Wally Bear and the NO! Gang

Did You Know?

• The game was originally going to be titled Wally Bear and the Just Say No Team, but was renamed due to an existing trademark of the phrase 'Just Say No'.
• GamePro magazine's May 1992 issue gave Wally Bear a 5 out of 5 for Fun Factor and Challenge, and a 3 out of 5 for Music.
• The game found renewed notoriety through an August 15, 1999 article at seanbaby.com.

Wally Bear characters

Wally Bear and related characters were created by Walter J. Marsh, founder of Edutainment, Inc., established in April 1990 in Fogelsville, Pennsylvania. A trademark for "Wally Bear and the No Gang" was filed in September 1990, and a newer character, Recycleman, was trademarked in November 1991. Long after the NES game, the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information continued using these characters in substance abuse prevention publications.

Game plot

Wally Bear's uncle, Gary Grizzly, plans a party for Wally and the NO! Gang. Wally's parents tell him to invite his friends and reach Gary's house before dark, advising him to avoid drugs. Wally skateboards through side-scrolling levels including suburban streets, subway cars, industrial areas, demon fortresses, and city streets. He meets NO! Gang members and discusses drug and alcohol use. At Gary's house, Gary breaks the fourth wall, implying Wally brought the player. The game ends with a party cutscene and Wally offering anti-drug advice.

Game manual

The unlicensed cartridge did not work on NES consoles manufactured after October 1990 due to hardware protections in revision 11 circuit boards. The manual explains this, displaying a no symbol above 'Rev. 11' and the title "Just Say NO!", and provides instructions for modifying the console to bypass protections. It also includes a cut-out postcard for joining the Wally Bear and the NO! Gang Club by mailing $3.50 to a Fogelsville, Pennsylvania post office box, receiving a poster, stickers, and a bi-monthly newsletter.

Use by NCADI/SAMHSA

The National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information (NCADI), part of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, used Wally Bear characters for children's drug and health awareness. Before 1994, the team was rebranded "Wally Bear and the KNOW Gang," expanding to social and general health topics and adding Recycleman, a half-man, half-machine superhero. NCADI operated a toll-free hotline, 1-800-HI-WALLY (1-800-449-2559), where callers heard Wally Bear deliver anti-drug messages and could join a club through a Rockville, Maryland post office box. The hotline gained standalone recognition, appearing in a 1995 newspaper article and the February 18, 1996 issue of Parade magazine, and was featured on the health.org kids area in the early 2000s. Content was not updated after a June 2004 retool, but the hotline remained active until at least 2006, disconnected by June 2007. In June 2004, "Wally Bear and the KNOW Gang" was replaced by the Building Blocks for a Healthy Future program, featuring "Wally Bear and Friends" (later "Building Blocks Friends"), with renamed or regendered animal friends and a focus on childhood development and parental interaction. The Building Blocks Friends were retired from the program website by March 2015, though the Building Blocks for a Healthy Future Kit remains available as a paper publication.