Wayne's World (video game)

Wayne's World is an action video game based on the film of the same name and released in 1993 by THQ. Different versions of the game were released; the NES and Game Boy games were developed by Radical Entertainment and feature both protagonists Wayne and Garth as playable characters. The Super NES and Sega Mega Drive/Genesis games were developed by Gray Matter and feature only Wayne as a playable character.

Wayne's World
Super NES cover art
Developer(s)Gray Matter Inc. (SNES, Mega Drive/Genesis)
Radical Entertainment (Game Boy, NES)
Robert Fiorini & Associates (DOS)
Publisher(s)THQ (console versions)
Capstone (DOS)
Designer(s)Johan Thornton (Game Boy)
Ed Konyha (Game Boy/NES)
Programmer(s)Johan Thornton (Game Boy)
Chris Lippmann (NES)[1]
Composer(s)Paul Wilkinson (Game Boy/NES)
Rob Wallace (DOS)
Peter Stone, Nick Eastridge (Genesis/SNES)
Platform(s)SNES, NES, Mega Drive/Genesis, Game Boy, DOS
ReleaseSuper NES:
  • NA: April 1993
  • EU: 1993
Sega Mega Drive/Genesis:
  • NA: February 18, 1993
Game Boy/NES:
  • NA: November 1993
Genre(s)2D action platformer
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay and premise

NES

The NES version keeps true to the plot of the original film, as the premise involves Wayne and Garth trying to stop a rich producer from buying their public access television show.[2] The first level takes place at Kramer's Music Store, where Wayne fights several sentient instruments to obtain the Excallbur,[3] such as guitars, drums, cymbals, saxophone, trumpets, and stacks of Barry Manilow records.[4] In the second level, Wayne and Garth go to the Gasworks to battle bouncers, martial artists, and tough guys[5] in order to meet Cassandra, who is performing with her band at the venue.[6] Following this encounter, Garth fights ninjas and black cats in an alleyway (level three)[7] while Wayne takes on security guards, floating television screens, black spiders, and power cords[8] at Ben's studio to find the show contract.[9] However, he fails to find it and, in the next level, goes to Ben's condo where not only does he try to get the contract but also save Cassandra from the producer.[10] There's a time limit to completing each stage.[11]

The player controls both characters, each with different attacks; Wayne uses karate kicks learned by his girlfriend Cassandra, and Garth is equipped with a 4000-volt laser gun.[12] Both characters can duck, jump regularly, and do a "cool major-high flip jump" activated by pressing A and up on the D-pad.[12] The player starts the game with four lives and 22 "worthiness" units representing health points.[11] Worthiness points can increase by collecting donuts and P power-ups that are garnered by killing enemies.[13] The P power-ups include two extra worthiness units and strengthen the power of Wayne and Garth's attacks, giving Wayne 20 "roundhouse kicks" and Garth 20 100-gigawatt blasts.[14] After completing each level, there's a bonus level consisting of several donuts for the player to collect; if all donuts are garnered, the player will receive an extra life.[15]

Super NES

At Noah's Arcade, Wayne and Garth get sucked into the game Zantar where Garth is captured by the titular purple gelatinous cube. In rescuing his friend, Wayne traverses through four levels, each surrealist versions of places he encounters in real life.[16] Along the way, Wayne is equipped with a guitar weapon that can be power-up'd with amps that execute larger chords, "chorus" power-ups that allow for three-chords to be played on screen at a time, a "distortion" icon that makes the chords move in "a distorted path," and a "homer" power-up that move towards enemies.[17] Other items Wayne can collect include "Schwing" items that obliterate all enemies currently on the screen, a thumbs-up icon increasing the player's "worthiness" level (although it's unknown and not explained in the manual what that is), hearts that serve as extra lives, and additional guitar items that increase the amount of notes Wayne can play at a time.[18]

The first level is Kramer's Music Store, where many instruments coming to life going after Wayne;[19] these includes accordions, trombones, shooting floating bagpipes, clarinets that shoot missiles from off screen, drums, falling guitars, kazoos that charge in swarms, cellos that attack with bows, and saxophones.[20] In the second level, Wayne finds himself shrank at Stan Mikita's Donut Shop,[21] with enemies like donut monsters, coffee cups, grease, steam blasts, and falling sugar cups attacking him.[22] What follows is the third level, Wayne and Garth's favorite nightclub named the Gasworks,[16][23] where sentient objects continue to serve as enemies; these include darts, bar stools, shooting disco balls, "rock 'n roll boots," gas jets, "six-legged Beatles," and shooting Yellow Submarines. Wayne also faces human bouncers in the level.[24] The final level is a fantasy version of a suburb Wayne used to live in, where he has a showdown with Zantar and saves Garth.[25]

