Not to be confused with Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair (ワンダーボーイIII モンスター・レアー Wandā Bōi Surī: Monsutā Reā) is the third game in the Wonder Boy series, released for arcade in 1988 and later ported for TurboGrafx in 1989 and Sega Mega Drive in 1990. The TurboGrafx and Mega Drive versions were released for the Wii Virutal Console in 2009, and the Mega Drive version was released on Steam in 2011. The game was also released as part of the Monster World Complete Collection and later via the Wonder Boy Anniversary Collection.
Story[]
Many years have passed since Book saved Monster Land, and his legend is passed down by generations. Now the land is attacked again, and the young Leo and Purapril set out to stop the invaders to prove that they can be as gallant in battle against the enemy as he had once been.
Gameplay[]
The game is a platformer that has side-scrolling segments in the first half of each stage, but changes into a shooter section in the second half. The platforming segments play like the original Wonder Boy title with the returning usage of food for vitality and the one-hit defeats by touching an enemy directly. In the shooter segments however, the vitality meter acts as a traditional health bar. Food can also be shot to inflate them until they explode, thus creating more food to collect.
There are seven attack types, the default of which has unlimited ammo. The other six are obtainable through defeating enemies and have limited ammo. These attack types are Spiral, Wide Ring, Beam, Missile, Fireball, and Big Fighter. There aren't any gameplay differences between the two characters that are playable other than an attack color.
During these segments, the boss will appear at the very end of each wave of enemies with its very own unique attack and movement patterns. The arcade version and Turbografx versions of the game each have 14 rounds, the latter of which hosts an arranged soundtrack by Jun Chikuma. The Sega Genesis version however removes many of the stages and bosses as well as adding an options mode for difficulty changes and a sound test.
Power Ups[]
| Power Up | Effect |
|---|---|
| Spiral | Creates a shield of sharp, shuriken-like weapons around
the player. |
| Wide Ring Blaster | Spreads into a wide, triangular shape. |
| Beam | Emits powerful, damaging waves that pierce through enemies
in linear strings. |
| Missile | Explodes when it comes in contact with an enemy
or the attack button is released. |
| Fireball | Shoots bombs laterally (forwards and backwards). |
| Big Fighter | Creates a spiral of fireballs that progressively larger. |
Items[]
| Item | Effect | Image |
|---|---|---|
| Pink Fairy | Turns the next food you'll pick up into a piece of cake. |  |
| Green Fairy | You'll become invincible for a set time. |  |
| Trix | The next food you'll pick up turns into a flower. |  |
Bosses[]
| Round | TurboGrafx manual name | Mega Drive manual name |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Uroconda | Lipfischer |
| 2 | Garamanda | Cobranores |
| 3 | Gomorin | Zebatten |
| 4 | Royal Mama | Buzbee |
| 5 | Gairaru | - (absent in Mega Drive version) |
| 6 | Sunglar | - (absent in Mega Drive version) |
| 7 | Icerego | Chunkus |
| 8 | Saboteria | Cactasinni |
| 9 | Dranken | - (absent in Mega Drive version) |
| 10 | Mashalot | Slotshroom |
| 11 | Taramba | Crabiolus |
| 12 | Demondran (Inoki) | - (absent in Mega Drive version) |
| 13 | Armor King | - (absent in Mega Drive version) |
| 14 | High Baroom | Unnamed |
Gallery[]
External links[]
- Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair Virtual Console page (Mega Drive)
- Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair Virtual Console page (PC Engine) (archive)
- Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair Steam page
- Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair in Sega Retro
- Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair in VideoGameDen
- Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair in Wikipedia