Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Wendy: Every Witch Way delivers a refreshing blend of side-scrolling platform action and gravity-based puzzles that keeps players on their toes from start to finish. At its core, the game tasks you with recovering magical stones that have upended the laws of physics and crashed the floating castle into Wendy’s home. The central mechanic—letting Wendy reverse gravity with simple up or down inputs while airborne—never feels gimmicky. Instead, it becomes an essential tool for navigating levels, dodging hazards, and outsmarting enemies whose own trajectories shift with each gravity flip.

The level design smartly builds on the gravity mechanic in measured increments, introducing new obstacles only once you’ve mastered the last. Early stages ease you in with wide platforms and slow-moving foes, while later rooms challenge you with moving spikes, disappearing floors, and larger gauntlets of enemies that require rapid gravity manipulation mid-flight. Adding further depth, the game features five collectible stars per stage that serve both as health and as a power gauge for Wendy’s magic shots. Losing a star not only shrinks your hit point buffer but also downgrades your firepower, making each encounter a race to maintain maximum strength.

Between the main stages, short broomstick bonus rounds provide delightful variety. In these segments, Wendy automatically flies forward, leaving you free to focus on timing your shots and grabbing extra stars. These moments feel like a palate cleanser, balancing the more cerebral puzzle sections with straightforward shoot-’em-up thrills. Collecting enough stars in these bonus rooms rewards extra lives and power-up retention, encouraging players to master both the gravity puzzles and the high-speed aerial action.

Graphics

Despite its origins on the original Game Boy hardware, Wendy: Every Witch Way shines with crisp, detailed sprites and distinct backgrounds that belie the system’s limited palette. Wendy herself is charmingly animated, with a jaunty hat and flowing cape that flutter as she jumps or reverses gravity. Enemy designs vary from floating skulls to winged imps, each clearly readable against the often busy platform layouts. This clarity is crucial, as split-second gravity reversals demand pixel-precise movement.

The backgrounds capture the broken castle atmosphere effectively, with crumbling stonework, drifting clouds, and spinning gears that hint at longstanding magical machinery gone haywire. Levels take place in varied locales—damp dungeons, overgrown gardens, and gear-filled chambers—yet maintain a cohesive, spooky-fairy-tale style. The occasional parallax scrolling further enhances the sense of depth, a welcome touch that elevates the Game Boy’s otherwise flat visuals.

Animations are fluid enough to convey action without hindering responsiveness. When Wendy fires her magic bolt, you see a crisp arc of light; when she flips gravity, her eyes widen in a playful gasp. Even the broomstick bonus stages sport smooth loops of motion and satisfying star-collection sparkles. These small visual flourishes combine to make each level feel alive, encouraging players to explore every nook for hidden stars and secret paths.

Story

Wendy: Every Witch Way keeps its narrative simple but engaging. The inciting incident—a mysterious chest in the attic unleashing magical stones—provides both context and motivation for every puzzle room you tackle. While platformers of the era often skimp on story, this game uses its objectives (recovering the stones and restoring gravity) to justify each level’s challenges, giving a light fairy-tale framework to otherwise abstract puzzles.

Character development is minimal, yet Wendy’s witch persona shines through in her playful animations and in-game quips. There’s no heavy dialogue or lengthy cutscenes, but the game’s manual and brief on-screen messages hint at a charming world of spells, enchanted castles, and mischievous creatures. This brevity is a strength, keeping players focused on tight, well-paced action rather than bogging them down in exposition.

The scattered stone-collection plot also ties neatly into the gameplay loop. Each stone recovered slightly mends the castle’s structure, and each world cleared feels like a step toward setting things right. For players who appreciate narrative cohesion, the metaphor of restoring balance—both literally in gravity and metaphorically in Wendy’s world—adds a satisfying through-line to the arcade action.

Overall Experience

Wendy: Every Witch Way is a standout title for fans of classic handheld platformers seeking a unique twist. Its gravity-reversal mechanic feels fresh, and the gradual ramp-up of puzzle complexity strikes a solid difficulty balance. While mastering gravity flips can be challenging, especially in later levels packed with hazards, the game never feels unfair. Quick restarts after a misstep keep frustration at bay and encourage experimentation.

The charming graphics and playful animations belie the game’s sometimes brain-teasing nature, making it inviting for both casual pick-up-and-play sessions and marathon puzzle-platforming runs. The broomstick bonus stages break up the main levels nicely, offering a change of pace and rewarding skilled play with extra lives and power-ups. Collecting every star in each stage is a satisfying optional objective for completionists and adds replay value to an already engaging experience.

Whether you’re a retro-game enthusiast or a newcomer curious about early handheld innovations, Wendy: Every Witch Way offers a compact yet memorable adventure. Its blend of platforming, puzzle design, and lighthearted charm makes it a worthy addition to any collection. For players who love a good trial-and-error puzzle and appreciate a heroine who can literally turn the world upside down, Wendy’s attic-born escapade is sure to cast a lasting spell.

Retro Replay Score

7.1/10