Drink-a-penta-milk-a-day

Pentagorat is a new (well, a few months old) isometric platform game for the Commodore Vic-20. Yes, you read

Like someone with a weird accent saying “paint a goat”

that right. Taking the role of a wee dude who looks awfully like ZX Spectrum unofficial mascot Horace, the player finds themselves locked in a weird castle without explanation and has to find their way out. Despite the infamous “fat” pixels of the Vic, it all looks surprisingly good and, even better, moves at a fair old pace. The relatively small memory of the Vic also means that rather than the meandering corridors sometimes to be found in games of this type (yes, Bobby Bearing, I’m looking at you) puzzles and action come pretty thick and fast with most rooms providing some kind of challenge or conundrum to overcome.

Available as a digital file or in good old 1980s format. It tastes great, as part of this nutritious breakfast.

Exclusive Willy

The first room. Should have been called "Willy's Gone to the Dogs" or something.

A quick article this time around and one I was inspired to write when I discovered, today no less, that there’s another little-known entry to the Jet Set Willy series along with Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy II.

It’s called The Perils of Willy and was released only on the Vic 20 in 1984. It’s not a homage game, it’s  an actual official Miner Willy game published by Software Projects and it even has the distinctive art style used by the later games on its box art (check out its entry here to see). I was intrigued to say the least.

So, I found a copy and gave it a shot.

One of the first things people will wonder is “why didn’t it come out on the Spectrum, then?”. The answer is obvious as soon as you start playing: Perils is, basically, a poor man’s Manic Miner. It’s a screen-by-screen platform game where Willy has to collect all the objects on the screen (musical notes in this case) in a time limit to complete it. Due to the Vic’s 16K of memory it’s far more limited than the 1983 Spectrum game in terms of variety (although it supposedly has more screens – 33 in all) and the srooms lack names (something I always think removes a lot of atmosphere). The sound is technically better thanks to the Vic’s superior sound chip but the repetitive in-game tune is nowhere near as, well, likeable and atmospheric as Manic Miner‘s croaky rendition of In The Hall of the Mountain King and quickly becomes annoying.

Having said that, The Perils of Willy is actually not bad at all. It’s nowhere near as good as Manic Miner but once you get used to the games little quirks (such as Willy’s jump which feels ridiculously long and the Vic’s display which is lower resolution that the Spectrum and makes Willy look like he’s been at the pies) it’s an entertaining wee game in its own right and the screens are well laid out and satisfying to beat. In fact, it’s a bit of a shame that a converted version of this couldn’t have been knocked-up to provide a bonus B-Side to Jet Set Willy II. Worth a shot for Willy-heads (fnar).