Support NeoGAF

[Loudninja]

We’re celebrating! 2016 marks the 30th anniversary of the beloved Wonder Boy series, which started with a simple but solid Arcade game developed by Escape (later known as Westone). The last game in the series was Monster World IV (1994) and it went silent for more than 20 years. Have you heard of it?

We’re so excited to say that we’ve been able to team up with the series creator Ryuichi Nishizawa (former Westone) and revive it with our new game Monster Boy, which launches on PS4 this year. As a fan of the classic games and the Metroidvania genre, it felt unreal to be able to work on a new game that brings back the spirit of the series in every way possible.

We loved Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap for its transformation feature, so we took it as the biggest inspiration. Monster Boy continues the colorful, side-scrolling adventure tradition with a character who can transform into different animal forms to solve puzzles and proceed in a connected (open) game world.

With the help of Ryuichi Nishizawa and LAT corporation licensing, we’ve gained access to the whole library of characters, graphics assets, sounds, and music from the entire Wonder Boy series.

While we’re creating a new experience targeting 1080p at 60 frames per second with hi-res 2D visuals, we’re happily bringing back our favorite monsters, music tracks, and features of the classic games. We’re working hard to deliver a game that you will be able to fully enjoy as a fan of the series but also if you never heard of it.

The music production is led by Yuzo Koshiro himself, who is most famous for his music in Streets of Rage, Actraiser, Shinobi, and Ys. Furthermore, we worked with Motoi Sakuraba, Michiru Yamane, Keiki Kobayashi, Takeshi Yanagawa, and singer Haruka Shimotsuki. We believe music is so important for a great experience.

There are a lot of original tracks in Monster Boy, but we also re-arranged the most famous music tracks of the classic series. Last but not least, music tracks get their finishing touches by a real instrument recording session. It’s so cool.

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2016/03/04/monster-boy-launching-on-ps4-this-year/

 

[Beckx]

What a lineup for the soundtrack.

 

[Corpekata]

Thought this was already known.

 

[dragonzdogma]

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2016/03/04/monster-boy-launching-on-ps4-this-year/

Is this made by the original team or Western devs?

 

[Warxard]

YUZO GODSHIRO

 

[OrbitalBeard]

Man, that soundtrack's gonna' be amazing.

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

The graphics looked a bit...flashish(that sounds overly condescending, but I'm not sure how otherwise to describe it - is there a technical term?) last time I saw it. Has anything changed in the last few months?

I'll probably still give it a bash if it hits gog and has good gameplay, but that style is always a turnoff for me.

 

[sixteen-bit]

What a lineup for the soundtrack.

yeah lots of heavy hitters

 

[Vard]

Is this made by the original team or Western devs?

Looks like Western devs (FDG are Germany-based). They're the same studio that did Oceanhorn and mostly develop their own original IP apps. I'm actually not too familiar with them but they seem to release mobile games with solid reviews.

 

[Ivan Amiibo]

With the help of Ryuichi Nishizawa and LAT corporation licensing, we’ve gained access to the whole library of characters, graphics assets, sounds, and music from the entire Wonder Boy series.

wow!

 

[retroman]

MUST...HAVE...THIS...GAME!

Fingers crossed for a Vita version.

 

[Liamario]

It looks great, doesn't it. I might have to bite. I usually avoid buying digital games.

A trailer-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mjg1s6A6VJ8

 

[Corpekata]

Looks like Western devs (FDG are Germany-based). They're the same studio that did Oceanhorn and mostly develop their own original IP apps. I'm actually not too familiar with them but they seem to release mobile games with solid reviews.

That's the publisher. The developer is the team behind the Flying Hamster series. The game was started as a kickstarter for Flying Hamster 2 which was going to be a "spiritual successor" type game to the genre, but it was retooled when the original license holders contacted them about making it a full Monster Boy game.

 

[thelooseteeth]

Do want. There hasn't been a decent light-hearted sidescroller (outside of Nintendo) on a major platform in years...

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

Do want. There hasn't been a decent light-hearted sidescroller (outside of Nintendo) on a major platform in years...

What about Shovel Knight?

 

[Omnistalgic]

Looks really fun...reminds me of a boy and his blob. Have to get to that game.

 

[Corpekata]

What about Shovel Knight?

There's been a ton really. Freedom Planet, Kero Blaster, Adventures of Pip, Tembo, Eliot Quest, Ori and the Blind Forest and that's just within like the last year or so (give or take, ports make it hard to remember the age of some games).

 

[OrbitalBeard]

Do want. There hasn't been a decent light-hearted sidescroller (outside of Nintendo) on a major platform in years...

You really haven't been paying a whole lot of attention to the indie scene in recent years, have you?

 

[Christian]

It looks great, doesn't it. I might have to bite. I usually avoid buying digital games.

A trailer-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mjg1s6A6VJ8

Tell Limited Run Games you want a physical version! They're accepting suggestions for titles that they should investigate for their upcoming releases!

 

[Intel_89]

Day one, lessgo.

 

[Rocco Schiavone]

In december they released the promised PS5 Patch die Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom 4K/120HZ+dualsense support.

But you can't Transfer your save game.

 

[Honey Bunny]

Still cant believe they ditched pixel art for that shit