The Adventures of Willy Beamish
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The Adventures of Willy Beamish is a graphic adventure game developed by Dynamix using newly-developed Dynamix Game Development System (DGDS) and first published in 1991 by Sierra. The player takes on the role of eight-year-old Willy Beamish in gameplay that is somewhat of a parody of the adventure genre, with considerable humor. The game pioneered the use of graphics drawn to resemble classic hand-drawn cartoon animation. Initially released for DOS and Amiga, the game was ported to Sega CD in 1993.
Willybeamish.jpg
A sequel was reportedly planned starring Willy Beamish as a teenager, but the project was cancelled.
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Plot
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" 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, and a street gang terrorizes the town.
Controversy
Some players may find that the game's humor has not aged very well. Willy refers to a bar's bouncer as a "tinker bell", the school bully smokes cigarettes, and a family of Japanese tourists (complete with cameras and stereotypical accents) transform into Ninjas. Yet, the game does have a solid environmentalist theme, a parody of conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, and characters from the humanist Star Trek: The Next Generation television series made cameo appearances as audience members at the frog racing contest.
The game also has several none-too-subtle sexual innuendoes (not least of which is "Horny", the name of the frog); while the main character is an eight-year old, the game is obviously intended for a much older audience. Parental Discretion Is Advised.
Finding the game
As with many older games, The Adventures of Willy Beamish is now nearly impossible to find. It was not among the games that Sierra Online re-released for Windows 95/98.
External links
- MobyGames info for Willy Beamish (http://www.mobygames.com/game/sheet/gameId,1916/)