Wonder Boy

Wonder Boy is the game that made a health bar out of fruit. Sega's 1986 platformer gives its hero a vitality meter that constantly drains, and the only way to keep it up is to collect the fruit scattered across every stage.

That one rule changes the whole structure. Where most platformers reward careful play, Wonder Boy punishes it - standing still drains the bar, so the intended pace is a sprint, and the stages are designed to be run rather than walked. Eggs scattered along the route hatch into power-ups: a skateboard that cannot stop, a hatchet that throws, a fairy that doubles your vitality and a protective bottle cap. The hero Tom-Tom pursues a villainous king through forests, hills, caves and a castle, with the axe being the only weapon. It was designed by Escape (Michishito Ishizuka) and released by Sega in 1986, and it spawned one of the longest-running platformer series in Japan - the Monster World games (also on this site) are its descendants. The US release was renamed Adventure Boy for licensing reasons that have since become a story in themselves.

• ▸A vitality meter that drains constantly and refills with fruit
• ▸Eggs that hatch into power-ups including a rideable skateboard
• ▸Stages designed to be run, not walked
• ▸The first game in the series that became Monster World