El Viento

El Viento
Developer: Wolf Team Publishers: Wolf Team (JP), Renovation Products (US) Platform: Genesis Released in JP: September 20, 1991 Released in US: 1991 This game has unused areas. This game has regional differences.

To do: document the protoype version. source

El Viento is a fast-paced, sidescrolling action game from Wolf Team. It involves a lot of boomerang throwing and giant, pixelated explosions.

It is the second in a trilogy of games, which include Earnest Evans and Annet Futatabi.

Testing / Challenge Stage

Using M.I.J.E.T.'s enhancement patch, this normally inaccessible stage can be accessed by holding A + B + C and pressing Start at the title screen. To quote the readme:

Stage 0, as I refer to it, appears to have been initially designed as a testing ground for many of the game's features. It contains "programmer art" and lacks any enemies. Apparently, it evolved during game development and ended up becoming a challenge stage for the developers at Wolfteam to play.

The stage appears to be partially based on Stage 4, or vice versa. The big word at the top-left of the stage has been translated to "PERIL" and the one at the top-right corner has been translated to "GOAL". The red text on the tombstone-like objects translates to "Hiroshi", most likely in reference to assistant programmer Hiroshi Izumino.

Features of this stage include:

• Floor tiles with left and right pointing arrows that move you in that direction.
• Bricks that can be destroyed with your boomerangs.
• Bricks with red cracks that explode when hit, causing a chain reaction with adjacent cracked bricks.
• Pipes that act like a fuse when their connected cracked brick is hit. They tend to block your path until you clear them away.
• Gray, prickly blocks that act like enemies in that they explode when hit and cause harm when touched, but don't move unless they're falling from the air.
• Green water that propels you upwards.
• Floor tiles with downward pointing triangles that you fall through.
• Floor tiles with squares in them that act similarly to the pipes.
• Adorable green and yellow sea creatures that act like the cracked bricks, just more cuddly.

Alternately, the test level can be accessed using Game Genie code AB9A-AAH6.

Regional Differences

A couple of the cutscenes were altered to remove Vincente/Al's cigar, specifically the ones that play before Levels 2 and 5.

Japan	U.S.

(Source: Rage Quitter 87)