Game:

40 Winks (1999)

Duration: 12:35

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40 Winks is a platform game developed by Eurocom and published by GT Interactive as for the PlayStation. A version was developed for the Nintendo 64, and reviewed in both Nintendo Official Magazine UK and Nintendo Power (whose January 2000 issue even featured a strategy guide for the game), but was cancelled at the last minute.

On 12 February 2018, Piko Interactive launched a Kickstarter campaign confirming that the unreleased Nintendo 64 version would finally see a release, and also a Microsoft Windows version through Steam. It was funded on the same day.

The player takes control of either Ruff or Tumble, a brother and sister who are sleeping and trying to free 40 "Winks" from a man named Nitekap and his accomplice, Threadbear. "Winks" are small, white creatures which make dreams, and "Hoodwinks", which are green and of a similar size are what are responsible for any nightmares.

Throughout the game, the player can collect moon-shaped tokens, which are used to scream at dreamy apparitions, and Z-shaped tokens, which stop the player's character from waking up. Floating cogs are also collected to open doors, and in each of the three levels in each world, collect four dream keys to be placed on the clock face, in order to challenge the boss, before moving on to the next world. The character travels through dream worlds (Nightmare, Underwater, Space, Prehistoric, Castle, and Pirate). The player can also transform into various types of beings: Caveman, Robot, Jester (Ruff only), Fairy (Tumble only), and Ninja.

Nitekap, a bitter man deprived of sleep, decides to rid the world of good dreams by kidnapping small creatures known as "Winks", which are responsible for making good dreams. With the Winks kidnapped, Nitekap's minions known as "Hood-winks" are able to turn all good dreams into nightmares.

Taking the role of Ruff or Tumble, the player must rescue all forty kidnapped Winks, which are imprisoned across six different "dream worlds". The player travels through each world and rescues the Winks along the way. At the end of each world, the player fights and defeats Nitekap's sidekick, an anthropomorphic teddy bear named Threadbear.

After rescuing all forty Winks, Ruff and Tumble proceed to confront Nitekap himself. Nitekap sends Threadbear to stop them, but he is defeated once again. Threadbear accepts defeat and urges Nitekap to do the same, but Nitekap throws him out onto the streets, refusing to surrender. Threadbear tells Ruff and Tumble that Nitekap is unable to sleep due to a loud clock in his home. After Ruff and Tumble destroy the clock, Nitekap finally manages to sleep and feels very happy upon waking up in the morning. The game ends with Nitekap attempting to get rid of a Hood-wink.