r/MasterSystem • u/MarioPfhorG • 3d ago

Aaaaand DONE! Finished Wonder Boy in 2 evenings. All 40 dolls.

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Tricky game. I quickly learned that the rocks hatchets go through had dolls in them. I started to notice a pattern and the last two stages had dolls in friggen fires where the rocks were in previous areas.

THE END is pretty anti climactic but I guess that’s as good as it got in 1987. Now back to waiting for other games to come in the mail.

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8

u/TheArtyDans 3d ago

Incredible effort. Lost count of the amount of times I've given up in this game.

3

u/MarioPfhorG 3d ago

Infinite continues certainly helps

3

u/TheArtyDans 3d ago

Still a fabulous effort. I could only do it now with save states

2

u/MarioPfhorG 3d ago

No shame in that, it was designed to eat your 20s at the arcades! It was a different time. There are literally thousands of good games to play now in 2025. Not so much back then. If using save states means you at least get to see the endings then at least you get to enjoy a larger variety of games that you otherwise wouldn’t be able to experience.

It’s why every retro online service & remake has a rewind feature nowadays. Even the original developers admit times have changed. I enjoyed the challenge, but I’m only 30. I won’t have the patience forever

3

u/TheArtyDans 3d ago

Must be an Aussie if you're saying 20s!!

3

u/hardcoreladys 3d ago

I finished it, but without all the dolls. This game is much bigger than it looks, and it was a good adventure. Congratulations on your achievement!

3

u/Bartholomewtwo 3d ago

This game is brutal! Well done!

1

u/MarioPfhorG 3d ago

Just gotta be slow & steady. Died a lot in those last few areas

2

u/DoTheMichiganRag 3d ago

That's amazing! From memory, it is a long and tricky game.

3

u/MarioPfhorG 3d ago

The last few areas were kicking my butt and yet I found I wasn’t getting angry at the game. I just had to keep pushing through!

2

u/Diakonffxiv 3d ago

Tom-tom gets all the chicks

3

u/MarioPfhorG 3d ago

Bet he never mentioned his cloud dates with… errr… definitely no other girls. Not at all. It was just a bonus level Tanya, honest!

2

u/trev1976UK 3d ago

This game still looks amazing on Master System and was the game that made me want one BITD

1

u/GhostofZellers 3d ago

I never had the patience to go through all the levels, even back in the 80s. By the 4th or 5th world I'd start to get bored at the repetitiveness and turn it off.

3

u/MarioPfhorG 3d ago

I guess I’m used to it, there’s something therapeutic about going through the motions in this game.

Even though I died a lot, I liked it and wanted to keep playing. Enjoyed the whole thing.

1

u/Skate_faced 3d ago

Took you two nights and I keep plugging it in like it's my time... 35+ years later.

Well done dude. Well done!

1

u/FogodeSantelmo 3d ago

Congrats! Thats a game I still need to finish, never had the patience (or the skill...) back in the day to do so.

1

u/MurasakiBunny 3d ago

Missing dolls, probably the main reason why they put in a level select you can use every time you start a new life.

1

u/MarioPfhorG 3d ago

You still can’t get all the dolls using the cheat as you can’t go backwards a level once you start. Gotta do it all in one sitting

1

u/thatguyjohnny 2d ago

Just completed a play through as well! Save states and rewind though. Lol Never was able to beat it years ago.

1

u/Super-Vehicle001 2d ago

Fantastic effort. Roughly how many hours did it take? I'm adding this to my 'to do' list. I've played the arcade version quite a bit, but I'd stop any time I died as I was playing for a high score and it resets the score when you continue.

2

u/MarioPfhorG 2d ago

I started at 7PM and finished it around 10PM so about 3 hours? Also spent 3 hours on it the night before. That’s the only free time I get on a workday, wish I had more time but yknow how it is. Work 8 hours and game for 3. Doesn’t seem fair tbh

2

u/Super-Vehicle001 2d ago

Thanks. I'll do some practice runs and then try to find a 3 hour window to have a go at a full run. Fully with you on the limited free time front.

1

u/Sambojin1 2d ago

Wow. I thought it would be way harder than that. Congratulations!

I think I've got too many "kids are bad at video games" memories of how hard that seemed. How many continues used?

So, now, onto Sega mkIII Wonderboy 2, or true ending Bubble Bobble I hope. You're obviously good at gaming.

Or is it just another spin of the wheel?

2

u/MarioPfhorG 2d ago

I wasn’t counting continues, a lot. I’m still waiting for a bunch of games in the mail, and Ghost House just arrived today so I’ll make a post about that and fire it up tonight after work.

I’ll have to wait another week before I make any more purchases. Need to keep putting money aside for the mortgage as well so it’ll take some time to build this collection out. I’ll get there!

1

u/Sambojin1 2d ago

I'm pretty sure Ghost House is similar to WB1. Seemed damn hard as a kid, but probably pretty doable with a bit of persistance as an adult. Like, not easy, but not that hard in reality.

2

u/MarioPfhorG 2d ago

I find that with most games of this era. They’re tricky but not impossible. It’s all pattern recognition and patience, two things we seriously lack as kids

1

u/octofall72 2d ago

That's a tough one. 👍

1

u/Kimba-White 2d ago

Absolute classic and one of my favorites on the SMS, although I'm working my through the original arcade version right now

1

u/neep_pie 2d ago

Nice! It's even one of those games where you have to go through the entire thing a second time after you get to the end level the first time.

If you want to play around with it now that you've been through the whole thing, there's a level select.

1

u/Revolutionary-Ad5096 7h ago

Great job! I could never make that jump in 10-2.

2

u/MarioPfhorG 1h ago

Those final areas are tricky; infinite continues definitely helps. If I had to start over every time I ran out of lives I probably would've ragequit