#wardner

Wardner

Toaplan is mostly known for their shoot-em-up output, but they had plenty of games in other genres, even if they weren’t quite as prolific. One of these was 1987’s Wardner (known as Wardner no Mori (“The Forest of Wardner”) in Japan, and Pyros in North American arcades. It’s a side-scrolling dark fantasy action title, similar to Capcom’s Ghosts n’ Goblins (which preceded it by two years) and Irem’s Legend of Hero Tonma (which came two years later) The premise is that a young boy and his ladyfriend have found themselves in the dangerous forest of the fearsome warlock Wardner; the girl gets kidnapped and it’s up to the guy to save her. It’s likely that the name “Wardner” came from “Werdna”, the antagonist of the first Wizardry, as they’re spelled the same in Japanese. 

‘Caliber.50′ + ‘Wardner’

[GEN] [USA] [MAGAZINE] [1992]

Sega Force, Winter 1992

Mean Machines #10, July 1991 - A review of the Japanese version of Wardner, but it did eventually come stateside as well!