Operation Wolf is a game that has given me multiple memories, all connected by various different platforms.
My first memory of Operation Wolf was on the Spectrum. I think I originally got a demo on a magazine cover, like most people did for games back then. I liked it, it was good and when Christmas rolled around I asked for it from my Nan. Games back then were relatively expensive, even Spectrum ones and I have a feeling it was in the realms of a big(ish) release at around 10GBP. When Christmas came, I remember opening my presents and discovering the big double cassette case size box that was Operation Wolf for the Spectrum.
I must have played the hell out of that game using the keyboard on 48k+ and then eventually on my +3. Always getting relatively far but never getting through it. It was a really hard game. One day I came home from wherever I'd been to find my brother playing Operation Wolf on the Speccy with the lightgun. This is odd for two reasons. Firstly, at that point in time my brother wasn't really much of a gamer. He played occasionally, but not with much conviction and would normally be outside somewhere terrorising the neighbourhood. For whatever reason, this day he didn't have anything else to do, so had decided to have a go at Operation Wolf with the lightgun. When I walked in the room he was inexplicably on the last level and I watched in horror as he then went on to finish the game. I don't know what witchcraft was in the air that day, but it was (to my knowledge) the only time my brother ever completed a game like that, but worse than that, he'd done it before me. And WITH THE LIGHTGUN! Mortifying. In fact, I was so mortified I immediately loaded up the non-lightgun version of the game and... I went straight through it and completed it too. Whether it was just determination, despair or the general fairy dust that was obviously floating through the universe that afternoon I can't imagine this having happened at any other time. I've tried Operation Wolf on the Spectrum many times since that magical day but I have never come close to completing it again. I'm not sure my brother ever touched it again either.
The other core memory I have related to Operation Wolf is down the local fair that would turn up every year. Where I lived, just up the road was an army base where the local garrison of Gurkahs were stationed. They were very common around the area at the time and we'd often see them out and about on their training runs. My favourite memory though is at the fair. One night when we were in the arcade, one of the Gurkahs put 20p into the Operation Wolf arcade machine (the one with the proper guns on it). He was obviously quite good but something was a little bit off. As it turned out, the gunsights were (unsurprisingly!) a bit misaligned and he used his first attempt to understand where the gunsights were positioned in relation to where his hits were landing. He then popped another 20p into the machine and proceeded to blast his way through the whole thing, without losing any lives or credits. It was remarkable to watch, especially after seeing him take his first credit to get an understanding of his weapon and sights and then just blast all the way through it being super efficient with ammo (which is always your downfall in OW). Great stuff.
As I've gone through my own game dev journey there are a few games I'd like to do a version of. Side scrolling shooters like Operation Wolf and it's sequel Operation Thunderbolt are in there somewhere as something that I'd like to have a go at. Maybe one day I'll get round to it. But before then, maybe I'll just have one last go at Powder Magazine...
