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 North American 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.

Story

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.

Gameplay

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. Defeated enemies drop money bags or orbs, which power up the main shot after you collected 15 of them. You lose a life with one hit, unless you collect a cape (absorbs one hit) or bought needle and yarn (absorbs another hit).

Stages

The game has a total of 6 stages, all of which end with a shop where powerups may be purchased.

Notavailable.svg Stage 1 - Woods
Notavailable.svg Stage 2 - Trap House
Notavailable.svg Stage 3 - Lava Woods
Notavailable.svg Stage 4 - Castle, lower section
Notavailable.svg Stage 5 - Castle, upper section
Notavailable.svg Stage 6 - Dungeon

Shop items

  • Star - wave shot
  • Moon - circle motion shot
  • Sun - long beam shot, most powerful magic
  • Cape - take one hit without dying
  • Needle & Yarn - when in possession of the cape, take another hit without dying
  • Clock - an extra 30 seconds once the timer runs out

Versions

The game has been remixed for the Mega Drive port: Stage 2 got a new boss (was a reused stage 1 boss). Stage 3 got the Arcade version's Stage 4 boss (original stage 3 boss was also a reused boss). Stage 4 has been split up into stages 4 and 5, with new bosses added. These resulting stages also contain a few extra sections. The final series of rooms leading to Wardner has also been changed significantly, with the home port having the double amount of rooms and differing obstacles in them. The final boss had a safe spot just in front of his knee, allowing to defeat him with no effort. This has been fixed by changing his attack pattern. Various other changes exists such as different hidden bonuses, 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 objects in the background appear brighter than in the foreground. (TODO attach picture of stage 1 wine and stage 3 bird statue).

Trivia

By talking to the witch in stage 4, the timer will be reset. This can be abused to collect infinite score as certain enemies in this stage also reset. If this is also present in the Arcade version or not is currently unknown.

Magazine articles

Main article: Wardner/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #27: "October 1991" (1991-xx-xx)
also published in:
  • GamePro (US) #16bit: "16-bit Video Gaming: February 1992" (1992-xx-xx)[1]
Logo-pdf.svg

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
71 №47, p64/65[2]
75 №3, p43[3]
84 №22, p34/35[4]
80 №11
83 №17, p132[5]
43 №3, p79[6]
48 №5, p95
53 №5, p95
75 №1, p81[7]
84 №10, p70-72[8]
80 №23, p55
43 №25, p37
54 №6, p31[9]
25 №18, p68
48 №18, p68
85 №97, p42[10]
Sega Mega Drive
 64
Based on
16 reviews
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
1700 igr dlya Sega (RU)
30
[11]
ACE (UK)
71
[2]
ACE (UK) NTSC
75
[12]
Ação Games (BR)
75
[3]
Aktueller Software Markt (DE)
53
[13]
Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J
68
[14]
Console XS (UK) NTSC-J
48
[15]
Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide (UK)
74
[16]
Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J
53
[17]
GamePro (US) NTSC-U
84
[4]
Games-X (UK)
80
[18]
Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J
40
[19]
Joystick (FR)
83
[5]
Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK)
43
[6]
Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) NTSC-U
48
[20]
Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) NTSC-J
53
[20]
Mega Drive Fan (JP) NTSC-J
55
[21]
MegaTech (UK) NTSC
75
[7]
Mean Machines (UK) NTSC-J
84
[8]
Mean Machines Sega (UK)
75
[22]
Power Play (DE)
72
[23]
Sega Power (UK) NTSC-J
75
[24]
Sega Power (UK) NTSC-U
43
[25]
Sega Pro (UK)
54
[9]
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
[10]
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 Back.jpgWardner MD JP Cart.jpg
Cart
Wardnernomori md jp manual.pdf
Manual

References

  1. ↑ GamePro, "16-bit Video Gaming: February 1992" (US; 1992-xx-xx), page 13
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 File:ACE UK 47.pdf, page 64 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:ACE UK 47.pdf_p64" defined multiple times with different content
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 File:AcaoGames BR 003.pdf, page 43 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:AcaoGames BR 003.pdf_p43" defined multiple times with different content
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 File:GamePro US 022.pdf, page 36 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:GamePro US 022.pdf_p36" defined multiple times with different content
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 File:Joystick FR 017.pdf, page 132 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:Joystick FR 017.pdf_p132" defined multiple times with different content
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 File:MDAG UK 03.pdf, page 79 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:MDAG UK 03.pdf_p79" defined multiple times with different content
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 File:MegaTech UK 01.pdf, page 81 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:MegaTech UK 01.pdf_p81" defined multiple times with different content
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 File:MeanMachines UK 10.pdf, page 70 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:MeanMachines UK 10.pdf_p70" defined multiple times with different content
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 File:SegaPro UK 06.pdf, page 31 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:SegaPro UK 06.pdf_p31" defined multiple times with different content
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 File:Tilt FR 097.pdf, page 42 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:Tilt FR 097.pdf_p42" defined multiple times with different content
  11. ↑ 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 332
  12. ↑ ACE, "December 1991" (UK; 1991-11-08), page 127
  13. ↑ Aktueller Software Markt, "August/September 1991" (DE; 1991-07-26), page 118
  14. ↑ Beep! MegaDrive, "April 1991" (JP; 1991-03-08), page 30
  15. ↑ Console XS, "June/July 1992" (UK; 1992-04-23), page 136
  16. ↑ Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide, "" (UK; 1993-11-18), page 114
  17. ↑ Famitsu, "" (JP; 1991-0x-xx), page 1
  18. ↑ Games-X, "4th-10th July 1991" (UK; 1991-07-04), page 40
  19. ↑ Hippon Super, "April 1991" (JP; 1991-03-04), page 42
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming, "January 1993" (UK; 199x-xx-xx), page 95
  21. ↑ Mega Drive Fan, "July 1991" (JP; 1991-06-08), page 85
  22. ↑ Mean Machines Sega, "October 1992" (UK; 1992-09-xx), page 142
  23. ↑ Power Play, "8/91" (DE; 1991-07-1x), page 118
  24. ↑ Sega Power, "October 1991" (UK; 1991-09-05), page 55
  25. ↑ Sega Power, "December 1991" (UK; 1991-10-30), page 37
  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
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