Europe had to wait bloody AGES until the PlayStation 2 Sega AGES 2500 retro revamps made their way over here. When they finally did they were bundled together – which is a good thing – but some of the more interesting games (like Alien Syndrome and Panzer Dragoon) were missing. Which is a bad thing.
I really hope that the self contained Monster World Complete Collection – due out in Japan in March – makes it out over here though. It’s due to feature arcade versions of the first three Wonder Boy games plus Monster World II, III and IV. The last two of these were released on the Mega Drive while number II was available on Master System and PC Engine. Now this is the confusing part: Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap – the pinnacle of the series – is known as Monster World II in Japan, but regardless is actually the fourth part of the Wonder Boy legacy, while Wonder Boy V: Monster World III was known as Wonder Boy in Monster World in the US and Europe. However, none of these are to be confused with Hudson’s Adventure Island games, which looked and played almost the same.
Wikipedia is your best shot at untangling Wonder Boy’s confusing history. If you can be bothered.