Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom Launch Edition - Nintendo Switch

The hand drawn art style of the game is enough for me, but this game is addicting. So much fun. Great music too.

Okay, ya like Shantae? Or Metroid-vania kinda deals? You'll probably like this. Firstly, the game is gorgeous. It's got hand painted backgrounds and hand animated character art. Characters are super expressive and animated and fun. The gameplay is, well, like Shantae. You use transformations and spells to fight/platform and solve light puzzles. Now, ya might be thinking "I don't like the idea of it ripping off Shantae." Well, it doesn't. This is by the developers of Wonder Boy another game about a transforming guy or girl which was on the old Sega Master System. ANYWAY, it's quite a great game from what I've played. Great music, visuals and well, gameplay duh. So I don't sound like a visually focused review- I'll try and explain the gameplay a bit more. You go through the game gaining more and more transformations which all have their own perks and weaknesses. Pig can use magic but can't use weapons/special armor, Snake can fit through holes and climb ivy, spit acid and ram blocks, frog can use his tongue to swing across rings and also equip gear and so on. So, it all plays into how you navigate stages and sometimes solve light puzzles. I mean pretty simple stuff. Snake can swim, pig sinks, but pig can butt-stomp buttons. So, you'll swim in the water, change to pig and butt-stomp a button. Simple. Anyway, I've not beaten it so I can only say so much but having played WonderBoy all the way through and I'm several hours into this one and find it as enjoyable or more.

This modern revival of the Wonder Boy series was a nice surprise. I would like to call it a Metroidvania style game, but I think the series (and the game this one is most closely based on, Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap) pre-dates that term! In this game you switch between animal forms to use different abilities that let you unlock more of the world, with your goal being to solve the mystery at hand. The visuals are what first caught my eye, and it's like playing a cartoon. The sound is great too, and the gameplay is tight. This is not a short game either - you will be busy for a good while, especially if you're trying to collect all the equipment, songs scrolls, treasure chests, and get 100% exploration on your map. The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is because the game gets old-school hard at times (you will die a lot), esp early on when you are not very strong and later in certain areas when you don't yet have the ideal armor. Some of the puzzles were pretty obscure too (an optional one in the main town was ridiculous) and I had to look online for some help, which I never do.

If you are a veteran of the 8/16-bit era, you may remember the Wonder Boy games. The series basically split, with one line going down the action-adventure route with the "Monster World" games. In particular, this game is patterned after Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap. In that game, you are cursed early on into an animal form, and slowly explore the world to remove said curse, while also picking up new animal forms along the way to help you progress. This new "Monster Boy" follows a similar progression, and while it's a slow starter, once it gets rolling (especially with the frog transformation), you won't want to put it down. Graphically, it looks quite nice. Perhaps not as nice as the remake of Dragon's Trap, but still good. The soundtrack has some outstanding tunes, with several industry veterans lending their compositions to the game, like Michiru Yamane, Yuzo Koshiro, and Motoi Sakuraba. If you want to get those old-school feels, and loved the Monster World series (or perhaps really enjoyed Zelda II back in the day), buy this game. You won't regret it.

For those that don’t know Monster Boy is the spiritual and literal sequel for Wonder Boy. If you have played wonder boy before then you already know what is in store for you. If you haven’t then expect the following: a well designed platformer with a large somewhat open world in a similar vein of metroidvanias, beautiful hand drawn graphics and animation, more items/customization than wonder Boy, improved combat and controls compared to Wonder Boy, and a 15hr or so campaign. The game plays smooth, and controls are crisp. Easily one of my favorite releases on Switch for 2018.

Overall, this is a great game. Lots of attention to detail, charming and crisp hand drawn-esque graphics, pretty good controls, and a fair amount of content. It falls into the Metroidvania style somewhat, but it never feels like a Metroid or Castelvaina game at any point, for better or worse. The controls can be a tad finicky at times and the level design is annoying in some parts, but neither are big enough issues to knock the game down much. For the price, it's a lot of content and the goodies inside the case make it an easy game to recommend, but it's not perfect.

When I was a youngster I recall playing this game on the Sega Master System. It brings back great memories of hanging out with my grandpa and playing through this game together. This remake or reimagining if you will is beautiful with the graphical and sound updates. It has been excellent and a reliving of some great memories playing through this. If you've never played this game I'd compare it to a Zelda or Castlevania type of game, except it's lacking on puzzles, but heavy in secrets. Good luck finding them all!

Fans of Wonder Boy, Owl Boy or Shantae the Half-Genie Hero will love this game for the impressive visual style and well balanced action and style. This game is considered as a modern day revival of the original Wonder Boy game and it looks fantastic on the Nintendo Switch. The music and soundtrack are amazing and levels are more challenging then you might imagine for a platform style game. Lots of collectibles to find also so the game has great replay value.