YMMV / Monster World IV

• Awesome Music: Not just one, but three soundtracks are available for the game. The first, and most common, is the original Mega Drive soundtrack, which can be unlocked in the remake through a Cheat Code. The second is the arranged soundtrack for the remake. The third, is referred to as the "Original Sound Source," which comprises of the Midi files that were programmed for playback on the Mega Drive, including two tracks that were cut from the game and revealing that a few tracks were once composed as multiple parts of one track.
• Broken Base: The remake's 2½D graphics were met with divisive reception. One half loves the game's 3D, yet Animesque cel-shaded graphics, while the other half dislikes them entirely, especially when compared to the universally loved hand-drawn artstyles of the Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap remake and Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom. Though the game was ultimately met with a mostly positive reception, many fans are still divided.
• Disappointing Last Level: Most of the game is defined by its platforming, puzzles, and exploration. The Underground Fort lacks all of these, instead simply being a series of corridors filled with enemies and minibosses from previous levels. No new enemies aside from the Final Boss and his elite guards appear. It's also fairly underwhelming from an aesthetic standpoint; the level itself is just a vaguely organic-looking cave (the remake, for its part, manages to make the area look more evil with the objects receiving a strong Sickly Green Glow) while the music is just standard Arabic-style music that isn't especially climactic-sounding and only vaguely resembles the epic "Last Dungeon" theme. To top it off, multiple gold bars can be found throughout the level, but there's no way to go back to Rapadagna City and spend them without having to do the whole thing over again.
• Game-Breaker: The Secret Merchant sells the most powerful weapons and armor in the game, and gives you so much money every time you talk to him that you can buy all of it. The only catch is that he can only be found towards the beginning of the game in a hidden area, and you can only find him if you didn't use any of the Sages of Save up to that point. In the remake, he's only there after you've beaten the game, but buy everything he sells and the rest of the game is a pure breeze.
• Friendly Fandoms: With the Shantae series, which also stars a cute young heroine with Arabian Night influences. A lot of fanart depicts Asha and Shantae working together or fighting against each other, and there even exists a fan-made Crossover game starring them both. Some fans even suspected that Shantae was inspired by Asha, although Shantae's creators insist the similarities are a coincidence. In addition, Ryuichi Nishizawa himself was made aware to Shantae through Risky's Revenge when it was ported to iPhone, but did note the similarities between Shantae and MWIV, lauding it and WayForward for its quality.
• Heartwarming Moments: Pepelogoo's return after the Sky Castle. Now that he's fully-sized, he sings the Cradle Song of Pepelogoo which acts as a World-Healing Wave, undoing the queen's corruption and returning most of the other Pepelogoos to normal. In the remake, Asha embraces Pepelogoo and is heard giggling with delight upon seeing her beloved friend Back from the Dead.
• Moe: Asha is ridiculously cute, especially in some of her animations.
• Moment of Awesome:
  • Asha proves herself in the Tower of Silence by defeating a massive centipede at the very beginning of the game.
  • The Sky Castle is a big moment for Asha, as she solves tough puzzles, defeats hordes of enemies and takes down the final evil wizard without Pepelogoo, whose help was vital in the previous dungeons..
  • Pepelogoo's return while fully grown. The queen has curbstomped Asha in the rematch and is about to finish her off, but Pepe returns, scaring the queen and her evil Pepelogoo. Then he sings and undoes the corruption the wizards worked hard all over the game to cause instantly.
  • The final battle. Asha defeats and saves four Pepelogoos at once, then faces Biomeka, who holds his own this time even without his fancy tech. When the Fear Incarnate is about to petrify Asha, Pepelogoo appears again and permanently blocks his petrification, sending him into utter panic. This allows Asha to defeat Biomeka for good.
• Player Punch: The game pulls one off on you after the Ice Pyramid. The town has become corrupt, even the queen, who turns evil. The corrupted queen's Pepelogoo fires a missile at you, and then your Pepelogoo takes the missile, putting him out of action for the rest of the game, complete with Asha crying over the loss of her companion.
• Tainted by the Preview: The Gamescom 2020 trailer for the remake drew less-than-positive reception, with criticisms going towards the game's 2.5D graphics, stiff animations, and stuttering framerate, not helped by the Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap remake and Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom having more appealing hand-drawn art styles. Fortunately, the graphics and framerate would be substantially cleaned up in time for its release in 2021 (aside from some roughness on the Switch due to its lower power), though some Wonder Boy fans still wish it could've gotten the hand-drawn treatment as well.
• That One Achievement: Every Last Drop in the PS3 and 360 ports of the game. This requires collecting every Life Drop in the game, with the problem being that a number of them are very well-hidden throughout the game, can possibly be Guide Dang It! and are easily lost if you don't get them before clearing each stage.
• That One Attack:
  • The Queen's fans are damaging and very hard to avoid.
  • Biomeka can petrify you with his gaze, which always allows him free hits. Good thing Pepe stops this attack in the middle of the fight.
• That One Level:
  • The Ice Pyramid. It's a maze with icy floors, hidden doors, spear traps and annoying enemies all over the place. Inventory Management Puzzle also comes into play as you need to reserve at least five spaces in your inventory for the statues, serving as an additional problem if you like to hoard gold bars and herbs.
  • The Sky Castle. The animated background can be very disorienting, Asha needs to avoid being crushed by large moving objects, and the moving platforms double as conveyer belts, where slipping off of it will likely end in Asha falling into a bunch of spikes.