Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair

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NTSC-J NTSC-U
Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair
System(s): CD-ROM², Virtual Console (Wii)
Publisher: Hudson Soft
Developer: Westone
Original system(s): Arcade (Sega System 16)
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1-2
Official in-game languages: English
Release Date RRP Code JP 1989-08-31 ¥5,8005,800 HCD9006 US 1989-12 TGXCD1003 JP ▼ 2008-04-15 800pts800 US ▼ 2007-12-17 800pts800 EU ▼ 2007-12-21 800pts800 AU ▼ 2007-12-21 800pts800
Non-NEC versions Arcade Mega Drive

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Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair (ワンダーボーイIII モンスターレア), simply titled Monster Lair in North America, is the true third game in the Wonder Boy series originally developed for the Sega System 16 and later the Sega Mega Drive. It was ported to the CD-ROM² as an actual Wonder Boy title, although Sega was not involved with it.

Gameplay

Leo and Princess Purapril

The game combines elements of a platformer and a shooter. It is unlike other games in the Wonder Boy series, though it resembles the original Wonder Boy game more than it does the Monster World games, and the screen automatically scrolls to the right. The game can be played with a single player or with two players simultaneously. Player one plays as a green-haired boy named Leo (Adam in the North American manual), who shoots from his sword, and player two plays as a pink-haired girl named Princess Purapril (Laura in the North American manual), who shoots from her staff.

Characters are moved with ← and →, jump with Ⅰ, and shoot with Ⅱ. While in the air, characters can slow their descent with ↑ or fall faster with ↓. The character's life bar steadily diminishes as time passes. Health is replenished by collecting food items or weapon icons. Some fruits, when shot, expand and burst into multiple items. Weapon icons change the character's weapon temporarily.

The second part of each round has the characters ride dragons and plays more like a conventional shoot-'em-up. In these segments, the character's health does not decrease over time, so food items are not present. Characters cannot jump or turn around in these segments.

Players are given extra lives at 50,000, 100,000, 180,000, and 300,000 points.

Weapons

	Spirals
	Surrounds the character in spirals that damage enemies they touch.
	Missile
	Fires missiles that explode in short range.
	Wide Rings
	Shoots rings that spread out into a large area.
	Fire Ball
	Shoots fireballs laterally in front of and behind the character.
	Beam
	Fires beams that penetrate through multiple targets.
	Big Fire
	Emanates large fireballs in a spiral out from the character.

Rounds

	Round 1
	Round 2
	Round 3
	Round 4
	Round 5
	Round 6
	Round 7
	Round 8
	Round 9
	Round 10
	Round 11
	Round 12
	Round 13
	Round 14

History

Legacy

The CD-ROM² and Mega Drive versions of the game were brought to the Wii's Virtual Console service.

Versions

On CD-ROM² hardware, Wonder Boy III is very close to its arcade counterpart, but does not feature any parallax scrolling. It does, however, include a CD audio soundtrack with higher quality versions of the music tracks heard in the arcade. The nature of the CD-ROM format means there are also loading times. However, these are small prices to pay for a near-perfect port of what was then a new arcade game, something that was typically impossible at the time.

Localised names

Also known as

Language	Localised Name	English Translation
English	Monster Lair	Monster Lair
Japanese	ワンダーボーイIII モンスターレア	Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair

Production credits

Staff

• Programmer: Naoki Hoshizaki
• Character Designer: Rie Ishizuka, Hiromi Suzuko
• Music Composer, Effect Designer: Shinichi Sakamoto
• Director: Ryuichi Nishizawa
• Assistant: Takanori Kurihara, Yoshihito Saisho
• Supervisor: Michishito Ishizuka
• Special Thanks to: Tsutomu Watanabe, Masanori Yoshihara, Mina Morioka, Kohta Kikuchi, Anzu Oohori, Shooting no Kamisama

PC Engine Staff

• Music Arranged by: A. Chikuma
• Graphic Design: Tetsuya Sasaki
• Programmer: Kouji Yamamoto, Takeshi Takamine
• Assistant: Kenichi Sakai, Bokegi, Yoshinozui
• Sound Effect: Masahiro Teramoto
• Test Player: Mika Yamamoto
• Manager: Tomofumi Matsumoto
• Special Thanks: Toshinori Oyama, Toshiyuki Sasagawa

Presented by Hudson Soft/Alfa System, Westone

Thank you

Source:

In-game credits (JP)

Magazine articles

Main article: Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair/Magazine articles.

Physical scans

CD-ROM², JP
Cover
Disc File:WonderBoyIII CDROM2 JP Manual.pdf Manual File:WonderBoyIII CDROM2 JP Poster.pdf Poster

CD-ROM², US
Cover
Disc File:MonsterLair CDROM2 US Manual.pdf Manual Jewel Case

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1			CD-ROM (JP)	Rev 3
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1			CD-ROM (JP)	Rev 4
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1			CD-ROM (US)

References

Sega Retro has more information related to Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair