Wolfchild for Sega Master System

I recently bought Wolfchild for Sega Master System, mainly because the cover made it look like a really cool game:

Doesn’t that look absolutely rad?!

Well it’s not.. it could have been a really great game, the graphics are really good for an 8-bit game, the enemies and the stages are well designed, the gameplay is kind of fluent.. but.. there is NO MUSIC in ANY of the STAGES! why?? There’s a song during the start screen, this song is totally ok, if they were too lazy to just make any other songs then they could’ve just kept that one during the stages as well! But no, it’s just plain quiet, and you just hear the sounds of your punches and jumps… it’s weird..

Also the story is never being explained during gameplay, or even before that.. you will have to read the back of the cover to know that:
“Chimera terrorists have kidnapped Saul Morrow’s father and killed his mother and brother. Will his ability to transform into a lycanthrope warrior – a man-wolf with psychic powers – be enough to defeat an entire army?”
Or start reading the manual, where they’ve actually made a comic explaining the events, it’s 4 pages long.. or short…:

“Sometime in the future, high atop a remote island somewhere in the southern pacific”… WTF



Still, this comic only explains the event of Saul transforming into a Wolfchild. What about the Chimera terrorists? Who are they? Who is their leader? Why have they kidnapped Saul’s father?
When you’re Game Over the game tells you:

Who the hell is Draxx?!? There’s nothing about him/or her in the manual, or on the back of the cover! This story is really confusing and vague..

Well apart from this, here’s Saul:

After collecting hearts you turn into a wolf (or Wolfchild??) that has Psychic Powers, which apparently makes it possible for you to shoot laser from your paws….

The first boss i ridiculously easy.. you just walk under him and stand behind him and keep punching.. it doesn’t hurt you to touch him.

The game really has some nice graphics and environments, here’s stage 2:

The second boss wasn’t too hard either. There was a simple pattern to his appearances on the screen and you just had to position yourself away from his line of fire and try to get some shots in whenever he appeared.

On the third stage they increased the difficulty level quite a bit. The stage was overall longer than previous ones, also it had a lot of traps and enemies that came at you without a warning, like the larva randomly falling from the ceiling, and this almost always got you hurt.

When I got to the third boss I was really irritated by the game, not having any music and all.. the constant jumping, bumping and punching sounds really got on my nerves.. I wasn’t able to try the spider boss enough to figure out a pattern, and I got Game Over.. I did not feel like starting up the game again.. even though it does give you password codes for each stage, which is a bonus! And the codes are only 5 letters long! Thumbs up Wolfchild, you did something right!

Here’s a video where you can experience the frustration of not having any music while playing.. I eventually looped the intro song (since it is quite good) so you wouldn’t have to listen to the quietness forever.

Someday I might try to finish this game.. but not until I’ve forgotten about the traumatic experience of playing a 16-bit game that feels like an Atari game with bad sound effects and no music.. probably won’t take long though since my memory is terribly short >_<

15 thoughts on “Wolfchild for Sega Master System

    • Really? Does it contain music during the stages? =D
      I really have to get me those add-ons for my Mega Drive.. the Sega CD and 32X. Haven’t gotten around to it, since there’s not much of a library of games to collect for them..
      /mE

      • It does indeed have music. Good music too! The normal Mega Drive version is OK too (and has music), but obviously it’s a bit better on the Mega CD. The 32x really only has one or two games that I like on it. But there are a few really good ones on the Mega CD. Like Earthworm Jim, Ecco, Final Fight, Sol Deace, Android Assault (Bari-Arm) …and Wolfchild.

      • I will have to go hunting for the Mega Drive version of Wolfchild.. now I’m really curios about what the music sounds like! >_<
        I will also have to obtain the Mega CD…
        What are the two games you like on 32x? =)
        /mE

      • Woah, Kolibri is like 150-500 dollars on ebay o_O
        even the other two are really expensive.. didn’t know that 32x was that rare. Thought they sold it off for nothing.. perhaps it’s cause those three games were the only good ones ;D
        /mE

  1. I have this game but I don’t think I’ve ever tried it.
    No Sound you say? I’ll try it out and see if my copy is the same.
    I think Woldchild is also on cart for the Genesis. After reading your article I’m currious now to compare the two.

    • Apparently the Sega Mega Drive (or Genesis) version and also the Mega CD version have music during the stages.. I guess it was just toooo much for the Sega Master System to handle!! I think I have to start looking for the Wolfchild game on the next generation of Segas instead.. ;D
      /mE

    • You’re welcome to reblog anything ^_^

      Your site is really awesome! And it’s quite an amazing collection you have there =D I collect a bit myself, but I only have a bit above 200 games for Sega, I’ve acquired more Nintendo games the last years, but it’s mainly because I’ve started collecting the japanese Famicom as well. I’ve always liked Sega a bit more ;D
      /mE

      • Thank you!
        I still feel new to wordpress so I’m not totally sure how Reblog works. I tried it and I wasn’t happy with the formatting when it appeared on my site so I’ll try again when I have more time to fuss :)
        I’ve already found several posts of yours that I’d love to reblog!

        Only a bit above 200 Sega games? That’s really a great collection! Where are your pcitures? :D

      • yeah I’m also pretty new to wordpress.. but I sure to like it ^^

        Thanks! Well my pictures appear one by one in my posts haha ^^ I’ll see if I can get some decent pictures of the entire collection, it’s hard though since my Retro-Room is kind of dark (it makes i cozier) =D
        I’ll let you know if I make some kind of inventory on my about page, it’s on my to-do list ^_^
        /mE

  2. Hmm… after deleting my first attempt to reblog your post I can’t do it again. Clicking Reblogged does nothing now. Sucks!

    Anyways, I put in my SMS Wolfchild and yes, there is NO music for the levels. Crazy but you don’t have some wacked cart. It seems this is just how it is. I’d like to seconed your idea that there just wasn’t room on the cart for it. It’s a good theory :)
    I also popped in Wolfchild for the Genesis/Mega Drive and it does have music for the levels and everything about the game is sooo much better. It was kind of cool to see the difference. Enemy sprites are different and better, scrolling backgrounds and of course the music! Sure I guess it should be and it was clear it was the same game but it was like night and day.

    • aww that sucks =( Well you are welcome to copy paste if you prefer, as long as you have a link somewhere to the origins ^^

      That’s great to know that it’s not just my cartridge that doesn’t have music!!
      How is the music to the Mega Drive? Is there different songs for each stage? Is it better than the intro song?? =D

      I really need to get me a Mega Drive version…

      /mE

  3. Pingback: Retrospelsmässan 2014 (Sweden’s retro gaming exhibition) | Retro Video Gaming

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