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Post by soop on Jul 31, 2018 8:55:08 GMT
Dynastic Hero is another title in the fantastic Wonderboy series. For whatever reason, all the Wonderboy games on the PC Engine had their names changed and usually some minor sprite redesigns. The first was Bikkuriman World (Wonderboy in Monster Land), then Adventure Island* (Wonderboy III, the Dragons Trap) and now we have a port of the Megadrive game, Wonderboy in Monster World. The first thing you notice, is that the colours really pop in this one, with big, beautifully designed sprites. This is more of the same sort of thing, with a Zelda II style side on platform RPG. It has plenty of meat on it's bones too, with plenty of puzzles and hidden treasures. On the downside, although there are plenty of treasures, I recall that you can't actually view specific equipment stats without donning the armour, so sometimes shelling out a lot of cash for such items can be a risk. All in all there's a lot to be happy about here, it's a very solid port of a very good game, and it balances action platforming nicely with the RPG elements.
Final Lap Twin is pretty unique as far as these things go, in that it's a Rad Racer style racer blended with a top down RPG. The plot(!) is that your father is a famous race driver and you're following in his footsteps. I think it's interesting that this ostensibly paved the way for things like Mario Power Tennis on the GBA, where the menu is effectively replaced with a lite RPG. There's a very nice sense of speed here, and everything is quite smooth, especially compared to something like Chase HQ, where cars noticeably jump in size. You'll also note that races are always in split screen, which I think was an odd choice. Obviously I would expect them to rescale everything, but I'm impressed they can keep everything so smooth. And obviously it's simultaneous 2 player which is good. In summary, a nice, if average 2 player racer with an RPG on top that makes it that little bit different and raises it up.
*Interestingly, Hudson made the game Adventure Island for the MSX and Famicom, which was based on the Arcade Wonderboy, and was completely different in playstyle to the rest of the Wonderboys, then released a port on the PC Engine called New Adventure Island. It's very confusing.
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Post by Black_Tiger on Jul 31, 2018 13:45:30 GMT
Sega owns the Wonderboy name and sometimes other minor likenesses.
Wonderboy III Monstar Lair for PC Engine is fully intact and nothing was changed or removed.
Final Lap Twin is a killer app to those who can appreciate it and if it had been released for NES or SNES, it would sell for hundreds of dollars and its characters would be in Smash Bros and misc games and all over merchandising.
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Post by soop on Jul 31, 2018 13:59:36 GMT
Wonderboy III Monstar Lair for PC Engine is fully intact and nothing was changed or removed. I forgot about that one! Final Lap Twin is a killer app to those who can appreciate it and if it had been released for NES or SNES, it would sell for hundreds of dollars and its characters would be in Smash Bros and misc games and all over merchandising. I think that says more about the fanbase than it does the game
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Post by lukester on Jul 31, 2018 14:04:37 GMT
Sega owns the Wonderboy name and sometimes other minor likenesses. Wonderboy III Monstar Lair for PC Engine is fully intact and nothing was changed or removed. Final Lap Twin is a killer app to those who can appreciate it and if it had been released for NES or SNES, it would sell for hundreds of dollars and its characters would be in Smash Bros and misc games and all over merchandising. What does the snes have to do with it? I’ve played through and enjoyed both games. Though Dynastic Hero is not a great port, my vote will go there. It’s a great adventure and the boss fights are too much fun. I personally prefer Outrun over Final Lap Twin
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KingDrool
Punkic Cyborg
jlued686 or John F**KED, if you're nasty.
Posts: 245
Fave PCE Shooter: Lords of Thunder
Fave PCE Platformer: Bonk's Adventure
Fave PCE Game Overall: Bonk's Adventure
Fave PCE RPG: Cosmic Fantasy 2
Currently Playing: Red Dead Redemption 2
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Post by KingDrool on Jul 31, 2018 14:13:03 GMT
This one was a close call for me. On one hand, FLT is a super unique and clever twist on the racing genre; especially at that point in gaming history. It plays well, too. But I'm a sucker for the Wonder Boy games, and Dynastic Hero is really well done, IMO. Gotta go with that one.
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Post by Galahad on Jul 31, 2018 14:51:28 GMT
Dynastic Hero for me too
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Post by Black_Tiger on Jul 31, 2018 15:22:32 GMT
Sega owns the Wonderboy name and sometimes other minor likenesses. Wonderboy III Monstar Lair for PC Engine is fully intact and nothing was changed or removed. Final Lap Twin is a killer app to those who can appreciate it and if it had been released for NES or SNES, it would sell for hundreds of dollars and its characters would be in Smash Bros and misc games and all over merchandising. What does the snes have to do with it? I’ve played through and enjoyed both games. Though Dynastic Hero is not a great port, my vote will go there. It’s a great adventure and the boss fights are too much fun. I personally prefer Outrun over Final Lap Twin Not SNES, Nintendo. Nintendo fans' faith in Nintendo keeps them from dismissing a game for superficial reasons before giving it a chance. It can also lead to poor games being refered to as "legendary", but the point is than in the case of FLT, it genuinely is a great and unique game worthy of being celebrated. Outrun is a terrible RPG.
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Post by Black_Tiger on Jul 31, 2018 15:24:07 GMT
Wonderboy III Monstar Lair for PC Engine is fully intact and nothing was changed or removed. I forgot about that one! Final Lap Twin is a killer app to those who can appreciate it and if it had been released for NES or SNES, it would sell for hundreds of dollars and its characters would be in Smash Bros and misc games and all over merchandising. I think that says more about the fanbase than it does the game NEC Interactive (or whatever) either didn't pay for the Wonderboy name or dropped it, hoping that would be enough for the Turbo version to slip by unnoticed.
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Post by lukester on Jul 31, 2018 15:37:54 GMT
What does the snes have to do with it? I’ve played through and enjoyed both games. Though Dynastic Hero is not a great port, my vote will go there. It’s a great adventure and the boss fights are too much fun. I personally prefer Outrun over Final Lap Twin Not SNES, Nintendo. Nintendo fans' faith in Nintendo keeps them from dismissing a game for superficial reasons before giving it a chance. It can also lead to poor games being refered to as "legendary", but the point is than in the case of FLT, it genuinely is a great and unique game worthy of being celebrated. Outrun is a terrible RPG. I don’t understand what “Nintendo fans” have to do with this thread though? What poor games are you referring to? Every system has meh games that get elevated somewhat. Yeah, Outrun isn’t an RPG. But as a racing game, I think the branching paths add more replayability. Both the graphics and songs are better as well.
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roflmao
Punkic Cyborg
Ha! Face-to-foot style. How do you like it?
Posts: 214
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Post by roflmao on Jul 31, 2018 18:56:20 GMT
Final Lap Twin all the way for me here. Dynastic Hero is a great game, but there is nothing else out there like Final Lap Twin. I've played through the RPG mode multiple times and keep coming back to it, where I've never finished Dynastic Hero (though it did finish Wonder Boy in Monster World on the Genesis). Now I have the music for Final Lap Twin running through my head.
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