MikeH

Omg, what an incredibly challenging game. I began it unaided but the puzzles are so baroque and obtuse that I restarted it using the walkthrough as a guide on what path to take. Despite all that, it still took me at least an hour, maybe more, to pass the Eugene's Lair screen. And it it was only at the very end that I finally figured out what was killing me. Great game!

That's great @Hervé AST Yours are the last four games I've played - Islands of Mystery parts 1 and 2, Transatlantic Cruise and Paris. I've really enjoyed each one. I'm looking forward to London!!

I actually fancied a bit more exotic scenery so I've gone for Transatlantic Cruise rather than Paris! I'm a little way in and still haven't consulted a map. Although I note that it's 128 rooms, rather than the right 64 of Temple, so I don't know if I'll be able to hold out til the end. The part in Temple that gave me a pleasant surprise was a reference to a certain game 😉

I finished The Temple. It's such a great game! It was totally doable even without a map, although some of the puzzles had me scratching my head for a while.... Also, there's a genuinely wonderful moment that made me laugh out loud in surprise 🙂 I'm probably gonna give London or Paris a go next.

End of Part I Roll on Part II 🥳

Yes, I'm definitely using lots of save states on my little handheld when playing. I save every time I'm about to enter a new room (you never know what's in there) or when I've just done a tricky bit that I don't feel like having to do again if I lose a life. Funnily enough, when I first started watching your playthroughs on YouTube to help me when I got stuck, I just assumed that you were a really, really good player and could not only remember the ideal route through every map, but also execute it flawlessly each time 😂. I'm sure you are a very good player aside from that. But it was a bit of a relief to read that you use the rollback feature when recording the videos! Nevertheless, I think the Temple will be a bit of a challenge for me as I won't have a map to rely on. I'm just about finishing up Part I now, so I'm looking forward to seeing what's in store. I think 64 rooms is a bit more on the manageable side.

Wonderful! I'm currently working my way through Part I, which has blown my mind with the lush graphics and clever traps... I really feel like I'm on the island! I'm looking forward to tryung the temple. I'm glad to hear that it's relatively easy as this will be my first attempt at a JSW game without the aid of a map. Can't wait!

I just discovered the Jet Set Willy homebrew scene about 2 months ago and have been steadily ploughing my way through the back catalogue. Wow! I am so impressed with what people have achieved and the scene that has grown up around JSW and Manic Miner over the last forty years. I remember playing Jet Set Willy on my older cousin's Spectrum 48k with him when I was very young. I remember that it was hard, that it had an incredible atmosphere and that it sparked something in the imagination. I don't think either of us were very good at it, but we loved playing it nonetheless. Fast forward to a couple of years ago and I got into retro gaming handhelds. This was a huge nostalgia blast, and let me re-live some of my favourites from the Speccy, C64 and Amiga. Just before Christmas I gave Manic Miner a go. It was a game I had never played back in the day, but with the advantage of save states I was able to really get into it. Then I thought to have another look at JSW and noticed there was at least a dozen remakes included in the rom pack I had found. This was intriguing to me, as some of the best games I had recently played on other platforms (such as NES) had been homebrew games. I started dipping my toe in and I got hooked! Now I'm playing a JSW remake every day. I load it up on my handheld with my morning coffee. I bring it with me in the car when I take the kids to activities. And after they're finished their homework I delve in again. They say "Dad, you're always playing Jet Set Willy!". One of the "problems" of the retro gaming handheld thing is that with almost every title ever published available at your fingertips it can be quite hard sometimes to choose what to play. At the moment I'm loving the idea of playing a series of games with the same mechanics, but different concepts. I am absolutely loving the experience of exploring Middle Earth, Egyptian pyramids, the life of Doc Shiels, space stations and lairs of dominatrix vampires. I think there's something really special about the ability to name each room that acts as a kind of springboard for the imagination. I want to say a huge thanks to the people that have been involved in the scene down through the years. To have something to fill the idle hours of the day that is not served to me by a social media algorithm but has instead emerged from the dedication of an individual artist who loves their subject is priceless. And I'd like to say a special thanks to the people who have been involved in efforts to preserve and present this body of work. I have consulted Danny's JSW Central and his YouTube channel many, many times when I've been stuck on a game, or need inspiration for what to play next. Without this I would be lost, literally!