WIZ 'N' LIZ | PSYGNOSIS 1993

Wiz 'n' Liz: The Frantic Wabbit Wescue is an interesting little game. It's a micro size frenzied platformer of sorts sporting the usual Psgynosis flare of cutesy graphics and sounds.

It's the story of how 2 wizards must scour the planet Pum in search of their beloved wabbits.

Reviews at the time were not particularly favourable largely due to the repetitive nature of the gameplay and the game got overlooked by most, however, a peek below the surface will reveal sub-games that are of classic games such as Space Invaders, cameos and humour along with a 2-Player mode for some competition.

The game was published by Psygnosis in 1993 and was also released for the Amiga. It was written by two guys called Martyn Chuddly and Mike Waterworth.

There have been no follow up versions to Wiz 'n' Liz thus far. It would have made an good title for the DS.

Wiz 'N' Liz European Case
	*Case Quote* "Wiz 'n' Liz and the Frantic Wabbit Wescue kicks the Mega Drive into warp speed and smashes onto your screen like a tidal wave in the fastest fun-filled fiasco ever created. There's exploding Wabbits, a crazy cauldron, hundreds of spells and heaps of sensational sub games - not to mention two totally maniac magicians. You want action? Boy have we got action!!!"

STORY

The Wabbits are transported away!

Wiz 'n' Liz live far away on a planet called Pum where magic is a reality and is used in everyday life. Even the fruit which grow on trees hold magical properties.

Wiz 'n' Liz enjoyed making magic only slightly less than caring for their beloved pet wabbits. They had so many wabbits that caring for them became rather time consuming.

One day a spell went horribly wrong and transported the wabbits away to distant parts of the planet. Wiz 'n' Liz set off to retrieve them.

GAMEPLAY

As either Wiz or Liz you must enter the 8 lands to save them and return them back to the home world. There is only a certain amount of time before the spell that sent them wayward begins to kill them.

Its gameplay is simplistic being get-in, collect and get-out making for easy adoption but the game becomes very fast and quite challenging on later levels as events occurring will make for an increasingly pressured game.

Video is shamelessly embedded from Youtube. All credit to the video owner. No infringement intended.

The actual platforms are tiny pieces of land that wrap around the screen and the wabbits populate them randomly. Through the casting of increasingly longer spells (letters/words) and increasing numbers of wabbits to save it all becomes very frantic.

The default controls are as follows:

The D-Pad left and right is for running across the screen. Up and Down are used for looking though are of limited use.

Button A lets you fall through a platform which is extremely useful for later levels when racing around. It is also used for throwing your magical powers when fighting bosses.

Buttons B and C are both jump.

All your vital information is on screen all of the time.

Wiz N Liz

At the top of the screen will be the current password. This will be for the level you are on and the current difficulty setting.

Stars - These are the currency of Pum. These are collected in rounds as star icons and can be awarded to you as bonuses. You will need these for buying items in shops and playing some sub-games.

Skill - the current skill level you are playing at. This is set in the 1-Player options before a game starts. More information on Options is below.

Points - the amount of points you currently have. To the left of this will be which character you are playing with.

Wiz or Liz Icon - How many lives you currently have. Every million points earns you an extra life. Lives can also be bought and/or awarded as bonuses.

BONUS - Coloured letters indicate which have been collected. Collecting all of these letters allows you to play a Bonus Round. More details below.

Time - How much time you currently have left to complete a land and its collective round/s. Time bonuses in the form of clock icons increase this. Extra time can also be earned in sub-games as bonuses.

Casting Spells

The game starts outside your house on Pum - the Home World. This is where you cast your spells and will return to when a level (land) is completed. To begin the wecsue, cast the spell of Apple + Strawberry to make the exit appear. It will be a spinning blue door with a blue arrow by your house. This spell will last for the duration of the game.

Spells are cast by putting 2 magical items together in the cauldron. Magical items are fruit and vegetables. There are 100+ different spells that can be cast. Some are useful and some are not. A spell can grant bonuses, open up sub-games, skip levels and more. All spells last for the duration of 1 level.

All the spells for the game are detailed on the Wiz 'N' Liz Spells Page. The various sub-games are described further down this page.

