40 Winks

Pretty fun game, reminiscent of the old Super Mario Sunshine but with a very cool aesthetic. You have a main hub with portals to other hubs that you unlock one by one which contains 3 instances each, for a total of 6 hub worlds and 18 instances. Each hub world also contain a boss fight after you finish the instances as well as a racing event. The instances take between 20 to 60 minutes first time around depending on how easy it is to find your way through them, completing everything will probably take you between 12-16h so pretty decent time for a cheap game. It's not quite a puzzle game nor a pure combat oriented game but feels mostly like exploration, trying to find the correct way to progress through the levels while exploring every nook and cranny to find dreamkeys required to complete the hub worlds. Sometimes they are quite easy to find and sometimes they are very hidden, I found probably about 90% just playing and looking for them normally with the remaining 10% having to look at a guide to find where they are. The combat is very basic with a bit of yankiness, mainly due to the hitboxes and underwater combat kinda sucks. There are time limited powerups to pick up through the levels though with unique abilities and mechanics to help you progress through the level which helps improve the combat to a pretty decent state. The port itself is pretty yanky as well, basically being a PS1 ISO with an emulator strapped to it. When moving through wide areas game can slow down for a bit and it has some loadscreens but it's not any major issues, the port also gives you a fast way to save/load and configure which is nice. Something that is absolutely required is using a controller with the game, since you cant steer your character with your mouse. You need to set it up using the emulator menu, bit unclear what button does what so I just experimented by pressing button then binding the button I found the best on the controller. Will probably take you 10-15m to get it right. So if you like these kind of old games I would give it a go, I see they upped the price so while I paid $5 I see it's $15 now which I think is a bit expensive for an old PS1 game with a not amazing port. But if you see it on sale for half price I think that's pretty good value, but you can look for a playthrough (preferably not a speedrun) for one of the first instances to see if it looks fun and yeah that's basically the game.

