Wonder Boy in Monster World

Game Info
Wonder Boy in Monster World is a title in the series of Wonder Boy games which were developed in the 1980s and 1990s by Sega and Westone.

It is the fifth game in the Wonder Boy series, and the third game in the Monster World sub-series. It's also the last Wonder Boy game to be officially released in English.

Plot
"Monster World was once a peaceful region. Then, the peace was shattered by an invading army of monsters. A young man named Shion vowed to defeat them and make his land peaceful again."

Gameplay
Wonder Boy In Monster World puts you in control of Shion in his quest to save Monster World from the evil BioMeka. It controls like your standard platform game - run, jump, and kill enemies. The game is filled with RPG elements such as talking to townsfolk, collecting money to buy items, extending your life bar, and equipping a large variety of armor, weapons and magic. Arguably, it can be described as a sidescrolling platform variation on The Legend of Zelda.

Shion travels through the many interconnected regions of Monster World, all the while collecting increasingly powerful equipment in the form of many different swords, spears, shields, suits of armor, and boots.

The game introduced a one slot save feature to save process at inns throughout the game world. It was often tedious to return to the inns early in the game when the Return magic hadn't been obtained yet.

Sega Master System version
A significantly different version was produced for Sega's ageing Master System. It features sloppy hit detection, fewer stages, and is generally considered to be an inferior version. This guide currently does not cover the Master System version, so do not be surprised if stages are shorter than described here (or missing altogether) when playing that version.

Turbo CD version
Although Sega owned the rights to the Wonder Boy characters' likenesses Westone owned the game itself. They licensed it to Hudsonsoft, who produced The Dynastic Hero, a graphical remix of the original game (for example the dragon village is instead a bee village). Because it is based off the Japanese version the game is much easier than any other western version. The music has also been completely replaced which some players dislike.