To cast a spell simply grab an item off the trees by jumping at it. It will follow you on a magical cord. Jump next to the cauldron for it to go inside. Place another object in the cauldron and after some mixing the spell will be cast and the results displayed on screen.

Any magical fruit or vegetables that you collect whilst saving the wabbits, will be hanging on the trees. Their lifespan will be 3 levels. When they are about to expire they will begin to spin faster and then disappear.

When you go through the exit you will be taken to the rollercoaster intersection where you choose which land to enter. Each land represents a single level. A level can be between 1 and 4 rounds of rescuing. You will be told the number of rounds to be played when you enter the land. When a level (land) is complete the door will be nailed shut and you will return to your cauldron with a new password.

Levels and Worlds

Each land is a small area in which the wabbits are littered throughout. Within a time limit you must collect all the wabbits inside it. As wabbits are collected more are littered. To collect, simply touch them.

A single round has 2 objectives. First you must collect the letters for a spell to make the exit appear. This will be the word across the top of the screen. Second you collect the remaining wabbits but you do magical items, stars and time bonuses can be collected also. When all of the wabbits have been collected the exit will be open. The round will be over when you jump through the exit.

A Spell Letter

If you run out of time before reaching the exit you will loose a life. When a life is lost you loose the letters and items that you have collected in that round. The maximum amount of time you can have 3 minutes. You will receive points for all objects that you collect.

As the game progresses the spells become longer and the amount of wabbits that will need to be saved will go up.

At the end of all rounds, the level/land is completed and bonus points are awarded for items collected being brown wabbits, blue wabbits, fruit/vegetables, time icons and stars.

Bouns Points

During rescue mode, a few extra items appear on the display. They are:

Wiz 'N' Liz Items
	Fruit or Vegetable Icon / bar - This is the magical item that you are currently collecting. These are selected randomly by the game. You can judge how many more items that you have to collect by the bar in the bottom-right. As the difficulty level increases the amount of items you will have to collect to earn it.
	Time Icon - These are worth 3 seconds of time each and are added to your total time when you complete a round.
	Star Icon - worth 1 star.
	Flashing gold coin - When you are down to your remaining 10 seconds and the countdown is in progress, one wabbit will contain a flashing gold coin. This will give you 30 seconds extra time.
	Wiz or Liz character - worth an extra life. Usually only seen when your score has just increased by 1 million points.
	Bonus Letter. See below.
	Missing/Invisible Letters. Try to avoid. These remove letters from a spell and bonus letters that you have already collected.

Bonus Letters and Bonus Round

Bonus letters are collected with spell letters. They are a slightly different colour. When you have collected all bonus letters you will play a bonus round once the final round has been completed.

In a Bonus Round the screen will go blue and you have 1 minute to collect all the wabbits. There are no magic items to collect just stars and time. You can collect a maximum of 10 time icons giving you 30 seconds more.

Bonus Round

In the last 10 seconds the exit will appear and will be open. When you go through the exit you will receive a 50,000 points bonus. However, if you collect all the wabbits then this will be 75,000 points.

You can not die in a bonus round should and you run out of time however you will loose all of the stars, time and points that you have collected.

In addition to bonuses there are also some hazards which can affect the progress of a round.

Exploding Wabbits

During the course of a round wabbits die randomly. Collect dying wabbits with a priority. If a wabbit dies you will loose all of the letters that you have collected including bonus letters and will have to begin collecting again thus wasting time. A dying wabbit will flash white and more rapidly as it approaches death.

The fairy hovering around your character points you in the direction of a dying wabbit. As the difficulty increases the amount of time you have to save a dying wabbit decreases.

THE LANDS OF PUM

The Lands of Pum

Grass Land	Mine Land

Desert Land	Wood Land

Dead Land	Lunar Land

Temple Land	Snow Land

BOSSES

At the end of each world (8 levels) you will face a boss. Which boss you face will depend on the difficulty level in which you are playing. The bosses are:

The Freaky Flower
Snake Eyes
The Creepy Clock
The Savage Pumpkin
The Evil Oak
The Gate Keeper
The Deadly Dragon

To fight the boss you will use magic. This is released by pressing Button A. When held down a stream of magical energy targets a weak spot. This is limited and will only last for a few seconds. It will recharge after a few seconds of rest.