Okay, so, before we get started I want to clarify some things first. This review is going to be different from my other ones, meaning that I am leaving out the “Presentation,” “Performance,” and “Story” segments and mainly focus on the “Gameplay” segment of 40 Winks. The reason I am doing this is because I have seen Steam discussion boards saying this version feels like PIKO Interactive just used an emulated version and just plopped it onto the Steam Store. While I am willing to dismiss these accusations since we may not know the full context behind the Steam version, I kind of somewhat agree that this version feels like a shoddy emulation hack-job. Also, just a fair warning, if I get to be a little bit venomous and cynical in this review, I apologize in advance. After playing the game for myself and fully beating it, I wanted to do a more in-depth/neutral discussion on the Steam version and just give my overall thoughts on not just this version, but also the game itself. Because we may not know the full story of what happened behind the scenes, the best we can do is just look at the game with a neutral perspective and see what our overall thoughts are. Also, this game has a lot of levels and content so I will NOT be going over every single detail here. But I do want to discuss some of the things that I liked about the game, try to list some of the problems the Steam version has, and hopefully encourage you to make up your own mind so you can interpret what the heck is going on. Gameplay First off, for the majority of my playthrough, I decided to go with Tumble, Ruff’s sister, and if you have played this game enough times with both characters or at least seen some YouTube videos, Ruff and Tumble play almost exactly the same except that Ruff carries a candle and Tumble carries a teddy bear. I know I am mentioning this a little too early, but I have got to bring this up. Depending on which character you are playing, certain buttons will appear for one of the characters (blue for Ruff and pink for Tumble). However, there are also certain doors that will only open based on the character you are playing. Okay, so, let’s get back into the thick of it. If any of you have played SM64, Banjo-Kazooie, or DK64, 40 Winks plays like a 3D collect-a-thon platformer. However, instead of Stars or Jiggies, this game’s main collectable is, funny enough, the winks. For the most part, the characters control fine but as I progress through the game, I started getting annoyed by the game’s physics and constant combat. Now look, 40 winks is an old game, and janky controls are to be expected. Yes, you could argue that SM64’s controls and camera are janky, but at least that game laid the foundation/inspired other 3D platformers including this one. However, the reason why I was frustrated by this game’s physics is because as I mentioned before, there are Steam discussion boards mentioning that this game may have been emulated. Heck, even the Steam review(s) mention this. What makes this worse is the game’s constant frame rate drops which can throw you off and cause you to fall to your death. While we’re on the topic of controls, let’s talk about how this game’s controls got botched. So, if you have played this game on the original PS1/PSX, you’d know that “Jump/Accept” is cross, “Range, Slide, and Butt-Bounce” is circle, “Attack” is Square, “First-Person Mode/Cancel” is Triangle, Movement is with the D-Pad, and camera movement is with L1 and R1. However, for attacking, first-person, and camera movements, they are mapped with “North, West, RB, and holding down the right analogue stick.” Yeah, you can see the problems this version has. Speaking of the camera, even when you do get accustomed to the game’s controls, the camera can also become your biggest enemy. Because it can get stuck in tight spaces, not letting you see enemies around corners, and it pans to the top of the characters’ head when riding on a rising/descending platform. Now let’s talk about the combat. Personally, I find this game’s combat to be tedious at best and downright repetitive at worst. I lost count of how many times I saw Hoodwinks and other enemies spawn out of thin air, attack me from around corners or behind doors, spam range attacks, or when they crowd around me and start beating the Z’s me. Although it’s not such a big deal, I despise it when games, especially platformers keep spawning enemies or when they have forced combat sections in order for you to proceed. By the way, this game is sadistic with its death pits and trap doors. If you fall down, you can’t use the butt-bounce to break your fall as you are stuck in your idle/running animations. Anyway, let’s move on. Aside from the problems I listed in the previous paragraphs, there is one aspect of this game I really loved, and that is the costume system. Throughout your adventure, you’ll encounter little jack-in-the-boxes which contain different costumes like Jester/Fairy, Monster/Cavemen, Robot/Superhero, and my personal favorite, Ninja. I love the concept because these costumes offer their own abilities in order to solve puzzles or have different attacks/attributes. • Monster – Stronger Attacks and Butt-Bounce • Jester/Fairy – Breath Underwater, Immune to Toxic Gas, Higher Jump • Robot – Double Jump (Jetpack) and Homing Range Attack • Ninja – Jump a Little Higher, Rope Hanging (can’t go backward), and Spin Attack (if held too long, you will become dizzy) As mentioned before, you will be collecting all 40 Winks throughout the game. However, instead of having the option to collect a small amount of collectables instead of a maximum number for a full completion like in SM64 or Kazooie, these winks are MANDATORY in order to beat the game. Also, your other main collectables are the cogs to open doors and the dream keys to unlock the boss fights. I really did not like this system because these dream keys are sometimes hidden in awkward or questionable places that I often told myself, “How is anyone supposed to find that without a guide?” Even when you do get into the boss fights, the boss fights against Threadbear range from boring to irritating. Going back to the collectables, this game doesn’t do you any favors when a lot of the sections are sometimes dark or hard to see. Okay, now that I have listed all the problems I had with this version, let’s wrap it up. Now look, even though I am sounding like 40 Winks is bad, I don’t think it entirely is. For me personally, I think it’s a fine/decent game if you are playing the PS1/PSX or N64 versions, or you can just emulate it using DuckStation and finding a ROM/ISO file. Also, I want to make it clear that even though I am all for emulation, I do not support piracy. I know I may come across as very negative about this game, but the thing is that it really sucks seeing an old game that I really wanted to try out being sold in this state. If this is your first experience playing 40 Winks, you’d most likely assume the game was never good. I am not asking for an HD remake or Nightdive levels of remastering. But all I am asking for is to provide at least a somewhat decent experience for other players to enjoy. PIKO told players to mess around with the settings in the game but what the heck does that freaking mean?! You can’t just release a game like this and then tell people to figure it out on their own; that comes across as unprofessional or passive aggressive! So, what now? Well, despite the reviews I have seen on Glover’s Steam version, I’m still going to try it out. I’m only doing this because I really want to see what this game is about. However, given PIKO’s track record, I’m not getting my hopes up or holding my breath. If you want to play this game, by all means please do so. Don’t let this review stop you from playing it. With that being said, thank you for reading and have a great day. Verdict: 3/10

