Wardner

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Wardner MDTitleScreen.png

Wardner
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Visco (JP) Mentrix Software (US)
Developer:
Genre: Action

















Release Date RRP Code

Wardner, called Wardner no Mori in Japan and Pyros in its initial US release, is a 1987 arcade platformer by Toaplan. Visco ported it to the Sega Mega Drive in 1991, removing Toaplan's name and publishing it in Japan as Wardner no Mori Special (ワードナの森ＳＰＥＣＩＡＬ). They would then license it to Mentrix Software for publication in the US as Wardner. The later developed Gods by The Bitmap Brothers shares some elements with this game.

A boy and a girl are wandering about when they get lost in the Forest of Wardner. Suddenly, a green spectre comes and kidnaps the girl, leaving the boy to find her. A and C jump. Jumping on vines will automatically latch you onto them to climb. Down crouches; you can jump while crouch and will need to do so to collect gold treasure, which serves as a currency. B shoots fire to destroy enemies with. You lose a life with one hit. Various power ups exists that increase fire power, jump height etc.

The game has a total of 5 stages. Each stage ends with a shop where powerups may be purchased with the gold.

Stages

  • Woods
  • Haunted House
  • Lava Woods
  • Castle
  • Castle Interior

Version differences

The game has been remixed for this port: The Arcade version’s stage 4 has been split up into stages 4 and 5. These stages contain a few extra sections. The final series of rooms leading to Wardner has also been chanegd signficantly, with the home port having the double amount of rooms and differing obstacles in them. Various other changes exists such as different hidden bonuses, extra bosses etc.

The graphical conversion left much to be desired. Parts of it, such as missing background details, world map and shop entrance graphics, can be explained by the small rom size. Other changes however, appear to have been avoidable. Multiple stages have pig parts of the color palette unused (TODO attach Hivepal picture of stage 2 and 3 palette). All enemies aside from the floating skulls draw their colors from this limited pool. Color positions were swapped for unknown reasons, so that objetcs in the background appear brighter than in the foreground. (TODO attach picture of stage 1 wine and stage 3 bird statue)

Physical Scans

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
71 №47, p64/65
80 №11
83 №17, p132
43 №3, p79
48 №5, p95
53 №5, p95
75 №1, p81[1]
84 №10, p70/71/72
80 №23, p55
43 №25, p37
54 №6, p31[2]
25 №18, p68
48 №18, p68
85 №97, p42
Sega Mega Drive
 62
Based on
14 reviews
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
1700 igr dlya Sega (RU)
30
[3]
ACE (UK)
71
[4]
ACE (UK) NTSC
75
[5]
Ação Games (BR)
75
[6]
Aktueller Software Markt (DE)
53
[7]
Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J
68
[8]
Console XS (UK) NTSC-J
48
[9]
Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide (UK)
74
[10]
Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J
53
[11]
GamePro (US) NTSC-U
84
[12]
Games-X (UK)
80
[13]
Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J
40
[14]
Joystick (FR)
83
[15]
Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK)
43
[16]
Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) NTSC-U
48
[17]
Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) NTSC-J
53
[17]
Mega Drive Fan (JP) NTSC-J
55
[18]
MegaTech (UK) NTSC
75
[19]
Mean Machines (UK) NTSC-J
84
[20]
Mean Machines Sega (UK)
75
[21]
Power Play (DE)
72
[22]
Sega Power (UK) NTSC-J
75
[23]
Sega Power (UK) NTSC-U
43
[24]
Sega Pro (UK)
54
[25]
Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-U
25
[26]
Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-J
48
[26]
Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J
61
[27]
Tilt (FR)
85
[28]
Sega Mega Drive
 62
Based on
28 reviews

Wardner

Mega Drive, US
Wardner MD US Box.png
Cover
Wardner md us cart.jpg
Cart
Mega Drive, JP
Wardner MD JP Box.jpg
Cover
Wardner MD JP CartTop.jpg
Wardner MD JP Cart.jpg
Cart
Wardnernomori md jp manual.pdf
Manual
  1. ↑ File:Megatech UK 01.pdf, page 81
  2. ↑ File:Segapro UK 06.pdf, page 31
  3. ↑ 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 332
  4. ↑ ACE, "August 1991" (UK; 1991-07-08), page 64
  5. ↑ ACE, "December 1991" (UK; 1991-11-08), page 127
  6. ↑ Ação Games, "Julho 1991" (BR; 1991-07-xx), page 43
  7. ↑ Aktueller Software Markt, "August/September 1991" (DE; 1991-07-26), page 118
  8. ↑ Beep! MegaDrive, "April 1991" (JP; 1991-03-08), page 30
  9. ↑ Console XS, "June/July 1992" (UK; 1992-04-23), page 136
  10. ↑ Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide, "" (UK; 1993-11-18), page 114
  11. ↑ Famitsu, "" (JP; 1991-0x-xx), page 1
  12. ↑ GamePro, "May 1991" (US; 1991-xx-xx), page 36
  13. ↑ Games-X, "4th-10th July 1991" (UK; 1991-07-04), page 40
  14. ↑ Hippon Super, "April 1991" (JP; 1991-03-04), page 42
  15. ↑ Joystick, "Juin 1991" (FR; 1991-0x-xx), page 132
  16. ↑ Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming, "November 1992" (UK; 1992-xx-xx), page 79
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming, "January 1993" (UK; 199x-xx-xx), page 95
  18. ↑ Mega Drive Fan, "July 1991" (JP; 1991-06-08), page 85
  19. ↑ MegaTech, "Xmas 1991" (UK; 1991-12-06), page 81
  20. ↑ Mean Machines, "July 1991" (UK; 1991-06-29), page 70
  21. ↑ Mean Machines Sega, "October 1992" (UK; 1992-09-xx), page 142
  22. ↑ Power Play, "8/91" (DE; 1991-07-1x), page 118
  23. ↑ Sega Power, "October 1991" (UK; 1991-09-05), page 55
  24. ↑ Sega Power, "December 1991" (UK; 1991-10-30), page 37
  25. ↑ Sega Pro, "April 1992" (UK; 1992-03-19), page 31
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Sega Pro, "April 1993" (UK; 1993-03-11), page 68
  27. ↑ Sega Saturn Magazine, "September 1995" (JP; 1995-08-08), page 87
  28. ↑ Tilt, "Décembre 1991" (FR; 1991-1x-xx), page 42
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