Where’s Waldo?
System: NES
Release Date: September 17th, 1991
Developer: Bethesda Softworks
Publisher: THQ
Genre: Puzzle
Find everyone’s favorite recluse as he walks through life in Where’s Waldo? So, I have a 1992 Where’s Waldo? calendar that I found just in time for it to be useful again in 2020. I was always a big fan of the books, having grown up at just the tight time. There are eight levels standing between you and the moon. Can you find Waldo?
There are three difficulties for you to choose from. The difference between easy, medium, and hard are threefold. First, the amount of time you have decreases from 10 minutes on easy, 7 minutes on medium, and 5 minutes on hard. The screen is one wide on easy, one and a half wide on medium, and two wide on hard. The scope of searching for Waldo also decreases in size among the levels. If you click on a space Waldo isn’t you lose time as a penalty.
Most levels involve looking around the screen for Waldo. On easy, this is no problem, as you look for Waldo in his trademark red and white striped sweater with his poof ball hat. This becomes a problem in the other difficulties, as Waldo is often palette swapped, which is total BS. I have been conditioned to look for red and white with blue slacks. Changing his colors is a bastardization of the concept that I refuse to accept.
The Cave is pitch black and you have to catch Waldo running around with your scope. You’re then given an option of grabbing an hourglass that will either add a minute to your time or subtract a minute. On hard, a loss of a minute is a death sentence. Time also ticks down as you’re sent between levels. A total of one minute and 33 seconds are spent walking on the map. This means you only have three and a half minutes to find Waldo.
The hardest level is the Subway. This is a puzzle that you have to maneuver through tubes in adjacent hexagons. To beat the level, you need to grab Waldo, his glasses, and make it to the end. What makes this hard is you need to press the B Button to change the tube paths, but also avoid the wizard White Beard, who quickly drains your time if you happen to land in the same square. I died here a stupid amount of times when trying to beat the game on hard. As in, I spent over an hour trying to beat the game on hard before pulling it off. The last level is the launch pad, where you need to match Waldo on a slot machine. Miss and lose a bunch of time.
Graphics: 0.5
I guess the variation in each scene is not terrible.
Sound: 0.5
You get a ditty as you move from one scene to the next. It is not good.
Gameplay: 1.0
I guess you only need to get a portion of Waldo in frame, which is better than a kick to the face.
Difficulty: 0.5
Incredibly simple, but wizard White Beard on the Subway is a game wrecker.
Fun Factor: 0.5
This barely registers on the fun scale.
Overall Rating: 0.6
Where’s Waldo? Earns a D-. This is a barely functional game. Bethesda sure has come a long way.