A boss will flash white when hit and weak spots may have to be destroyed in a specific order.

You can take 6 hits from a boss before you are killed represented by the character icons at the top-left of the screen. If you should be killed then not only will you loose a life but will also be returned to your cauldron and will have to play a randomly opened land for one round before being given another attempt at the big bad.

When the boss is defeated you will receive points bonuses for all items collected in that world. This usually earns you an extra life.

Bosses

The Freaky Flower	The Evil Oak

The Creepy Clock	The Gatekeeper

The Savage Pumpkin	Snake Eyes

The Deadly Dragon

1-Player Game Options Screen

Game options are displayed before a game is started. Several can be set. They are:

Swap - Can choose between Wiz or Liz as the playable character. There is no difference between the two other than appearance.

Password - Enter a password. Some are below.

Level - This is an initial difficulty setting and basically determines how many levels will be played. Choices are:

Apprentice - this has only 8 levels with no exploding wabbits.

Wizard - has 16 levels, 2 bosses and slightly less time. This is medium.

Sorcerer - has 32 levels with 4 bosses and eventually will have four rounds per level with exploding wabbits and all. This is the hardest setting.

Not immediately selectable is a Super Wizard setting. This has 32 levels and 4 bosses but not as difficult as the Sorcerer setting. A cheat is needed to activate this mode. See Cheats and Tips section.

Skill - Selects the speed of onscreen action. Choices are:

Training - Gives slow character movement and slow timer countdown.

Tame - normal character movement and normal timer countdown.

Taxing - Frantic movement, crazy speed and fast timer countdown. This is the default mode.

Credits - View the credits of the game along with some graphics.

1 Player Options

Password Screen

On the game options screen you can input a password. The current password will be displayed at the home world by your cauldron. Passwords store the level number, difficulty, number of lives you have and the amount of time you have. They do not store the value of stars. See Cheats and Tips section for some useful passwords.

Upon loosing all of your lives Game Over will appear and you will be taken to the leader board. There is no continuing in Wiz 'n' Liz so make note of passwords as you progress.

Password Screen

SUB-GAMES

Wiz 'n' Liz features several sub-games that are opened by casting certain spells. Most of these are renditions of classic games. These are good places to earn extra points, stars and time. Some bonus games are better than others in that respect.

Sub-games are indicated by doors with a red arrow and a star next to the cauldron. It will only last for that time you are in the home world ergo. It will vanish if you enter a level.

The games and the spells needed to open them are detailed below.

Sub-Games
Waining Wabbits (Banana + Onion)

Wabbits fall from the Sky. Move your character like in a normal game to collect them before they hit the ground. You have a limit of 50 that can die before the game ends. Stars also float onto the screen from the floor for you to collect.
Letter Basher / Arkanoid (Cabbage + Cabbage)

A basic clone of Arkanoid. You bounce the ball off the platform and the sides and destroy the brinks that form the shape of a letter. The D-Pad left and right moves the platform and any button launches the ball. You get points for each impact and rebound of the ball.
Wabbitoids (Cabbage + Mushroom)

You must hover whilst avoiding cogs that fly onto the screen. Repeatedly tap Buttons B and C for altitude and use the D-Pad for movement. Touching wabbits earns points, stars earn stars and clocks earn extra time. Touching a cog results in a hit for which you are allowed 5. As the game progresses the amount of cogs which come onto the screen increases.
Wabbit Invaders (Carrot + Pear)

A rendition of Space Invaders. Obviously shoot the wabbits. Use the D-Pad to move your ship across the bottom of the screen and any button for fire. The longer the game lasts the more points you get for each wabbit you destroy. The blue wabbit is worth 20,000 points. A good place to earn some extra points.
Bouncing Wabbits (Cherry + Cherry)

The object is to keep 2 wabbits in the air by bouncing them on the platform across the bottom of the screen. Use the D-Pad left and right to move the platform. Numbers will appear at random positions on the screen and will countdown from 9 to 0. Aim the wabbit towards it. The higher the number the bigger the points bonus. If a wabbit hits the ground it will die. You are allowed 50 wabbits to die.
Snakes Alive (Orange + Potato)

