Wonder Boy (video game)

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This article is about the first game in a series. For the series, see Wonder Boy. For other uses of the term, see Wonder boy.
Wonder Boy
Developer(s) Escape (Arcade version)
Sega (console versions)
Publisher(s) Sega
Platform(s) Arcade, Sega SG-1000, Sega Master System, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, Sega Game Gear, Virtual Console
Release date 1986
Genre(s) Platform
Mode(s) Single player
Input methods Joystick/joypad, keyboard (on some versions)
Cabinet Upright
Arcade system Sega System 1
Display Raster, standard resolution (Used: 256 x 224)
horizontal orientation

Wonder Boy (known as Super Wonder Boy in Japan and Revenge of Drancon on the North American Game Gear release) is a 1986 video game published by Sega and developed by Escape (later known as Westone Co. Ltd., not to be confused with Westone). It was the first in a long running series of games and was followed up by five sequels, Wonder Boy in Monster Land, Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap, Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair, Wonder Boy in Monster World and Monster World IV.

Originally designed for the arcade, it was later ported to the Sega SG-1000, Sega Master System and Sega Game Gear by Sega, and to the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC by Activision.

Contents

[edit] Gameplay

The "Wonder Boy" in question is a character known as "Tom-Tom" - a caveman-like character whose girlfriend, by the name of Tanya, has been captured by a monster. The player must guide Tom-Tom through nine "areas", each consisting of four "rounds", there are some "hidden levels" at the end of the game that can only be reached if Tom-Tom finds and collects all of the dolls, which are a likenesses of Tanya, that are hidden in every level. The levels are made up of forests, hills, oceans, caves, ice palaces and occasionally cloud lands. The levels always run from left-to-right, with some vertical movement.

A short example of Wonder Boy's gameplay
A short example of Wonder Boy's gameplay

Tom-Tom can arm himself with a stone hammer, which he can throw at oncoming foes, a skateboard with which he can rush through the levels and survive one attack by an enemy, and temporary protection by a fairy which allows him to destroy foes by simply running into them. All of the aforementioned power-ups are obtained by breaking open eggs. These eggs can also contain unpleasant surprises - curses, which cause Tom-Tom to lose vitality more quickly than usual, and poisonous mushrooms which reduce Tom-Tom's vitality in one go,"bad eggs" can be easily spotted as the are covered in red spots where as "good eggs" that contain hammers, skateboards and fairies are plain white. The player must remain aware of the vitality meter, which constantly runs down at a steady pace and can only be refilled by collecting fruit throughout the level. There is also one doll to collect in each level, which doubles the bonus points awarded at the end of the level and, as already mentioned, if all dolls are collected "hidden levels" are unlocked.

At the end of every "area" (thus every four levels), Tom-Tom will encounter an incarnation of chief antagonist Drancon as a boss character. Once defeated, Drancon's mask flies off and transforms into an item such as a tea cup or a piece of fruit for Tom-Tom to collect. Drancon then subsequently makes his escape.

A two-player mode was available, but as per many arcade titles of the era, it was a version of the one-player mode whereby each player would take alternate turns between lives.

[edit] Conversions

[edit] Master System and Game Gear ports

The Sega Master System and Game Gear ports of Wonder Boy were a direct port of the original arcade title, with some minor reductions to accommodate the more limited hardware, and original designs for the final levels in each area. The Game Gear port was entitled Revenge of Drancon in North America to avoid any confusion with Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap, which was released around the same time - the European Game Gear port kept the Wonder Boy title.

The graphics were lifted straight from the arcade version, but the HUD was restricted to a simple vitality bar -- the score and number of lives were displayed prior to starting the level. The sound was modified slightly to adapt it to the more limited audio hardware. The controls were modified slightly to make it possible to only perform a high jump when the run button was pressed, whereas it was possible in the arcade version to perform one simply by being in motion when jump was pressed.

It also featured an Easter egg in the form of a tenth area, which could be accessed by collecting every one of the 36 dolls in the game.

[edit] Non-console ports

The license to produce the home computer versions of Wonder Boy was awarded to Activision, who produced versions of the game for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC in 1987. The game was true in spirit to the original, although the levels beyond level 4 differed to allow for the necessary multi-load system. The first round of each area was always a forest, the second an ocean, the third a cave and the fourth a forest at nighttime (The C64 had round 1 at night time and round 4 during the day) -- this was not the case in the console and arcade versions, in which the areas provided more variation (although always with these same four themes). Interestingly, the Amstrad CPC version contained the graphics used in the C64 conversion, but the sound from the Spectrum conversion.

