (10 on SMS against 8 on NES), of which the last stage can only be reached by collecting all of the Doll items from each stage.
Winner: Tie
Graphics
The SMS extended graphic capabilities really shine here. The colors are fantastic, the sprites are small and well designed. I have no problems understanding what the enemies are or what object I am picking up.
The NES on the other hand fairs poorly in comparison. The sprites are larger, with the eggs that contain power-ups looking ridiculous in size. Color limitations lead to more bland looking enemies, and from playing the SMS I know what they are supposed to be, but I question if I would if this was the only version I played. For some reason the skate board power up stands out the most to me, as the sprite looks very bad compared to the SMS.
Winner: Wonder Boy
Sound
The SMS music is unfortunately extremely dull and repetitive. Sound effects are decent, but are nothing special.
The NES on the other hand has much better theme music, and I found the tunes sticking in my head. The sound effects are sufficient.
Winner: Adventure Island
Control
The SMS version requires the run button to be depressed to get the high jump, which is required on a regular basis to avoid enemies and collect items. This can make it difficult as the run button is also used to throw axes, so jumps and attacks can get tricky with many enemies present. Other than this, the controls on either system are the same.
I do prefer the NES control with a major point for me being able to pause from the controller, so I do take this into account.
Winner: Adventure Island
Difficulty
The SMS version automatically allows for infinite continues, which is absolutely needed if you plan to play through on the actual console, especially if you are out to collect all of the Dolls. The difficulty ramps up slowly and steadily. The only frustrating point for me being the platforms that can drop quickly with no real differentiation in look from standard ones. This leads to many deaths just to memorize the layout of each stage, but with the continues flowing freely I didn't find this to be a major issue.
The NES game on the other hand starts out much more difficult than it's rival. Many enemies are larger in size making them harder to avoid, new enemies are present, and some enemies have tougher attacks. For example, snakes that are stationary obstacles in the SMS version are larger and have a venom attack in the NES rev. Without a secret item and code, you cannot continue in this version. While the trick isn't hard to perform in order to continue, I find this an irritating decision.
Winner: Wonder Boy
Fun
Obvoisly fun is the most subjective measure here, but I thought it very important to include it. While the basis of the game is so similar, I honestly enjoyed the SMS version more. It was more forgiving, was more pleasant to look at, and I didn't find the control issues to overcome any of this. If I could only somehow graft on the NES music, it would have been perfect.
Winner: Wonder Boy
Conclusion
So as you can see, I have to give this fight to the SMS. I'm glad I took the time to get to know these games, and it really seems logical that a port of a Sega arcade game should end up better on their machine. No doubt Adventure Island is the most well known version, but I highly encourage you to snuggle up with the Sega cart and enjoy some play this winter.
Winner: Wonder Boy
So what do you think? If you have played both versions feel free to chime in with your thoughts.
[img align=right width=250]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/hardware/J-031/hw/J-031-H-00020-A_00.jpg align=right[/img]October 20, 1985 (23 years ago): Sega Mark III is released in Japan.
Known later as Sega Master System, Sega released SMS to compete with the NES. The console supported a number of accessories (like a light gun, 3D glasses, and at least 4 different varieties of controllers) and featured a number of successful games (Phantasy Star is a big one, other popular ones were Y's: The Vanished Omens, Alex Kidd in Miracle Worlds, Outrun and the later Sonic the Hedgehog port). The system also had ports for both cartridges and cards, though cartridges were more common.
Nevertheless, the console was not successful: in North America it was eclipsed by NES, and later by Sega's own Genesis; in Japan, both Famicom and PC Engine were much more popular. The later, smaller revision, called SMS II, did not help sales. I am actually surprised that SMS had a game released for it in Europe as late as 1996. If only Sonic would've appeared sooner, the SMS might've had a chance.
Continue reading This Week in VG History: Sega Master System
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