Activision/Visions
£9.99 cass only

Wonderboy is back. Now adolescent (and therefore Super?), young hero Tom-Tom is called on yet again to save Wonderland, this time from the clutches of nasty fire breathing dragon Meka, whose sole aim in life is to make everyone else's a complete misery. Armed with a sword spotty Tom-Tom ventures into Monster Land and adventure - and plenty of it! Vicious vampire bats, spooky skeletons, evil anacondas and mad mudmen vie for the honour of removing large chunks of Tom-Tom's energy (represented by a row of hearts in the status panel). Difficult to cope with only a sword...

Luckily leaping and bounding across Wonderland Tom-Tom comes across buildings which sport a door. More often than not they house traders. Knock on the door and you'll be offered a range of useful items including shields, magical weapons, armour, flying boots, information and healing potions. But these aren't given away, so collecting the coins you get from killing attacking creatures is a must. Use them wisely.

As in all good swashbuckling adventures arch baddies have to be tackled: each one holds the key to open a portcullis and so end each level. Expect a fair old battle, they're mean.

Super Wonderboy is a typically cute Japanese game that is deceptively no push over with a myriad of vicious and wondrous adversaries. The sprites are well defined, move around nicely and cause Tom-Tom a lot of aggro. 'Cute'game lovers and tough joystick-mangling gamesters alike will love Super Wonderboy. Go and buy a copy today, I'm sure Tom-Tom would be glad of the help.

MARK [91%]

After playing the original Wonder Boy when it came out on a compilation I wasn't expecting much of Super Wonderboy. What a surprise I got! This game is vastly superior with cute little monsters, loads of weapons to collect and an overall cartoony feel to it. Of course the idea behind the game isn't original but Super Wonderboy has its own special bits and pieces like the shops which can be visited for armour, weapons and cocktails(!). The only thing that lets it down is the multi-load system for each round, but there's nothing can be done about that. Super Wonderboy is great fun for the experienced games player or the person just starting out in the Spectrum world. I recommend it to anyone.
NICK [86%]

Activision
£9.99 cass/£14.99 disk
Reviewer: Duncan MacDonald

Yaaaaarrrghhh! It's a 'cute' game! A conversion of one of those coin-ops that the Japanese (and Matt) seem to be so fond of. The hero, Wonderboy (who's been promoted to the rank of 'Super' for some reason), is about as macho as Sue Pollard - at the beginning of the game he's even wearing a nappy, for Gawd's sake! Luckily, though, he soon gets given a suit of armour. I suppose I'd better tell you what happens next.

Well, you've seen Wonderboy (we gave it to you last ish, remember?), so you'll know the general format - an up/down, left/right scrolling platformy shoot-'em-up (in various hues of monochrome). Not unsurprisingly, Super Wonderboy is along the same lines, the main difference being that in this game you collect money after dispatching any nasties, and then have the chance to purchase your 'upgrades' in the shops which are scattered around the landscape. You can buy stuff like armour (which makes you harder to kill), shoes (which stop you getting horribleness between the toes when treading on doggy-doos - oh, and help you jump higher) and weapons (such as bombs, whirlwinds and lightning). Some of the shops aren't actually shops at all though. They contain mega-nasties, which, when killed, release absolutely loads of dosh and either an extra weapon or a key to the next level.

The levels themselves are quite varied (as in the Wonderboy we gave you). There's land to cross, water to cross, lava to cross, the latter two with the aid of little platforms, both static and moving. There are castles to enter, dungeons to trek through, ramparts to hop, skip and jump along, all the time waiting for the next nasty to come into view. There are loads of little 'surprises' in store for you as well as you trundle your way along the pathways. One second you'll be thinking something like "My word, what an incredible easy stretch of the game this is" when, all of a sudden, 'Poof!' ('Ere, are you calling Super Wonderboy a poof? Ed), you fall down into a hidden section of the game. It's more of the same, of course, but there are about eight billion juicy power-ups, so if you're particularly skill you can actually emerge from them (back into the main game) with roughly the same amount of energy as you had before you left, but with a whole bundle of bombs, armour and cash to boot.

The aim of your quest is to reach a giant dragon at the end of the game and kill it. (Which is probably why Wonderboy is wearing a nappy - in case it's scarier than he'd anticipated.) Killing the dragon means that, as you'd expect, you win the game. But it's not going to be easy - 'cos Super Wonderboy is big (big, big). And it's got a fair old rake of multiload waits to prove it. Too many in my opinion. I'm sure they could have squeezed bigger loads in if they'd wanted to. Another thing that I don't like is the way your main sprite sort of 'floats around' when you move him (make him jump, that is). This was far more 'solid' in the game we gave you.

Graphically, Super Wonderboy isn't quite as good as its predecessor either - things tend to be a little tricky to make out at times. It's not that bad though, so I won't have a mega-moan. Playability-wise, certainly, Super Wonderboy is a bit corky. The learning curve is well thought out and you really feel as if you've made good progress before you die. You also learn enough in the process to enable you to get much further the next time you have a go, but you still need to be a mite on the tenacious side.

It's quite lucky that we gave you Wonderboy last month, because it means that I know you've all played it. And what that means is that I can say this - if you absolutely loved Wonderboy, then you're really going to like Super Wonderboy too (but possibly not quite as much). But then if you absolutely loathed and detested Wonderboy then you'll hate Super Wonderboy with even more venom. Quite simple really, isn't it?

