Okay I'm going to try to explain this so everyone try and keep up. Dragon's Curse is a side-scroller/adventure hybrid game that was released in 1990 for the TurboGrafx-16 system. The game is a direct port of the Sega Master System title Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap which just happens to be the sequel to another SMS title Wonder Boy in Monster Land. The sequel, Wonder Boy in Monster World was later released on the Sega Genesis and basically the same game was released on the TurboGrafx-16 Super CD system and titled The Dynastic Hero. If that wasn't confusing enough, Dragon's Curse was released in Japan under the title Adventure Island, which is the name of another completely different series of games by the same company, Hudson. Got all that?

The only really important thing to remember about Dragon's Curse is that if you've ever played any of the Wonder Boy titles, then you should have a pretty good idea of what to expect when it comes to this game. It's basically 80% side-scroller, 10% adventure game, and about 10% RPG. Needless to say, the game play in this game should make it appeal to a wide variety of gamers.

As you begin the game, you're on an adventure to save your world from the evil dragons which are trying to take control of the land. Unfortunately, during this quest, you're inadvertently cursed by the dragons, which basically turns you into a full-fledged scaly lizard. Now, not only do you have to continue on your quest to save the world, but now you have to also search for a cure for this curse as well. Luckily for you, there are plenty of people along the way that will lend a hand.

As was mentioned above, the game play in Dragon's Curse is all over the map. For the most part, you'll spend your time navigating the many areas of the game in traditional side-scrolling fashion. There is also a hefty dose of platforming thrown in as well. The game is set up in a fairly linear layout, so you shouldn't have too much trouble knowing where to go, even when the paths in the game split into different directions. You can also purchase items to help you with your quest, but you'll have to defeat enemies in order to collect enough gold to purchase these items. You begin the game as a knight armed with a sword, but that doesn't last. It's not long before you're cursed and turned into the dragon in which your only means of attack is to breath fire at enemies or swipe them with your little tail. It's worth noting that you can acquire certain types of magic as well, but these play a fairly small role in the overall scheme of things.

Visually the game is pretty standard stuff. While the areas themselves offer a very vibrant and colorful look, the absence of any type of multi-layer scrolling is a bit of a disappointment, especially considering many of the other TurboGrafx-16 side-scrollers of this time period featured it. It's a minor knock, but one that could have really stepped up the graphics quality. The many areas of the game do feature a huge amount of variety, and you'll hardly run into the same area twice as you progress through the game. Most of the characters and enemies in the game animate quite well and there's also some slight movement in the backgrounds, at times, which does add a bit of subtle visual flash. All in all, Dragon's Curse is a good, solid title visually that could have just used a few graphical tweaks here and there to bring it up to speed with many of the other TurboGrafx-16 titles.

For some reason, the Turbografx-16 sound chip really shines on some titles and really falls flat on others. Luckily, the music and sound effects in Dragon's Curse are on the shining side of things. Great upbeat tunes abound throughout this game, and the music honestly seems to get better the further into the adventure you get. It's also nice the way the game's current musical track seems to always change to a new tune at just the right moment when the previous song was beginning to get a little repetitive. The sound effects are simple, but are effective and seem to fit perfectly with the overall light-hearted theme of the game. If you can appreciate a solid non-CD quality game soundtrack, then you're really going to be in for a treat with this one.

While Dragon's Curse just isn't quite as charming as Wonder Boy in Monster World or The Dynastic Hero, it does have a solid storyline and enough enjoyable game play moments to make it a game worth playing. The game play can be a little loose at times, but it's more a matter of getting used to it than anything. In truth, there are better side-scrollers available for the TurboGrafx-16 system, but the careful way in which this game mixes in the RPG and adventure elements really does add an enjoyable twist to the entire experience that, at the very least, makes it a game that you'll likely want to play through at least once. At the very least you'll definitely get your money's worth out of the game's fairly lengthy quest.