This article has a talk page!Whomp 'Em is an inspirational tale about a young Native American boy who must endure a series of tests and defeat a gigantic evil warlock in order to reclaim his totems and prove his worth to his tribe...or something. In reality, it's a barely-localized version of Saiyuuki World 2, which explains all the decidedly Eastern-flavored environments and enemies our hero encounters. I don't think bamboo forests are native to the United States, Jaleco.
Unused Graphics#
Alternate Game Over Text#
Unused Japanese text ("Continue" and "End", respectively), along with a rather sad-looking monkey face cursor. Wider, more colorful versions of the same text and a side-view of the monkey face (replaced with a spearhead in the US version) were used in the Japanese ROM. It's possible that the cursor was supposed to change into the sad face when you selected "End".
Random Doodles#
Stored with the pause screen numbers and ending flower sprite are what appear to be a drummer, a duplicate copy of the aforementioned flower, and an angry-looking dude. Looks like the artist got bored or something.
Strangely enough, these sprites are not present in the Japanese ROM!
Rock Monster#
Looks like a pulsating rock monster. Nearby sprites suggest it may have been explosive, and would have appeared somewhere in the Secret Cliff.
Smoke/Gas Monster#
Similar to the above but made of gas and seemingly non-explosive. This creep's stored with the flame jet graphics used in the Fire Test, and bears a noticeable resemblance to that level's boss, so he was likely intended to appear there.
Flying Squirrel#
A flying squirrel, perhaps? Its CHR location places it, appropriately, somewhere within the Sacred Woods.
Numbers#
Just some oddly-styled numbers, a couple Japanese characters, and...some other things. In this context, アト probably means "remaining" (as in "There are three minutes remaining"). It's possible that these were originally used to display the number of gourds needed for the next life upgrade.
Peach#
A classic upside-down Japanese peach. This is stored with the rest of the game's items, and thus was probably a collectible item at some point. No tilemaps remain in the ROM, though, so it was probably removed long ago.
(Source: Rachel Mae)
Coordinate/Debug Display#
Change ROM address 0xC00F to 01 to turn the player into a bunch of hexadecimal values:
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(NOTE: While the code is present and functional in both Whomp 'Em and its Japanese counterpart, Saiyuuki World 2, the graphics for characters A-F were overwritten in the former.)
(Source: Rachel Mae)
Sound Test#
Press Start on Controller 1 while holding A + B on Controller 2. Keep the latter's buttons held until this screen appears, or the game will reset.
(Source: GameFAQs (Dallas))
Regional Differences#
Whomp 'Em was originally a sequel to Saiyuuki World, a reskin of Wonder Boy in Monster Land for the Famicom that was never released outside of Japan at the time (until an international re-release in 2024). Still, Jaleco decided to release the sequel (which has very little in common with its predecessor) in America, and in doing so gave it a light coating of Native American iconography and mysticism... maybe. Truthfully, not much was changed and the game still has a very East Asian flavor to it.
Title Screen#
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Of course, Saiyuuki World 2: Tenjoukai no Majin (西遊記 ワールド 2: 天上界 の 魔神, lit. 'Journey to the West' World 2: The Devil of Heaven) was changed to Whomp 'Em, an oh-so-delightful pun on "wampum", small beads once used by Native American tribes as currency. The Jaleco logo and "All Rights Reserved" were removed and replaced with "Licensed by Nintendo of America, Inc." and a TM was added. "Push Start" was changed to "Press Start Button".
Playable Characters#
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Son Goku was given a bit of warpaint and renamed Soaring Eagle. His legendary Power Pole was replaced with a magic spear that has the same extending properties.
Stage Select#
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The stages were given new names. Clockwise from the top left, they are:
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Japan (translated) |
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木の州 |
Province of Wood |
Sacred Woods |
炎の州 |
Province of Flame |
Fire Test |
冥の州 |
Province of Darkness |
Ice Ritual |
金の州 |
Province of Metal |
Secret Cliff |
水の州 |
Province of Water |
Water Test |
腐の州 |
Province of Decay |
Magic Forest |
Province of Darkness being renamed Ice Ritual is particularly baffling, considering the fact that the level doesn't actually have any ice in it. The localizers likely confused the level's cross shaped white blocks for ice cubes. Province of Water/Water Test, on the other hand, does have plenty of ice at the end... go figure.
Items#
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Half the items were given a Native American makeover as well. The pole extension is now a spear, the clawed hook is now a flint spearhead, the samurai helmet is now a buffalo headdress, and the magic robe is now a deerskin shirt.
Weapons#
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While the function of each weapon (or "totem") remains the same, a few of their icons were changed. The hand grasping a pole was changed into a simple spear, the Whirlwind was made less like a swastika (a similar thing happened to the Forest Medallion in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D), and the Dart was changed to look like spearheads. The last one is odd; even though the icon was changed it still looks like a Chinese dragon, and the dragon-shaped projectile is the same in both versions!
Enemies#
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Behold, the only enemy that was altered! None of the other enemies, including several distinctly East Asian-themed ones, were changed, and yet even the folks at Jaleco must have realized that having pandas in a western setting would be a bit hard to swallow. So we ended up with a grizzly that has a fondness for bamboo.
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Okay, maybe it's not really an enemy, but this explosive device from the Province of Metal/Secret Cliff had its Japanese signs rewritten. In Japanese, they read "キケン (kiken - Danger)" and "フムナ (fumuna - Don't step here)". Once detonated, the sign reads "イテー (itei - Ouch)". "TNT" is used for both signs in the English version and an exclamation mark is imprinted on signs in front of detonated devices instead.
Continue & Subscreens#
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As noted above, the monkey head was replaced with a spearhead.
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The counter for how many gourds you need for another heart container was also rewritten.
Ending#
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The Buddha statue was replaced with a totem pole.
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Even pretty flowers are not immune to being westernized.
Credits#
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"Jaleco All Staffs" was changed to "All the Jaleco Staff", "Thank You For Playing Our Game" was changed to "Many Thanks For Playing Our Game".