Wizkid
Encyclopedia
Wizkid is a computer game for the Amiga
, Atari ST
and IBM PC
computers, developed by Sensible Software
and released by Ocean Software
in 1992.
Wizkid is officially the sequel to the earlier game Wizball
, developed and released by the same companies.
Nifta had restored colours to their world. They were both married (to different spouses, apparently) and had children: the Wiz had a son, Wizkid, and Nifta had eight kitten
s. All was peaceful and happy until the evil mouse
wizard Zark came and kidnapped the Wiz, Nifta, and all the kittens, imprisoning them in different parts of the world. It is Wizkid's job to save them.
Wizkid is a humorous arcade adventure game taking place over nine levels. Each level has a different style, with a different background picture and music
. The levels are:
In each level, the player plays the disembodied head
of Wizkid, which can fly around the screen in all four directions. The object is to knock various objects on top of enemies, killing them. When all enemies are killed, play proceeds to the next screen, and after all screens have been completed, proceeds to the next level.
In the action parts of the game, two bonus objects are on offer - a nose which allows Wizkid to juggle blocks, and teeth allowing him to grip them (they can even be taken to different screens - taking a large block onto a screen with only small blocks can be advantageous). The teeth are temporary, but failing to complete a level sees you lose either item. A bonus "Crossword 2091" screen is sometimes activated by failing to complete a level, in which the player is presented with a grid and a sequence of words, which must be arranged so as to interlock into a crossword-style arrangement. Completion of this, which involves a fair amount of trial and error, adds $500 to the bank balance.
The adventure aspect of the game comes into play when Wizkid manages to collect a whole sequence of bonus musical notes. This allows him to re-embody his head and interact with the background landscape. Items can be bought with money, and must be used throughout the game to collect enough kittens to reach Zark's Castle before Zark can get back. These puzzles often include humorous interludes - for example, on the first level you must distract a vicious-looking dog by giving him a newspaper
; moments later he can be seen reading it whilst sitting in an out-house toilet. There is one more mystery task to be completed in order to win the game.
Wizkid uses the famous "level warping" system originally introduced in Super Mario Bros.
in reverse. Playing only the arcade part only takes the player to levels 1, 4, 7 and 9. Hidden routes in the adventure part are required to access the other levels, and thus obtain enough kittens to complete the game. Level 3 must be completed in "head mode", and it features some of the harder screens.
Wizkid continued a thread common in Sensible Software games of introducing hidden obscenity in apparently justified gaming terms. In Wizkid, when the player completes the sequence of musical notes, all of them drop from the status display at the top of the screen into the play area, exploding into a number of gold coins which the player can collect for extra points. This sequence was referred to in the manual as the "golden shower".
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
, Atari ST
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
and IBM PC
IBM PC
The IBM Personal Computer, commonly known as the IBM PC, is the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform. It is IBM model number 5150, and was introduced on August 12, 1981...
computers, developed by Sensible Software
Sensible Software
Sensible Software was a software house active during the 1980s and 90s, from the United Kingdom.The company was well-known for the very small sprites used for the player characters in many of their games, including Sensible Soccer, Cannon Fodder and Sensible Golf.- Early history :Sensible Software...
and released by Ocean Software
Ocean Software
The British company Ocean Software was one of the biggest European video game developers/publishers of the 1980s and 90s...
in 1992.
Wizkid is officially the sequel to the earlier game Wizball
Wizball
Wizball is a computer game written by Jon Hare and Chris Yates and released in 1987 for the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC. Versions for the Amiga, Atari ST and PC were also released...
, developed and released by the same companies.
The game
The story starts after the Wiz and his catCat
The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
Nifta had restored colours to their world. They were both married (to different spouses, apparently) and had children: the Wiz had a son, Wizkid, and Nifta had eight kitten
Kitten
A kitten is a juvenile domesticated cat.The young of big cats are called cubs rather than kittens. Either term may be used for the young of smaller wild felids such as ocelots, caracals, and lynx, but "kitten" is usually more common for these species....
s. All was peaceful and happy until the evil mouse
Mouse
A mouse is a small mammal belonging to the order of rodents. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse . It is also a popular pet. In some places, certain kinds of field mice are also common. This rodent is eaten by large birds such as hawks and eagles...
wizard Zark came and kidnapped the Wiz, Nifta, and all the kittens, imprisoning them in different parts of the world. It is Wizkid's job to save them.