Guide the snake to the numbers on the screen without touching the barrier or the snake itself. The D-Pad moves the snake and any button pressed down makes it move faster. Numbers appear randomly on the screen and countdown from 9 to 0. Target the snake towards them. The higher the number when it is collected the greater the bonus but also the length the snake will increase.
Take a Chance (Orange + Lemon)

Choose a bonus at the risk of the weight falling on you. Hanging above you are 3 x 10 tonne weights. Underneath each one is a bonus. This will be points, stars or time. Simply move your character under and press jump to collect. If the weight falls on you the game is over. This is probably the most useful games because the bonuses you receive are quite high though they are still random.
Tube Skiing (Orange + Mushroom)

You travel along a rotating cylinder that accelerates. Use the D-Pad up and down to rotate the tube. You can collect time, points and stars. Touching one of the cogs will result in a hit for which you are allowed 5.
Guess Those Words (Potato + Lemon)

Guess the definition of a bizarre word. You bet some stars against picking the correct definition. There will be 4 definitions to choose from. Quite a tricky game!
Gold Rush (Potato + Pear)

Get the highest number possible in each column. You will have 6 columns of wabbits that turn gold. When you tap a button on the controller the column will land on a number. The highlighting gets faster in each column and only as high as the last number you got. You must get a number higher than 0 for each subsequent column. Despite sounding complicated it's over in about 5 seconds!
Splat! (Strawberry + Orange)

You can hurl 20 tomatoes at the two peoples heads locked in blocks. Hitting places like the mouth and the eyes will result in higher points bonuses than hitting them elsewhere. To throw, hold Button C to 'charge' or set the height of a tomato. Use the D-Pad left and right to target. The tomato will be launched when the button is released. There is the [Puggsy] character hanging in the centre. Hitting him will result in the word "Puggsy" being displayed. If you specifically target one person you will receive a nice points bonus at the end.
Wheel of Fortune (Strawberry + Mango)

Items roll around the screen. Simply press START. Whatever item it stops on you win.
Pong (Strawberry + Pear)

Keep the ball moving around the area by bouncing it off the platform and against the walls. Use the D-Pad to move the platform left and right and any button to launch the ball. A life is lost when the ball falls off the screen. You have 2 lives and the game ends. The longer you remain in the game the more points you receive for each rebound.

Other Spells

There are one or two essential spells to help with progress through the game.

Ye Olde Magic Shope

Ye Olde Magic Shoppe

By casting the spell of Apple + Banana the shop will open. In here you can buy all the fruit and vegetables to mix spells as well as extra lives and time.

This is perhaps the 2nd most essential spell and the game tends to give these ingredients early on as you can buy the items for casting useful spells to help you clear later levels. For example, the ingredients for No Dying Wabbits spell.

You can also sell any fruit and vegetables that you have collected for stars.

The price of the items increases after you have completed a world (8 levels) ,however, there are ways to reduce this such as a sale spell; Cabbage + Banana can half the prices for the duration of a level.

Ye Olde Hint Shoppe

By casting the spell of Potato + Banana a door will open above the trees.

The hint shop will give you information, hints and cheats about the game. The most valuable will be the most expensive.

Ye Olde Hint Shoppe

Magic Gems

By casting a spell that results in the collection of a magical gem, a door will open above the trees with a Gems Arrow. The spells needed for all Gems are:

Apple + Onion = Magic Ruby
Potato + Mango = Magic Emerald
Strawberry + Banana = Magic Diamond
Mushroom + Mushroom = Magic Sapphire

The collection of all 4 Magical Gems allows a Super Bonus Round to be played. This can be used only once. To play another you will have to collect the gems again.

Level 1-4 - Which variation of the landscape to play on.

Land - Which land to play.

Play Super Bonus - Start!

A Super Bonus Round is similar to an ordinary Bonus Round. You have 1 minute to collect points, stars and time.

Stars - which are worth 3.
Time - Bonus time. Worth 3 seconds each.
Magic Items - These appear occasionally and only 1 is needed to collect the item.
Points - are worth 10000 points each.

In the last 10 seconds a wabbit will contain the gold coin rewarding you with 30 seconds extra time. This extends Super Bonus Round but only once.



