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

II. Jet Set Willy (JSW48)

A. New games using Matthew Smith's original Jet Set Willy game engine for the 48K Spectrum and its modifications

11. Jet Set II

Also known as: Jet Set Willy II

Author: Stewart Fordyce

Publisher: Wizard Software

Year: 1985

Language: English

Jet Set II is a redesign of the original JSW created by Stewart Fordyce back in 1985. It was not known to the wider audience until October 2022, when it was added to ZXDB and Spectrum Computing by R-Tape, thus making its public debut in the internet era. Little is known about the game's author or the circumstances surrounding its creation.

GAME PREMISE: The player is instructed to "guide Willy around his brand new house", to "collect the objects to get some money in the bank" and then to "get to bed before 12:00 am".

Jet Set II has the same layout as the original JSW. Several rooms are completely modified - most notably, "THE FURNACE" (10) replaces "The Front Door", "JUMP IN THE MOTOR" (40) substitutes for "Dr Jones will never believe this", "Space Invaders" (55) replaces "West Bedroom" and "Above the West Bedroom" (57) bears no resemblance to its original version despite sharing the same name. While most rooms have been altered to varying degrees, some remain unchanged, such as "On the Roof" [18] and "Master Bedroom" [35], the latter now named "GET OUT YOU CREAP".

Guardian paths and item locations remain unaltered, although some guardian sprites have been modified. The title-screen and in-game music are the same as in the original JSW, while the scrolling title message has been edited.

The game as created by Stewart Fordyce was impossible to complete due to a critical bug in the room "Under the Drive" (45). Even with this issue corrected, the game would still only be bed-completable, as the wall in the middle of the Bathroom would prevent Willy from finalising the toilet run. A bug-fixed, toilet-completable version of the game, created by Daniel Gromann in March 2024, is available for download below.

Number of edited rooms: 60

Number of rooms accessible without cheating: 60

Number of rooms which need to be visited to complete the game: 57

(The rooms "The Kitchen" [23] and "Back Door" [53] can be omitted; the room "Jet Set Was Designed S.FORDYCE" [06] should be omitted as entering it results in a multiple-death scenario.)

Number of items to collect: 83

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? NO

Lives which need to be sacrificed to complete the game: 1

(A life has to be sacrificed to collect the leftmost item in "Conservatory Roof" [43].)

Starting time: 7:00 am

Best documented completion time with no unnecessary loss of life: 7:56 am

Download links

Direct game download	Game files of both the original and bug-fixed versions in TAP and TZX format

JSW Central	Game files of the bug-fixed version in TAP and TZX formats plus a Readme

Spectrum Computing	The game's page on Spectrum Computing

JSW Central	RZX walkthrough of the bug-fixed version of the game showing the best documented completion time