The true mark of an elitist retro gamer isn’t marked by the size of his collection or the number of games he’s reviewed on YouTube.  No, that which makes us elite is the obscure games we play and collect.  If only two people in the world have played your game, you are a god, no matter how much of a stinker it may be.

Hi ho, Axel the Night here.  A lot of good games came out for the NES in the early 90′s that proved, even with its younger, shiny brother the SNES right at its heels, the veteran system was not ready to go quietly.  With the console oozing gold in order to stay alive, several titles got ignored, either because they couldn’t compete, or because they were just too late to save their host from the glimmering 16-bit era.  Today’s obscure title is Werewolf: The Last Warrior, a barely touched platformer by Data East in 1990 that didn’t quite manage to catch the world’s eye.

The story is pure B Movie greatness.  So great, I’ve heard rumor that the game originally came with a mini-comic to present it.  I’m still trying to get my hands on one, if in fact they’re really out there.  You play the part of Chief War Wolf, the last hero in a post-apocalyptic world ruled by the evil Dr. Faryan.  Lead by Kinju, your spirit guide, you wander through the post-apocalyptic scene (which, aside from the occasional run down city, castle, or secret-base, is mainly comprised of flourishing wilderness).  You’ll have to face all of Faryan’s bio-monsters in order to reach a final confrontation with the mad scientist, along with soldiers, ninjas, mecha, plants, fish, and a severe water phobia.  Luckily, you’re not just some chump.  By collecting a red W, you transform into one bad ass werewolf

Kinju, played by Jesse Ventura?

Screw claws, this guy has retractable "lances" on each hand that he uses to rip his enemies a new one.  As the werewolf, you have better reach and damage than your wimpy human punches.  On top of that, you can jump higher, do agile back flips to avoid damage, and scale walls and (to a lesser extent) ceilings.  Take too much damage, and it’s back to humansville until you can find another red W.  I point out red, because there are also blue W symbols that can revert you from werewolf to human.  That tricky bastard Faryan.  I guess someone convinced him that wolves are colorblind.

The game begins with you pitted against "The Giant Head", a mid-boss you’ll become very familiar with, as he’ll be back to harass you repeatedly through out the game.

Don’t mind the DON’T KNOCK signs through the first level.  I think they’re there to point out that attacking ledges and platforms can make items pop out.  This is actually pretty important, as 95% of your power-ups are found this way, including your red Ws.  These two don’t look really appropriate in this setting, I don’t think.  Maybe something more like…

*cough*  Right, pardon.  As I was saying, kill the Giant Head, and you’ll be rewarded with your first red W, and a wicked transformation cut scene.  The music rocks out pretty hard, and that’s good, because you’ll soon realize the game only has 6 in-game themes.  Not bad, since it has 5 levels, right?  Nope.  You get a theme while you’re human, one for the werewolf, one for fighting the Giant Head, a regular boss theme, in the secret base area, you get the ear-piercing sound of an alarm over and over until you kill yourself, and then the Faryan gets one too.  I suppose it’s good for the ego, when the stage theme is based on you, and not the stage.

As I mentioned, the game has 5 levels.  Each is two parts, with a boss at the end.  Because of this, the difficulty ramps up sharply.  I’ve been playing the game for a while, and I’ve still never made it past the jungle in level 4.  Levels 2 and 3 offer alternate paths, allowing the player to either fight their way through the topside, or test their jumping down below.  This was a really good idea that I don’t see very often, though the fight paths are so difficult and repetitive that it isn’t much of a choice in actual practice.

The bosses… Well, let’s just say that the bosses contribute greatly to the comic book effect…

If you just said "copyright infringement", you win 5 points, but only if you managed to do so without yelling "I’m the Juggernaut, bitch."

All in all, it’s the B Movie, comic book feel and cheesiness that keeps making me put this game back in.  It’s a guilty pleasure.  I love the main character.  I love the campy atmosphere.  I love how it is one of those few games that makes me smile lovingly when I say that it’s bad.  I love how War Wolf can charge up a special ranged attack that involves him yelling "NOO!", and it does twice as much damage as his fists.

And that’s why it has a special place in my library.  A perfect opener for Retro Obscurus.  Now, if you don’t mind, the fuzzball’s calling my name.  Peace all.  Night’s out.

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