Reception

Jonathan Davies of Super Play, reviewing the SNES version, was bored with it, describing its gameplay as only "jumping around collecting things" with the only appealing factors being its voice samples and Wayne and Garth's faces.[31]

Computer Gaming World stated in 1993 that the PC version of "Wayne's World is, like, fun, man". The magazine recommended the game to those new to adventures, who would enjoy a "rather typical" game with "good humor, unexpected twists, and an odd setting".[33] Describing it as "bogus", a later review in the magazine advised against Wayne's World as an introductory adventure game for children.[34]

Commenting on the NES version, GamePro's Data Carvey praised the game's humor, such as with its enemies, between-level cutscenes, and manual, but panned its perceived lack of difficulty and poor presentation; he wrote that the enemies were easily beatable, the backgrounds and sprites were "undetailed" and "flat," and its audio consisted of a "pretty cheesy soundtrack" and sparse sound effects reminiscent of games from the 1980s.[27]

Super Pro's Sam Hickman named Wayne's World the worst SNES game of 1993.[35]

Notes
  1. The four critics in Electronic Gaming Monthly's review of the SNES version gave it different scores: a 3/10, 4/10, 5/10, and 6/10.[26]
  2. GamePro gave the NES version two 2/5 scores for graphics and sound, 2.5/5 for fun factor, and 3/5 for control.[27]
  3. Nintendo Power gave the NES version two 2.5/5 ratings for play control and challenge, and two 3/5 scores graphics/sound and theme/fun.[28]
  4. Nintendo Power gave the SNES version 3.6/5 for graphics and sounds, 3.1/5 for play control, 3.5/5 for challenge, and 3.3/5 for theme/fun.[29]
  5. In the review of the Genesis version from VideoGames & Computer Entertainment, its writer, Jeffrey Tschiltsch, gave it a 5/10, while four editors awarded it a 3/10, 4/10, 5/10, and 6/10.[32]

Other games

An adventure game based on the film was released for personal computers by Capstone. Argonaut was also developing a version for the unreleased Super NES CD-ROM upgrade.[36] Nothing is known of the gameplay, just that Argonaut planned to include footage from the movie and "a lot of heavy metal music".

References

Citations
  2. NES instruction manual 1993, pp. 2–3.
  3. NES instruction manual 1993, p. 8.
  4. NES instruction manual 1993, p. 9.
  5. NES instruction manual 1993, p. 13.
  6. NES instruction manual 1993, p. 12.
  7. NES instruction manual 1993, p. 14–15.
  8. NES instruction manual 1993, p. 17.
  9. NES instruction manual 1993, p. 16.
  10. NES instruction manual 1993, p. 18–19.
  11. NES instruction manual 1993, p. 6.
  12. NES instruction manual 1993, p. 5.
  13. NES instruction manual 1993, pp. 6–7.
  14. NES instruction manual 1993, p. 7.
  15. NES instruction manual 1993, p. 10.
  16. SNES instruction manual 1993, p. 2.
  17. SNES instruction manual 1993, p. 7.
  18. SNES instruction manual 1993, p. 6.
  19. SNES instruction manual 1993, p. 8.
  20. SNES instruction manual 1993, p. 9.
  21. SNES instruction manual 1993, p. 10.
  22. SNES instruction manual 1993, p. 11.
  23. SNES instruction manual 1993, p. 12.
  24. SNES instruction manual 1993, p. 13.
  25. SNES instruction manual 1993, p. 14–15.
  26. Harris, Steve; Semrad, Ed; Alessi, Martin; Sushi-X (February 1993). "Wayne's World". Electronic Gaming Monthly. Vol. 6 no. 43. p. 22.
  27. Carvey, Data (March 1994). "ProReview: Wayne's World". GamePro. No. 56. p. 110.
  28. "Wayne's World". Nintendo Power. Vol. 52. September 1993. p. 103, score on 107.
  29. "Wayne's World". Nintendo Power. Vol. 46. March 1993. p. 103, score on 107.
  30. Cheshire, Sophie (August 27, 2004). "Wayne's World". Sega-16. Archived from the original on January 2, 2010. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  31. Davies, Jonathan (July 1993). "Wayne's World". Super Play. No. 9. p. 71.
  32. Tschiltsch, Jeffrey (August 1993). "Wayne's World". VideoGames & Computer Entertainment. No. 55. p. 65.
  33. Goble, Gordon (November 1993). "Are These Guys Worthy?". Computer Gaming World. pp. 140–141. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  34. Germain, Jack (December 1993). "Wayne's World". Computer Gaming World. p. 174. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  35. "What About Us?". Super Pro. No. 14. January 1994. p. 101.
  36. An Interview with Argonaut Software. Electronic Gaming Monthly, May 1993. Page 111.

Bibliography
  • Wayne's World (NES) instruction manual. THQ Inc. 1993.
  • Wayne's World (SNES) instruction manual. THQ Inc. 1993.
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