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Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is top 5 metroidvania ever - Have you played it?
- Thread starter Fredrik
- Start date
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100% it. It was worth every second. A real gem and the 2nd best Metroidvania this generation after Hollow Knight in my view.
Oh and the soundtrack. The soundtrack.
Oh and the soundtrack. The soundtrack.
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It's an average/mediocre metroidvania with a terrible art direction (at least judging from the demo).
I think it's my favourite Metroidvania ever. Haven't played Hollow Knight or Ori yet, though.
Important to realize that this game leans much more to the puzzle/Zeldalike side of things. The puzzles are supremely well-designed and polished, but don't go in expecting an emphasis on combat or platforming (although both of those are present and well-done).
Important to realize that this game leans much more to the puzzle/Zeldalike side of things. The puzzles are supremely well-designed and polished, but don't go in expecting an emphasis on combat or platforming (although both of those are present and well-done).
I got the Ice armor. Haven't thought about teleporting back to stack up on items. Will give it a try tonight. Loved everything about the game up until that point. :)
I give a similar rant every time I see a thread praising Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom, but I just want to inform that not everyone loves it:
In my book it's a bad game. The only thing it's got going for it is the visuals and uh, maybe general presentation? But the key issue is how mediocre it is to control. Like, in a vacuum, none of the moves are fun to perform on their own, because there's no elegance, feel or "point" to the gameplay.
I also found it unpolished, crappy physics, occasionally buggy, and tedious to play. Normally I finish a 10-15 hour game in a week, but this one took months because I couldn't stand playing more than half an hour at a time.
But yeah, clearly people have different opinions on what's considered "good gameplay" etc, and I can only accept that some don't mind the things that bother me. I'm baffled by how people can enjoy this one though, let alone call it one of the best in the genre.
In my book it's a bad game. The only thing it's got going for it is the visuals and uh, maybe general presentation? But the key issue is how mediocre it is to control. Like, in a vacuum, none of the moves are fun to perform on their own, because there's no elegance, feel or "point" to the gameplay.
I also found it unpolished, crappy physics, occasionally buggy, and tedious to play. Normally I finish a 10-15 hour game in a week, but this one took months because I couldn't stand playing more than half an hour at a time.
But yeah, clearly people have different opinions on what's considered "good gameplay" etc, and I can only accept that some don't mind the things that bother me. I'm baffled by how people can enjoy this one though, let alone call it one of the best in the genre.
I'm surprised anyone would complain about the controls. I found them incredibly responsive and without too much momentum. Lots of the moves felt great to me--the lion's charging dash, the large moveset available while wall-clinging as a snake, the frog's tongue-swinging, and so on.
I played it and almost beat it, but dropped it towards the end.
I didn't really enjoy it that much. I found the animal stance switching annoying, since it's so cookie-cutter clear what you have to do. There is no freedom in "how to play", which makes this dull after a while.
It's not even top 20 tbh.
I didn't really enjoy it that much. I found the animal stance switching annoying, since it's so cookie-cutter clear what you have to do. There is no freedom in "how to play", which makes this dull after a while.
It's not even top 20 tbh.
I've played it and as a fan of Wonderboy (especially Monster World), I loved it!
The difficulty was a bit unforgiving at times and I kinda wished there was a way to have more than just one life potion, but I guess it's a stape of the series so it couldn't be changed.
There was a difficulty spike at the Volcano, but that rocking soundtrack kept me going!
The difficulty was a bit unforgiving at times and I kinda wished there was a way to have more than just one life potion, but I guess it's a stape of the series so it couldn't be changed.
There was a difficulty spike at the Volcano, but that rocking soundtrack kept me going!
I have played it and it's not a top 5 Metroidvania by any means. The pacing is just so off once you hit the Volcano. It was good enough but I quite in the haunted mansion.
Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap is a remake of the Sega Master System game, while this is a full on new title.
Don't listen to this.
Just play the demo to see how it feels. I had no issue with it, and I care a lot about game feel.
It's a densely packed puzzle platformer that continuously introduces new and interesting concepts.
I liked it every bit as much as Ori and Hollow Knight, though I won't bother to rank the three as they all have different design emphases.
Yeah, imagine missing out on Zelda or Metroid entirely. Not having played the Wonder Boy series would be like that, a huge gap in one's gaming experience and historical knowledge.
I think calling Monster Boy a "Metroidvania" does a disservice to the game and gives people the wrong expectation of what the game actually is. A big part of this is due to the game being based on a series that's been around just as long as Metroid itself and carved out its own way to handle progression, with little to no influence from that game.
Does it have Metroidvania elements? Absolutely. But the game is designed very differently than your average entry in the genre. More than the typical Metroid-like, Monster Boy emphasizes unique set pieces, puzzles, and linear progression. It does have some backtracking, but not nearly to the extent of most games of this type and much of the backtracking itself is optional. I'd say this game is less of a "Metroidvania" than even something like Metroid Fusion and the Ori games, which are much more linear and guided than most titles in the field.
