Resource centre for ZX Spectrum games
using Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy game engines
Archive of the
Manic Miner & Jet Set Willy Yahoo! Group
messages
|
|
|
|
|
Message: 3112
Author: soa1000
Date: 29/11/2002
Subject: Responses to Drunken Master
Firstly, thanks for your support over the C16 remake project. I don't
think I'll be including the JSW II C64 screens to be honest - apart
from being too wide, I really love that game as it is and I'd rather
not try and crush it into the confines of conventional Spectrum
gaming. JSW II C64 was the first Willy game I ever played and remains
my favourite of all the conversions and remakes out there
As for other computers having extra rooms? Sort of. I know for a fact
that the MSX had at least one extra room, called the Maze I think.
There was a screenshot of it on Erix1's site, but I never managed to
find it in the game. For that reason, I decided against including it
since I don't know how it works (are there conveyor belts, items,
secrets? Where does it go in the game?). I shouldn't be surprised if
there are more such rooms in other conversions.
FWIW, Ewgf has all the ROMs from Erix1's page. He sent me the Dragon
and C16 games, and I guess I could ask for the others. Not yet
though - I have plenty to work through as it is
I was tempted to work in references to the Atari XL (?) version of
Jet Set Willy, which Erix1 rightly decried as the most vile JSW
conversion *of all time*. Where C16 has itself a cult following of at
least one person in me, nobody could like the Atari XL version, which
has grotesquely blocky guardians, an intolerable colour scheme (lots
of blue and yellow IIRC) and a ridiculously buggy collision
detection. I might pillage its graphics for a full-on JSW game one
day, as a full-on trip into insanity, but I've decided against fusing
it with the C16 conversion
JSWII C16 I might turn into another game, with the four individual
games linked by virtue of discreet teleporters. Overall it seems to
be slightly more truthful to the original, probably because they
split it across four tapes
As for the suggestions for ZX Hero, thanks for reminding me about
Alligata Blagger. Been trying to remember that game for a while.
And "Chubby Gristle" eh? Given my constant plans to sneak a Throbbing
Gristle reference or two into JSW, that might be useful in the
future ;)
Myself I was going to suggest Karnov, but it might be too detailed
for chopping up into JSW. Still a nice game though. BTW, although
they're probably obvious I'd also suggest any of the Monty Mole games
(including the versions of Wanted... and Auf Wiedersehen made for the
C16 - they're lame, but they have a handful of new and cool sprites)
and Dynamite Dan 1 and 2. The skull from Soul Miner is enlarged from
the Dynamite Dan 2 skull, and also appeared in Willy vs. the Beatles
[NB: getting graphics out of Dynamite Dan 1 requires some fiddling
with settings on SGE, but stick it out. There are some very cool
guardians in there.]
Oh how I wish there was an editor for Dynamite Dan or the Monty Mole
games :(
Feel free to have a swipe at Time Hole if you want to. I'm not trying
to make anyone do it, just if people feel they could knock a decent
game out of it, they're welcome to try their hand. I'd be interested
to see how it turns out
As for Jet Set Dick, can't help you there. Of course just because we
haven't seen it doesn't mean it isn't there. I could well believe
that there was such a game made which is lost in the mists of time,
even if it's just another fan edit. Alongside Andrew I've said a
thousand times by now there'll be loads of JSW games rotting away on
tapes in cupboards and drawers out there. There's no way that only
six or seven (?) people tried their hand at editing Jet Set Willy
between 1983 and 1998
For what it's worth, I have seen a C64 animation though, where Willy
gets blootered, staggers out of the pub and goes home. There he
insults the toilet, exposes himself to Maria and staggers back to the
pub where he is struck by shame and vows never to drink again. Then a
foot falls on him. You can probably find it with a bit of searching
The end of the animation, incidentally, mentioned a Monty Mole
animation that the animators were doing. Can't remember what it was
called now, although it brings back memories of the original
documentation to Willy vs. the Beatles (which I lost in a computer
crash ages ago) which has a running gag about a "lost" Monty Mole
game called Monty On The Job
As for the JSW rumour, I of course never heard that, being about five
at the time :) Plus I only had JSW on C64 and Amiga, up until I got
an internet connection and an emulator in '97. However, I think the
Desert Island rumour came before JSWII, and is why they put one in
there in the second game. According to Richard Hallas it was also
probably a defining factor in the presence raft in Dynamite Dan
And as for Mutant Zombie Chickens..., I remember an email sent from
Matthew Smith which was on the "Where Is Matthew Smith? Eh? EH?" page
which explained that it began as a franchise from Warner Bros to do a
Roadrunner game, then when they took the license away, it became
Mutant... I can't remember why it didn't come to fruition, but if
the "Where Is Matthew Smith" page is still up, I expect you can still
see the email and then you'll know everything I know
As for any nostalgia stories, I have quite a few from back in the
day, but they're really not worth retelling. The gist of my
experiences with JSW are this:
I got into the game in 1986-7, when I came home one day and found my
elder brother playing JSWII on the C64 (like I said, never owned a
Speccy). Instant love. After that I spent forever playing it, until
either a tape glitch or the slowly disintegrating C64 meant it
wouldn't play any more. So, Daniel (elder brother) dug out a copy of
JSW 1, which noticeably has a) much dingier colours than JSW 2, and
b) those damn staircases. Other than that it had its own tape glitch,
which I've mentioned before and which to the mind of this particular
child was the most fascinating thing in the world. I'm always
fascinated by what you end up with in corrupt videogames
So, after a while the C64 finally gave up the ghost. Or the keyboard
finally gave up the ghost. Or I broke the keyboard. Anyway, we
basically couldn't play it because the keyboard seemed to be putting
out random information that would fill the interface screen up and
render starting a programme impossible. After that I moped around
without a computer for a while, then got an Amiga, for which I had a
conversion of Amstrad Manic Miner (notable for the Central Cavern
being renamed House Of Mayhem) and then a few years later
(maybe '93), Daniel got me JSW for the Amiga. This was a very flash
remake of course - the Stephen McMaster version. I loved that, and
then I got his conversion of Manic Miner as well (which Erix1
reckoned was the best MM ever). Anyway, after a while I got the
internet, many emulated remakes of JSW, and all other odds-'n'-sods,
and here we are today. I wish I hadn't got without the Amiga now,
since all the currently available ROMs of the Stephen McMaster JSW
don't work properly :(
So yeah, I can chatter with the best of them :)
|
|
|