Wonder Boy (video game)

Lore & Background

Wonder Boy was released in arcades in 1986 by Sega, developed by Escape. The player controls a tribal caveman-like boy whose girlfriend Tina is kidnapped by the dark King (called Drancon in the Game Gear version). The game features seven areas, each with four rounds, where the player throws stone hatchets, rides skateboards, and collects food to maintain a constantly depleting vitality meter. Power-ups and curses come from breaking eggs, and collecting all 28 dolls unlocks a bonus eighth area. A two-player alternating mode is available.

The game was ported to the SG-1000 in Japan in 1986 with completely remade stages due to hardware limitations. The Master System and Game Gear versions were direct ports with two new areas, making nine total (plus a tenth bonus area for collecting all dolls). The home computer versions by Activision for ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, and Amstrad CPC in 1987 altered level themes to a repeating pattern of forest, ocean, cave, and nighttime forest. A mobile phone conversion was released in 2004.

Escape owned the game design rights while Sega held the Wonder Boy trademark, leading Escape to team with Hudson Soft for an NES conversion titled Adventure Island, featuring a new protagonist, Master Higgins, based on the arcade version without the Master System/Game Gear exclusive levels.

Reader's Guide

Wonder Boy is significant as the foundational title of a long-running series, followed by five sequels: Wonder Boy in Monster Land, Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair, Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap, Wonder Boy in Monster World, and Monster World IV. Its licensing arrangement led to the creation of the Adventure Island series by Hudson Soft, which became a separate franchise. The game was remade in high definition as Wonder Boy Returns, released on Steam in 2016 and later on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch as Wonder Boy Returns Remix. Emulated re-releases include the Wii Virtual Console in 2008 (Master System version), the Arcade Archives series for PlayStation 4 in 2014, and the Wonder Boy Collection in 2022 for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4, which includes arcade, Master System, SG-1000, and Game Gear versions. The game's arcade hardware used Sega's System 1 board with a Z80 processor and raster graphics at 256x224 resolution. The Master System and Game Gear ports introduced two new areas and modified controls, while the home computer versions suffered from a bug on the ZX Spectrum 128K that required booting in 48K mode. The game's legacy includes its influence on platform game design and its multiple ports across diverse systems.

Did You Know?

• The game is also known as Super Wonder Boy for its Sega Mark III release in Japan and Revenge of Drancon for its Game Gear release in North America.
• Collecting all 28 dolls in the arcade version unlocks a bonus eighth area.
• A bug in the ZX Spectrum 128K version prevented the fourth level from loading, forcing players to use 48K mode.