Game:

Landmaker (1998)

Category:

Let's Play

Duration: 31:30

292 views

13

PSX Mode: Start
Arcade Mode: 16:44

"Builder's Block", aka "LandMaker", is pure Arcade-style Puzzle Action Feng Shui Architectural Boogaloo. Originally released in Japanese Arcades (with an International prototype that exists) by Taito in 1998, it later received a near-perfect port to Sony's Playstation at least one year later between 1999 (Japan) and 2000 (NA / PAL) by Jaleco and EON Digital Entertainment. It was also ported to the PSN service (in Japan) in 2008 by Square Enix. That said, the best way to experience this game in English would be on the PS1 as it features some added QoL features, provided you can get past the loading times in this day and age. The basic gameplay involves sliding blocks and creating structures... so orient those buildings baby.

I'll get right to it: this is not my favorite puzzler ever. It's rather unique by featuring a dash of Puzzle Bobble and Monster Slider with an emphasis on building various structures that bestow various power-ups to the player and it's done with delectable sprites and quality 2D animations, but it doesn't possess the same lasting appeal of some of Taito's other classics. However, I LOVE everything that this game essentially sets out to be; Taito was towards the tail end of a weird creative renaissance when they released this game. The story (of Arcade Mode) - Many countries were destroyed by the Gojasen who were led by the ruthless Gokyo. A supernatural person sent by Goso fought with the Gojasen and stopped them, however a large portion of the world's land has sunk to the bottom of the sea. There was only one continent remaining with a culture resembling ancient China. The escaping people from the sunken continents came to this place with their new cultures and set up a new country. This new country was influenced by the ancient culture and worked safely, but this is the beginning of a new fight.

Taito and their collaborators really explored different cultures and spiritual themes in games during the 80s and 90s that even touched on the balance of life and death, but as extremely prolific as they were in the Arcade sector, I think this aspect of them shined brightest in their more narrative-based titles and console offerings (mostly in collaboration with developer "Neverland"), beginning with "Lufia / Estpolis" and continuing with "Energy Breaker", "Chaos Seed" and more or less ending with "Landmaker". There would be a few other standouts from them in this regard over the years such as "RayCrisis" and "Bujingai", but they would be few and far between. BB's offerings are divided between the console-exclusive Puzzle Mode and Battle Mode that feels a touch like Intelligent Cube with its rudimentary 3D (though the gameplay is completely different) and the original 2D Arcade Mode. While the Battle Mode is more or less self-explanatory (compete against a friend), it's worth pointing out that the Puzzle Mode has some weird secondary goal of building up different regions of the world and increasing your population to obscene heights.

Puzzles generally involve making certain structures which will create a symbol when the objective is met that must then be eliminated to clear the stage. However, stages often have hidden objectives or alternative solutions by building higher than the minimum which require careful planning on some stages to find (Advanced Bonus). Half the puzzles are available by default while the other half must be unlocked. This mode also allows you to build structures even bigger than the normal game (the normal mode goes from 2x2 to 5x5, but Puzzle Mode goes up to 7x7). If you want the mode with the prettier graphics, faster gameplay and better music, I'd recommend sticking to the Arcade Mode.

Face off against the computer or a friend by selecting one of ten characters (two are hidden boss characters than can be accessed with a code) as well as take advantage of the game's "Another World" mode (also accessed through a code). It's not especially pretty by Arcade standards, but the game is still aesthetically interesting and features more of those good old tunes by Zuntata. I find it interesting that the title screen has birds flying off it just like Energy Breaker too (Energy Breaker and Chaos Seed look FANTASTIC for SFC games though). The game doesn't have much in the way of replayability either, so it's a good thing that the added 3D modes exist to get at least a few more hours out of the game. The game is quite niche but surprisingly kinda cheap to acquire... for now. If you're a fan of puzzle games, make sure to add it to your collection. This is a video of the game in action (the timestamps above separate the modes). Enjoy.