When I first encountered Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom at PAX East 2018, I fell in love. It was colorful, it’s soundtrack was jolly, and most importantly: it had tight controls. Protagonist Jin’s walking speed wasn’t too fast nor too slow (unless he was wearing the heavy boots), and no platforms were too short for cheapness’ sake. Common enemies had varying difference but were never too deadly to be at a beginner’s area. I could go on and on about how the pre-hub area excellently starts the game up for everyone, but the fact of the matter is that it was a perfect way to hook wary players in.
Eight months have passed since then and Monster Boy is finally out. And I must say, that beginning area is just a preview of the wonders you’ll find throughout the game.
Who or what is Monster Boy?
You don’t need to be familiar with the complicated background of Sega and Westone’s different aspects of ownership over the Wonder Boy series to appreciate Monster Boy. While a lot of comparisons exist between the recent Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap remake and this one, Monster Boy’s story is independent. You might appreciate some clever nods here and there if you recognized them, but they’re not a requirement to enjoy the game.
Monster Boy introduces us to Jin, a blue-haired boy who lives in a kingdom within the Monster World. His uncle, Nabu, got ahold of a powerful magical rod and has transformed everyone into animals. Now you must go after your uncle to figure out what’s going on, after you grab yourself a sword and shield, of course.
Exploring the world
Though you won’t see the world map until after you get through the beginner’s area, Monster Boy is actually a sprawling Metroidvania filled to the brim with secrets to find and trinkets to collect. Your main hub is the Village of Lupia, and from there you set out to explore each connected area one by one.
As you complete each area, you gain a new animal transformation that grants you a new set of distinct abilities. Your first form, the pig, allows you to sniff out secrets and stun enemies with your ground pound, among many others. The snake, which follows shortly after, allows you to crawl through small spaces, spit venom, and carry cogs inside your stomach. Combat options are fairly limited with these two, but that doesn’t stop the game from cleverly arranging battles around them.
Once you do get your third transformation, the frog, the world opens up considerably. The frog’s long tongue assists greatly in mobility by latching onto hooks and rings, allowing you to swing across wide gaps and propel yourself towards a direction. The game knows this too, as it cleverly designs areas to take advantage of this ability. And once you acquire the lion’s strength and the dragon’s flight, you’ll be heading to different places full of grace and style.
Into the nitty-gritty
One of Monster Boy’s greatest strengths is its ability to properly juggle your various transformation abilities with fair but interesting puzzles. Because you can change forms on the fly, each area asks you to deftly switch through each form and use their respective abilities. You will almost never find yourself staying into one form for too long.
Area monsters and boss battles also make sure that you use your entire arsenal throughout. While some enemies may be more annoying to deal with than others, they will never ask you to do something you can’t. You’ll always have more than one way to dispatch of enemies, so you’ll never find yourself stuck in a situation where you can’t do anything. Your alternative way might take a little longer, but rest assured you’ll be able to finish that battle just fine.
That’s not to say that everything is easy, of course. Puzzles and boss battles both ask you to be imaginative in what you do, and sometimes it can take a few tries to truly get an idea of what needs to be done. While this might mean dying a few times just to learn how to proceed, save points and potion merchants are always there for you. You’ll know you’re about to enter something important when you pass by a save point, so you can be confident that you’ll never lose any major progress.
It’s not all flowers and rainbows throughout
With the sheer number of what you can do as you unlock more forms, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and exhausted with this juggling act that you have to do. Having to revisit a particularly thorny area because of a missed chest or a specifically locked door might not be your cup of tea, especially when you have to go through a few rooms without a save point. And with the amount of switching and grabbing that you have to do in just one room, it’s understandable if you feel slightly fatigued from it all.
And I definitely won’t blame you if you think that there are one too many menu screens to navigate through in just a span of a few seconds. Switching from one transformation to another normally “pauses” the game to bring up a radial menu, where you can then choose which one you want. You do have the option to turn this off, but you have to repeatedly press the ZL or ZR button just to cycle through each transformation. If you’re in a timed area, seconds matter.
Then there’s the issue of switching equipment on the fly. Your armors, bracelets, shields, and weapons are all housed in their own radial menus, accessible only when pressing the + button and navigating to the right tab. Unlike transformations, you have to do your choices on the menu screen itself. And depending on the situation, you’ll be changing one or more of your equipment at least two or three times in a span of just a few screens. The result is a constant dance between area progression and changing something through some screen every few seconds.
Summing it up
In the grand scheme of things, all of the menu switching is just a minor nitpick in an otherwise fantastic game. It’s easy to forgive when the game’s hand-drawn graphics are just so colorful, and when the animations are just so darn detailed. Everything moves so smoothly and gracefully that it’s not such a big deal to suffer from pretzel fingers. And gosh darn it, I will never tire of seeing the pig’s molars and its “I didn’t do it” face whenever it farts after eating a truffle.
And like I said earlier, it’s fine if you don’t recognize if some of the tracks sound similar to tracks from previous games, or if you don’t notice the references hidden throughout the game (confession: I don’t). Monster Boy is its own beautiful game through and through. With its tight controls, clever battles, excellent score, and gorgeous visuals, don’t be surprised if you get mesmerized during your time with the game. It’s an experience not to be missed.
