The Story of Wizball II

First impressions

Wizkid was designed by Chris Yates of Sensible Software in 1992 for Ocean, and oddly enough, I’ve never actually played it. Which is strange, because I remember drooling over the magazine screenshots at the time, thinking the game looked incredible with its weird and wonderfully colourful levels. So what happened back then? I’ve no idea, but I figured 33 years was long enough to leave it sitting on the (virtual) shelf.

Now, I didn't read the instructions, and perhaps I should have, but the game feels instantly playable with a nice training camp and easy learning curve. Explaining the gameplay is tricky. Imagine Arkanoid, but instead of a bat, you’re a disembodied head flinging scenery at the baddies. It’s weird. No, it’s totally bizarre!

The first few screens are all about killing whatever critter happens to be nearby. To do this, you must break the objects so they fall or are thrown across the screen. Once the enemies are dead, you hoover up bubbles and... other stuff. Not quite sure why, something about a tune... I really should’ve read the manual.

Anyhow, next thing I know, I’m falling down a well that leads to a public toilet. I didn’t know what to do, but found and used a broken loo. This began flooding the place, floating me back to the surface. I told you this game is weird. Whether there was more to this section or not, I’ve no idea. Where did I put that manual...

Ignoring how silly the concept is, this is actually a straightforward game and more fun than you can shake a stick at. Flinging objects at baddies never gets old, and it’s all backed by some cracking chip music and comical graphics. Wizkid is zany, stupid, ridiculous, and I loved it a bunch. I need to play more now!!

• D-Bug has a cracking (sorry) download http://d-bug.mooo.com/patches/2008/wizkid.zip
• Check out 8BitChip's version for hard drive https://atari.8bitchip.info/SCRSH/wizkid.html
• Atari Legend has menu disks for those who prefer floppy https://www.atarilegend.com/wizkid
• LemonAmiga has a load of cheats untested by me https://www.lemonamiga.com/cheats