Tag Archives: puzzle

Spindizzy, Amstrad CPC

I was always under the impression that Paul Shirley‘s classic Spindizzy originated on the Commodore 64 and was ported to other machines, but this interview with Shirley says that the game actually originated on the CPC and was ported to other systems. Since Paul Shirley coded the C64 version himself I had guessed that that was a logical assumption to make, but it now looks to be wrong.

The Amstrad version of Spindizzy – one of the best games ever made in my humble opinion – is pretty much perfect, with crisp, clean, detailed graphics and responsive controls.

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Columns, Game Gear

The Game Boy had Tetris and the Game Gear had Columns, although – frankly – Columns isn’t nearly as good as TetrisColumns was published for the Game Gear by Sega in 1991 and is based on the 1990 Sega arcade game of the same name.

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Devil Dice, PlayStation

Devil Dice is a unique dice-moving puzzle game for one to five players that was developed by Shift, Inc. and published by Sony and THQ on the PlayStation in 1998. It is considered by some to be one of the best puzzle games on the PS1.

Devil Dice was originally created for a Japanese developer competition and went on to sell more than a million copies worldwide.

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Kula World, PlayStation

Developed by Game Design Sweden AB, Kula World is an impressive ball-rolling puzzle game where you must roll around 3D mazes that are floating high above the ground and collect keys to unlock the exit.

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Quarth, Arcade

Quarth is a brilliant mixture of Tetris and shoot ’em up and was first played in arcades in Japan in 1989. Outside of Japan it is known as “Block Hole“, which – let’s face it – is a stupid name, so I’m sticking with the original name, Quarth.

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Dinolympics, Atari Lynx

Also known as The Humans, Dinolympics is the Americanised title of this original puzzle game, developed by Imagitech Design and released on the Atari Lynx in 1992.

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Crystal Mines II, Atari Lynx

I would say that Crystal Mines II – an original puzzle game released exclusively for the Atari Lynx in 1992 – is arguably one of the best games on the system.

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Puzznic, PC Engine

Puzznic on the PC Engine was converted by Taito themselves and released in 1990. Was it a Japanese release only? Seems like it might have been…

Puzznic might not look like much but it is actually a truly brilliant game. It first came out as an arcade game in 1989.

It’s a one or two-player game (take it in turns two-player, not simultaneous) where the aim is to clear blocks on various different-shaped boards.

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