Whizz (SNES)

This seems to have come out on PC first, then it got a release on Amiga, and then later the Saturn and PlayStation got a port of their own. But I'll be playing the SNES version.

Okay, the view is isometric, I've got zero flags on the left, a mushroom on the right, two hats, 42 seconds and I'm a rabbit in a top hat and tails. I think I'm ready.

Well that's awkward, he has no shadow so when I jump I can't tell exactly where I am any more. Also he can only walk in four directions, so I'm stuck zigzagging across the level. It's more awkward that it sounds.

The music's not as bad as I was expecting though. It's tolerable enough.

I jumped on a button and launched a rocket! It doesn't seemed to have done anything helpful though. It's just wasted some of my precious time.

A shiny blue block, how could I resist taking it? Especially after I lost half my health to that bouncing red/white thing on the way up here.

It doesn't seem like I'm supposed to be jumping on enemies. Damn, there goes my first life, and I'm back to the start of the level.

This time I'll try tearing through them with the spin attack. It probably won't do the rabbit's expensive outfit any favours, but that's his problem.

Weirdly the spin attack seems to cost me some of my health mushroom to use. This enemy dropped a mushroom pick up I can use as a refill, but they seem to drop poison mushrooms instead more often than not.

Hmm, chessboard floor, white rabbit, mushrooms... this doesn't have anything to do with Alice in Wonderland does it?

Huh? This door won't move, and I can't see any switches around. I tried my spin attack on it but it did nothing.

Oh! It's a blue door, I think I know what to do here. Now where the hell did I find that sparkly blue block last time?

Damn, out of time! They really don't give you any time to work stuff out in this game. I'll have to work out each piece of level at a time, run out of time, then try to get further next time.

Or not, because I just ran out of lives. Okay fine, I'll just start a new game.

Whizz (PlayStation)

This is what the game looked like on Sony's next gen powerhouse console if you were curious. Still no shadows. Still 2d, though it's been redrawn a bit. The music's different, the gameplay's identical.

It looks like the rabbit is standing to the left of a hole I'd have to jump over, but you can't jump over gaps in this. The ledge he's standing on is actually above the ground on the right, he can just drop down. Fixed isometric view doesn't work so well for platforming.


LATER.

Come on you damn moving platform, I haven't got time for this.

Holy shit, I made it with 1 second left on the clock! I honestly didn't think I'd ever make it past level 1.

Whizz climbs into a balloon and... slowly floats off. What the hell was the big hurry then?

Oh, I guess it's some kind of balloon race then? Did I skip an intro that explains all this?

The SNES version doesn't have an intro, but the PlayStation version does. It seems like a rabbit and a rat decided to have a hot air balloon race one day.

The rat soon slipped into second place and found that he didn't much like it there. Out of boredom he starts chatting to a bird, and they come up with a devious plan.

The bird dive bombs the rabbit's balloon and punctures it with his beak, throwing the rabbit out into the air.

The rabbit falls a few hundred feet and finds himself reunited with the ground head first. But he's fine, and the race is still on!

But this doesn't explain how he gets his balloon back, or the floating islands, or anything!

Back to the SNES version. Level two looks a lot like level one, except with slightly different colours. I'm staying clear of the flags or any other distractions this time, because I really don't have the time.

Damn, a bridge with two destinations. Well I guess I'll keep going this way seeing as I made it halfway across before wondering if I was even going the right way.

A sparkly wood block now? It takes the place of my blue block on screen, so I hope I'm collecting them in the right order.

I can't tell if I've jumped past the spikes or not. This game really does need shadows.

Damn, I knew I shouldn't have taken the wood block. Wait, this isn't a blue door, this is a stone door. Where the hell's the stone block?

I don't think I walked past it... though it's hard to tell. These levels are a damn maze. Without the arrow signs I wouldn't even know which way I was meant to be heading.

It doesn't matter much now anyway because I've only got 12 seconds left. I'll have to keep my eye out for it on my next run.

Ah, this thing on the wall that pushes me back is actually a switch to create a floating girder bridge. Now I'm making progress.

At last, the stone block! Plus an extra time pick up. I'm doing well.

I picked up a brick block too while I was there, but it doesn't seem to have stopped me smashing right through the stone door.

Wow, that's an evil looking egg up there.

Crap! I had time, I could have done this. But I wandered a little too close to the bouncing stripe monster and he stole my final life. Can't kill this guy with spinning.

To be honest, I kinda hate this game. But I'm determined to at least make it past this level before I quit, so I'll take advantage of the infinite continues and try it one more time.

Stage 1-1? Well fuck that then.


This game doesn't seem entirely unlovable, but I definitely don't like it much. Even without the harsh time limit, the controls and isometric view make it a pain in the ass to get around. It's weird how they ported it to the Saturn and PSX, but didn't give it a full 3D makeover, when the game's crying out for one.