*Woody Woodpecker* SEGA Master System! (initial impressions)

[Raccoon Lad]

Ferias Frustradas do Pica Pau (woody woodpecker's frustrating vacation)

Well, more money spent, and ANOTHER un-dumped Brazil only Master System game comes into my posession.

I've only put a few minutes into this game, and I can definitely say it's quite a bit like the Megadrive version, but not exactly the same. This game was released in 1996, and based on a South American only Woody Woodpecker (Pica Pau) cartoon. The controll's kinda crappy, but marginally better than the Megadrive version, the sprites are also smaller than it's MD big brother.

Basically, Buzz Buzzard kidnaps your friends, and you go off to rescue them. You can jump and do your trademark Woody woodpecker jack-hammer pecking in all 4 directions.

Further impressions of the game to come when I'm not drunk.
*The megadrive versions been dumped and available on the net for a while, and you can see screenshots of it at genesiscollective.com to give you an idea what this game's like.

[Raccoon Lad]

Well, I made it all the way to level 3 last night.

One thing that struck me as odd was the continue screen...Woody looks like he's the size of a humming bird compared to the 2 bird houses that represent "continue" and "end"

Anyway you make your way through the first level pecking away at enemies, and fight a dog with a shotgun (I recognise the character, but I don't know his name). Peck him on the head a few times to beat him. What I found odd was there are squirrels in trees on this screen, and you can peck them to make them throw acorns...but they don't hurt the dog. Seems kinda pointless, but I'm sure the designers intended something for that, but forgot to implement it.
Defeat the boss, and you rescue Andy Panda, who says something in Portugese, to which you reply something else in Portugese.

The next level has you inside a building of some kind, going through a maze of doors to reach the end of the level. What really sucks is that you have to kill EVERY enemy, otherwise some doors won't open. Needless to say, this round is SLOW! Then you make it to the boss.
The boss of this round is that walrus guy that's often Woody's rival. I spent a few lives trying to figure out how to take him out... it seems you have to duck into the barrels on either side of teh screen, press up to warp to the other barrel, sneak up on the walruss and peck him in the ass! Clever idea, but the execution was horrid, and the warping from barrel to barrel was quite glitchy.
After you defeat the boss, you rescue some rabbit, who looks QUITE generic. (I've NEVER seen this character in any woody woodpecker cartoons). the bunny says something, you say soemthing back, and it's off to level 3.
Level three's pretty much just like level 1, but it's snowy, and there's snowmen who toss snowballs at you. This is where I quit playing, 'cause it was late, and I had to go to work in the morning.

Overall, I'd say the programming SUCKS, but the gameplay ideas (not the execution) and graphics are top notch!

[Raccoon Lad]

I put some more time into this game... It seems you DO have to hit the dog at the end of round 1 with the acorns, but it seems that after you hit him with one acorn, you can then peck him on the head.
And round 2 doesn't require you to kill all enemies, there are keys (which are hard to see) you need to pick up.

Anyway, back to round 3:
The boss at hte end of this round is a polar bear. I died here quite a few times. You have the trees with squirrels in them again, and hitting the bear with an acorn causes him to jump up like he took a hit, but his life bar doesn't go down. While trying to figure out how to kill this boss, I found out that here, and here only, pushing both buttons together causes woody to pull out what I initially thought was a key. It seems you have to hit the bear with an acorn, and then while he's stunned, go up to him, push both buttons and....get this: Paint a bullseye on his ass! That's when you can cause him damage!
Beat the bear and you free Chilly Willy

Round 4 has you zooming along in a speed boat jumping over obstacles and alligators, make it to the end of the round and you fight an alligator. When the gator sneezes, peck him on the ass. When he's defeated, you rescue Woody's neice.
Round 5 has you going through more basic woodland platform areas, and at the end you find Woody's nephew over a fire tied to a spit. ( I think that's what that is, it's kinda tiny)

After that Buzz buzzard says something to you, and then it's back to the title screen. I think he either said I needed to collect all the bags of money throughout the game I didn't pick up, or he said to try the game on hard mode.

There's bonus rounds in this game too: there are three boss enemies on one side of the screen throwing stuff at you, and you try to grab the money sacks, chicken legs, and 1-up's, while avoiding bricks and what-not.

Even though it's kinda crappy, I'm really warming up to this game. It's got decent music, nearly passable gameplay, and some really clever/humorous gameplay ideas. PLus the graphics are pretty good, they could be a little better, but for a TecToy original, they're well above average..

[zektor]

So, when are you going to dump it? :D

[Raccoon Lad]

I'll dump it when someone on these boards gives a rats ass about Master System imports........Which, will probably be NEVER!

BWA_hahahahahahah!!!!!! :evil: LOL \^_^/

untill then I'll just keep playing games you CAN'T, and posting musings that no-one replies to.

[briskbc]

Off the Woody Woodpecker game for a sec. I seem to remember an eBay auction for Duke Nukem 3D for the Mega Drive from a seller in Brazil (ended @ $80). Is this true or is my mind going on me. Just curious becuase I would love to see how it looks on a 16 bit console.

[Raccoon Lad]

There IS a Duke Nukem 3D game for the Megadrive, but I've seen it sell for less.

[Raccoon Lad]

If anyone's interested, SMS Power released the ROM to this game last week.