Part of that late stage 16-bit era where the distinction between Mega Drive and SNES games was getting harder to spot, Monster World IV's cutesy presentation and vibrant aesthetic is just what it needs to show off to sucker me in and make me dismiss most of its more glaring flaws. While the luring sprite work of the game and its creative dynamic between the main character and her pet give off a certain air of prestige and polish over the whole experience, there's always a whiff of unrealized potential and lack of ambition permeating in the background.

Consisting of 4 dungeons that represent the bulk of your playtime, with one small town inbetween, there's hardly a moment to take a breather and pace out progress before being thrown into the next set of challenges that can feel exhausting to tackle all at once, and while the platforming and puzzle solving done with the pet gimmick unique to this entry is engaging and fun enough, with a very nice payoff at the end, it feels like it could have have been taken to the next level and done more with.

Monster World IV has no qualms about its purpose and intent as a pleasant non risk taker platformer, straight up having its main character's desire for adventure be answered in the most non chalant and shrugging way possible and setting you off to save the world I guess, and maybe that's really all it needed to be. But considering how eclectic and genre defying some of its predecessors in the series are, its a shame Monster World IV didn't go the extra mile to cap off the franchise as its peak. Still, no reason why this game had to be stuck in Japan when it could have easily been a lot of people's fav childhood game.