Willy Beamish is introduced as a Generation Y brat archetype of early 90s, being the middle child in a typical American family, who is occasionally visited by his grandfather's ghost. He is obsessed with science fiction, console games and hanging out with his gang, while he is tormented by older school bullies, and his younger and older late-teenage sisters.
As the game begins, Willy Beamish is sent to detention on the last day of school; his pet frog "Horny" disrupted the final school assembly by dislodging the principal's toupee. This initial scene is a good example of the game's array of choices presented to the player: Willy can stay in detention until it is over, but then he won't get home in time to pick up the mail and intercept the report card that shows a "C+" in Music Appreciation. To sneak out early, Willy must forge a hall pass and avoid the school bully.
Willy's ambition is to qualify for the national "Nintari" (a portmanteau of Nintendo and Atari) competition. This goal is quickly placed in dire jeopardy: his video game privileges are revoked. To further complicate the situation, Willy's father loses his job, the babysitter is a vampire, a street gang terrorizes the town, and a plumbers' revolt is on the horizon.
Besides failing to solve puzzles, a way to lose is with a score system called Trouble-O-meter. Doing things that will annoy his elders will raise the meter up. When it's filled, Willy is shipped off to military school and the game is over.
Reception
Despite the fact that it features a nine-year-old as the protagonist, much of the game's humour is adult-oriented, including sexual puns (such as a frog called "Horny", and a young blonde school nurse with large breasts) and some satire (including a parody of conservative American talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh).
A sequel was reportedly planned starring Willy Beamish as a late teenager, but the project was canceled.
Trivia
- The Sega CD edition of the game was noted for having a painfully slow loading time and slightly washed out colors, due to the hardware limitations of the system. In an effort to make up for the slow loading time, the game has a feature where the player can select the "Start" button and manipulate a set of twirling black and white balls, known in the manual as "Laser Balls". A glitch in some editions of the game caused the game to freeze up during certain scenes.
- The Sega CD edition of the game features a minigame on Willy's Nintari system in his bedroom (in the PC version, playing the Nintari just plays a cutscene of a videogame). The minigame, known as Super Space K'Noidtrix, combines elements of Space Invaders, Tetris and Arkanoid.
- The "talkie" CD versions of the game, besides adding voice actors, extend the game's introduction and replaced the still character portraits with animated versions. Additionally, while the floppy PC version offered the option of MT-32 sound and music, the CD version eliminates that option, leaving only Soundblaster and Pro Audio Spectrum as sound options.
- Certain retail boxes of the game included a mail-in form for a free Willy Beamish-themed wristwatch.
- The primary villain in the game is a parody of the late Leona Helmsley, the "Queen of Mean".
External links
- The Adventures of Willy Beamish at MobyGames
