PixlBit

This game has a great premise, but fails in the gameplay department

While you may have never heard of this game, you might be a little more familiar with the Wonder Boy series. This game is actually a port of Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap for Sega's Master System. Developed by Westone and published by Hudson (for this system), it was released for the TurboGrafx-16 in 1990. It's an action platformer with some RPG elements thrown into the mix (which was common around this time). It has a fantasy setting, revolving around knights, dragons, castles, and dungeons. 

You play as a warrior who ends up getting cursed by a powerful dragon, changed into an ugly creature. You must now explore the world and find the antidote. Along the way, you'll be transformed into different creatures, each having unique abilities. You can also find heart containers to lengthen your overall health and equip swords, shields, and armor. The town serves as the main hub of the game, connecting all the different areas. Here you can buy items in shops, save the game, and refill your health for free at the clinic. 

While the premise of the game is great, the actual gameplay is not very good. You can jump and attack. Your jump is very short and you slide upon landing, making precision jumping tricky. In fact, any time you stop, you'll slide a little forward as if you're constantly walking on ice. Your attack will vary depending on which creature you are. Lizard-man shoots out fire; Mouse-man uses a short sword, etc. Some enemies take way too many hits to defeat. Also, certain enemies will fly in unexpectedly and attack with lightning-fast projectiles. And that's not all. Some enemies will hurt you slightly while others will take a huge chunk of health, which is inconsistent (especially since these enemies are in the same area). 

The game's best feature is the different transformations. Each one is unique. You'll start off as Lizard-man, who can shoot fire and freely walk through lava. Mouse-man can run up certain walls, Piranha-man can swim through water, and Hawk-man can fly in the air. The game claims to be non-linear, but actually is not because you can't access certain areas until you've transformed into a certain form. However, some doors will lead to areas where you have the option to go left or right. You'll want to find the key to the dungeon door so you can defeat one of the dragons and change to the next creature. If you die, you'll start back at the town, which is frustrating if you made it far into a dungeon. 

The level design for the different areas and dungeons is terrible. You'll move in one direction, fighting the same enemies over and over. Then the design will change to something else which you'll do over and over. The dungeons are very linear, never having you move up or down a screen, but only going in the same direction. The same thing will be re-used several times before changing it up. For example, the first dungeon has fireballs dropping down from the ceiling. This will go on for awhile, then they'll change it to these little gray heads shooting projectiles horizontally, and you'll have to jump over about ten of them! This is just lazy design! 

Bosses are nothing special either. They can be tricky until you figure out their pattern, but they're not that fun. The graphics and music are both great. The game is colorful and vibrant. The music is quite enjoyable. However, playing the game is another matter; it simply lacks satisfaction. 

Final Verdict--2 Stars: Not Worth It

On the surface, Dragon's Curse looks good and the premise is cool, but in the end, it's simply repetitive and frustrating. Slippery controls can be a problem. Enemies can be a pain. Level design is boring. I'm sure back in 1990 this game was touted as something amazing, but it's not worth playing today. As far as fantasy games go, you can play much better ones than this on the TurboGrafx-16.