Classic Games

Jet Set Willy

The mansion that never ends

Matthew Smith's sprawling sequel to Manic Miner let players explore a massive mansion—bugs and all.

SpectrumC64 platformerspectrum-essentialclassic 1984–2024

Overview

Matthew Smith followed Manic Miner with something larger—much larger. Jet Set Willy gave players a 60-room mansion to explore, no linear progression required. Willy had thrown a party; now his housekeeper Maria wouldn’t let him sleep until he’d collected every item. The game was ambitious, beloved, and famously buggy.

Fast facts

  • Developer: Matthew Smith.
  • Publisher: Software Projects.
  • Release: 1984.
  • Platform: ZX Spectrum (original), C64, Amstrad, BBC, and more.
  • Rooms: 60 explorable locations (plus some inaccessible due to bugs).
  • Items: 83 objects to collect.
  • Bugs: infamous—some rooms were impossible without POKEs.

The design

Jet Set Willy abandoned linear progression:

  • Open exploration: most rooms accessible from the start.
  • Non-linear collection: gather items in any order.
  • The mansion: coherent (mostly) architectural layout.
  • Secrets: hidden rooms and obscure paths.

The bugs

The game shipped broken:

  • The Attic: entering caused corruption, made completion impossible.
  • Impossible rooms: some screens couldn’t be completed as designed.
  • POKE fixes: magazines published memory modifications to fix issues.
  • Accepted anyway: players loved it despite (because of?) the chaos.

The rooms

Smith’s imagination filled the mansion:

  • The Bathroom: starting location.
  • The Kitchen: Maria guards the bedroom access.
  • The Banyan Tree: exterior exploration.
  • We Must Perform a Quirkafleeg: absurdist naming.
  • The Nightmare Room: hallucinatory design.

Cultural impact

Jet Set Willy became phenomenon:

  • Map-making: players drew their own maps of the mansion.
  • POKE culture: fixing bugs became community activity.
  • Playground knowledge: room locations and secrets shared at school.
  • Sequels and clones: inspired numerous imitations and fan games.

The C64 version

The Commodore 64 port was ambitious:

  • Larger rooms than Spectrum version.
  • Different bugs (but still bugs).
  • Enhanced music.
  • Considered definitive by some.

Matthew Smith’s disappearance

After Jet Set Willy:

  • Smith worked on a sequel that never materialised.
  • Gradually withdrew from public life.
  • Became reclusive figure.
  • The games remained; their creator became mystery.

Legacy

Jet Set Willy showed games could be worlds to explore, not just challenges to overcome. The bugs became part of the experience—fixing them was community collaboration before online communities existed. Imperfect, ambitious, memorable.

See also