wendy every witch way

content/articles/wario-land.md

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ tags:
     - 'Wario Land 3'
     - 'Wario Land 4'
     - 'Metroidvania'
+    - '2D Platformer'
 aliases:
     - '/articles/retrospectives/wario-land/'
 ---

content/games/wendy-every-witch-way.md

@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+---
+title: "Wendy: Every Witch Way - Great but Brief (and Pricey)"
+date: 2022-04-04
+game_platform: gbc
+score: 4
+howlongtobeat_id: 11125
+howlongtobeat_hrs: 1
+game_name: 'Wendy: Every Witch Way'
+game_genre: '2D Platformer'
+tags:
+  - '2D platformer'
+game_release_year: 2001
+game_developer: 'WayForward'
+---
+
+2001 was the year of the Game Boy Advance and the Gamecube---not the year of the Game Boy Color. Yet, a few developers did push on, including _WayForward_, who would eventually release the seminal 2D [metroidvania](/tags/metroidvania)-esque platformer _Shantae_ a full year later, well beyond the lifespan of the GBC. Wendy is technically speaking a licensed game, but the license it is based on is not well-known. Even the GBC game itself is probably not well-known, as dedicated handheld gamers were busy queueing up to get their hands on a purple GBA. 
+
+This immediately reveals _Wendy_'s biggest problem. There weren't many cartridges made, the game is a bit obscure, and against all odds, it is _very good_. Financially speaking, this obviously results in an expensive aftermarket price---provided you manage to get hold of it in the first place. I dropped `€55` for this at a retro game store in Oostend. It was the first time I actually saw the cartridge, and a quick GameValueNow check made the decision easier: the cartridge on average fetches for about `$89` nowadays. Yikes. Is it worth it? 
+
+Yes and no. 
+
+![](/img/games/wendy/upsidedown.jpg "Witches can run across ceilings. You didn't know?")
+
+Yes---the game is great, and we'll delve into that. No---the game is extremely short. Without speed running, it's easily finished in about 45 minutes---less than an hour! Fifty euros for an hour of retro platforming fun is very steep. Replayability is limited: the game only has 12 levels (spread in a 3x4 fashion) and there's little extra to collect except beating your high score. But there's no save state present, so you'll have to write that down, diminishing its appeal by quite a bit. 
+
+So what's the Witchy deal with this kiddy platformer? It's a late GBC game, meaning all sorts of technical stunts have been pulled to make this game look and sound gorgeous. I was genuinely disappointed to encounter the credits so soon. You play as Wendy, a little witch that accidentally opens up a chest to release 12 evil gems upon the world, thereby grounding some sort of scary looking castle. It's up to you to traverse all the levels and reclaim the gem to seal the evil back into the chest. 
+
+2D Game Boy Platformers are rarely known for their back story. Wendy can jump and shoot with her wand (which can power up if you collect enough stars). The unique premise of this game compared to other platformers is the fact that Wendy herself can "flip" during a jump, sticking to the ceiling, avoiding pits and all manner of sharp objects among the way. This opens up a lot of clever level design that has you flipping over Wendy several times every few seconds to navigate her through the castle maze. 
+
+![](/img/games/wendy/flying.jpg "In-between levels, the bonus stages has you fly on a broom stick.")
+
+The shortness of the game felt a bit of a missed opportunity as to me, the floor/ceiling gameplay mechanic could be explored and experimented with more to create truly crazy (and challenging) levels. Wendy is far from a hard game, and the concepts are gradually introduced without the need of any text. The music is catchy, but not great enough to stick around, even though some levels use recycled versions. In-between stages, a short broomstick flying session keeps you on your toes and has you collecting more stars. The more enemies you manage to zap with your wand, the higher the score. These sections feel a bit like a Schmup, which is a nice change of pacing.
+
+In the end, I just wanted to see more of _Wendy_. It feels like a nice introduction, and I'm ready for the serious work now, in the same vein as _Toki Tori_, which is also a late era 2001 GBC game. I could forgive early nineties original Game Boy games for not having a save or password system and being on the short size, but for _Wendy_, with such a beautiful game and original mechanic, it seems like a waste. 
+
+The question then is: are you, like me, willing to drop a lot of money on the cartridge for an hour of retro platforming fun, while there are at least as enjoyable others out there that are longer and cheaper, such as the [Wario Land](/articles/wario-land/) games?
+
+ 
+Screenshots courtesy of [Moby Games](https://www.mobygames.com/game/gameboy-color/wendy-every-witch-way).

