Tag Archives: puzzles

Pokémon Gold Version, Game Boy Color

Pokémon Gold and Silver Versions were developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo in 1999 in Japan and 2000 everywhere else. They are ‘second generation’ Pokémon games and were released simultaneously as twin titles, as has become the norm with Pokémon games.

These were the first proper, full-colour Pokémon games, with graphics that have been created to take advantage of the Game Boy Color‘s extended palette (Pokémon Yellow, which preceded this game, didn’t really do that; the graphics were simply colourised from the black and white originals). And you can tell from the very beginning that the visuals in Gold/Silver are a step-up from what we saw previously.

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Astroclone, ZX Spectrum

This 1985 release from Hewson Consultants is basically a futuristic variation of the classic Avalon/Dragontorc games by Steve Turner. It uses similar presentation and game mechanics to those games, with a central character moving around pseudo 3D rooms, exploring and solving puzzles.

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Wario: Master of Disguise, Nintendo DS

Wario: Master of Disguise was developed by Suzak and published for the Nintendo DS by Nintendo in 2007. It utilises dual screens (of course), and also requires use of the DS touchscreen when playing.

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Wario World, GameCube

Wario World for the GameCube was developed by Treasure and published by Nintendo in 2003. It was the first 3D Wario game and, unusually, was released in Europe and North America before it eventually came out in Japan (almost a year after its initial release in the West).

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Bug Hunter in Space, Archimedes

Bug Hunter in Space is the sequel to Bug Hunter, both written by Ian Richardson. This follow-up was published by Minerva Software in 1990 and is a platform puzzle game where you play a six-inch bipedal invertebrate called “Hysteron Proteron” on a mission to squash bugs, and stop aliens from destroying all life on earth.

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Cataclysm, Archimedes

Cataclysm is an obscure action puzzle game on the Archimedes that involves channelling water from plugged-up vats in the top of a vertically-scrolling level, into a drain at the very bottom. Which you do by controlling a jet-pack-wearing guy who can manipulate objects to make the water take a certain route through the scenery.

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Castle Blackheart, Archimedes

Castle Blackheart is an interesting maze action game where you play a knight fighting his way through a maze of monsters, trying to find pieces of a scroll and also keys to open doors that’ll allow him to escape to the next level.

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Highway Encounter, MSX

The MSX conversion of Costa Panayi‘s Highway Encounter was coded by Pedro Sudon in 1985. It is possible that the game was only ever published in Spain on the MSX since the only versions I can find are in Spanish.

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The Dizzy adventure series

The Dizzy adventures are well-known and much-loved on the ZX Spectrum. Created by The Oliver Twins, they feature an anthropomorphic egg called Dizzy who somersaults when he jumps and solves item-based puzzles, often in an attempt to rescue his friends, the “yolkfolk“.

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Wonderful Dizzy, ZX Spectrum

Wonderful Dizzy is the eighth ‘core’ Dizzy adventure and was released in 2020 for the 128K ZX Spectrum only. It was designed by The Oliver Twins and published by Team Yolkfolk.

The game’s development was tied to the Kickstarter campaign for the ZX Spectrum Next and was first announced in 2017. The Olivers said that they would only go ahead with development of the game if the Kickstarter campaign for the ZX Spectrum Next reached its target, which it eventually did.

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