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Monster Boy - First gameplay trailer released, looks amazing

I

Iceman

Member
OMGosh. Will this have the mouse form that can run on walls and upside down on ceilings (with certain kinds of tiles)? A boomerang?
 
W

Wowfunhappy

Member
It's hard for a 2D platform to catch my attention—I love them a great deal, but there's just so many.

Well, this one has done it. It looks super smooth, somehow.
 
E

Enk

makes good threads.
Iceman said:
OMGosh. Will this have the mouse form that can run on walls and upside down on ceilings (with certain kinds of tiles)? A boomerang?
Click to expand...

Didn't notice the mouse but it seems the snake form might be taking its place. Also noticed a good variety of weapons and attacks in the trailer as well. The frog alone was carrying an ice and poison sword as well as mace, and the lion was carrying a spear. So a boomerang or something like it could be possible.
 
T

Tain

Member
Neff said:
I love this series so much, and the level design looks great, but the art style is even more intrusive in motion than I feared.

Considering how strongly they're playing up its Japanese roots in that trailer, it's ironic and unfortunate that the game looks so very un-Japanese.

They really should have just gone with a low-fi 3D update of the stylised, pastel-coloured Sega titles.



The old games (and Japanese games generally) employ desaturated, low-contrast tones and less detail in backgrounds to make high-contrast, brightly coloured foreground characters and obstacles stand out more. Here though, everything is high contrast and high detail, making the screen look a little too busy. It's a standard (and popular) approach to western visual design.
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more with this post.

It does look more enjoyable than I expected it to, in spite of the art.
 
N

NotMyPsn

Banned
Oh wow, looks really nice. This is the kind of game that young me was dreaming about in the snes era, then 3d games happened.
 
A

AmyS

Member
Whoa! Looks awesome.

I remember Christmas Eve, 1989. My mom got me this game:

A7hloxK.jpg
HPoRLP3.jpg
Click to expand...
 
Fuz

Fuz

Banned
The art direction and use of color is fantastic.

The "flash game" style animation is ATROCIOUS and hugely off-putting for me.
 
L

luka

Loves Robotech S1
Neff said:
I love this series so much, and the level design looks great, but the art style is even more intrusive in motion than I feared.

Considering how strongly they're playing up its Japanese roots in that trailer, it's ironic and unfortunate that the game looks so very un-Japanese.

They really should have just gone with a low-fi 3D update of the stylised, pastel-coloured Sega titles.



The old games (and Japanese games generally) employ desaturated, low-contrast tones and less detail in backgrounds to make high-contrast, brightly coloured foreground characters and obstacles stand out more. Here though, everything is high contrast and high detail, making the screen look a little too busy. It's a standard (and popular) approach to western visual design.
Click to expand...

exactly how i feel. reposting from the other thread, but this is the kind of aesthetic i'd expect from a wonder boy sequel.

4rj90Lb.jpg
Click to expand...
 
H

Hot Coldman

Banned
The animation seems a little inconsistent here, but I can deal so long as the rest of the bosses look as good as that mushroom boss does.

I'm so ready for this, anyway. Huge fan of MW3&4.
 
J

Joqu

Member
Yeah I still wish they had stuck closer to the Monster World art style but other than that it looks pretty good. Definitely looking forward to it.

But if this is a success and they make a sequel (I know, getting ahead of myself) I really do hope they'll fix that stuff. I don't like the current style, sorry.
 
L

luka

Loves Robotech S1
Muchi Muchi Pink said:
Monster Boy is not a Sega IP, it's the spiritual successor by the original team.
Click to expand...

game atelier is a french mobile studio and had nothing to do with the originals. as far as i'm aware we don't even know what in capacity Nishizawa (or anyone else from westone) is even involved beyond simply being aware that the project exists.
 
@

@MUWANdo

Banned
hosannainexcelsis said:
Oh, this is Game Atelier? The only game of theirs I've played was Flying Hamster, which was resoundingly mediocre. Have they done anything better since?
Click to expand...

All their other games are casual mobile fare, IIRC.

This game was initially meant to be Flying Hamster 2 but after their crowdfunding campaign failed, they acquired an investor and the project somehow morphed into something resembling an official (more like "officially endorsed") Wonder Monster Boy World-ish... thing.


JetSetRadio said:
Aww yes.
Was this a kickstarter project? If so, I should have backed.
Click to expand...

It was, but it failed.


dragonzdogma said:
Is it made by any of the original peeps who worked on the actual arcade game?
Or am I confused? Isnt this a SEGA IP, and oh yeah , how come monster boy in wonderland became adventure island on the nes, and made by hussoft?
Click to expand...

This game is endorsed by Wonder Boy/Monster World co-creator Ryuichi Nishizawa but I don't get the impression he's really doing much.

Sega owns the copyright to certain names and characters, including the name "Wonder Boy", but the games themselves were owned by the original developer Westone, who would then license them out to Hudson and other publishers who released them under different names.

Westone no longer owns the rights to these games but the Monster Boy developers claim to be in touch with the company that does, but they still don't have the rights to the actual name as that's still owned by Sega.
 
S

Seven Force

Banned
Wow, looks better in motion than I imagined.

Neff made a good point on the first page, but it says a lot that the game looks to play well in spite of that.
 
Tainted

Tainted

Member
"Wizard of Booze" -- never forget :)

Looks nice, huge fan of the original Wonder Boys on the SMS...so interested in checking this out
 
B

BubblegumCrisis

Member
The saturated bloom effect/ high contrast, ultra clean aesthetic isn’t very appealing to my eyes. The flash quality animations don’t help either. I wouldn’t be taken aback if you told me this was an IOS game.
Still... looks competent gameplay wise, and I do love some Wonder Boy/ Monster World. Will definitely purchase this come release time - just going to have to squint when I play it.
 
P

Psxphile

Member
Boo to the haters, I think it looks pretty great. Not so much that cutscene animation, woof. And I get the feeling the Monster Boy composer been itching to introduce jpop into Monster World in some capacity, kept at bay only by the limiting cartridge format of previous titles.

No such luck this time, lol. Seems out of the place, but it's not a bad tune really.
 
W

Worldshaker

Member
I'm really looking forward to this. I'm not sold on the visuals, but they're good enough. I'm just glad this game is happening.
 
B

baudelinog

Member
Well, this one really NEEDS to come to the Vita. And, can I tell one more thing? This seems to be the only one sequel Dragon's Trap deserves. Dragon's Trap, the GOAT.
 
L

LewieP

Member
Not sure about the art style, and it is a tragedy that they dropped the "and the Wizard of Booze" subtitle, but this looks fun.
 
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