Werewolf: The Last Warrior is an action platformer from Data East. The name was changed to Super Werewolf Chronicle Warwolf when it was released in Japan. I couldn’t find any information on what it was called in Europe, so if you know, please let me know.
This is one of the rare NES games that was released in North America first, and then released in Japan and Europe the following year. You don’t see this too often, and it is kind of cool. It doesn’t say anything about the game, but it is an interesting footnote to the game’s story.
I was looking for something to write about for the Halloween season, and I dug through my collection to find this game. I don’t know too much about it, and forgot that I owned it. This kind of thing happens all the time when I’m looking for something to play. Anyway, I’m going to give this game a chance and see what it has to offer.
TLDR: Terrible Gameplay, But Good Story and Graphics.
Narrative
The story is much better than it needs to be. I really like it, and would’ve liked to see it continue in the comics. It has a fun setup, which deserves a better game than the one it is in.
Our story takes place on “Red Earth,” which is a colony set up by a now space-faring Earth. Which suggests that other humans could come to help, but that isn’t the direction the plot takes.
So, Dr. Faryan wanders into a cave, awakens an ancient evil, and then creates a mutant army to take over the world. It is unclear if he has ambitions grander than just taking over one planet, but that part is irrelevant, as our hero, Warwolf, is going to stop him. Unless the player gets bored and goes outside or moves onto another game.
Our main character is Ken, because Japan has a long history of naming its heroes “Ken.” He can turn into a werewolf, called Warwolf. There is also a Super Warwolf form, but don’t worry about that. Faryan has imprisoned the inhabitants of Earth, and you have to save them.
The story is perfectly fine. It gives the play an idea of what is going on and who you’re fighting. Like many of these early NES games, you don’t need to know any of this, but it is nice to have.
Gameplay
Werewolf is a side-scrolling action game. The gameplay is frustrating. This is a clunky game with awkward controls that is seemingly trying to do too many things. It makes simple tasks appear considerably harder than they need to be.
Ot feels like a simple game that has some similarities to Altered Beast. There is a shapeshifting mechanic where you can switch between the Werewolf and human form. This is done by picking up an item. Here is a list of the items in the game:
- Red W — Transforms you from human to werewolf
- Blue W – Turns you from Super Werewolf to Werewolf, and from Werewolf to human. If you’re already human, then you’ll lose life.
- Small white bubble – This builds your anger, and if you get five of them, then you’ll turn into Super Werewolf
- Hearts – These heal you.
- Small Red bubbles destroy enemies on the screen.
- Large Red bubbles – Grant temporary invincibility
Some enemies carry guns that you can pick up; there are also bonus points, 1-Ups, and hourglasses that give you more time on a level. Yeah, there is a time limit on each level. I hate this, especially here, where you can get lost if this is your first time playing.
As a human, you have a short attack where you punch. In the werewolf form, your punch has more range. You can jump and climb walls. This is where the game gets frustrating, because your really dumb character will latch on to any horizontal surface.
Overall, the gameplay is below average. It is a familiar formula, but DataEast didn’t do much to make the gameplay enjoyable. Other side scrollers do everything that Werewolf: The Last Warrior does, but considerably better. Here is a link to the game’s manual (link).
Visuals
This is the saving grace of this game. I really like the graphics and the way the developers tell the story. The characters, levels, and cutscenes all look great! The level design is really bad in spots, which has a negative impact on the gameplay.
Enemies show up on the screen way too fast. It gives you little opportunity to react to them. It also feels like the game punishes you for trying to explore levels to get the power-ups you’ll need to beat the game.
Werewolf has quite a few cutscenes, and they look very good. The pixel art is nice, and I like the way the transformations have little cutscenes. What I don’t like is how the screen flashes at times. That can be annoying for me, and potentially dangerous to some people.
The level design is not very good in this game. This is one of those “Where do I go” type of games that really shouldn’t be as complicated as they are. While the graphics look good overall, this is a big problem and hurts the gameplay.
The Comic Book
While trying to find the manual for this game, I stumbled across a comic book by the same name. I was a little surprised, because this isn’t the type of game that I would expect to have a DC-made comic book. It wasn’t like this was unheard of at the time; if Bayuo Billy can have a comic book, why not Werewolf?
So, the comic is a little crazy. I like how weird and quickly it moves, and it acts as a prequel for the video game. From what I could gather from the story, our main character spends three weeks getting used to his new powers, and in that time, everyone dies. The big bad guy takes over the world and faces little to no resistance.
The comic ends where the game picks up. I’m not sure if there are other comics to fully tell this story, but I would love to see more of the series. I’m sure it might’ve been better than the game itself.
After looking into this a little more, it seems like it was a free comic. This was a one-shot, meaning that it was a standalone comic. There isn’t a price on the digital scans of the comics, so I guess it was given away, but I don’t know how. There isn’t too much information on it, so I’m guessing that it was given away with the game. If you know anything about this, please let me know. You can read the comic online here (Link).
Reviews at the Time
The reviews for this game are all over the place. Even in 1990, there wasn’t a clear consensus on the game. In 1990 and 1991, the game’s scores were between 3 and 5/5. Once you his the 2000s and 2010s, the scores plummet, which you would expect to see.
EGM is the only English-language review I could see on MobyGames from 1990. They said it had “decent gameplay” and there are enough hidden items to keep “interest up.” They also liked the graphics and cutscenes.
There are two other reviews I want to mention. One is from VideoGame, which gave the game a perfect score, and the other is a Swedish-language magazine called Nintendo Magasinet, which gave the game a 3/5. I really wish I could read what they said, and at some point, I should dig into the foreign language magazines to learn more about them.
There weren’t too many surprises with this. Werewolf: The Last Warrior seems to have been released to little fanfare and then forgotten about by DataEast. It was seen as an average game when it was released, and if it wasn’t for the internet, it probably would’ve remained in obscurity.
5/10. This is a bad game that happens to have a good story and graphics. It felt like the developers were trying to make Ninja Gaiden, but with a Werewolf. That sounds better than the final product, and it seems that DataEast thought so as well. The graphics are nice, but the gameplay kills the game.
Pros
- Fun Story
- Good Graphics
Cons
- Enemies are too fast
- Inconsistent hit detection
- Awkward controls
Conclusion
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this game. It is one of the games I bought, tested, and then set on a shelf to forget about. Playing it for this review was a mixture of “this is fun” and “why did they do this?”
I wanted to enjoy what was here, but I had more fun looking up things like the comic book. Finding random promotional material like this is always fun, and it is a shame that there aren’t more comics with these characters. It feels like this was supposed to be based on a cartoon, but that isn’t the case.
Werewolf: The Last Warrior was ultimately a disappointment for me. At best, it is an average side-scroller that has been forgotten by most people. DataEast thought enough of it to have DC release a free comic based on it, but I don’t remember anything else. When you can’t remember anyone talking about a retro game at recess, that isn’t a good sign.
If you liked this post, please check out my other posts, such as Jaws or Crystalis.