Clock Tower is one of the coolest games we never got in North America. Released on the Super Famicom in Japan this was one of those fancy point and click adventures with a heavy horror themes. It was clearly never going to pass Nintendo’s censorship. While the game’s sequel was localized on the PS1 the original remake was not. This leaves us with the third release of Clock Tower. It came out on the Bandai Wonderswan handheld system in late 1999. There was even less of a chance this one would ever be localized considering the hardware never launched outside of Japan. Thankfully I was able to get my hands on it. I even managed to complete it with the help of a guide. Let’s take a look at this rare and obscure version of a great game. This is our review of Clock Tower on the original Wonderswan.
The story appears to be virtually unchanged. You play as an orphan teenager named Jennifer who is poised to leave her old life behind when a wealthy and reclusive family seek to adopt her and a few friends. These people live in a sprawling estate located deep in the woods. Upon their arrival no one appears to be home. The orphange’s headmaster leaves the group to try and find someone, anyone. Unfortunately she never comes back. Jennifer sets out to find her. Soon thereafter she hears a scream echo through the halls she returns to find that the lights are out and no one can be found. She starts exploring to find out exactly what’s going on. Soon after her adventure turns into a game of cat and mouse with a deformed man bearing giant scissors starts tracking and chasing her throughout the house.
I’ve always thought the premise was really good for a horror game, and that translates well into this Wonderswan version. The gameplay is a little odd in that this is a point and click adventure rather than traditional survival horror title. What this means is you don’t have direct control over Jennifer. Instead you move a cursor around on the screen, highlight points of interest, and press the action button to make her investigate. If you just want her to walk you can tap the action button in a direction, and then double click it to make her run. Unfortunately this makes simple tasks like just moving around kind of a chore. It also doesn’t help that Jennifer moves even slower in thnis version. She was already not very fast, but this is pretty bad. Once I got used to it this wasn’t a huge deal.
Unfortunately the game is always a little vague concerning what you need to do next. Generally you’ll have to interact with an object, or use an item in a specific situation to progress. Unfortunately the house is really large and it’s kind of easy to get lost. It’s an even bigger issue on the Wonderswan. In the Super Famicom version I could track where I’ve been by noting the color of the wallpaper. Because this handheld unit it black and white you get no such benefit. I had to pretty frequently rely on a guide here and highlight just where I was at and where I’ve been because of this. They could have fixed this issue by adding more textures to the wall or landmarks. Perhaps they couldn’t due to the limited hardware. We may never know.
The worst part about getting lost is the fact that the Scissorman is hot on your tail. There are a few scripted appearances in specific places, but he can also show up randomly. Jennifer is a kid so she has no real offensive abilities. It’s not like she can fight against giant shears with her bare hands after all. You can find elements in the environment to temporarily defeat him. It really depends on which room you’re in. There’s a section where you can push over a book shelf on him, and another where you can toss what I assume is a paint can his way to stun the guy. Other times you jsut have to hide. This includes places like underneath beds or in closets. Unfortunately there’s no guarantee to safety. Sometimes he’ll find you even if there’s no way he saw where you went.
He’s also not the only threat Jennifer is dealing with. While they are scarce the game does contain a few different enemies. For example there’s a parrot in one of the bedrooms that will attack you, and the only way to deal with it is by wrapping it up in a blanket. In another instance (ripped straight from the PS1 version I believe) a zombie springs to life from inside a closet and gives chase. Unlike Scissorman these enemies can actually be dealt with which is nice. Unfortunately the game is unforgiving and if they get to Jennifer then you’re probably cooked. Running is always an option but considering how slow our heroine moves it’s not always going to be your best bet. Regardless of if you’re dealing with another enemy or the Scissorman himself Clock Tower is pretty unforgiving. Plan to die and continue frequently.
On a technical level this game is a clear step down from the Super Famicom release. That’s to be expected because after all the Wonderswan was less powerful. With that said there are some quality of life changes that make up for this. For one thing the cursor stays in the same position as the screen scrolls. This makes it easier to continue running. Furthermore the most annoying thing with the original release was the speed at which Jennifer walked up and down stairs. Now a few of the staircases have a shortened sequence with the screen fading to black and Jennifer appearing at the other end. This is a very welcome change. Another lesser, but still cool new feature, is that Jennifer’s health is displayed on the built in status bar on the screen itself. Because it’s based on the hardware itself this is an exclusive feature.
Now for the big question. Is the Wonderswan version still scary? We all know the Super Famicom release was, but does the downgrade in hardware make it less so? I actually think that this Wonderswan edition is more eerie than the original. The screen being in black and white makes it seem like it would take away some of game’s character. Fortunately I found the opposite to be true. This made Clock Tower feel like more like a classic horror film. I also think that the more simplistic chip tunes of the hardware added something to the soundtrack. The music is eerie and atmospheric. Even more than it was in the Super Famicom version in some instances. It’s truly impressive just what the developers were able to pull off on less powerful handheld hardware. To me this doesn’t feel like a lesser version.
While I do think the black and white display adds character to Clock Tower the rest of the graphics are a clear downgrade. Let me start out with the character designs. They’re clearly less detailed. Everyone is still recognizable, but they don’t look nearly as nice as they once did. Animations also take a hit. There are missing frames aplenty. You have to play both versions to actually notice, but the differences are pretty big. This isn’t a huge deal because I was expecting concessions to be made. The backgrounds are also missing a lot of details which is disappointing. It still looks better than it should on a simple handheld from this time so I’ll give it a pass. The soundtrack as I mentioned earlier in some ways is better because it’s more eerie. There are less audio channels, but I couldn’t be bothered to care.