Label: Activision
Author: Images
Price: £9.99
Memory: 48K/128K
Joystick: various
Reviewer: Garth Sumpter

He's back! And he's going to need to wear a pair of asbestos underpants 'cos he's up against it this time (oo-er). He must free the trouble ridden residents of Wonderland from the vile and tortuous attentions of the ferocious fire breathing and general all round fascist no good, MEKA dragon it sounds like a tall order but our diminutive little hero Tom Tom the wonder boy, rises to the occasion with stunning bravado and guts a great conversion of the Sega coin op.

Okay, enough of the blurb, what about the game? Well, the game play is brilliant; Tom Tom must work his way from screen to screen destroying the ever present nasties as he goes. He begins his quest with no shoes and no shield and no money. He does however, have the benefit of a large weapon (chorf) and little morals (shame!), 'cos when he knifes a nasty, they usually leave behind a present of either gold pieces or bonus points. And what does our super goody little megastar do? He robs the bodies faster than you can say "You grave robbin' little bleeder". Occasionally mystery prizes will be left behind which can be anything - even some of the more useful items (and more about them later). Your gold total is shown on the left of the screen and filling Tom Tom's pockets is a crucial part of the game.

Play is a left, right, sproing affair with the fire button being used to add a little wellie to the proceedings. The space bar is used to open the variety of doors that can be found along the way and this is where the game gets its major plus points from. Open a door and lo, there's a shop where you can buy assorted goodies, a bar for a little chattlet, or... a dirty great sword wielding, death spitting baddie. If you have the moronic misfortune to pick the latter and are lucky enough to come out of it alive, oodles of dosh is left behind all of which can be used in the shops and taverns to strengthen Tom Tom's chances of coming out of it all alive.

There are five hearts which show Tom Tom's current health which slowly chip away with each bash by a nasty. There's also a Rip Van Winkle candle which burns slowly down until it gently splutters out - you can replenish them however by finding an hourglass.

Any special items that you find or buy (like bombs or whirlwinds are shown as an icon in the items box and better weapons with a greater bashing value are shown in terms of +1, +2 in the weapons box.

The graphics are very good - fat and colourful they are nicely defined and well animated. They don't work quite as well against more complicated backdrops but we can forgive these small criticisms because the overall feel of the game is great.

Activision
Spectrum £9.99, ST £19.99

He may be up to his third adventure on the Sega Master System, but here on the ST everyone's fave sprog Tom-Tom the Wonderboy has only just recovered from his forest-foraging exploits of two years ago.

While away on his travels, Tom-Tom's homeland has been invaded by a scourge of deadly small, woodland creatures. No-one knew the reason behind this rebellion of the animal kingdom; that is, no-one knew until the Wonderboy's return. It turns out that the animals' master, Meka the dragon, is taken aback at the indiscriminate slaughter of his furry chums at the hands of the kid with the skateboard and crash helmet, and has sent a plague of foul fauna to wipe out the inhabitants of Wonderland. And wipe them out he will, unless you take control of Tom-Tom, who has swapped his childish gear for a sword and a heart of stone, and go off in search of Meka to bring peace and justice to what is now a dangerous place to live.

Standing between Wonderboy and the liberation of his homeland is level upon level of arcade adventuring action, a change to the hack and slay of the original game. You begin in a small town, and must fight your way through villages, grasslands and underground caverns before you stumble upon Meka and your goal. Many of the baddies you encounter have some dosh on their person, which can be collected once the creature has been bitted over the head. This money can be used in any of the multitude of shops found along the way, which sell items such as beer to increase your energy, limited but powerful weaponry (including bombs, fireballs and lightning bolts) and armour.

Waltzing into some of the buildings brings you face to face with one of Meka's guardians, all heavily armoured and capable of ending your journey and life very quickly. These monsters must be killed, as they possess the keys to each of the end-of-level exits.

Super Wonder Boy is a fun piece of software with heavy console influences (hardly surprising - it's already been out on the Sega System). Its not the strongest license this year by any means, but that shouldn't stop fans snapping it up.

Spectrum 48/128 Cassette: £9.99
Commodore 64/128 Cassette: £9.99, Diskette: £14.99
Atari ST £24.99

SUPERBOY FOLLOWS IN DAD'S FOOTSTEPS

There's a dragon on the warpath in Monsterland and there's only one cheeky chappie who can stop him. Tom-Tom, known to his friends as Wonder Boy, is just the bloke for the job.

During your quest, you will meet many allies of the firebreathing Meka dragon. The menagerie of bats, anacondas and skeletons is helped out by an assortment of Japanese half breeds, However, each one can be quickly turned into a shiny coin with a swift slash from your sword.

Coins, of course, should be picked up as they are used for purchasing extra abilities. Enter a shop and a trader will appear, offering magic potions, armour, shields, bombs and whirlwinds.

You'll need all the help you can muster to get past the guardian of each level. On the defeat of each of the 27 monsters, you receive substantial cash remuneration and the prospect of an even tougher fight to come.

Super Wonder Boy is the second game in the Wonder Boy trilogy (versions of the third are already available on PC Engine and Sega) and Activision have done themselves proud. The eponymous super-character takes his job seriously, which is just as well - firebreathing dragons ain't that easy to kill you know.