Wonder Boy (I) (1986 Video Game) User Reviews

Excellent iconic platform game for the SMS, but a bit too difficult for most

[CompuLOL · 8/10 · 22 October 2013]

Wonder Boy is a cute game starring a cute cave blonde kid wearing what appears to be a diaper made of leaves, in some love quest to rescue her GF; even though they seem too young to be getting in that type of situations in the first place. And although this is supposed to be in some sort of prehistoric setting, for some reason there's a skateboard an a helmet laying around in some dinosaurs' eggs; go figure. The gameplay is very simple, you jump with one button, and "attack" with the other. The quote reason being because that one also senselessly duals as a high jump; when it'd have being much better to do so in the standard motion way. So in order to perform an actual attack, you need a weapon; usually an axe, also found within said eggs. And in case you haven't figured it out by now; those eggs are the "powerup" mechanism; (quoting) since not all of them are good. And you're going to need all the help you can get; because even though is being targeted at children, it's much harder of what it seems at first glance (just like Alex Kidd) As a matter of fact; I'm certain most kids will be put off by the steep difficulty level, even with the infinite continues; which obv means they expected you to die, a lot. I mean, there's even a life bar at the top of the screen that has to be replenish with several types of fruits that appear from time to time. Because if you don't eat your food, you'll run out of stamina and lose a life. This is of course an excuse to time limit the levels; increasing the "level" of difficulty (pun intended); so you better be in a perennial rush-hurry! So the points displayed on screen when you catch a fruit are not merely bonus score; they are; but the forced, underlying life extending process itself is what's really important. The levels are varied and well designed, including locales and enemies like fires, caves, bees, stalactites, octopuses, water, clouds, ice, etc. So graphics are nice and colorful, albeit a little too pixelated and nondetailed, in lieu of the small sprite sizes. Music and sound FX are OK too. &BTW, this platformer was later ported on the NES under a converted star char, music, and name; Adventure Island. Both are virtually the same otherwise; especially levels and gameplay. But if I have to only pick one, I'd still be the original (ie, this one); as it slightly comes on top, IMHO.