Another dip into my retro game collection and this time it’s Super Wonderboy: In MonsterLand for the Commodore 64. Released in 1989 by Activision a couple of years after the arcade original, this sequel sees Tom-Tom return for more classic platform action and swaps his hammer & skateboard for shiny new sword..and a bit later on, a shield…and helmet…and boots…and etc etc.

This time around our heroes quest is to defeat the fire breathing dragon Meka and his minions who have turned Wonder land into Monster land.

Gold coins as rewarded for defeating enemies as you progress through each level and can be exchanged for weapons, magical items, armour and many other items to help you along the way.

Right, there should be a hidden life heart around here somewhere I think!

Graphically the C64 port is full of color and renders a pretty good arcade conversion despite the limited hardware.  Animation can be a little ropey sometimes and the choice of colors used can often make enemies hard to spot but best of all, most of the original arcade music is present and played out very nicely thanks to talented SID chip.

Face off time and one of us is going to get hurt.

If you can live with the annoying multi-load section after each level, the C64 version is a fun little title to play and I bet it can be picked up for next to nothing nowadays.

1989 – Three paper rounds worth of  wages, a trip into the city to visit the computer shop, pick up a game and just enough change left for the bus fare home. Sadly the computer shop (Intoto in Nottingham) is no longer there…it’s a coffee shop now.

If you’re lucky enough to own a PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16, I highly recommend tracking down the Hudson Soft conversion as it’s practically arcade perfect and comes under the name Bikkuriman World. Alternatively, it’s also out for the Nintendo Wii virtual console although I think this is the Sega Master System Version.