We are still waiting on a suitable Amiga AGA emulator with robust recording features before tackling such games.
Wonder Boy (JP)
Japanese release of Wonder Boy. Arcade conversion developed and released by SEGA in 1990. Also known as Revenge of Dracon in the US.
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Player's Review
"The evil King Drancon has kidnapped Tanya! Destroy the ferocious creatures and rescue you girl!"
SEGA's take on the arcade game developed by Escape/Westone Bit Entertainment in 1986. There are more levels and items are placed differently. Some gameplay mechanics have been changed or removed.
The game has 40 levels split over 10 areas. In each you need to traverse the stage jumping over enemies, obstacles and moving floors. You have a vitality meter that is counting down. If it depletes, you lose a life. Collect fruit to refill the bar. Collecting skateboard allows you to absorb one enemy hit but you are also constantly moving. Each stage has 4 checkpoints which you can restart from if you lose a life. Completing four Stages in each area leads you to a boss fight which is thankfully fairly simple. Just keep shooting the head and if he throws a fireball, just let it go over you head or high jump it if the boss is in the middle of the screen.
Each level also contains a Doll to find. Most of the time they are visible and easy to collect but a few are hidden in the rocks and also in the fire in the later stages. Area 9-4 may well be the end of the game however collecting all 36 dolls by the end of stage 9-4 allows you to move into area 10 and collect four more dolls. However, this is where Sega dropped the ball as the ending is exactly the same if finish at 9-4 or 10-4 with or without all 40 dolls. It feels unrewarding and leaves a bitter taste for all the effort it takes.
Within each level there is a hidden letter to find. Each time you collect four letters to spell SEGA, you are awarded an extra life. I have collected all the ones I can find and I am confident that I have them all. Not all levels seem to have them. I have shown a couple of of the bonus areas where they don't interfere with the collection of dolls or letters. Access is gained by collecting the toys or jewellery when found. You can then collect them again in the bonus area to a checkpoint in the level.
Once the game is finally over though the lack effort on sega's part shines through with no special ending or recognition of the dolls, letters and toys collected. Not even a credit roll. Even the Home Computer conversions made a better attempt to mimic the arcade game.
The only notable difference I could tell compared to the us/eu release is that layout of the level intro screen is different. This version was also released in 1990 with the mentioned screen changed for the us/eu 1991 release. Perhaps the image of tied up girl was deemed to much for western audiences ... At the end of the video I show some deaths and the continue screen.
00:00:00 - Area 1
00:07:11 - Area 2
00:14:20 - Area 3
00:21:38 - Area 4
00:29:15 - Area 5
00:36:52 - Area 6
00:44:28 - Area 7
00:20:28 - Area 8
01:00:20 - Area 9
01:08:20 - Area 10
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01:16:40 - 3 ways to die
SEGA's take on the arcade game developed by Escape/Westone Bit Entertainment in 1986. There are more levels and items are placed differently. Some gameplay mechanics have been changed or removed.
The game has 40 levels split over 10 areas. In each you need to traverse the stage jumping over enemies, obstacles and moving floors. You have a vitality meter that is counting down. If it depletes, you lose a life. Collect fruit to refill the bar. Collecting skateboard allows you to absorb one enemy hit but you are also constantly moving. Each stage has 4 checkpoints which you can restart from if you lose a life. Completing four Stages in each area leads you to a boss fight which is thankfully fairly simple. Just keep shooting the head and if he throws a fireball, just let it go over you head or high jump it if the boss is in the middle of the screen.
Each level also contains a Doll to find. Most of the time they are visible and easy to collect but a few are hidden in the rocks and also in the fire in the later stages. Area 9-4 may well be the end of the game however collecting all 36 dolls by the end of stage 9-4 allows you to move into area 10 and collect four more dolls. However, this is where Sega dropped the ball as the ending is exactly the same if finish at 9-4 or 10-4 with or without all 40 dolls. It feels unrewarding and leaves a bitter taste for all the effort it takes.
Within each level there is a hidden letter to find. Each time you collect four letters to spell SEGA, you are awarded an extra life. I have collected all the ones I can find and I am confident that I have them all. Not all levels seem to have them. I have shown a couple of of the bonus areas where they don't interfere with the collection of dolls or letters. Access is gained by collecting the toys or jewellery when found. You can then collect them again in the bonus area to a checkpoint in the level.
Once the game is finally over though the lack effort on sega's part shines through with no special ending or recognition of the dolls, letters and toys collected. Not even a credit roll. Even the Home Computer conversions made a better attempt to mimic the arcade game.
The only notable difference I could tell compared to the us/eu release is that layout of the level intro screen is different. This version was also released in 1990 with the mentioned screen changed for the us/eu 1991 release. Perhaps the image of tied up girl was deemed to much for western audiences ... At the end of the video I show some deaths and the continue screen.
00:00:00 - Area 1
00:07:11 - Area 2
00:14:20 - Area 3
00:21:38 - Area 4
00:29:15 - Area 5
00:36:52 - Area 6
00:44:28 - Area 7
00:20:28 - Area 8
01:00:20 - Area 9
01:08:20 - Area 10
----------------------
01:16:40 - 3 ways to die
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