The Perils of Willy
- Publisher: Software Projects
- Release Date: 1984
- Controls: Keyboard or Joystick
- Graphics: Pixel Perfect
- Audio: A bit annoying
- Gameplay: Addictive
- Emulation: 16K RAM + Autoload
- < View the video >
- < View @ Retro Gamer Magazine >
- Rating:
Oh what a night, drinking, dancing and singing ’till dawn. Now it’s time for all the revellers to make their way home. Being a little worse for drink, you decide to walk home in the cool night air, rather than taking a taxi. Singing merrily along the way, you walk through the park and skip lightly over the ducks and catch notes of music that seem to hang in the air. But be careful when approaching the railway, trains still run at this time of day and wild dogs are in search of food!! When you have collected all the notes on the level you will proceed to the next level, collecting a time bonus on the way.
So you are Willy, from Miner Willy and Jet Set Willy fame, drunk and stumbling your way home through 33 challenging levels. It’s a standard platformer by design which sees you timing jumps to get to hard to reach platforms and treasure notes or to avoid the nasties that patrol parts of the screen. To help or hinder you along the way are collapsible platforms that crumble under foot and conveyor belts that force you to wander in the same direction they are rolling. All this to collect a number of notes strategically placed around the level to proceed to the next.
Everything on screen moves smoothly, pixel by pixel although with some flicker, but this is forgiven by most Vic owners as many games at the time were usually constrained to moving on a grid of 8 pixels due to the way the Vic 20 screen memory is character mapped. While the graphics give a good first impression, the music on the other hand soon becomes annoying as it loops a very short tune over and over and over and you can’t turn it off. The volume control on the telly is definitely recommended!
The first level eases you in gently, with enough challenge to get used to how Willy moves and requiring a little thought about your route through the screen. It may not be immediately obvious but there’s been more thought placed in the design of the levels and the way Willy moves than is first apparent. For example, Willy has a big toe that you can use to your advantage and which is sometimes the only way to navigate tricky areas of the screen. When you fall or jump, your toe can catch on to a platform next to you. Turning the other way will allow you to unhook if you wish or you can choose to walk fully on to the platform. Not something I think I’ve seen in other games in the series. Another design feature is that when you jump, you jump exactly two blocks and one pixel. That last pixel means your top hat will just about poke up through the platforms above so care must be taken to avoid the nasties that might be patrolling directly above you.
The nasties are varied from level to level and some require careful timing when jumping over them. Generally they move either vertically or horizontally. Sometimes patience is required to find the best time to jump past the various nasties when there are several in close proxity but sometimes quick reflexes are the only way to get through. Yet with all this the game is never unfair. Collision is pixel perfect and when you loose a life you know it is because you messed up.
The Perils of Willy is a real gem on the Vic 20 and gives others such as Manic Miner a run for their money. The graphics may make Willy wider, due to the Vic screen resolution, which may put you off playing if you’re used to Jet Set Willy on the C64 for example, but give it a chance and you’ll soon be losing many hours trying to get that little bit further.
7 Responses to “The Perils of Willy”
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Ah, and I always wondered how this particular Willy game played and what it looked liked in action. Excellent write-up, top quality video and a most fantastic all around!
Keep it up!
The annoying tune is the “Stairway to Heaven” intro!! And lose is spelt lose!
oops, corrected.
Great to see this old classic in action !
The good thing i liked about this game
was you had a choice
“keyboard” or “Joystick”
Claim to fame - I went to school in Yorkshire with the guy who developed this. I bought an early 3-screen version off him for £2 which had few a graphic glitches but worked extremely well. He showed me the 6502 hand-written code on sheets of A4. I just wish I still had it. Its pure class.
Amazing!
I used to think this was the best game ever. So exclusive you had to be rich just to afford the 16k to run it.