Some Spectrum versions were afflicted with a bug that prevented the game from preloading all four levels in 128K mode -- the fourth level's graphics would not load correctly, and it would be impossible for the player to move before the game crashed and the computer rebooted within around three seconds. As a result, 128K owners were forced to boot into 48K mode to run the game, and did not enjoy the benefit of having all levels preloaded as was designed. Under 48K mode, however, the 128K music still worked.

[edit] Mobile phone port

In 2004, Sega released a pixel-perfect conversion of the game designed for mobile phones. [1]

[edit] Nintendo Wii VC

On March 31, 2008, Wonder Boy was made available for play on the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console. The game is available for 500 Wii points, and is a direct port of the Sega Master System version. [1]

[edit] Clones

Escape/Westone had a licensing arrangement whereby they owned the rights to the game, but Sega retained rights to the main characters, bosses, and names. Because of this they teamed up with Hudson Soft to produce a conversion of the game for the NES, under a new license.

To get around the licensing issue, Hudson Soft simply had the graphics of the main character and the title changed. The result was Adventure Island, which instead of featuring Tom-Tom, featured a character known as Master Higgins, who bore a striking resemblance to Tom-Tom, albeit with a hat. The game was, however, Wonder Boy in all but name. In this arrangement, once again, Hudson Soft retained the rights to the character and name, allowing them to continue to produce future games using the Adventure Island name and characters. These sequels are not based on the Wonder Boy sequels.

[edit] Arcade hardware

The game ran on Sega's proprietary System 1 hardware, based on a Z80 processor running at 4 MHz. Audio was provided by two 2 MHz SN76496 chips with a 4 MHz Z80 co-processor. The graphics were provided by a raster video unit at a resolution of 256 x 224.

The game required a cabinet that provided a two-axis joystick and three input buttons - one to act a start button, two as gameplay buttons.

[edit] Emulation

The game can be emulated perfectly using the MAME emulator, with images of the ROM chips to hand. It emulates the US, Japanese and World arcade boards, as well as a number of bootleg versions and the so-called Wonder Boy Deluxe (which featured a DIP switch to control how fast the energy bar decreases). Of course, the Spectrum, C64, Amstrad CPC, Master System and Game Gear versions of the game can be emulated with suitable emulators for those machines.

[edit] Critical reaction

[edit] Arcade version

The game was lauded for the detailed, bright, colorful graphics and simple addictive gameplay. Criticisms include the lack of variety and what was considered then to be an overwhelming similarity to Super Mario Bros.[2]

[edit] Amstrad CPC version

Amstrad Action awarded the Amstrad CPC version of the game 68% on its original release in 1987, and 62% on its rerelease three years later.[citation needed] Computing with the Amstrad awarded the game 88% on its original release.[citation needed]

[edit] ZX Spectrum version

CRASH remained unconvinced, citing technical shortcomings, including poor character-based scrolling, considerable slowdown, and confusion induced by the monochrome display.[3]. On its rerelease, while quoting the aforementioned problems, the reviewer was willing to overlook them, highlighting the quality of the sprites and the fun offered by the game, and offering it 69%.[4]

Sinclair User was the most enthusiastic about the game, offering it 8 out of 10 on its original release,[5] and 72% on its rerelease.[6] Your Sinclair offered 7 out of 10 on its original release[7] and 67% on its rerelease.[8]

[edit] Mobile version

IGN awarded it 7.1 out of 10, praising its accuracy to the arcade original [2].

[edit] Fan base

Wonder Boy and its sequels have enjoyed a considerable fan base over the years, and the success that this has generated led to a number of sequels (listed below) being produced. The final worldwide release title, Wonder Boy in Monster World, was the last, due to the series being past its commercial prime, although a sequel, Monster World IV was released for Japanese consoles only. The fan base persists nonetheless, with a number of fan sites around the Internet, including the authors of the Meka emulator who have campaigned for the Wonder Boy series to be continued on the (now defunct) Dreamcast.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Cruis'n USA, Wonder Boy Hit Wii Virtual Console". Retrieved on 2008-04-02. 
  2. ^ Computer + Video Games Magazine July 1986 issue
  3. ^ Crash Magazine, issue 43, p. 82
  4. ^ Crash Magazine, issue 79, p. 49
  5. ^ Sinclair User Magazine, issue 65, p. 67
  6. ^ Sinclair User Magazine, issue 100, p.26
  7. ^ Your Sinclair Magazine, issue 20, p. 32
  8. ^ Your Sinclair Magazine, issue 54, p. 51

[edit] External links

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Wonder Boy video games