Spectrum Games - Kokotoni Wilf - ZX Spectrum classic game

ZX Spectrum Kokotoni Wilf
Ahhh now this is a slightly lesser known gem. Kokotoni Wilf was a slightly unusual arcade game from Elite software (who had just changed their name from Richard Wilcox software). It was released for the ZX Spectrum in October of 1984.

Anyway, in Wilf you played the winged hero in this 63 flick screen 'platform game'.

Apparently several hundred years ago in a province of Northern Europe there lived a 'Great Magician' (Derren Brown?) who discovered that there had once existed a Dragon Amulet. Fragments of this amulet had been scattered throughout time.

The Great Magician wanted to recover all of the fragments but by the time he had discovered it's existence he was too old to undertake the mission himself - a bit of a downer. So he summoned his athletic protege, (Kokotoni Wilf - you), gave him a pair of wings and sent him off in search of the fragments. Let the wing-flapping adventure commence!

You began the game more than 500 million years ago (when Dinosaurs roamed the earth).

The object of the game was to search for the various pieces of the amulet, which resembled glowing Stars of David (63 pieces in total - one on each screen) and when all the pieces had been collected from one time zone, the Magician had enough magical power to create a flashing timegate which you could enter to travel to the next time zone.

There were six periods in history to visit - each having roughly ten screens to fly through. The periods were: 965BC, 1066, 1467, 1784, 1984 and 2001

As Kokotoni Wilf you could fly around the levels which were populated by scenery and creatures from the era you were in. You had to avoid dinosaurs, poisonous plants, warriors with longbows etc etc.

What is quite funny now is when you get the 'future' of 2001 the screens are filled with space shuttles, satellites and so on. How far and distant the year 2001 seemed back in 1984. Well unfortunately we're still in petrol cars and no-one has invented anti-grav boots yet!

The amulet pieces were located in tricky to reach places (well as the game progressed they were) and sometimes you had to make Wilf 'hover' before making a quick move to make your way past a nasty. When you didn't press the 'fly' key Wilf would descend downwards until he hit solid ground - so you had to tap the fly key to keep him airborne and level. A similar method would be used later on in the arcade game Airwolf.

The game was over when you gathered all 63 pieces (not easy!) - and Elite actually offered the first 100 gamers to finish it a copy of their next release which was 'The Fall Guy'. I think that game turned out to be a bit of dud actually.

On Release:
Well this game was set to take on the mighty Jet Set Willy - a flick screen arcade game with roughly the same amount of screens. The fact that you could fly added a different slant to the platform genre. It wasn't quite as playable as Matthew Smith's classic game - but it was a good game in it's own right. Kokotoni Wilf was a fairly big hit and put the name 'Elite' into the minds of ZX Spectrum gamers.

The test of time:
Well Kokotoni is a bit of a cult classic game in the realm of Spectrum Games. It's quite easy to get into but get's really difficult as you progress. Not bad and a testament to the time it was created.

We recommend getting hold of the real Sinclair hardware but if not then download Kokotoni Wilf for a ZX Spectrum emulator. Alternatively you could try and play it online.

Be Wilf-ful and play it!

Please see our other ZX Spectrum retro game reviews and programmer interviews - all links are listed in alphabetical order. Cheers guys.

GENRE: Arcade game
RELEASE DATE: October 1984
RELEASED BY: Elite
DEVELOPER(S): Elite
PRICE: £5.95 - UK

Flap away with Kokotoni Wilf - a neat twist on the platform arcade game genre:


Wilf goes further and further in this classic arcade game:


Classic Games and Arcade Games