The monster world games were a whole new twist on the [arcade] original, adding the RPG style elements to the gameplay justified the slightly repetitive platforming mechanics.
The series had a terrible naming system. Technically this game was “Wonder Boy 5”, but also “Monster World 3” at the same time!?. To make matters worse it had different names, in different countries.
This game didn’t try to be anything it wasn’t, & it was that honesty made this game a whole lot of fun to play. Good looking fun. The RPG aspects of the game consisted of communication with the worlds inhabitants, & the requirement / choice of new armour & weapons.
Strangely the European version was much harder than the [original] Japanese version, due to a difference in the save mechanics, yes i said save! Very rare in games back then.
