Icarus
Phantasy Savior
Can we tell that this was basically Sega's Zelda in a way?
Anyway, Westone's metroidvania series that started as a simple arcade game (which spawned its own "Adventure Island" sub-series but it's not the main subject) and became a bigger game, especially with the 3rd main entry: the Dragon's Trap (which got a great remake).
Sadly after Monster World IV (which only got officially re-released in the west via the Genesis Mini) the series has gone silent for decades before we got a new game called Monster Boy (made by the original Westone game designer but with another name because of copyrights).
I personally only have finished Wonder Boy in Monster World on the Genesis (or Wonder Boy V Monster World III in Japan), Dragon's Trap remake and Monster Boy.
I may do Monster World IV and Monster Land (the second game) soon.
I really like this series (probably even more than Zelda).
Anyway, Westone's metroidvania series that started as a simple arcade game (which spawned its own "Adventure Island" sub-series but it's not the main subject) and became a bigger game, especially with the 3rd main entry: the Dragon's Trap (which got a great remake).
Sadly after Monster World IV (which only got officially re-released in the west via the Genesis Mini) the series has gone silent for decades before we got a new game called Monster Boy (made by the original Westone game designer but with another name because of copyrights).
I personally only have finished Wonder Boy in Monster World on the Genesis (or Wonder Boy V Monster World III in Japan), Dragon's Trap remake and Monster Boy.
I may do Monster World IV and Monster Land (the second game) soon.
I really like this series (probably even more than Zelda).