Wonder Boy in Monster Land is a platform and role-playing game developed by Westone. It was published by Sega for the arcades in 1987 and for the Sega Master System in 1988. The home console conversion was titled Super Wonder Boy: Monster World in Japan. Tectoy released the game in Brazil under Mônica no Castelo do Dragão and retooled it to resemble Brazilian comic book series Monica's Gang. Activision released the game for the Amiga in 1987 and for several more popular home computers in 1989. Hudson Soft retooled it for the PC Engine to reflect the Bikkuriman anime franchise and released it as a launch title in 1987 called Bikkuriman World. Jaleco retooled the game for the Famicom to reflect elements from the Chinese novel Journey to the West and titled it Saiyuuki World (西遊記ワールド?), which had its own series. The game was released for mobile phones in 2005 and for the Wii's Virtual Console service in 2008 in Japan and in 2009 in North America and Europe.
The game is the sequel to the 1986 game Wonder Boy and takes place eleven years after the events in the previous game. After enjoying over a decade of peace on Wonder Land following the defeat of the evil King by Tom-Tom, later bestowed the title "Wonder Boy", a fire-breathing dragon called the MEKA dragon appeared; he and his minions conquered Wonder Land, turning it into "Monster Land". The people, helpless due to their lack of fighting skill, call for Wonder Boy, now a teenager, to destroy the monsters and defeat the MEKA dragon. Players control Wonder Boy through twelve linear levels as he makes his way through Monster Land to find and defeat the MEKA dragon. Players earn gold by defeating enemies and buy weapons, armor, footwear, magic, and other items to help along the way.
Wonder Boy in Monster Land received mixed overall praise. While the arcade version amassed moderate sales, the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, and Atari ST versions received mixed praise and criticism, whereas the Amiga version received mostly negative reception. Reviews praised the game for its colorful graphics, smooth controls, gameplay, and replay value; criticisms included very slow multi-load times on the home computer versions, sub-quality sound, and reduced gameplay area size. The Master System version received overall positive reviews in all aspects and has been highly regarded as one of the better titles in the Master System library.
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Japanese Sega Mark III cover.
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Activision cover.
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TurboGrafx-16 "Bikkuriman World" cover.
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Famicom "Saiyuuki World" cover.
Plot
The plot of Wonder Boy in Monster Land follows the events in its predecessor, Wonder Boy. The game's main protagonist is a young boy named Bock Lee Temjin, although his friends call him "Tom-Tom". In Wonder Boy Tom-Tom's girlfriend Tanya was kidnapped by the "evil King" and was taken to his woodland kingdom; Tom-Tom set out to the kingdom, defeated the evil King, and saved Tanya. Word spread throughout Wonder Land about Tom-Tom's quest, and people bestowed upon him the title of "Wonder Boy".
Following the evil King's defeat, peace reigned over Wonder Land for eleven years. Then, one day, a fire-breathing dragon called the "MEKA dragon" appeared and terrorized the land. The people, helpless and not skilled in fighting, were defeated by the him and his minions; they quickly took over the land, and Wonder Land became known as "Monster Land". The people sent for Wonder Boy, now a teenager, as Wonder Land's only chance to defeat the monsters and demons who inhabited the land and to defeat the MEKA dragon. The disposed Mayor gives Wonder Boy a sword and a life potion and sets him on his way.