Willy Wombat #BestOfSaturn

Sensing an opportunity to put their expertise from creating the Wonder Boy games to the test, studio Westone produced the Saturn-exclusive Willy Wombat. A 3D overhead platformer with full freedom of movement, the game revolves around a utopian society known as “Prison.” Citizens of Prison have no cares, no wants, and live forever… and yet, one of Prison’s administrators, Willy (that’s William, if you weren’t friends), leaves in search of something called “Freedom.”

Run, dash, jump, and wield your boomerangs as you navigate six worlds from a fully 3D, overhead perspective, guiding Willy to find his purpose while evading the other Prison administrators that have been dispatched to apprehend him. The game forces players to constantly shift camera views using the L and R shoulder buttons, as the way forward isn’t often viewable until a different perspective is employed.

Published by Hudson Soft in 1997, the game was initially penned for release in the West, so the game’s voicework was implemented in English right from the start. Alas, Hudson’s localization plans fell through, and Western users were left with all in-game text and menus in Japanese… until Exxistance broke out of his own Prison and released a pair of successive patches to address the issue! His 2026 Version 2.0 patch fully translates the game in its entirety.

Fun Fact: the PlayStation’s well-known miscreant Crash Bandicoot may disavow any relation, but it is true that Crash’s studio Naughty Dog initially designed their bandicoot as a wombat and named him Willy. Strange but true!