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

54. Jet Set Willy: Role Reversal

Author: Sendy (Alex Cornhill)

Publisher: Arcane Design

Year: 2023

Language: English

Jet Set Willy: Role Reversal is the fifth JSW game released by Sendy (Alex Cornhill). It marks Sendy's comeback onto the MM/JSW scene after the better part of two decades since her previous gamma release. The game re-imagines the scenario of Jet Set Willy, with the roles reversed. The player plays as Maria, the Housekeeper, who must tidy up Willy's mansion (and for some reason, the surrounding area) before he will let her go to sleep.

The game's history goes back to 2003, when Vidar Eriksen (Erix1) made it possible for Sendy to create a JSW game using the extensions to the JSW48 game engine he had applied in his then recently released game Maria vs. Some Bastards. Erix1 sent Sendy a special program he had written, called Hackulator, and Sendy used it, along with JSWED, to create this new game in which Maria is made to tidy the house by Willy. She announced the start of the creation process in April 2003, saying that the game "is (a) done in a classical (rather than abstract) style (which is a departure and challenge to me), and (b) very atmospheric and similar in layout to JSW". In March 2004, Sendy uploaded a beta file of Jet Set Willy: Role Reversal to the MM/JSW Yahoo Group! Later on, the game was supposed to be released shortly, but the gamma-release never materialised.

Sendy restarted work on the game, using the 2004 beta file, in early 2023. Daniel Gromann contributed some custom code, including the title and loading screens, to the final version. The game was finally released in March 2023.

Jet Set Willy: Role Reversal is the second Erix1-mode JSW game ever released. Thanks to Vidar's numerous extensions to the JSW48 game engine, it has many features that are absent from the classic engine, such as enhanced graphics, crumbling cells, horizontal lifts, unidirectional guardians, switches and many others. The game has no in-game music (only gameplay-related sound effects).

According to the author, Jet Set Willy: Role Reversal "is a hard game to complete, perhaps a bit harder than regular Jet Set Willy, but beginners should be able to see most of the screens without too much trouble". An extra life is awarded for every 32 items collected.

Number of edited rooms: 62

Number of rooms accessible without cheating: 62

Number of rooms which need to be visited to complete the game: 62

Number of items to collect: 256

Bugfix needed after original release? NO

Spare lives at the start: 8

Bonus lives awarded? YES: 8

Completable without loss of life? YES

Starting time and the best documented completion time: N/A

(There is no clock in the game.)

Download links