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View Full Version : Monster World Collection (PS2) pretty much... RULES!



HawkClay
03-21-2007, 05:00 PM
Alright, so I got this little gem in the mail, and put it through some SERIOUS playtime (at least as far as my game time is concerned lately), and I must say, that this is one heck of a collection! It has ALMOST every incarnation of Wonder Boy/Monster World out there (with a few notably missing), and as most of us already know... that series is one of the best out there!

The games on this disc are exact ports of their arcade, Master System, Game Gear, Mega Drive/Genesis and SG-1000 games with TONS of extras packed into each one! The extras include the ability to enable or disable FM sound on the Master System games, all the artwork associated with the game box and the entire manual, sound tests for every version, production artwork and even other cool stuff like the sheet music for the games (time to bust out the synthesizer)! :O Seriously, it ROCKS!

Having the chance to play the original Wonder Boy/Monster Land arcade games is a real treat! Not to mention getting the chance to play the SG-1000 version of Wonder Boy! Very cool! It's got both the arcade and the Mega Drive version of Monster's Lair on there, so there's another one we didn't get to play over here! Of course Monster World IV is on there too, which was another that never saw the light of day over here... Which brings me to my ONLY complaint about the collection...

MOST of the games are already in English, OR they have an English version available for them. There are TWO games on this compilation that do NOT have an English version available to play. One is of course Monster World IV which is understandable since an English version was never made... but the other is Wonder Boy in Monster Land, which I find puzzling since they have both English and Japanese versions for other games in the series. It's not like you REALLY need to know much Japanese to play the game, but fighting the Sphinx will be pretty much a game of chance now. The only other thing I really tried to find was if there was a way to play simply "Wonder Boy" on the Master System instead of "Super Wonder Boy" which is essentially a more difficult version of the one we got (BEES ON THE FIRST LEVEL!!! :SM9 )... Which was also sadly missing (BRING ON THE CHALLENGE)!

Anyway, this is a GREAT collection for those with the ability to play import PS2 games! It's been AWESOME getting to play some of the finest games ever crafted... and also in expanding that by playing versions of the game that we never saw over here (beat Wonder Boy in Monster World for Master System in one sitting last night without even thinking about it :56.9hart43: )! It's definitely one of the best games in the Sega AGES series, and one that ANY Wonder Boy fan would enjoy! It's just too bad we'll never see an English port of it so we could FINALLY get an English version OFFICIALLY available for Monster World IV though... *sigh* At least there are ways around that! ;)

DarthArcturus
03-21-2007, 05:58 PM
awesome to hear. If only all sega collections could be this good.

Frogacuda
03-21-2007, 06:20 PM
Yeah, it really seems like an awesome collection. If only there were a US release.

Bruhaha69
03-21-2007, 06:37 PM
Sounds good. Can't resist purchasing. Just another reason to get myself a TV to play on.

I wish they'd get us english versions of the Phantasy Star remakes, too. Those look sweet

cowmuf
03-22-2007, 07:03 AM
Wish it wasn't so hard to play PS2 imports :(

Bruhaha69
03-22-2007, 08:08 AM
I'm not sure if mine can play PAL games. I planned on getting Altered Beast, but I'd rather not find out the hard way that it doesn't work. Stay away from the slide tool, whatever you do.

DarthArcturus
03-22-2007, 01:35 PM
how does one go about playing import titles on ps2 anyways?

Bruhaha69
03-22-2007, 01:55 PM
There are slide tools, which I cannot confirm work. They only helped me dislodge the cd tray from the track. It sucked.

I guess you could mod the PS2, if you had the know-how.

I took the easy (i.e. more expensive) route and bought an all region PS2. I'll assume it was pre-modded even though they claimed it was "rare". I still need to find out if it'll play UK games before I believe any of that any region stuff.

HawkClay
03-22-2007, 04:10 PM
Yeah, I bought a Japanese PS2 back when Space Harrier Sega AGES was announced! I couldn't wait for a "hopeful" U.S. release (which we did at least get)! So I have both my U.S. and my Japanese PS2 hooked up to my splitter box since I do play a lot of imports on it.

Bru, I got the Japanese version of Altered Beast and it's not bad. You don't really need the PAL version to play it.

Bruhaha69
03-22-2007, 04:24 PM
Cool. Off-topic, is it worth it? I thought the bosses and creatures looked cool

HawkClay
03-22-2007, 04:34 PM
I absolutely LOVE the Space Harrier Sega AGES game! I posted a review of it on IGN back in 2003 when it came out (GOD I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S BEEN FOUR YEARS!!! :O )! Luckily, the topic was just locked, so I was able to get it again! I'll just repost it here as a separate thread for you Bru! I didn't read it, but I'm sure not much has changed for me as far as I'm concerned! ;)

Bruhaha69
03-22-2007, 04:54 PM
Doh! I meant altered beast for PS2, haha. I think Sega Ages Space Harrier is pretty sweet.

HawkClay
03-22-2007, 06:08 PM
LOL! My bad Bru! :SM14 Yeah, Altered Beast is pretty cool. It's definitely not the best game ever or anything, but I do like the various transformations! It's pretty big on the graphic violence, but it's fitting! To me, the transformations alone are worth the price of admission! They're just cool! B-) The game itself is pretty average for the most part though. And I'm sure you know, this one has absolutely NOTHING to do with the original Altered Beast as far as storylines are concerned.

Bruhaha69
03-22-2007, 08:57 PM
Yeah, I figured as much.

Don't get me wrong, though.....I enjoyed the energy of your Space Harrier review regardless of already owning it. I love classic Sega and even more so, classic Sega love.