SonSon

The game is a 2-D sidescrolling platformer. The screen scrolls automatically, only stopping to fight major enemies. The screen features six continuous platforms that occasionally feature small gaps. Sonson and Tonton walk automatically across these platforms.

Released: 1 July 1984
Platforms: Arcade NES TurboGrafx-16 Wii
Genres: Arcade Platformer Shoot 'em up Shooter
Developers: Capcom
Publishers: Capcom
Modes: Co-op
Perspective: Side view
Themes: Action
Country: Japan
Age ratings: CLASS_IND L ESRB E PEGI 7
Languages: Japanese

About

SonSon is a 1984 platform video game developed and published by Capcom for arcades. It is loosely based on the Chinese novel Journey to the West. The player assumes the role of a monkey boy (who is patterned after Sun Wukong from the story) and fights their way from one side to another, eventually reaching the statue of Buddha. One battles bats, rats, and mad bombers along the way with his fighting rod that shoots balls of fire.

The game was ported from the arcade to the Family Computer in Japan. It is considered one of the greatest games of all time. A sequel, titled SonSon II, heavily based on Black Tiger, was released for the PC Engine, published by NEC Avenue. According to composer Manami Matsumae, the PC Engine title was made by Capcom, one of the few games that they developed for the console themselves.

Keywords

scrolling shooter
japanese mythology
high score
auto-scrolling levels
fruits
wii virtual console
journey to the west
fan translation - greek

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Pressing up or down will cause them to jump up or down to the next platform. Pressing left causes them to move more slowly than the screen scrolls, essentially continuing to move forward but at a reduced pace. Pressing right does the opposite - SonSon and TonTon will move across the platforms faster than the screen scrolls. The duo have only one attack - the ability to fire energy blasts from their staves.

Reception

In Japan, Game Machine listed SonSon on their August 1, 1984 issue as being the fifth most-successful table arcade unit of the month.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

Platform	Released	Regions
Arcade	31 December 1984	North America · Japan 31 December 1984
NES	31 December 1984	Japan · North America 8 February 1986 · Japan 8 February 1986
Wii	7 September 2010	Japan · North America 6 December 2010 · Europe 17 December 2010

Editions and related releases

Included in: Capcom GenerationsCapcom Generations 3: The First GenerationCapcom Classics Collection ReloadedCapcom Classics CollectionCapcom Coin-Op Classics Series 1Capcom Arcade Cabinet