The Wonder Boy series has an eclectic history. The first game played a lot like Hudson’s Adventure Island, and it should seeing as how that platformer was just a port of the Wonder Boy game. Even ignoring the fact that Adventure Island became its own completely different series, the second game was a big change, adding adventure elements and playing a lot like Alex Kidd in Miracle World. Then Wonder Boy III topped it off by foregoing the platforming elements of the previous game (like the existence of discrete stages) and becoming a full-blown side-scrolling adventure game like Castlevania II. Later, there was the similar Wonder Boy in Monster World and a return to pure action with Wonder Boy: Monster Lair, but on the SMS, Wonder Boy III was the pinnacle of the series.
Wonder Boy III starts off with a nice idea that’s been seen in a few other games. Instead of actually beginning to play Wonder Boy III, you replay the end of the second game, Wonder Boy in Monster Land. As you might expect, you’re ueber-powerful and have all of the best equipment, so you make your way through a simplified version of the last game’s final castle and easily dispatch the end boss, the Mecha Dragon. This is where the new story starts, as you discover something that wasn’t apparent the last time you played through these events–the dragon has the power to change its enemy’s form. Now a Lizard-Man, you escape the crumbling castle and start seeking the Salamander Cross, the only object that can restore you to human existence.
Unfortunately, the Mecha Dragon apparently had a few friends, the strongest of which has the Cross. Therefore, in order to get to the floating palace that holds the Cross, you’ll have to fight these dragons, all of which also have the ability to give you a different body. The five forms–Lizard-Man, Mouse-Man, Piranha-Man, Lion-Man, and Hawk-Man–each have their own abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. For example, Mouse-Man can climb up special walls and sneak through small passages, while Lion-Man is very powerful and swings his sword widely enough to destroy things above and below him. You’ll need to use these different abilities to explore a variety of areas, including deserts, forests, caves, and even a capsized pirate ship and a Japanese castle.
While Wonder Boy can’t kill a yak from two hundred yards away (with mind bullets!), he can use magic items gathered from slain foes and treasure chests, including a tornado that glides along the ground and a reuseable boomerang. These aren’t nearly as useful as new weapons, armor, and shields, though, most of which can be bought using money found in the same places as the magic items. Each body you can transform into has different base attack, defense, and charm levels which can be augmented by this equipment. The charm aspect is especially interesting; if you’re a scary-looking lizard with demonic armor, shopkeepers won’t trust you with the best items like they would if you were a cute mouse wearing a noble cuirass. You can also find charm stones that will minimally increase your charm regardless of your form or wear, but they aren’t essential. In fact, the charm aspect is not as big of a barrier to new equipment as finances are, but it is still a clever way to limit what you can buy early on in the game.
Wonder Boy III isn’t particularly difficult for the most part; though you start out with only one heart and weak equipment, you can buy new stuff and find more hearts (up to a maximum of eight at the end) quickly, and also carry up to three potions that partially restore your life when you run out of it. You can also get health from enemies, and since most of them don’t do a lot of damage, a careful player will have few problems. If you do die, however, you return to town with all of the money and items (except for magic) you had when you died, and a quick trip to the hospital will bring you back to peak performance.
Graphically, Wonder Boy III is well-done; everything is in the style of a cutesy children’s anime, with both the enemies and your own transformations having distinct and colorful appearances and expressions, from the waddle of the fat crabs on the beach to the Lion-Man’s noble features. Different equipment sadly has no effect on what you look like despite the charm modifiers, but that’s a relatively minor point. The shops also feature a pig with an eyepatch and a bubbly blonde nurse, adding to the cuteness.
Wonder Boy III isn’t perfect, of course. Its most obvious flaw is the fact that most of the areas outside of the village environs are quite linear, limiting the possibilities for interesting exploration using new transformations. Many areas don’t even provide the illusion of nonlinearity by placing obstacles or forks in your path, instead leading you on a boring, straight line from one end to the other. There’s also not much of a plot; apart from the aforementioned intro, the arc is an unadorned cycle of fighting bosses in order to transform so you can fight more bosses. You can’t even talk to anyone, something which even the previous Wonder Boy in Monster Land allowed you to do. Even so, Wonder Boy III, with its fairly novel transformation-based gameplay and saccharine Japanese graphics, is one of the games worth playing on the ill-fated Sega Master System.
