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Where’s Waldo?

NES

NES

Your goal is to find Waldo in various pictures in order to progress through the game in order for him to progress and to eventually reach the moon. The pictures are still images the size of the screen in the Easy and Practice levels. In the Medium and Hard levels, the player has to scroll to ...

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Developer
Bethesda Softworks

Released on
1991

Size
1 Player

Version
NES

Requirements
Nintendo Entertainment System

Downloads
Puzzle

Publisher
THQ

ESRB Rating
Not Rated

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Description

Your goal is to find Waldo in various pictures in order to progress through the game in order for him to progress and to eventually reach the moon.

The pictures are still images the size of the screen in the Easy and Practice levels. In the Medium and Hard levels, the player has to scroll to the side to see the rest of the area. The directional buttons control a magnifying glass and once the player finds Waldo, they get to go to the next level and a new picture.

Where's Waldo?

Overview & History

Released in 1991 for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Where's Waldo? was developed by Bethesda Softworks and published by THQ. Based on the widely popular picture-book series by Martin Handford, the game attempts to translate the joy of visual search into an 8-bit medium. The loose storyline follows Waldo as he travels through various periods and locations—ranging from a bustling town and a crowded forest to a dark underground cave and outer space—with the ultimate goal of reaching the Land of Waldos. Due to the graphical limitations of the NES, resolving Waldo's iconic red-and-white stripes proved to be a notorious challenge for players of the era.

Gameplay Features & Mechanics

The core gameplay consists of pixel-hunting across multi-screen scrolling landscapes. Players control a magnifying glass cursor, searching for Waldo within a strict, ticking time limit. The game offers four difficulty settings: Practice, Easy, Medium, and Hard, which alter the time limit and the size of the cursor. To break up the standard searching, the game introduces unique level gimmicks. In the Forest, players play a slot-machine-style matching game to progress. The Cave level shifts the perspective, requiring players to physically guide Waldo through a pitch-black labyrinth using a limited flashlight. The final stage, the Land of Waldos, tasks players with identifying the "real" Waldo from a screen packed with deceptive lookalikes. Making incorrect selections in this final area penalizes the player's remaining time severely.

Keyboard Controls

Arrow Keys / D-Pad: Move the magnifying glass cursor across the screen, or navigate Waldo directly through the Cave level.
Action Keys: Press 'A' to select a target when the cursor is over Waldo; hold 'B' to increase the cursor's movement speed.
Enter: Start the game, confirm selections on menu screens, or pause the gameplay.