Man, I only beat the original Dragon's Trap several months ago but this thread is really tempting me. The new art style is so darn good, and I could probably blast through it in just a few hours...
Contrary to popular opinion though, I think Wonder Boy in Monster World is my favorite game in the series. If I had to rank them, it'd probably look like this:
Monster World > Dragon's Trap > Monster Land > Monster Lair > Monster World IV > Wonder Boy
MW IV definitely disappointed me. The mechanics are solid but it was by far the most formulaic of the series, the paths to the dungeons were uninspired, and the dungeons were a slog, IMO. I'm very happy that Monster World and Dragon's Trap are the ones getting the most attention from developers these days.
Contrary to popular opinion though, I think Wonder Boy in Monster World is my favorite game in the series. If I had to rank them, it'd probably look like this:
Monster World > Dragon's Trap > Monster Land > Monster Lair > Monster World IV > Wonder Boy
MW IV definitely disappointed me. The mechanics are solid but it was by far the most formulaic of the series, the paths to the dungeons were uninspired, and the dungeons were a slog, IMO. I'm very happy that Monster World and Dragon's Trap are the ones getting the most attention from developers these days.