JSW Central - Resource Centre for ZX Spectrum games based on Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy game engines

Resource centre for ZX Spectrum games
using Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy game engines

IV. Jet Set Willy 128 (JSW128)

Games using John Elliott's JSW128 game engine for the 128K Spectrum

2. Willy Comes Home

Author: Gary Pearce (Gawp!)

Year: 2000 (v. 1.1)

Third-party bugfix: 2024

Language: English

Willy Comes Home is the only JSW game gamma-released by Gary Pearce (Gawp!). It holds the distinction of being the first 'properly-edited' game using the JSW128 game engine. This is because Jet Set Willy 128, the very first game ever released in this category, mostly served as a demonstration of the engine's features, with the majority of its rooms sourced from the original JSW and Richard Hallas's Join the Jet-Set!. In fact, Gary began his editing work with Jet Set Willy 128, and the block designs in many rooms clearly reveal their origins in one of its source games. He used sprites from the original JSW, MM and Join the Jet-Set!, and also created some new ones. The game uses Hacklevel 6 of the JSW128 game engine.

THE BACKSTORY: After a whirlwind tour with rock star friends, Willy returns home after four months, reminiscing about his adventures over the years. Amidst banter with fellow rock legends, he reflects on past escapades, including being kidnapped by Technician Ted in '88, and anticipates his reunion with Maria while bracing himself for her potential mood. However, as the plane jolts violently and blinding lights whizz by on the left while flying above Willy's mansion, he worries about the safety of Maria and André. Upon arrival, he finds his mansion in disarray, seemingly falling apart, with strange lights in the night sky adding to the mystery. Investigating further, Willy discovers evidence of sinister activities within his home, possibly linked to NASA or volcanic activity from a nearby mountain. Maria, appearing distressed, retreats into the depths of the mansion. Suddenly disoriented by an unknown impact, Willy awakens on a conveyor that soon brings him to the Telepod, a place he had thought was a myth. He recalls warnings from his Uncle Colin about its unpredictable destinations. As he ponders the consequences, he realizes he must embark on a journey of rediscovery of his mansion, much of which has changed or seems to be falling down...

The author once stated on the MM/JSW Yahoo Group! he was "slightly more graphics-oriented than programmer" and that, consequently, his efforts tended to be more exploring-based, with greater emphasis on the 'look' of the game than on other elements, such as the quirky features of the engine. Indeed, Willy Comes Home boasts a large map that can be explored with relative ease.

The game was gamma-released in March 2000, with a corrected version 1.1 following in April of the same year. However, despite the update, v. 1.1 was still incompletable due to an uncollectable item in the room "Harbour Hangover" (083). Even with this issue fixed, Willy could not complete the toilet run because he would fall into a hole in the floor of "Bathroom (with purple bath)" (033), descending through "The Chapel"" (027) and repeatedly getting killed in "Ballroom West" (021), resulting in a very anticlimactic ending. An additional problem is that even with both issues discussed earlier fixed, upon reaching the toilet, Willy would get teleported to "A flash in the Pan" (201), since there is a teleporter, necessary for gameplay progression, that shares its location with the toilet. This ending does not seem correct, as the game file contains an edited sprite of Willy inside the toilet, suggesting that the game's author intended it for the traditional ending.

In June 2007, Robin Clive submitted a recording of the game to the RZX Archive; the recording was made using a modified game file, with the Harbour item problem fixed by removing the obstructing Fire cell and the Bathroom problem fixed by filling in the hole in the floor. However, Robin did not address the third problem described earlier and, as a result, at the end of the toilet run his playthrough ends in "A flash in the Pan" without reaching a proper conclusion.

A bugfixed, toilet-completable version of the game created by Daniel Gromann has been available for download on this page since March 2024. The "Harbour Hangover" item problem was solved by adding a platform from which Willy can jump for the item in question. The Bathroom hole problem was solved by adding some extra code that makes Willy jump during the toilet run, and the issue of teleportation near the toilet was resolved by adjusting the code to check for Willy's proximity to the toilet earlier.

Number of edited rooms: 202

Number of rooms accessible without cheating: 166

(36 rooms edited to varying degrees are unused in the game.)

Number of items to collect: 170

Bugfix needed after original release? YES

Official bugfix released? NO

Third-party bugfix released? YES

Spare lives at the start: 7

Completable without loss of life? YES

Starting time: 7:00 am

Best documented completion time with no loss of life: 8:57 am

Download links

Homepage	The game's homepage on JSW Remakes

Direct game download	Game files of both the original (v. 1.1) and bug-fixed versions in TAP and TZX format

Fixed version	Bugfixed, completable version of the game in TAP and TZX format with a Readme

World of Spectrum	The game's page on WoS

Spectrum Computing	The game's page on Spectrum Computing

Speccy Screenshot Maps	The game's map on Speccy Screenshot Maps

JSW Central	RZX walkthrough of the bugfixed version of the game showing the best documented completion time

RZX Archive	RZX walkthrough of a different, partly bugfixed version of the game (showing a completion of the game which is inferior to the best publicly available recording)