Tony Crowther‘s 1985 release, William Wobbler, is somewhat controversial among critics and fans… Some love it; some hate it. Actually, let me re-phrase that: most people hate it… And (rather infamously) the leading Commodore 64 magazine of the time (Newsfield’s Zzap!64) gave it a hard time, and it pretty much sank without a trace.

William Wobbler was meant to be a big release on Crowther‘s own Wizard label. The developers even devised a competition for speed-running the game (requiring the submission of a verification file), but the general reaction to the game was lukewarm at best, so it didn’t sell too well.

With decades having now passed since its release, William Wobbler doesn’t appear to be quite as bad as some make out. Yes: it’s weird, and yes: the game is basically structured around receiving hard gameplay lessons (usually resulting in instant game over), but it’s quite playable, and does at least have a character and a ‘spine’ to it. You only get one life, though, so it’s a challenge for experts and quicksave monkeys only. 🙂

More: William Wobbler on Wikipedia
More: William Wobbler on Moby Games