content/games/wonderland-dizzy.md

@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ tags:
   - adventure
 ---
 
-Twenty-two years after the development of this NES adaptation of _Magicland Dizzy_, the code was rediscovered by Philip Oliver. A successful Kickstarter campaign later, it got its own physical NES cartridge release. As a non-UK resident, I've never seen any egg-tastic Dizzy-like adventures before, so naturally I had to try them out. Devoid of a ZX Spectrum or Amiga, I opted for _The Oliver Twins Collection_ [Evercade](/articles/evercade) cartridge instead. It contains 11 games, of which the majority featuring the lovely Yolkfolk. However, for some reason, most of the games are ports of the ZX Spectrum's originals. Why that choice was made is beyond me. It is clear the the Evercade is more than capable of emulating the Spectrum's Z80. 
+Twenty-two years after the development of this NES adaptation of _Magicland Dizzy_, the code was rediscovered by Philip Oliver. A successful Kickstarter campaign later, it got its own physical NES cartridge release. As a non-UK resident, I've never seen any egg-tastic Dizzy-like adventures before, so naturally I had to try them out. Devoid of a ZX Spectrum or Amiga, I opted for _The Oliver Twins Collection_ [Evercade](/articles/evercade) cartridge instead. It contains 11 games, of which the majority featuring the lovely Yolkfolk. However, for some reason, most of the Evercade games are not the ZX Spectrum's originals but NES ports. Why that choice was made is beyond me. It is clear the the Evercade is more than capable of emulating the Spectrum's Z80. 
 
 The (beautiful) [Amiga port](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAzmgWG_nUc) and [Spectrum original](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc5Ivdiy5cw) can be marveled at on YouTube, and do show similarities in gameplay and story. Since the Evercade instruction manual hinted at _Wonderland_ being the most accessible one for unexperienced egg-players, I started with this one.  Let's find out if this 22 year old Dizzy conversion was a great find, or if it was better left undiscovered. 
 
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ The (beautiful) [Amiga port](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAzmgWG_nUc) and [S
 
 ## The Dizzy principle
 
-A quick recap for the uninitiated---like me. In Dizzy games, you play as a lovely walking egg, who has to solve a certain amount of puzzles in order to rescue his friends or get something done. This involves picking up items and knowing where to match them to objects or the inhabitants of the world. An obvious one in _Wonderland Dizzy_ would be giving a pocket watch to a bunny complaining about the time and running around like a lunatic. A less obvious one involves giving a potion called "Drink Me" to someone to fix something else---I'll try to keep it spoiler free. 
+A quick recap for the uninitiated---myself included. In Dizzy games, you play as a lovely walking egg, who has to solve a certain amount of puzzles in order to rescue his friends or get something done. This involves picking up items and knowing where to match them to objects or the inhabitants of the world. An obvious one in _Wonderland Dizzy_ would be giving a pocket watch to a bunny complaining about the time and running around like a lunatic. A less obvious one involves giving a potion called "Drink Me" to someone to fix something else---I'll try to keep it spoiler free. 
 
 The catch is: Dizzy's pockets can only store three items at any time. So you have to (1) remember where you put your junk, (2) remember where everyone is or your encountered roadblock is, and (3) run back and forth a lot. That might sound like a lot of fun in the eighties, but it wasn't in 2022. The process is hampered by a few annoying shortcomings:
 

data/webmentions.json

@@ -1,4 +1,46 @@
 [
+    {
+        "author": {
+            "name": "Wouter Groeneveld",
+            "picture": "/pictures/brainbaking.com"
+        },
+        "name": "January 2022 In Review",
+        "content": "January 2022 is no more. This has been a very productive work month, but a boring personal one. I managed to score a contract with tech book publisher Manning! I’m writing a book on creativity for programmers, and the first rough draft is more or l...",
+        "published": "2022-02-02T00:00:00+00:00",
+        "url": "https://brainbaking.com/post/2022/02/january-2022/",
+        "type": "mention",
+        "source": "https://brainbaking.com/post/2022/02/january-2022/",
+        "target": "https://jefklakscodex.com/games/guacamelee/",
+        "relativeTarget": "/games/guacamelee/"
+    },
+    {
+        "author": {
+            "name": "Wouter Groeneveld",
+            "picture": "/pictures/brainbaking.com"
+        },
+        "name": "January 2022 In Review",
+        "content": "January 2022 is no more. This has been a very productive work month, but a boring personal one. I managed to score a contract with tech book publisher Manning! I’m writing a book on creativity for programmers, and the first rough draft is more or l...",
+        "published": "2022-02-02T00:00:00+00:00",
+        "url": "https://brainbaking.com/post/2022/02/january-2022/",
+        "type": "mention",
+        "source": "https://brainbaking.com/post/2022/02/january-2022/",
+        "target": "https://jefklakscodex.com/games/rayman-legends/",
+        "relativeTarget": "/games/rayman-legends/"
+    },
+    {
+        "author": {
+            "name": "Wouter Groeneveld",
+            "picture": "/pictures/brainbaking.com"
+        },
+        "name": "January 2022 In Review",
+        "content": "January 2022 is no more. This has been a very productive work month, but a boring personal one. I managed to score a contract with tech book publisher Manning! I’m writing a book on creativity for programmers, and the first rough draft is more or l...",
+        "published": "2022-02-02T00:00:00+00:00",
+        "url": "https://brainbaking.com/post/2022/02/january-2022/",
+        "type": "mention",
+        "source": "https://brainbaking.com/post/2022/02/january-2022/",
+        "target": "https://jefklakscodex.com/games/wonderland-dizzy/",
+        "relativeTarget": "/games/wonderland-dizzy/"
+    },
     {
         "author": {
             "name": "Wouter Groeneveld",