Genre: Platform
Developer: Westone
Publisher: Sega
Year: 1986
Platform: Game Gear
Wonder Boy for Game Gear, known as “Revenge of Drancon” in North America, is a side-scrolling platformer featuring the protagonist Tom-Tom on a quest to rescue his kidnapped girlfriend Tanya. The game takes the player through a variety of exotic environments, such as deep forests, oceans, volcanoes, and skies, while facing diverse enemies like bees, spiders, snakes, and octopuses. Tom-Tom’s primary weapon is his hatchet, which he uses to defend himself from these threats.
The game features multiple areas, each with several rounds and a boss at the end. Unique gameplay elements include the use of eggs that reveal various power-ups, such as hatchets, skateboards, and health items like mushrooms and milk. The skateboard power-up allows Tom-Tom to move faster through each round, and collecting special items can trigger bonus stages where the player collects hearts in the clouds, aiding progression through the game. Care must be taken to avoid speckled eggs, which release the God of Death and cause life to decrease rapidly.
The Game Gear version offers colorful and detailed 8-bit graphics that impressively capture the game’s varied environments, maintaining the charm seen in the Master System counterpart. The game requires patience and memorization of tricky sections to succeed, but it remains a beloved classic platformer that offers a rewarding experience for fans of the genre.
