Kokotoni Wilf (ZX Spectrum)
Unfortunately, I had to stop playing Witcher 3 before I finished it due to my vacation. This might sound a bit strange, but I always dread this time of the year because it usually involves my wife demanding that I spend more time with her. This year was no exception, so I had to sacrifice five weeks of my free time just to make my wife happy. I knowsome people will interpret this as me being an anti-social prick, but I would never demand from my wife to give up a hobby she loves for such long periods of time. Why do we think its normal when women do it is beyond me. Anyway, few moments of solace that I found in the toilet, I spent playing some older games - and the first one was Kokotoni Wilf. It is a game that holds a special place in my heart, because it was the first game I ever played.
When I was 4 years old, back in 1985, my dad brought home a mysterious package with a rainbow sign painted on the box. Little did I know that this moment would have such a profound impact on my life and that it would completely change my understanding of what it means to have fun. I still remember how my dad sneaked into his room while my mom was cooking lunch and how he hid the package in his closet while telling me to keep quiet about it. Looking back at it now and judging from all the secrecy surrounding the whole thing, he must have payed a small fortune for it. One day when my mom was out, he finally took out the package from his closet, connected it with different cables and devices to our TV, then started typing on it while giving me a satisfying wink. Then I heard some horrible noises coming out of this strange machine. Weird lines began to draw a picture of a pink dinosaur on the TV and a few minutes later I saw my dad navigating a cartoon figure with the keyboard through these fantastic worlds filled with all sorts of creatures. I was stunned and I couldn't believe what I have just witnessed! It was pure magic and I fell in love this new "toy" for the rest of my life! The "toy" was called ZX Spectrum, the game was Kokotoni Wilf and I was forever hooked. From that moment on, all I ever wanted to do with my free time was to play games and this has never changed.
This is how it all started... ZX Spectrum, I will love you until the day I die!
The story
Kokotoni Wilf is the name of the hero you play in this amazing game which features 63 locations and incredible 8 color graphics. As a kid I really had no idea what the story was about, because there is no intro and you are just thrown into action. Anyway, according to some site the story has it that several hundred years ago in a province of Northern Europe there lived a great magician who discovered that there had once existed a Dragon Amulet, fragments of which had been scattered throughout time. The Great Magician wanted to recover all the fragments, but by the time he had made the discovery, he was too old to undertake the mission by himself. So he summoned his athletic protege, Kokotoni Wilf, gave him a pair of wings, and sent him off in search of the fragments. First of all, the Magician sent Wilf back more than 500 million years to a time when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Your mission is to search for the various pieces of the amulet, which resemble glowing stars of David - some 63 pieces to be precise - and then when all the pieces have been found, return them to the magician.
There are six time zones — 965BC, 1066, 1467, 1784, 1984 and 2001, and between 10 and 12 locations within each time zone, which all form six giant mazes. Each time zone has its own distinct graphics from the period, so in the first zone there are dinosaurs, pterodactyls and saurians. In 1066 there are conquerors, bowmen, alchemists and warriors. 1467 is the period of Spanish inquisition, while the 1984 is represented by townscapes and airports. And lastly 2001 is of course full of Moon stations, shuttles and space paraphernalia. It is really funny to see how we used to imagine the year 2001 back in the 80s. Moon stations? Seriously? Hahaha!
Gameplay
You move Kokotoni Wilf with 3 buttons. Left, right and fly. Using those commands you have to avoid everything that moves, and you should also avoid colorful bright objects like yellow or purple. Enemies move along the same routes over and over, and if they touch you, or if you touch a wrong object you will lose a life. It sure sounds simple enough, but in reality the game is notorious for its nerve breaking difficulty. To be quite honest this was the first time I managed to finish it, but even this time I was using a cheat for infinite lives. Perhaps some gamers will look down upon this, but it's a damn miracle I managed to finish it in the first place considering my wife would never allow me to devote serious time to gaming while I am on vacation with her. Do not get me wrong - I am certain I can finish the game with some patience and repetition - but to be completely blunt about it, playing the same 6 levels hundreds of times would get old really fast and I just don't feel like doing it! Besides, the game is filled with countless cheap deaths that lurk behind every corner and six lives disappear in a manner of seconds if you don't memorize every inch of the map. Still, Kokotoni Wilf is one of the best games on ZX Spectrum and perhaps one day I will revisit it without the cheat codes.
Kokotoni Wilf walkthrough
