WIZARD OF WOR

For the Vectrex. 1 or 2 players at the same time. Vectrex controllers.

Unofficial fan conversion of the 1983 Commodore 64 game. Selling it, or selling cartridges with it, is not allowed.

THE MISSION

You are a Worrior. Your mission is to go deep into the dungeon mazes of the Wizard of Wor and fight visible and invisible monsters, evil demons and the Wizard himself. Go as far into the dungeons as you can. The game ends when all your Worriors have been killed.

GETTING STARTED

1. Copy the cartridge image to your flash cartridge. The game is a 64K image. Your flash cartridge must support 64K images with PB6 bank switching (VecMulti, VecFever and similar). A cartridge limited to 32K will not run it.
2. Plug in controller 1. For two players, plug in controller 2 as well.
3. Insert the cartridge and switch on. The CHOOSE DISPLAY screen appears. See below.
4. On the title screen, press any button on controller 1 for a one-player game. Press any button on controller 2 for a two-player game.

THE CHOOSE DISPLAY SCREEN

At power-on the game shows two settings, some sample text, and a sample maze wall drawn twice.

• REAL HARDWARE is for a real Vectrex and for the MAME emulator. It is selected at power-on.
• VECX EMULATOR is for emulators based on vecx, such as the libretro-vecx core of RetroArch.
• Press 2 or 3 to switch. With the right setting the text is clean and the two wall drawings match.
• Press 4 to start.
• Hold 4 while switching on to skip the screen with REAL HARDWARE.

The setting is not saved. It resets at each power-on.

EMULATORS. vecx-based emulators are not fully supported, because their timing differs from a real Vectrex. For the best results use a real Vectrex or MAME.

CONTROLS

Controller 1 is player 1, in the upper cage. Controller 2 is player 2, in the lower cage, drawn dimmer. The joystick works in screen directions. Push left to leave your cage.

THE SCREEN

The maze is turned a quarter turn to fit the Vectrex screen. The cages are on its right side.

• Scores are at the far right: player 1 at the top, player 2 at the bottom.
• Your reserve Worriors wait beside your cage.
• The number beside your cage counts down. At 0 your Worrior enters the maze by itself.
• The radar is to the right of the maze. It shows every monster in the maze, including invisible ones.
• The two doors in the top and bottom walls lead to each other. They close after someone goes through and open again later. Monsters use them too.

THE MONSTERS

BURWORS. Six of them start every dungeon. They are always visible.

GARWORS replace dead Burwors. They turn invisible from time to time, and appear again when they reach your row or column. Only the radar shows where an invisible monster is.

THORWORS replace dead Garwors. They are faster and also turn invisible.

The deeper the dungeon, the sooner Garwors and Thorwors come. Monsters fire along their row or column, and invisible monsters move faster.

THE WORLUK. From dungeon 2 on, the Worluk appears when the last monster dies. It runs for a door. The radar is off. Shoot it before it escapes, and the next dungeon is a DOUBLE SCORE dungeon.

THE WIZARD OF WOR sometimes appears after the Worluk. He vanishes and appears somewhere else, and fires back. Shoot him for a double score dungeon. If he shoots you, you lose a Worrior and he escapes.

SCORING

All points are doubled in a DOUBLE SCORE dungeon.

DUNGEONS AND WORRIORS

• You start with 3 Worriors: one in the cage and two in reserve.
• Dungeon 4 is THE ARENA. Reaching it gives every player still in the game an extra Worrior.
• The monsters get faster up to dungeon 8. From dungeon 8 on, the dungeons are WORLORD dungeons, at full speed.
• Dungeon 13 is THE PIT, a maze with no inner walls. Reaching it gives every player still in the game an extra Worrior. The Pit returns every sixth dungeon, without the extra Worrior.
• No maze is used twice in a row.
• The game ends when all your Worriors are lost. The high scores are shown on the title screen. They reset at power-off.
• Two players play at the same time, each with their own Worriors. Shooting the other player's Worrior scores 1,000.

HINTS

• You can have only one shot on the screen at a time. Make it count.
• Monsters fire along rows and columns. Do not line up with a monster unless you fire first.
• Watch the radar for invisible Garwors and Thorwors.
• Use the doors to escape when you are cornered.
• Catch the Worluk before it reaches its door: a double score dungeon is worth it.

THIS VERSION

• The game logic is the Commodore 64 program, converted to the Vectrex. Mazes, monsters, speeds and scoring are the original's.
• The maze is turned a quarter turn. Players enter from the right.
• The sounds are the Commodore 64's, remade for the Vectrex sound chip. The Magic Voice speech is not included.

CREDITS

Wizard of Wor arcade game: Midway, 1980.

Commodore 64 version, 1983: programmed by Jeff Bruette, published by Commodore.

Vectrex version, 2026: Sad Enby Games.

Thanks to dabadab for the commented disassembly of the Commodore 64 game.

This is an unofficial fan conversion. You may not sell it.