Magic Gems

Super Bonus Round

2-Player Mode

Selecting 2 players from the title screen enters the split screen competition mode. Player 1 occupies the top and player 2 the bottom.

The object is to collect all the wabbits in a land and exit before your opponent.

Upon exiting, your opponent has just 10 seconds remaining to complete the round before they are defeated.

Player 1 will collect the brown wabbits and player 2 will collect the blue ones.

Several options can be set for a 2 player game. They are:

Swap - Choose which player plays Wiz and which plays Liz. There is actually no difference.

Lives - How many lives for each world. Choose from 1, 3, 5, 7 or 9

Best of - Out of how many rounds will a winner be found.

Skills - Difficulty level. 1 = easiest

Speeds - Slow restricts speed to walking. Fast allows for running.

When you play you will see the lands won screen. This will show you who is winning and how many wabbits and points they have collected.

2-Player Game

2-Player Vs

CHEATS AND TIPS

General Tips

Mine Land and Wood Land tend to be the most tricky to get around so if you find yourself low on time then try and complete another land to build some back up.

Extra Lives

When you have a score of about 5 million points use the points doubled spell Strawberry + Carrot to earn some extra lives. You can only use this spell once.

These may appear as the floating Wiz and Liz items in the next round so be prepared!

65536 Stars

Start the game with the password HSSN RSCD. Use the shop spell and purchase a potato and banana. A hint shop will appear. Enter the Hint Shop and buy any hint. Enter and re-enter the shop holding START and Button C. The screen will keep flashing. When you have used all your stars the counter will roll back over to 65536. Loads a money!

Super Wizard Levels

For an extra difficulty setting, when the SEGA logo appears on boot up, hold Buttons A+B+C and press START. You will hear a "yeah" sound and a new Super Wizard setting will appear on the options menu under level. This setting lies between Sorcerer and Wizard and consists of 32 levels.

Alternatively enter the following passwords:

GSSN QLML for Tame with the Magic Shop and 100 stars
HSSN RLLL for Taxing with the Magic Shop and 100 stars

The Super Wizard mode will still be available even when you reset the machine.

Super Wizard Setting

Start Game with Shop and Stars

To start off the game with the Magic Shop already open plus a handy 100 stars, hold START and press Button C while entering the last letter of any valid password.

Time Ball Release

During a round Hold D-Pad Up and press Button A. A "yeah" sound will play and a time ball will be inside a wabbit. You can only use this once per round, and if you do it too often, it gets harder to find each time.

Discount in the shop

When you enter the shop hold down START and highlight the word buy. Hold Button C. If done correctly you will hear a "yeah!" The price of the items in the shop will be half.

Some Passwords

TKGS RPDS - Sorcerer Taxing Level 12 3 Lives 1:08
SCDQ KFDS - Sorcerer Taxing Level 25 4 Lives 1:36

Super Passwords

TCDT-GBBS - Big Baddie Selection. Play against any boss.
MRCF RSCD - Start the game with all the gems, 500 stars, and opens random doors!
MGTP-GLLS - Apprentice Final Level
NNQS - LSBF - Sorcerer Final Level
See Hint V - MQHS PKDN
See Hint W - CBSK LGQD
See Hint X - BBBB BBBB
See Hint Y - TTTT TTTT

EMULATIOR COMPATIBILITY

Perfect! Play this with KEGA Fusion, Gens and Gens32 Emulators. You can download these from the SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis Emulators page.

MISC INFO

In the games manual there is reference to the world where Wiz 'n' Liz live. This is a picture of the map from Puggsy.
The Puggsy character also makes an appearance in Splat! and in the landscape of Temple Land.
Lemmings, another game synonymous with Psygnosis also make a cameo when mixing the spell of Banana + Banana.
A playable demo of the game came on a CDROM with Sega Power Issue#20. Perhaps a Mega CD version was planned at some point or Psynosis had tools to quickly port Mega Drive projects to Mega CD. Curiously the game will not run via an emulator.
I have a version of this game on cartridge where you can make either Wiz or Liz fart by bending them over and pressing the Button A.
Wiz 'n' Liz's names appear on tombstones in the Dark Blade forest level of Puggsy.
Presumably all these guys were all good mates or something.
The Moon sequence is quote amusing. That routine would make a great little screen saver or active desktop object.