Wonder Boy in Monster Land getting a new, quasi-official sequel

Wonder Boy in Monster Land creator Ryuichi Nishizawa is lending his talent to the project formerly known as Flying Hamster 2, now an official member of the Wonder Boy family.

Now titled Monster Boy, the project has flourished since developer Atelier Games cancelled its Kickstarter to accept funding from German publisher FDG Entertainment.

Sega owns the Wonder Boy and Monster World trademarks, but although Atelier cannot use the name, they're calling Monster Boy an official sequel with Nishizawa's blessing.

"Monster Boy will be an all-new adventure and as we closely work together with Ryuichi Nishizawa (creator of the original Monster World) it can be considered as an official part of the series," Atelier wrote on Kickstarter.

"No more hamsters but a new hero with a story matching with the Monster World universe.

"So we're thrilled to announce that this beautiful project is no more just a Monster World clone but a real new official part of the series. Once again thanks to both our publisher FDG Entertainment and Mr. Nishizawa who pushed this project in the most incredible good direction."

In addition to this exciting news, the project has been worked over with a new and improved hand-drawn art style, two new transformations instead of the bear and hamster, and environments more in line with Monster World.

Flying Hamster 2 was announced for PC, with 3DS, PS4, Vita, Wii U and Xbox One stretch goals, and a mid-2015 release. At present we don't have any updates on if or how that has changed.