Side Arms Special and Dragon's Curse WOW!!!!

[MotherGunner]

Boy I love both these games,  Side Arms Special seems to be ALOT more easier than my Hucard version,  I dont get owned so much.


Dragon's Curse, Beautiful game, Awesome music.

It that Wonderboy in DC?  If yes, how does it fit into the wonder boy/dynastic hero games?

Thanks!

[ParanoiaDragon]

Dragon's Curse, in the US for the SMS, was Wonderboy 3: Dragon's Trap.  However, technically, it wasn't Wonderboy 3, Monster Lair is Wonderboy 3, it's kind of wierd.  Because there's Wonderboy, but then there's the Monsterworld series that's a part of most of the games, ahhh, it's too confusing, but, simply, basically, yes, Dragon's Curse is a Wonderboy game.

[MotherGunner]

Whoa!  I just lost a few brain cells trying to understand that.  I can compare this to one of my favorite PC Star Wars games:

1.  Dark Forces
2.  Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight
3.  Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast  <---------Why can't they just call that DARK FORCES III  !
4.  Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy<---------Why can't they just call that DARK FORCES IV  !


So I feel you on that one!

[ParanoiaDragon]

I see where your going with that(I also love those games, but it's a little confusing), but the Wonderboy games goe something like this:
Wonderboy
Wonderboy in Monsterland
Wonderboy 3 Monster Lair

*sigh* nevermind, I just looked this up:
http://eidolon.dnsalias.net/ta/199802/messages/192.html

[Kaminari]

Pretty simple actually. The Wonder Boy series (by Escape/Westone) is only known as such outside Japan. In Japan, the real name is Monster World and is composed of four games out of the six:

Wonder Boy (aka Adventure Island on NES)
Wonder Boy 2: Monster Land (aka Bikkuriman World on PCE) [Monster World 1]
Wonder Boy 3: Monster Lair (the arcade game)
Wonder Boy 3: Dragon's Trap (the MS game, aka Dragon's Curse on PCE) [Monster World 2]
Wonder Boy 5 (aka Dynastic Hero on PCE) [Monster World 3]
Wonder Boy 6 [Monster World 4]

Dragon's Trap is Wonder Boy 4, really. Also, the Japanese version of Dragon's Curse is called Adventure Island, adding to the general confusion

[esteban]

Pretty simple actually.

hahahahhaha Not for me! I noticed on the list that you didn't include the "Bikkuriman Dijikai" (sp?) CD ... I know this isn't a game, but I was wondering if you had ever seen what was on it? All I know is that it has text / images that flesh out the Wonderboy universe in greater detail...

While we are on the subject: I thought folks might dig this article: it's definitely coming from a pro-SMS / Sega angle, but it's fun to read:

Side By Side: Wonder Boy in Monster World vs. Dynastic Hero

(personally, I love all the permutations of wonderboy -- and I don't think the character re-designs for the PCE are bad... in fact, I thought it was kool that the games weren't exact carbon copies... I first played the Wonderboy games on SMS, so they have a special place in my heart, but the PCE versions are great as well).

this is from www.sega-16.com , which is one of my favorite sega sites. the fellow behind it just keeps making it better and better. Regularly updated with new content. AWESOME!

They have an article on the Sega CD version of Dungeon Explorer, IIRC. Be forewarned, they say the Sega CD is better than the HuCard

[MotherGunner]

Great article!  Although one must consider that he reviewed the graphics based on crappy AV hookups instead of the more superior S-Video (D-lite's MOD)

[Ceph]

...Or instead of the even more superior RGB, which is component video and therefore offers the best quality there is.

Sure, S-Video is not bad, but it's nowhere near as good as RGB. (S-video uses two signal paths, Luminance (Y) and Chrominance (C), whereas with RGB you have three seperate signals (Y = Luminance, Pb = Chrominance 1, Pr = Chrominance 2). And that equals arcade quality sharpness / saturation.

So if you want he real McCoy, you need an RGB mod, not S-Video. I have an RGB-modded PCE and it looks SWEET. I'm still looking for a cheap RGB-modded DUO-R, though.

[D-Lite]

...Or instead of the even more superior RGB, which is component video and therefore offers the best quality there is.

Sure, S-Video is not bad, but it's nowhere near as good as RGB. (S-video uses two signal paths, Luminance (Y) and Chrominance (C), whereas with RGB you have three seperate signals (Y = Luminance, Pb = Chrominance 1, Pr = Chrominance 2). And that equals arcade quality sharpness / saturation.

So if you want he real McCoy, you need an RGB mod, not S-Video. I have an RGB-modded PCE and it looks SWEET. I'm still looking for a cheap RGB-modded DUO-R, though.

RGB is NOT component video.  Not at all.  RGB is exactly that:  Red Green Blue.  Component video is "Color Difference" where the color is calculate by subtraction.  Pb is blue, Pr is red, and Y is Green, but not RGB.  They are completely different standards.  You need an RGB monitor to play true RGB, but most TVs these days can play component video.

And the biggest difference between component and S-Video is the color separation.  The sharpness is very close and the color saturation in S-Video is much much better than composite.

My question is what's "cheap"?

[ParanoiaDragon]

Bikkuriman Dijikai is not a part of the Monster World, or Wonderboy series.....just to make things even a little more confusing.  Bikkuriman is some kind of characters, I think it was for a soft drink, or maybe a cartoon, I can't remember.  They just turned Wonderboy in Monsterland into Bikkuriman, & also made a seperate quiz game based on Bikkuriman, not Wonderboy.  And I personally LOVE the PCE versions of these games, though I also have some of the sega versions as well, though it would've been nice if they had ported Monster World 4 over to the PCE.  Maybe someday, somebody will.


edit-in reading that article, I can tell you, that both graphics & music, especially the music, on the Turbo version, blows away the Genny version.  The only downside to the graphics being no paralax, but there's more detail & more color.  I have both Dynastic Hero & Wonderboy 5.  One of the typical things Wonderboy 5 suffers from, is the grainy Genesis graphics, if you know what I mean.

