Jet Set Willy 2021 Edition (BBC Micro)

About

Jet Set Willy is a platform video game written by Matthew Smith for the ZX Spectrum, published in March 1984 by Software Projects and ported to most home computers of the era. This is a heavily reworked edition of a disassembly/reassembly of the original 1984 BBC Micro port of Jet Set Willy (written by Dave Mann under the pseudonym Chris Robson), consolidated into a single source file and fixed of several bugs — including a crash on entering the 'Watch Tower' room and an arrow-rendering glitch — while adding features the BBC version never had, such as two-colour room palettes, per-row palette changes during gameplay, and a restored enemy sprite. It's a companion to the same author's earlier Manic Miner 2021 Edition.

How it differs from the original

It adds visual and audio improvements absent from the 1984 BBC Micro release — more on-screen colours and more Spectrum-accurate colour choices per room, a new font, a longer and more accurate in-game tune, and restored content (arrows, a rope, and an enemy sprite) missing from that version — while a short, documented list of very minor gameplay differences from the ZX Spectrum original remain, such as slightly different jump arcs in a few specific rooms.

Getting started

Run the provided disk image in a BBC Micro emulator, or on real BBC Micro or Master hardware; controls are Z/X to move left/right, Return to jump, and Q/S to disable or enable the in-game music.

History

This 2021 edition follows the same author's earlier Manic Miner 2021 Edition and began from an existing disassembly/reassembly of the original BBC Micro game before extensive rework; the author credits Graham Nelson with suggesting ideas including the palette-swapping trick and sprite-compression scheme used in the rewrite.

Known limitations

• compatibility: Jump parabola shape is very slightly different from the original Spectrum version.
• gameplay: The Chapel: Player cannot jump through the slope.
• gameplay: The Forgotten Abbey: Missing an enemy on the middle platform due to sprite cache limitations.

Media

Additional notes

Testing

The author verified the game is fully completable by scripting the b2 BBC Micro emulator to play back a recorded, full playthrough.