Every so often, you get a week in which the Virtual Console release is sure to piss off just about everyone. I think this is one of those weeks. This week sees the release of Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair from the Genesis. If that name sounds a bit familiar, it may be because the game has been out for about a year and a half in the TG-16 section of the VC. Let’s hear what DHGF has to say about this!
Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair
Developer: Westone
Publisher: Sega
System: Sega Genesis
Original Release Date: 1991
Price: 900 Wii Points
Alex Lucard: This kind of hurts my head. Why are we getting the same game, albeit for a different system? I don’t blame Nintendo for this one (Although I do blame them for having nothing but shovelware shit on the DWIWare), so I am pointing the finger solely at Sega for this. I really that the game has two different publishers and thus two different companies are getting money off this but come on now.
If you really must have Monster Lair in some way, stick with the TG-16 version. It has CD quality sound compared to cart quality sound in this version. That’s….really the only difference worth discussing. Sure there are others, but they’re again in favour of the Turbo-Grafx (No surprise, the TG-16 was always superior to the SNES and Genesis with games that they all shared) as that game has better graphics and more levels. At the same price point of eight bucks, why would anyone take the Genesis version?
This is truly the lowest point in the history of the Virtual Console.
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Charlie Marsh: I’m not getting this because I hate Wonder Boy games, even though it goes in more of a platformer direction than its cousins. But even if I wanted it, the TG-16 version is superior in every way, including price, since as an import game, it clocks in at 900 points, rather than the 800 of the TG-16 version. That kinda blows. If you want this game, go for the TG-16 version, not just because it’s better, but in protest of this ridiculous release.
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Nathan Birch: So, Nintendo finally releases a storage solution for the Wii, for the first time in months people are actually excited about Nintendo’s download service and their response is to release nothing of any worth since then. The Virtual Console offerings have been pathetic since GDC and nothing of particular interest has shown up for WiiWare. Are they afraid our feeble gamer minds are too small to handle downloadable games being released for the DS and Wii at the same time? Now that the focus is on the DSi, the offerings for the Wii have to be pure crap so as not to compete?
Sad thing is, that’s probably the actual explanation.
Where the hell are the N64 games (everywhere else in the world got Majora’s Mask after the storage solution was announced)? How about some Turbografx CD games? Some later Neo-Geo games? Saturn games? Hell, let’s think small, how about some more Commodore games? You made a big deal of launching the system on the VC and now it sits there pathetically with only 4 games available.
Seriously, what he hell are you doing Nintendo? Are you intentionally trying to kill the Virtual Console? At this point it’s hard to take this crap as anything but intentional.
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Mark B.: Wow.
So, okay, I have apparently taken on the position of being the token Sega defender in these here VC Roundups, more out of necessity than any actual desire to take the position, but yeah, I got nothing here.
I mean, I like Wonder Boy fine, and I’m well aware that the franchise has one of the weirdest publishing timelines of any franchise ever, but damn guys, if someone else has already RELEASED the game, why would you release it AGAIN? Did you think no one would notice? And it’s MORE expensive to buy the CRAPPIER version? What? Who came up with that idea? Fire him.
Anyway, the point is, as everyone has explained, Monster Lair for the Turbo CD is available on the VC, and being that it’s the Turbo-CD version, it’s generally a better version of the game for less money. Enjoy.
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Yep, we hate it. On the Wii Ware side of things, we’re getting Crystal Defenders R1, the first installment of a sort of episodic strategy RPG that has seen release on mobile phones and every other console. Until next week, let’s hope for some better games.
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