History VideoGame / WonderBoy

* ''[[MonsterBoyAndTheWizardOfBooze Monster Boy and the Wizard of Booze]]'' (coming to {{PlayStation 4}}, PC in late 2015)

* UnCanceled: ''[[MonsterBoyAndTheWizardOfBooze Monster Boy and the Wizard of Booze]]'' is due to be released in 2015, over twenty years after the original release of ''VideoGame/MonsterWorldIV''.

* ToBeContinued: ''Monster Land'' and ''Monster Lair'' both end with ominous foreshadowing, and ''Monster World'' explicitly ends on a "To be continued."

** ''Dragon's Curse'' on TurboGrafx16

A series of side-scrolling {{platform game}}s developed by Sega and Westone. Originally began as a trilogy of thematically-related arcade games (''Wonder Boy'', ''Monster Land'', and ''Monster Lair''), each with drastically play mechanics from the last. The second arcade game spun-off the ''Monster World'' sub-series on home consoles, which adapted an action RPG approach.

** Likewise, Princess Purapril XIII in ''Monster World IV'' is separate from the ''Monster Lair'' heroine (seemingly Purapril ''I'').

** Likewise, Princess Purapril XIII in ''Monster World IV'' is separate from the ''Monster Lair'' heroine (apparently being Purapril ''I'').

** Likewise, every Princess Purapril in the series is a different girl.

* ''VideoGame/WonderBoy'' ([[ArcadeGame Arcade]], SG-1000, MasterSystem, GameGear)

* ''[[VideoGame/WonderBoyInMonsterWorld Wonder Boy in Monster World]]'' ([[SegaGenesis Genesis]], Master System)

* ''[[VideoGame/WonderBoyInMonsterLand Wonder Boy: Monster Land]]'' (Arcade, Master System, TurboGrafx16)

* ''[[VideoGame/WonderBoyIIIMonsterLair Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair]]'' (Arcade, MegaDrive, [=TurboGrafx-16=])
* ''[[VideoGame/WonderBoyIIITheDragonsTrap Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap]]'' (Master System, Game Gear, [=TurboGrafx-16=])

** ''Dragon's Curse'' on the [=TurboGrafx-16=]

** ''Dynastic Hero'' on TurboGrafxCD

* ''[[VideoGame/VideoGame/WonderBoyInMonsterWorld Wonder Boy in Monster World]]'' ([[SegaGenesis Genesis]], Master System)

** ''Revenge of Drancon'' on the North American Game Gear

* ''VideoGame/WonderBoyInMonsterWorld'' ([[SegaGenesis Genesis]], Master System)

* AliensAreBastards: There's isn't a single non-malicious alien in the series.

** ''Revenge of Drancon'' on the American Game Gear

* LegacyCharacter: The titular "Wonder Boy" is a different character depending on the game, although Book the Hero (the protagonist of ''Monster Land'' and ''The Dragon's Trap'') is said to be the original game's "Wonder Boy" in the localized version of the ''Monster Land'' manual. Leo from ''Monster Lair'' and Shion from ''Monster World'' are definitely different characters though, and Asha and Princess Purapril are girls, thus obviously unfit for the "Wonder Boy" title.

* LegacyCharacter: The titular "Wonder Boy" is a different character depending on the game, although Book (the protagonist of ''Monster Land'' and ''The Dragon's Trap'') is said to be the original game's "Wonder Boy" in the localized version of the ''Monster Land'' manual. Leo from ''Monster Lair'' and Shion from ''Monster World'' are definitely different characters though, and Asha and Princess Purapril are girls, thus obviously unfit for the "Wonder Boy" title.

* LegacyCharacter: The titular "Wonder Boy" is a different character depending on the game, although Bock (the protagonist of ''Monster Land'' and ''The Dragon's Trap'') is said to be Tom-Tom from the original ''Wonder Boy'' in the localized version of the ''Monster Land'' manual. Leo from ''Monster Lair'' and Shion from ''Monster World'' are definitely different characters though, and Asha and Princess Purapril are girls, thus obviously unfit for the "Wonder Boy" title.

* DivorcedInstallment: The first ''Wonder Boy'' game was later repurposed as the first game in the ''VideoGame/AdventureIsland'' series, since Westone also had a licensing deal with [=HudsonSoft=] (in addition to the one they had with Sega, which kept the naming rights for the characters).
** DolledUpInstallment: In a reversal, in Brazil, the first three games in the "Monster World" sub-series were edited and modeled after the popular comic ''[[Pt/TurmaDaMonica Turma da Mônica]]'' (''MonicasGang'').

* ''VideoGame/MonsterWorldIV'' (Mega Drive, Japan only until May 2012)

[[TenaciousD Young Nastyman does not feature in this series.]]

* TitleConfusion: There are two games titled "Wonder Boy III" and both are justified since they're the third Wonder Boy games for their corresponding platforms. ''Monster Lair'' was the third arcade game and ''The Dragon's Trap'' was the third Master System game. Officially speaking, the latter is known as ''Monster World II'' in Japan, where it is recognized as the fourth Wonder Boy game, since the following game (''Wonder Boy in Monster World'') was called ''Wonder Boy V: Monster World III'' over there.

* TheClothesMakeTheLegend: Quite literally with the Legendary equipment, canonically worn by each successive Wonderboy ([[AndZoidberg and Asha]]) since Monster Land.

* HijackedByGanon: [[spoiler: Almost all of the games reveal at the end that the evil monsters you've been fighting were being controlled by technologically-advanced space aliens trying to take over the world.]]

* OddlyNamedSequel: The lineage of the series is hard to keep track of thanks in part to the various name changes each installment has gone through between localizations, cross-platform ports and licensed remakes made by other companies.

* DivorcedInstallment: The first ''Wonder Boy'' game was later repurposed as the first game in the ''AdventureIsland'' series, since Westone also had a licensing deal with [=HudsonSoft=] (in addition to the one they had with Sega, which kept the naming rights for the characters).

* ''VideoGame/MonsterWorldIV'' (Mega Drive, Japan only)