Lost Capcom Art: Willow

I never really thought to search out the Japanese arcade flyer for Willow by Capcom. I assumed it would use the same movie art as the American game. I assumed wrong! Just when I thought I had seen it all, I found the cover to have some great surprises for Capcom fans: Willow and Madmartigan anime style! ^_^


If you haven't ever played Willow, you should do all you can to play it on Mame. The game was never given a home console release, which is a total shame. It's one of the best looking Capcom arcade games on the 80s. If you enjoyed the Mickey Mouse, Ghost N' Goblins and Strider series you are sure to enjoy this one a lot as well. It's very true to the movie, with scenes taken straight from the film. Combine the movies charms with Capcoms amazing art, game play and music and you have classic that begs exploring.

I discovered the game at a local sports store that had a huge arcade in it's basement. It was the strangest thing. The store was in a strip mall across from a large mall, the Woodbine Center. My mom would go there to get socks and stuff for my dad and while she shopped she allowed me to have a few quarters to play the games downstairs. I don't think I ever saw any kids down there. I doubt that very many people even knew this place existed. The whole store was kinda out of the way. You couldn't exactly walk to it even from the mall. Anyway, I was always happy to dump 25 cents into the game and give it my best shot. I never got very far and mom wasn't very giving with the quarters. I only got to about the third level, or so.
Eventually the arcade, then the store disappeared and I never saw the game again till I got a PC. It was the second game I downloaded for Mame. It's a shame that Capcom and LucasFilm have never gotten back together to re-release this one on any of the current systems. It would make a great title for the PSP, or DS.