40 Winks is an ancient console (Nintendo 64) ported 3D platformer from 1999. It's a whopping 24 years old at the time of this review. The game lacks support for any modern gaming display resolutions (or widescreen monitors), hasn't been modernised or updated to run smoothly on modern gaming PCs. Despite this lack of modernisation, it carries a pretty high price tag for such an ancient game. This seems to have been put on Steam as a nostalgia gouge. This is a very poorly done console port, with little to no effort put in by the "developer" here, it's just abandonware trashed dumped on Steam as a cash grab. Camera angles suck, the graphics are terrible, the control system is poor... this is completely unfun to try playing. Because this is designed for consoles, it carries a number of deliberate design deficiencies. Compromises were made to cater to the inferior console gaming appliances that the game was designed for. These are unfortunate compromises and limitations that PC gamers shouldn't be forced to accept, but it's evident that PC was a second thought for the console-centric developers. The game is deficient as a result of these choices, and would have been so much better without the handicaps that designing games for consoles forces upon a game. Once more, console peasants have made gaming worse for everyone. The poor quality of this game is reflected by how many people spent time with it. At the time of this review, SteamDB shows the all-time peak player number was only 4 players. This is a remarkably low number, and now, the only player activity occurs once or twice a month, presumably someone loading it up to see what it is then quickly uninstalling it. Considering there's over 120 million gamers on Steam and well over 50,000 games for gamers to choose from (over 9,000 completely free titles), the overwhelming lack of interest in this low quality game is to be expected. 40 Winks is stupidly, unethically expensive for an abandonware nostalgia gouge, scam priced at $13 USD, and it's not worth it. The game is just too old, hasn't been modernised. And as the old saying goes, you can't go home again. Even when it was new, this was never a triple-A game. This is the kind of game that went almost directly from the warehouse into the cheap bargain bins at the front of the shop. Now, on Steam, without any modernisation? This is impossible to recommend.

[h1] A few words of introduction...[/h1] I've played it second time since childhood. Once as I tested emulator of PS1, few years ago and only for few minutes, and now it was the second one. But this time, I challenged myself to finish this game. For the first time, because when I was young (probably in 2001/2), it was too scary for me and I didn't understand English language during tips and cutscenes. But after many years nostalgy still knocked to my heart every year. So I decided to grab a pad, enjoy the soundtrack, try not to cry and enter this beautiful universe. [h2]Feelings about the game[/h2] The most important thing is that game is still enjoyable at present. Control of character isn't a problem, music is moody and gameplay made me a lot of fun. It's only an emulation of the game, but it was done correctly. There are some moments of frame drops, which didn't bother me at all. Throughout gameplay only once game stopped working (it was freezed, so I had to load previous save- luckily it was made a minute earlier. The most important thing is that the game can be completed safely. Because as I can see in other reviews in the past there were few bugs and they are probably fixed. [h3]What is this title about?[/h3] We play as a child, selected among two siblings. Our goal is to find all 40 Winks, which were trapped by mysterious man- Nitekap. For this purpose we have to search Dreamland and face the challenges on different themed levels. From levels with pirates, dinosaurs and aliens to zombies.

40 Winks? I'd rather be pounding 40 Twinks.

Amoooo!!!

This is a difficult one. I don't want to give it a bad review because I love seeing older games released on Steam, but I do not want to give it a positive review because I cannot recommend such a lazily slapped together release. This is not a PC port. While I am very happy to see one of the many mythical lost N64 games released on steam, it is not good. This is the PSX (PS1) version of the game, which is fine. That is to be expected considering it was the only version officially released. What I do not like is the fact that this is running on a buggy and crappy emulator with strange slowdowns, quirks, and a terribly ugly CRT (aperture grill) filter applied over the game itself. No CRT looks like that. Even though this is clearly running under some sort of emulation, there are no settings to configure the emulator itself. For 14 USD I am more inclined to run a backup of the game in a standalone emulator that allows me to configure much more. I thank the developers of the game for not obfuscating the ROM file. Thank you for leaving the ROM unencrypted and free of any DRM. Good move. WIth this ROM we, paying customers, can legally run the game in a better emulator. I was also expecting there to be some extras piled in. Maybe developer commentary, sketch books, a soundtrack, etc. While I'm not a fan of DLC I would like to see these options exist. This game is very intriguing to N64 fans given its history. I think this rendition of 40 Winks is a neglectful and lazy PC release.

It brings back childhood memories

pretty unplayable by modern standards, defaults to D pad for movement and awful camera this game came out 3 years after Super Mario 64, it was shockingly behind the times even then

Use duckstation on this game