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

55. León Willy

Author: Pedro Magallares Ocaña

Year: 2023

Language: English and Spanish

León Willy is the first JSW game created by Pedro Magallares Ocaña. Pedro designed the game in 2001, crafting a navigable and charming environment inspired by ancient cultures, historical events, movies, songs and his personal life. In December 2007, he published León Willy on SceneBeta, a Spanish forum dedicated to the video game scene, especially consoles. However, that version did not seem to reach fans within the MM & JSW community (although SceneBeta is no longer active, the page dedicated to "León Willy" is still accessible here). Pedro also mentioned the existence of a new game of his authorship on the Yahoo! MM and JSW Group in October 2012 and shared it privately with Daniel Gromann. At that time, he did not continue developing the game, considering it completed.

In 2023, Daniel approached Pedro about a possible release of the game, offering to handle some "postproduction" aspects, including adding custom loading and title screens, varied in-game tunes and numerous other enhancements. Pedro graciously accepted that offer, and thus, León Willy was reborn, rejuvenated and gamma-released in November 2023 in two language versions: its original Spanish and English.

The background story revolves around Willy waking up in a hotel room after a particularly wild party, disoriented and uncertain of his whereabouts. He slowly recalls acquiring a new residence somewhere in Spain - the name "Villamagna" echoes persistently in his mind. Willy notices that something strange seems to have happened to his body, and soon discoveres, to his dismay, that he has turned into a lion! Maria, his faithful albeit occasionally exasperating housekeeper, accompanied him on this trip and now blocks the entrance to the bedroom in his new residence, demanding that he should recover all of the valuable items he misplaced during the previous night's revelry. Willy realizes that the search for the lost items in this unfamiliar locale could evolve into yet another thrilling adventure and, with a mighty roar of a lion that echoes through the dawn, embarks on this new quest.

Apart from its atmospheric and diverse rooms, León Willy introduces some technical novelties. It is likely the first JSW48 game where, in some rooms, you can survive a fall from any height, while in others, you will meet your demise. This is clearly indicated by the colour of the room name - if it is green, you can fall safely, but if it is red, exceeding the normal falling height will result in death.

Another novelty involves the in-game music. The game showcases a title-screen tune and 14 in-game tunes that have never been used in any JSW game before. The innovation is that the in-game tune initiates from the first note if a different tune was playing before Willy entered the current room; however, it continues if the same tune was already playing.

Number of edited rooms: 63

Number of rooms accessible without cheating: 63

Number of rooms which need to be visited to complete the game: 63

Number of items to collect: 256

Bugfix needed after original release? NO

Spare lives at the start: 7

Completable without loss of life? YES

Starting time: 7:00 am

Best documented completion time with no unnecessary loss of life: No walkthrough is available publicly yet.

Download links

Original release

The ZIP file of the original release, including the game in TAP and TZX format and the Readme, both the game and the documentation in English and Spanish language versions