Wonder Boy (franchise)

Wonder Boy (ワンダーボーイ) is a series of action platformer/RPG games originally developed by Westone and originally published by Sega. The series has become infamous for its complicated release and localization scheme.

There are six games, and the majority of these are actually a separate Monster World (モンスターワールド) subseries that appeared when the second Wonder Boy, the first Monster World, became popular enough to make sequels to it. There has even been an arcade/console split very similar to Golden Axe. Westone had also brought its success with the series beyond Sega and released a number of Wonder Boy/Monster World titles to other platforms, many of these ports being renamed without the Wonder Boy branding. In particular, the first Wonder Boy was eventually transformed into a huge Hudson Soft series called Adventure Island.

The six main titles originally developed by Westone are as follows:

• Wonder Boy
• Wonder Boy in Monster Land ("Land" was changed to "World" for the port, beginning the Monster World subseries)
• Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair

(The above are functionally the "arcade trilogy".)

• Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap (Monster World II)
• Wonder Boy in Monster World (Monster World III)
• Monster World IV

(These are the "console trilogy".)

In the late 2010s the series saw a licensed revival in the form of a remake of Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap, and new title Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom, the latter of which was originally going to be a sequel to a shoot-em-up (Flying Hamster). Since then, the series has seen further remakes and compilations.