Insert Willy Joke Here…

Posted by oddbob on June 17, 2008 · Lovingly Filed Under Other peoples games 
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Play With Jet Set Willy

Oh, that headline works on *so* many levels, I’m sorry. I’m also sorry that I haven’t had chance to sort out the half mess that is this site at the moment, my wonderful flu has metamorphosed into snot central and is driving me spare. Thanks to everyone who left “get well wishes” though, much appreciated and it’s certainly something I’m planning on doing sooner rather than later.

A discussion over at Chez YakYak yesterday reminded me of a game I’d not thought about in a fair old while. I was aware of its development right from the beginning but due to various things going on at the time I didn’t actually realise the game had made it out into the wild. In fact, it landed out into the wild with such little in the way of publicity I was mildly convinced that the versions floating round the net were perhaps not quite as legit as they should be.

Of course ladies and gentlemen, this is the internet and it only takes a quick email to actually find out the cold hard facts and I’m happy to say that the developer of the game I’m about to mention has confirmed that it is indeed out in the wild and for sale and has been for the best part of 2 years now. Never let it be said I’m the quickest person in the world to catch on.

But why is it of any note or interest to anyone, dear readers? What is this game? It’s the last “officially licensed” entry in the Jet Set Willy canon and it is, perhaps, not quite what you’d anticipate.

It is *fanfare* Jet Set Racing and it takes our errant miner into Mario Kart territory all in the comfort of the palm of your hand. Or up against your ear, if that’s your sort of thing. Developed as a game for mobile phones not long after the also very nearly ill fated but excellent conversion of Jet Set Willy it landed with little more than a splut into the great wide world.

You’d think, knowing the rather insular nature of the retro scene that there’d at least be a minor kerfuffle given it’s a drastic change from the usual Willy template, or perhaps a strong love/hate divide. But it appears that no such thing occurred. Jet Set Racing flolloped out into the world with just about nobody noticing. It would appear that it doesn’t even warrant a listing in the fountain of all shite knowledge, Wikipedia (but then, Perils Of Willy sits there taunting you with its red “there is no link here” text but at least that gets a mention albeit with the annoying [life needed] tag).

And it’s a shame, because whilst it’s far from a great game - it’s filled with touching tributes to the original games and developed by a team with a clear respect for the source material. Ok, so on later levels the low resolution really begins to drag the game down as it becomes difficult to tell what is track and what is scenery, but for the most part it’s a very competent effort.

More importantly, we get to discover that the foot that crushes Willy when death is upon him has a name. For what it’s worth, it’s Terry.

Jet Set Racing

If you’re wondering, the Central Cavern robot is called Brian… There’s 3 modes of play for you to dip your toe into, the obligatory championship, a time trial mode and a practice mode. As well as the usual conventions you’d expect to see from a Mario Kart style racer, there’s also the obligatory (if it’s a Willy game) haul of objects to collect. Unlike Jet Set Willy, collecting all the objects won’t unfortunately cause you to slide through your house and stick your head down the toilet to vomit, but instead it’ll open up extra tracks and characters.

Each of the tracks appears to be styled on a different room from Jet Set Willy, so you’ll find yourself sliding around The Megatree, bombing through The Cold Room, into The Attic (but no bugs this time!). Actually, I tell a lie - there’s also a couple of tracks that seem to bear no relation to Jet Set Willy at all - a nightclub (which looks nothing like Stairways did I can assure you) and even an Area51 style zone with aliens phasing in and out. Aside from those, though…

If you’ve got this far and the question on your lips right now is “yes, that’s all well and good but is it worthy to carry the Jet Set Willy name?” I’m afraid the answer is “does it *really* matter?”, because as far as I’m concerned it doesn’t. Between The Perils Of Willy, JSWII and where the aborted Megatree was heading, it’s entirely likely that had the franchise continued to be milked then we’d have seen a series of games treating dear Willy in the same way that poor Dizzy got abused throughout the eighties. By virtue of Matthew Smith’s madness, we got away relatively scot free. At least till my compadre Mr Smila got hold of him… then worms, cans everywhere!

What it is though, is a simple and fun ride and if you can find a) a vendor that carries it legit and b) your phone can handle a nearly three year old game then it’s definitely worth a look. I wouldn’t say it does Willy proud, but it certainly doesn’t drag him through the mud for a kicking either.

Jet Set RacingJet Set RacingJet Set RacingJet Set Racing

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Speak your brains

2 Responses to “Insert Willy Joke Here…”

  1. Terry on June 17th, 2008 1:59 pm

    Bwahahaha!

    Also, get well soon - that flu sounds nasty :(

  2. Richard Phipps on June 19th, 2008 5:22 pm

    Your podcasts have gone a bit downhill mate..

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