Monster Boy is a great game, but I'd approach it more as an action platformer with puzzles than a Metroidvania.
Does it have Metroidvania elements? Absolutely. But the game is designed very differently than your average entry in the genre. More than the typical Metroid-like, Monster Boy emphasizes unique set pieces, puzzles, and linear progression. It does have some backtracking, but not nearly to the extent of most games of this type and much of the backtracking itself is optional. I'd say this game is less of a "Metroidvania" than even something like Metroid Fusion and the Ori games, which are much more linear and guided than most titles in the field.
Monster Boy is a great game, but I'd approach it more as an action platformer with puzzles than a Metroidvania.
Yeah it's fantastic and has buckets of nostalgia for fans of the original series while also being very much its own thing. The Haunted Mansion did bring it down a little for me towards the end though.
Fredrik it's such a wonderful game. Thanks for making this thread. I really loved my time with it over the Christmas holiday. BTW, we also ended up with nearly 100%. One of the cheats we were missing was right before the final boss in a hidden area. It might be worth checking a complete map online to see if that's one of the ones you missed because I think it is a pretty tough one to find. ^^
I will vehemently disagree with the thread title. It's not even much of a Metroidvania more like segmented zones with some backtracking incentives here and there.
That is literally every Metroid you just described.
Dragon's Trap is literally the Master System game with the ability to toggle between the 8-bit visuals/music and redone spiffy new art and enhanced audio on the fly. Exact same game from the 80's with a new look overlay.
Cursed Kingdom(this thread's game) is a completely new 20+ hour entry in the franchise.
Fun game, great bosses, but the soundtrack brings it down several notches for me. I was very disappointed by that aspect of it.
I'm pretty sure you will love the game if that's what you want from it (Zelda-like), and yes I'm one of the people who doesn't trust the term metroidvania at all too (which to be fair I don't blame people for using it in every game with interconnected world and backtracking), as for the game it's practically a Zelda in 2d and it's a long one, but not a padded one at all, you'll find dozens of idea and dungeon with different looks and gimmicks, a beautiful world with tons of secrets, many NPCs and a decent challenge too (sometimes it feels like an NES games in this regard lol).
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What else would it be?? It's a 2D action adventure with a completely open map and you get new abilities and upgrades that helps you progress through the world. I'd say it's 100% a metroidvania or you can scrap igavanias, Ori and Hollow Knight from that list as well.
Wow, I thought the soundtrack was great. My only complaint it was perhaps a bit too repetitive, but the actual tracks are good. The volcano theme is one of my favourite music for a level.
Calm down, lads. I was meaning more about how the zones interconnect and how once you beat a zone you really don't have much incentive to go back to them unless you want upgrades to existing abilities. You won't find a secret power up or new zone or npc tucked away in a previously inaccesible part of a map.
Wait, I'm going for the platinum now. Since you missed some chests does that mean there are missable trophies?
I enjoyed it, but I don't think its in my top 5.
The transformations are really cool and there's some great ideas in it, but it didn't stand out in combat or traversal the way Hollow Knight or Ori does.
The transformations are really cool and there's some great ideas in it, but it didn't stand out in combat or traversal the way Hollow Knight or Ori does.
I knew it's confusing but that isn't what make a game metroidvania IMO, the game is more of a zelda-like than metroid or castlevania in everything it does.
You wasn't wrong in the first place anyway ;)
Those are not necessary components of metroidvania design. In Monster Boy you revisit old locations and use new abilities to get stuff you couldn't get before. That's entirely sufficient to call the structure of this game "metroidvania."
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It can't be anything else in my opinion. There just wasn't a genre name for these types of games earlier, you could say that it was almost like metroid but with mostly melee weapons I guess. The way you get new abilities that helps you progress through an open map that paints out as you move further is the core aspect of what makes a game a metroidvania today.
You could even call God of War a metroidvania because it's built the exact same way, but it isn't 2D and so far sidescrolling is one of the characteristics of the genre.
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No I just finished my 100% run, it's never too late to go back, the last save is there after beating the game too so you can get those odd trophies. I had missed to buy something at Zeke's shop at Jin's house, there was an achievement for that lol
I wish Xbox had a platinum thing, you get nothing besides seeing the 1000/1000 GS.
It really is. When I talk about metroidvanias I always like to mention this game because it's really good, among the best I've played for sure.
Strongest point of the game for me is the pacing and how everything combines so well together (exploration, platforming, puzzles and combat).
Strongest point of the game for me is the pacing and how everything combines so well together (exploration, platforming, puzzles and combat).
It's definitely the best Wonder Boy game out there and one of the best games in the genre, but I don't think it's in the top 5.