Wizkid is a humorous arcade adventure game taking place over nine levels. Each level has a different style, with a different background picture and music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
. The levels are:
- Sunset Wizoward, a normal rural landscape.
- Ahoy Wiz Maties, a sunken sailing shipSailing shipThe term sailing ship is now used to refer to any large wind-powered vessel. In technical terms, a ship was a sailing vessel with a specific rig of at least three masts, square rigged on all of them, making the sailing adjective redundant. In popular usage "ship" became associated with all large...
under water. - Mount Wizimanjaro, a volcanoVolcano2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...
. - Elementree my dear Wizkid, a giant treeTreeA tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
. - The Ghost of Wizkid Past, a graveyardGraveyardA graveyard is any place set aside for long-term burial of the dead, with or without monuments such as headstones...
. - Wizkid and the Wizball Mystery, a shoot 'em upShoot 'em upShoot 'em up is a subgenre of shooter video games. In a shoot 'em up, the player controls a lone character, often in a spacecraft or aircraft, shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks. The genre in turn encompasses various types or subgenres and critics differ on exactly what...
game similar to the bonus sequence in Wizball. - Wizkid goes to the Circus, a circus.
- Wizkid meets Dog Girl, a woman who barks like a dogDogThe domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
. - Jailhouse Wiz, a giant turtleTurtleTurtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...
with a jail on its back.
In each level, the player plays the disembodied head
Head
In anatomy, the head of an animal is the rostral part that usually comprises the brain, eyes, ears, nose and mouth . Some very simple animals may not have a head, but many bilaterally symmetric forms do....
of Wizkid, which can fly around the screen in all four directions. The object is to knock various objects on top of enemies, killing them. When all enemies are killed, play proceeds to the next screen, and after all screens have been completed, proceeds to the next level.
In the action parts of the game, two bonus objects are on offer - a nose which allows Wizkid to juggle blocks, and teeth allowing him to grip them (they can even be taken to different screens - taking a large block onto a screen with only small blocks can be advantageous). The teeth are temporary, but failing to complete a level sees you lose either item. A bonus "Crossword 2091" screen is sometimes activated by failing to complete a level, in which the player is presented with a grid and a sequence of words, which must be arranged so as to interlock into a crossword-style arrangement. Completion of this, which involves a fair amount of trial and error, adds $500 to the bank balance.
The adventure aspect of the game comes into play when Wizkid manages to collect a whole sequence of bonus musical notes. This allows him to re-embody his head and interact with the background landscape. Items can be bought with money, and must be used throughout the game to collect enough kittens to reach Zark's Castle before Zark can get back. These puzzles often include humorous interludes - for example, on the first level you must distract a vicious-looking dog by giving him a newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
; moments later he can be seen reading it whilst sitting in an out-house toilet. There is one more mystery task to be completed in order to win the game.
Wizkid uses the famous "level warping" system originally introduced in Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros.
is a 1985 platform video game developed by Nintendo, published for the Nintendo Entertainment System as a sequel to the 1983 game Mario Bros. In Super Mario Bros., the player controls Mario as he travels through the Mushroom Kingdom in order to rescue Princess Toadstool from the antagonist...
in reverse. Playing only the arcade part only takes the player to levels 1, 4, 7 and 9. Hidden routes in the adventure part are required to access the other levels, and thus obtain enough kittens to complete the game. Level 3 must be completed in "head mode", and it features some of the harder screens.
Wizkid continued a thread common in Sensible Software games of introducing hidden obscenity in apparently justified gaming terms. In Wizkid, when the player completes the sequence of musical notes, all of them drop from the status display at the top of the screen into the play area, exploding into a number of gold coins which the player can collect for extra points. This sequence was referred to in the manual as the "golden shower".