Please help me identify this game!

[Nicholas Hill]

Hey guys,

I've taken the desparate step of registering on this lovely forum to find out the name of a game whose details are vague in my memory. I loved the game, and would really appreciate it if someone could identify it for me.

The things that I remember:

* Definitely a horizontally side scrolling shooter where you shoot waves of enemies.
* Possibly mid 90s.
* Possibly on the Mega Drive / Genesis (although I've gone through the complete list of games a few times and could not identify the one).
* Available in Europe (specifically, the UK).
* Possibly a hybrid platformer / shmup (unless I am confused, I believe the side scrolling bits were interleaved with platforming bits).
* Had a boss either at the end of each level, or occasionally.
* Definitely had a snake boss in one level, where you would have to kill it by shooting different parts of its body as it circled around you.
* Most likely had a fish boss where you had to shoot the scales of the fish to defeat it.
* Possibly had a bee boss.
* Definitely could have two players playing at the same time, in co-op mode.
* Possibly quite colourful and with Japanese origins?
* Not Bio Hazard Battle, or Viewpoint, or Darius, or Thunderforce IV, or Alien Soldier, or Gunstar Heroes, or Rocket Night.

The most vivid details I have concern the snake: When the boss appears, it does so by slowly entering the screen in a circular fashion from the bottom and close to the right. The snake consists of several contiguous segments and it circles the player(s) while the player(s) shoot the segments of the snake. The segments would change colour, eventually to red, as they became more damaged. The snake is defeated by damaging all of the segments. If we were clever enough, we could disable the entire snake before it completed one complete move (ie: shoot all segments as they appear on the screen).

I'm starting to appreciate that this is quite a tough one to crack. I have spent about 12 hours looking for the game, to the point that I may soon actually believe it never existed!

I would be really grateful if you could let me know which game you think this is.

Nick

[Obiwanshinobi]

Gun Hohki/Mystic Riders or Wonder 3/Three Wonders perchance? The latter got ported to PSX and Saturn in 1998 (Japan only, but you could have seen it imported or pirated). The former certainly sports a snake boss.
Was there a shmup level in Majyuuou for the Super Famicom? No co-op, though.

[BIL]

Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair (arcade) comes to mind, from a few of the boss descriptions and the platform hybrid angle. It had a Genesis / MD port.

[Nicholas Hill]

I am totally amazed. Turns out, it is indeed Wonder Boy 3!!! My many hours of searching are over!

I'm going to go play the game when I go home tonight. I'll introduce my wife to it and hope she enjoys it as much as I do!

My many thanks and gratitude to you BIL, you have made me a very happy man

(Also, thanks Obiwanshinobi for the contribution).

[BIL]

Glad I could help.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Was it the first Wonder Boy game you could play as a girlie?

[CIT]

Nope, that was Monster World IV.

[Obiwanshinobi]

This came out six years before Monster World IV.