Willow (NES)

Willow is a 1989 2D action role-playing game developed and published by Capcom for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It is based on the 1988 film of the same name and loosely follows its plot. The gameplay follows the formula established by The Legend of Zelda. Capcom previously had released an unrelated arcade game based on Willow.

Gameplay
The player takes the role of Willow, who travels alone, wielding swords, shields, magic spells, and items to defeat enemies. The game contains some role-playing elements as Willow will gain experience and level up as he defeats enemies. Rather than battery saving, it uses a password system to save the game.

It is an rpg, but combat is real time. The game has no money system, and all items are found in the game.

Development
Capcom director Yoshiki Okamoto commented that the game was part of a broader strategy of Capcom at the time to appeal to a wider audience by using established characters from other media, as their original characters could be too niche. He cited games based on Area 88 and Destiny of an Emperor as part of this strategy.

In a 2014 interview with Famitsu, Shinji Mikami noted that when he joined Capcom in 1990, all of those who were accepted into the company got a free copy of the game.

Reception
Famitsu magazine gave it a score of 26 out of 40. Family Computer Magazine gave it a score of 21.05/30. Brazilian game magazine VideoGame gave it a score of 4 out of 5. Howard H. Wen, writing in Video Games and Computer Entertainment magazine gave it a score of 7 out of 10, praising the graphics, but was critical of the music and the complex password system which required 18 characters in both upper and lower case.

IGN named it as the 89th best game for the NES. The final issue of Nintendo Power, which was released in December 2012, Willow was ranked 254 out of 285 for best games ever to appear on Nintendo consoles. 1up.com called it a rather poor game inspired by The Legend of Zelda, and said Crystalis was a far better Zelda style game.