Whomp ‘Em
System: NES
Release Date: March 1991
Developer: Jaleco
Publisher: Jaleco
Genre: Action
Collect the seven totems for your magic pouch in Whomp ‘Em! You are Soaring Eagle, not the fine casino in Mount Pleasant, but a young brave who is on a journey into adulthood. You will travel eight levels of varying background to collect the magic totems that may be of help along the way. This is another game that is very reminiscent of the Mega Man style, but different.
You begin in an introductory level to get acquainted with the controls. The A Button is your jump, while the B Button stabs with your weapon of choice, the spear. Holding down while in the air points your spear down and you can land on enemies to injure them, otherwise you’re the one getting hurt. If you hold up, you can block falling objects from hurting you. If you jump while holding up, you thrust your spear above your head, attacking foes. After finishing the first level, you have a choice of six others to jump into next.
Items are dropped very often from enemies. What you’ll find the most are gourds. By collecting enough of these, you can increase your maximum life bar in the upper left corner. To find out how many you need to collect, you can press the Select Button. The amount of hit points the bosses have increases as your life bar does, so don’t feel like you have to grind right away. There are also items that increase your attack power or defense power for a few hits. A spear increases the length of your attack and is helpful. The headdress makes you invincible for a short period of time. The elusive magic potion replenishes some of your life bar when you die and is a welcome find.
The levels are simple move forward, kill the bad guys, try not to get hit a bunch affairs. If you find a good spot, you can grind for items. Hidden items appear when you jump at certain points. Being in water too long will start to kill you. Occasionally you need to use a totem to get items or make platforming easier. The last level really turns up the difficulty by automatically bouncing you every couple moments. Then there’s this area of zero gravity that you need to get through by attacking to move in the opposite direction.
More often than not, the bosses are going to kill you when you first get to them. When you die, it’s back to the stage select screen. The levels are pretty short, though, meaning you’ll be back for another try before you know it. The totems give you different abilities that you can switch among with the Start Button. I did not find these abilities useful outside of when they were required to move along the level. They certainly didn’t help fighting the bosses.
Graphics: 3.0
The graphics are above average and enjoyable.
Sound: 2.0
Music is hit or miss and the sound effects are fine.
Gameplay: 3.0
Controls, items, and attacking all work well. I think the totems are a real let down, though.
Difficulty: 3.5
Unlimited continues mean you should be able to get through this one, even if some of the areas are a real pain in the butt.
Fun Factor: 3.0
This was a fun time that should be enjoyed by those who play it.
Overall Rating: 2.9
Whomp ‘Em earns a B. I wasn’t expecting much, but Jaleco can surprise me with something enjoyable on occasion.