Monster World IV (1994)

Preliminary: Cute tunes, great colors, fun adventrue game elements so far. Unfortunately, sluggish movement, slow climbing of ropes/opening chests/talking/spawning of coins after defeating an enemy/goingthrough doors/basically everything. But still very intrigued by this. Oh and the little booty shake before opening a chest is cute, albeit unnecessarily time consuming :-p

Oh nice, there's a dash feature. Let me read this manual. The Look and Sound sure are great, but the gameplay is quite dull and repetitive already. Biggest surprise is, well, simply enemy placement/popping up at edge of screen, but that's a tacky/annoying way of surprise/gameplay mechanic imo.

Well I liked that I got through the whole first dungeon without a guide. But I didn't like how dull and repetitive it felt. Sure there were new enemies but it all just felt very blah and redundant. The boss did too (tho it was a cool looking boss). And pressing Down to block is messy when that's also (for some odd reason) how doors are handled.

But dang is it cute and Tomba-like

Day 1

Hopefully it's short and can at least get a 3 star being worth pushing through.

Oooo okay the addition of the monsters/helpers is adding something here. I like the way this first helper affects the jumping mechanic. For the most part the controls/play are definitely the lowest aspect of this game, with lots of mistakes in how they work like arrows for so many things (even the Dash kept happening on accident... and you know I love a dash), but this helper-jumper situation is really nice and fluid and fun.

The second dungeon started stronger but woudn up being repetitive again. And they're diong the thing I don't like where "let's just put, like, 20 of this enemy for this later part of the dungeon!" instead of thinking of a clever mechanic or design for later parts. But I'm still overall hooked, and I like that it's an action-adventure enough wtihout feeling like I need a guide in case I miss out on a huge upgrade (or maybe I am missing out on huge upgrades... lol)

Oh great mazelike dungeon layouts now... I really should drop this and just give a 3 star. But ugh I like hearing the new tunes too much and the Look continues to amaze.

Ugh yea about halfway through the Stream Sanctuary I decided to call it quits. I really really like a lot about this game, but the gameplay and combat just can't hold it up. Which is odd because with the Helper Guy, the platforming is really fun (despite some flaws), but my goodness. The combat and enemy design and enemy placement and level design just drag this down so much.

Look: 9/10 Yes

Sound: 9/10 Yes

Play: 7.5/10 Some great features, but level design and enemy placement drag this way down

Feel: 7.5/10 The joy wasn't there even if the hook was. But the Look and Sound make for a great Feel, borderline 8 tbh

Attachment: 7.5/10 Part of me wants to push through, the other part knows that's not a good idea. Amazing Sound and Look though.

Overall: 8.1/10 Well, another example of how a good Look and Sound can really raise a score (or hurt a score)... I wonder if I should be combining those. Then again, it'd make sense to combine Feel and Attachment if I go that route, and after all, there are far too many examples of a Look being great with Sound being awful and vice versa.'

Playtime: 1h 40m (and that was in a ravenous session, so I suppose I am glad it managed to get a 4 instead of just a 3, since the hook was definitely there. and this shows how the 4 star category is more varied than I thought, since Super Metroid also landed in this rating)

Completion: Partway through Stream Sanctuary

Monster World IV is brimming with creative and excellent ideas, wrapped in a heartwarming tale and some of the finest visuals the Genesis has ever seen.

This game has the player in the shoes of Asha, a young girl in an Arabian-influenced world out to rescue spirits from evil wizards and monsters. Adopting a small monster known as a Pepelogoo, she befriends this cute creature and learns some dark secrets along the way. I won't spoil what happens but it's tearjerking and heartwarming for a game on the Genesis.

Asha has a fairly wide moveset - she can swing her sword up, down, across while in air, and use a shield to block projectiles. She can also summon the Pepelogoo to jump higher, glide, put out fires, and other such useful things. There's a ton of different puzzles and challenges that make the journey anything but repetitive.

There are a few upgrades that Asha can utilize on her journey. She can upgrade her shield, her sword, her max life count via armor, and can permanently upgrade extra health via collectible life drops. Money gets kind of tight later on but the player can manage fairly well, as the game is gracious about avoiding instant deaths and can protect Asha in some occasions.

Each location is more gorgeous than the last - from a volcano to a water sanctuary to an ice pyramid to a castle in the sky, the areas are vast, gorgeously detailed, and filled with cutely animated enemies that provide a slew of challenges that can get fairly difficult at times. Music is absolutely catchy with a main theme that will have you whistling and sound that uses the best of the Genesis's capabilities.

Monster World IV is a wonderful game that hits nearly all the right buttons. The traversal of the game can get fairly linear for collectibles but the adventure remains tightly and expertly designed throughout, making the best game in the Monster World series. It's worth a hug from your Pepelogoo!