The Adventures of Willy Beamish (1991)

Preliminary: This looks beautiful! I just hope that's the original DOS version I'm seeing and not the later CD releases :-p Cute little tune to start. Omg this beginning cutscene. The music. I can't even begin to list all the things I could see this having influenced. I couldn't get screenshots and write much but trust that this is so great. I love the UI, the way you click on things to look inside etc, the Look of it all, so many QoL things, this is so what I expected from the early 90s DOS games, the music is genuinely amazing, the parodying of commercialization is great too.

Day 1

Well uh, see above haha. Ironically I got through, well, exactly "Day 1" of the game and still really enjoying the Look, Sound, and gameplay. Tho the trouble meter has been a bit frustrating, it hasn't caused me any actual issues yet.

Day 2

Interesting that there seems to be a theme song for each day in the game. I finally snapped a quick screenshot after I giggled when your sister crashes the car

The music continues to have jam after jam. An occasional dull song is then followed by an absolute banger.

Argh, darn DOS games. I seem to be stuck in some endless loop at this part, which is surely a mistake on my end but I can't seem to get around it. Boo (it was the end of day 2, was I going to win the Frog contest? was my dad getting tricked into being the sucker?!)

As much as I really like this, and its music is worth listening through again, I am not sure if I am up to playing through it all again due to the sluggishness of these early adventure games. This, like KQV, is another highlight I will surely be returning to though.

Look: 9/10 Such an early example of an aesthetic I adore

Sound: 9/10 Wow

Play: 8.5/10 Some tedium, sure, as to be expected with early adventure games, but consistently enjoyable. The biggest complaint is the "action"/time-sensitive parts, but it is to be expected with adventure games of this era.

Feel: 9/10 Some questionable content, but for the most part, an amazing Feel thanks to the great music, look, and execution.

Attachment: 9/10 I will definitely be returning to this, likely via one of the more modern releases of it, so I can finish it.

Overall: 8.9/10

Completion: Was about to capture the bat to finish Day 2. Was doing great in terms of trouble meter, etc

The Adventures of Willy Beamish is an... interesting game. I don't know if it's particularly good but it's trying for something. It wants to hit the Saturday Morning Cartoon feel but with some sort of edge. The humor is clearly inspired by the then new Fox Channel humor you'd see in The Simpsons or Married With Children, that mean bite to the jokes. I quite enjoyed the direction on the voice acting too, with the kid playing Willy himself being a standout. His anger on his dialog cracked me up. The game play itself is pretty hit-or-miss though. It's very trial-and-error oriented and takes joy in making you lose from choices you couldn't possibly see causing a game over. There are a few too many walking dead states too. Did you not take an item? It'll stop you from getting past certain points. Gotta reload.

I don't know how I managed to get through any of it on the Sega CD back as a kid with those endlessly long load times considering how much I must've lost to get anywhere in it. I never did get past the vampire babysitter when I was a kid. I got to that part again before I had to check for a walkthrough though. I was amazed by how I remembered every part up until then. I must've tried a lot as a kid. Luckily, the GOG version loads much faster, though it is missing the playable Nintari of the Sega version. The Sega CD version has a killer soundtrack though that's missing from the PC release. I think my nostalgia pulled me through most of the game but I still had fun. It's a nice reminder that there were styles other than what Sierra and LucasArts were putting out too (yes, I know Dynamix was owned by Sierra at the time, but you get my point).