Dragon's Curse (1990). Play online

Summary

I fell in love with Dragon’s Curse the moment I popped the TurboGrafx‑16 cart into my old PC Engine. Although it’s really a port of Wonder Boy III, Westone required Hudson Soft to hide the series name, so the game lives under its own bold title. The world is a non‑linear maze of deserts, jungles, caves and sky stages, where gold, charm stones and hidden clues open shops, hospitals and secret doors. Defeating each dragon grants a new animal form—Lizard‑Man breathing fire, Mouse‑Man scaling checkered walls, Piranha‑Man swimming freely, Lion‑Man slashing from above, Hawk‑Man soaring the air—each opening routes the previous shape can’t reach.
On the TurboGrafx‑16, the graphics and soundtrack are vibrant and free of the sprite flicker that marred the Master System version. Controls are simple: the D‑pad moves, one button attacks, another jumps, and holding down lets you use secondary weapons; pausing brings up a status screen and the chance for a life‑potion revival. You can store passwords in a file cabinet, keeping your form, gear and gold for later sessions, though extra weapons and potions aren’t saved.

Storyline

Dragon's Curse (also released as Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Curse) picks up right after Wonder Boy in Monster Land. After slaying the Mecha Dragon, Wonder Boy is struck by a curse that turns him into Lizard‑Man. He awakens in the town of Alsedo, now forced to wander Monster Land in this new form.

The goal is to locate the legendary Salamander Cross, the only artifact capable of breaking the curse. Along the way Wonder Boy battles a series of dragons, each defeat granting him a different transformation and new abilities. These changes keep the gameplay fresh as he explores varied environments.

The final challenge is the Vampire Dragon; defeating it yields the Salamander Cross and restores Wonder Boy to his original self. The story drives a classic side‑scrolling adventure while emphasizing the quest to reclaim his humanity.