[Kaminari]

Indeed, Bikkuriman is originally an anime which has absolutely peanuts to do with Wonder Boy -- it was just typical for Hudson to port games from other systems and advertise them under a popular anime franchise.

Bikkuriman Daijikai is a kind of database about characters, locations, events from this series. I remember this Japanese production was once broadcasted in France for a very short time under the silly translation "Le Prince Hercules".

Leroy's article is very Sega-oriented, and not very objective at that. Just to point a few examples... The cool parallax scrolling of Monster World 3 doesn't even last long in the Genesis version, since in many levels where you would have expected one, it's just plainly absent, like in the PCE version. So no big loss here. As for the colour palette and if one wants to be nitpicking (or fly-f@cking as we say in French), a close inspection actually reveals that the PCE palette has substantially more colours than the Genesis in many levels.

Does it really matter in the end? FM vs CD, why should I choose? I like both versions (notwithstanding small gameplay differences in favour of the PCE one).

[ParanoiaDragon]

For me, the music is fantastic in Dynastic Hero, I actually tend to model some of my songs in the same vein as the music done for it, not to mention the Ys series & Dungeon Explorer 2, among others.  

BTW, speaking of Wonderboy.  Of all things, I decided to look to see what games are available for my cell phone, primarily looking for Double Dragon, well, I find that, but, I also notice a game called Super Adventure Island.  Well, I figured it was a choppy version of the SNES game, so I download it, & what does it turn out to be?  I know, you're thinking it's just Wonderboy aka Hudson's Adventure Island..........wrong, it's Wonderboy in Monsterland, with Master Higgins!  The levels are pretty much untouched, as are the enemies.  The bosses, well, I made it to the first one, is totally different.  As are the characters in the houses, & ofcoarse, you're Master Higgins.  Plus, instead of a sword, that you slash, you throw an axe that fly's back at you!  How awesome is that?  Anyways, it has armor & shields & boots just like Wonderboy, but, I haven't been able to afford them yet.  I'll have to play it again, & save my money.  It seems like atleast some of the hidden coins are still in the levels.  But not all.......not that I remember every place where they are hidden.

[Ceph]

Ok, I thought RGB and component were the same. My bad (we don't have component video here in Europe). In Europe TVs feature Scart connectors (20 pins), which when fully wired can transmit RGB. (RGB is supported by our TV-sets). S-video transmits all colors via a single pin (same bandwidth as composite, btw). Since my TV-set features both S-video and RGB I was able to directly compare it and yes, RGB is sharper an more brilliant. To make a long story short: You are right, D-Lite, S-Video isn't bad (composite is). However if you can use RGB (or component, respectively) that's the way to go.

On an interesting side note, they have Scart connectors in Japan as well, but for some stupid reason they are wired differently!!! I bought a Sega Saturn Scart-lead in Tokyo a few years ago and was unpleasantly suprised when I got back home and got no picture.

 
_____________________________________
quote from http://www.micoelectric.com/faq/
"What's the difference between Composite, Component, S-Video, and RGB?
These are the formats for video transfer from your DVD player (or DVD home theatre system) to the display (ie. Your TV).

Composite is the lowest possible video quality interconnection. It allows all the components of the signal to be 'squashed' down a single wire in a combined (Composite) format.

S-Video breaks down the signal into a number of components with signals for Chrominance and Luminance. This video output format offers better video quality compared to Composite format.

RGB, as its name suggests, breaks the signal down to its Red, Green and Blue component parts. If both of your display and DVD player support RGB, then this should be the best connection option. Compared to Composite and S-Video, RGB video output format delivers the best video quality.

Component is a video output format found on most American DVD players. While Europe’s RGB format breaks the video signal down to its Red, Green and Blue component parts, Component format breaks the signal down to its three basic units: Y, Cb and Cr. It offers similar video quality level comparing to Europe's RGB format."

[Kaminari]

For me, the music is fantastic in Dynastic Hero, I actually tend to model some of my songs in the same vein as the music done for it.

Really?

That's very cool to hear. I'm a fan of Nick Wood and love his works (Gate of Thunder, Dynastic Hero, Coo, Love Kills...). A truly underrated film composer. He released a compilation called Sound Virus in 2001, which I seriously recommend. Sadly the guy and his Japanese studio Syn (Simon/Yasmin/Nick, co-founded with Simon Le Bon and Yasmin Parvaneh) are pretty much inactive these days.

[Edit] Lo-fi excerpt from the album: http://namida.com/kaminarimon/ogg/Sound_Virus_18.ogg
(48 kbps)

[GUTS]

I don't know if you guys noticed, but it's obvious he's playing them in an emulator so obviously it doesn't matter about s-video VS component, etc.  He even says at the end that he questions whether the Turbo Duo Dynastic hero exists so obviously he's playing an ISO of it.

I thought he was very fair, there's no PRO SEGA slant to it.  He says that the colors in the Duo one are deeper, but that the Genesis is just brighter and more cartoony.  Also I totally agree on the music thing, you can't beat the original songs for how awesomely catchy they are, the redone CD soundtrack was good but it didn't have the same charm.  Plus he even mentions that the Duo one has a better translation, better ending, and cooler last boss fight, wheres the PRO SEGA agenda there?