Willy Wombat
From Sega Retro
| Willy Wombat | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| System(s): Sega Saturn | ||||||||||
| Publisher: Hudson Soft, Wooyoung System (KR) | ||||||||||
| Developer: Westone[1] | ||||||||||
| Licensor: Susumu Matsushita Company[2] | ||||||||||
| Sound driver: SCSP/CD-DA (11 tracks) | ||||||||||
| Peripherals supported: SBom Joycard[3] | ||||||||||
| Genre: Action[4][5] | ||||||||||
| Number of players: 1 | ||||||||||
|
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Willy Wombat (ウィリーウォンバット) is a Sega Saturn action adventure game developed by Westone[1] and published by Hudson Soft exclusively in Japan in June 1997.[5] Featuring artwork and character designs by famed manga artist Susumu Matsushita, a pair of opening/ending songs performed by singer Dawn Marie Moore, and even full English-language voice acting, the game strongly embraces a theme of dark, Western comic books (particularly Batman) and was a relatively large undertaking for Hudson Soft. Despite the investment, Willy Wombat does not appear to have been as successful as its developers had forecast, with it being released to only above-average reviews from the Japanese gaming press. Curiously, its English voice acting would never be heard outside of Japan, as besides Hudson Soft's aversion to publishing American Saturn games, the title lackluster market reception likely shut down any plans of an international release.
Contents
Story
| “ | "Prison".
It is a beautiful, ideally managed society with a highly advanced civilization and rich nature. The people who live there are free from the curse of disease and death, and live safe and comfortable lives that continue forever. "Regeneration". However, one of the administrators, Willy, breaks the rules and escapes from the prison. Even giving up his position as an administrator and eternal life. Why did he escape from the prison? And what is he seeking? The story begins here. |
„ |
— JP manual[7] | ||
Gameplay
A third-person action platformer viewed from a 3/4 angle, the D-pad moves Willy around the screen, while the 
and 
buttons allow for the camera to be rotated 360 degrees. Willy's main attack is his double boomerangs, which allow him to throw up to two short projectiles at once by tapping 
. He can also execute a melee attack for nearby enemies by pressing 
. The 
button is used to jump over platforms and obstacles. Double-tapping the D-pad causes Willy to begin dashing in that direction.[8]
A number of features are found throughout the game's six stages, such as directional arrows to assist players from getting lost, to large yellow buttons which activate mechanisms within the stage, and even green map squares which pull up a stage map. Square metallic chutes transport players to different parts of the stage, and classic tropes like keyed doors and pits of lava are also common.[8]
Abilities
Items
| Crystal shard | |
|---|---|
| Collecting enough of the crystal shards scattered throughout stages rewards players with a hexagon medal.[8] | |
| Hexagon Medal | |
| Collecting each stage's three Hexagon Medals allows players to save in that area.[8] | |
| Yellow health pickup | |
| Replenishes one point of health.[8] | |
| Pink health pickup | |
| Replenishes five points of health.[8] | |
| Golden orb | |
| Collecting five golden orbs expands players' maximum health by one point.[8] | |
| Ancient Script | |
| Collecting a Blue, Yellow, or Red Ancient Script and bringing it to the save point of a completed stage unlocks the ability to pick up Force attacks.[8] | |
| Force attack | |
| Collecting a Blue, Yellow, or Red Force attack (by acquiring its corresponding Ancient Script) allows players to unleash a screen-clearing attack by pressing +.[8]
|
Stage
| Cave of Zibet | |
|---|---|
| Detriam City | |
| Megalo Canyon | |
| Morwegian Woods | |
| Ruins of Khuf | |
| Tron's Castle | |
History
Legacy
Willy Wombat's existence forced American developer Naughty Dog to change the name of their title character to "Crash Bandicoot", but whereas Crash Bandicoot and its sequels were a massive success for the PlayStation during the mid-to-late 90s, Willy Wombat saw a much more muted response, remaining exclusive to Japanese Saturns.
Production credits
- WILLY Charactor Design & Illustration: (C)Susumu Matsushita Company
- Game Design & Map Design: Ryuichi Nishizawa
- AQVsystem Development &Program: Michishito Ishizuka
- Map Design: Head Office, Michitaka Tsuruta, Jin W., Shunichi Takase, Koichi Yotsui, Yumitaka Saito
- Scenario Direction: Hiromi Nagata
- Scenario: Seiji Sugou
- Scenario Script Design: Masao Asakawa
- Sound Direction & Compose: Takeshi Sato
- Music: Chamy
- Sound Effect: Yoshiyuki Kadooka
- Sound Management: Taiji Ito
- Graphic Direction: Mina Morioka
- 3DCG & Enemy Charactor Design: D.D.N.The 2Nd. N. Isobe
- Texture & Main Charactor Design: Kuro
- CG Design: Satoshi Arai
- Record Direction: Michael T. Barlow
- Voice cast
- Willy: Tom West
- Notes: Jason Russel
- Mail: Deidre Merrell-Ikeda
- Tagdor: Jeff Manning
- Java: Dennis Falt
- Canvas: Lynn Harris
- WILLYWOMBAT Opening Theme: "Here To Stay"
- Words: Dawn Marie Moore
- Music: Chamy
- Song: Dawn Marie Moore
- WILLYWOMBAT Ending Theme: "Fearless Heart"
- Words: Dawn Marie Moore
- Music: Chamy
- Song: Dawn Marie Moore
- Mastering team: Shota Takahashi, Choshi Nakagawa, Tetsuya Komatsu
- Mastering Adviser: Hiroyuki Ohta, Jun Kanda, Riko Asuwa
- Special Thanks: 松岡 超 (大沢事務所), Rieko Sumi, Katsuo Saito, Tsuyoshi Murakami
- W.W.W.team & AQV SYSTEM
- Produce: Norihito Miyamoto
- Direction: Tomohisa Goi
- Presented by: Hudson Soft
Magazine articles
- Main article: Willy Wombat/Magazine articles.
Promotional material
also published in:
- Game Champ (KR) #1997-10: "xxxx" (199x-xx-xx)[10]
also published in:
- Game Champ (KR) #1997-12: "xxxx" (199x-xx-xx)[11]
Physical scans
| Sega Retro Average | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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69 |
|---|---|
| Based on 6 reviews | |
| Saturn, JP |
|---|
  Cover
|
 Spinecard  Disc  Manual  Inlay |
| Saturn, KR |
|---|
|
Technical information
- Main article: Willy Wombat/Technical information.
External links
- Official website (Japanese; archived)
- Willy Wombat -20th anniversary webpage- fansite
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 http://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/Westone_Bit_Entertainment
- ↑ [WillyWombat Saturn JP Box Back.jpg WillyWombat Saturn JP Box Back.jpg]
- ↑ https://tcrf.net/Willy_Wombat (Wayback Machine: 2023-09-11 06:50)
- ↑ File:WillyWombat Saturn JP Box Back.jpg
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 https://sega.jp/fb/segahard/ss/soft_licensee3.html (Wayback Machine: 2020-03-20 23:05)
- ↑ File:WillyWombat Saturn JP Flyer.pdf, page 2
- ↑ File:WillyWombat Saturn JP Manual.pdf, page 4
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 8.8 https://mushroom32x.neocities.org/Willy%20Wombat/ (Wayback Machine: 2025-01-18 06:07)
- ↑ File:Willy Wombat Saturn credits.pdf
- ↑ Game Champ, "xxxx" (KR; 199x-xx-xx), page 6
- ↑ Game Champ, "xxxx" (KR; 199x-xx-xx), page 16
- ↑ Famitsu, "1997-07-04" (JP; 1997-06-20), page 1
- ↑ Mega Force, "Septembre/Octobre 1997" (FR; 1997-0x-xx), page 42
- ↑ Saturn Fan, "1997 No. 12" (JP; 1997-06-xx), page 181
- ↑ Saturn Fan, "1997 No. 16" (JP; 1997-08-xx), page 90
- ↑ Sega Saturn Magazine, "1997-22 (1997-07-04)" (JP; 1997-06-20), page 176
- ↑ Sega Saturn Magazine, "Readers rating final data" (JP; 2000-03), page 13
| Willy Wombat | |
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Main page | Hidden content | Development | Magazine articles | Reception | Technical information | |
![[2]](#cite_note-WillyWombat_Saturn_JP_Box_Back.jpg-2){kind=link}